In “The Edge of Heaven”, the six principal characters never meet and yet we see them just brush by. We know more than the characters and yet we watch with bated breath.

The movie is solid on all fronts. The director had already impressed with “Head On” and follows the similar vein thematically with his latest.

The focus is clearly on characters, the dangers of impulsive love and an all important ever burdensome need to atone and reconcile. All the characters are clearly seeking to atone or reconcile and it is a treat to watch the director unfold these themes maturely.

The film criss-crosses Germany and Turkey. It begins in Germany where an aging Turkish widower visits a prostitute. He offers to have her stay in his house and pay her the same amount she would make if she continued working. She initially rejects the offer but has to take it up after some fundamentalist Muslims threaten her.

This new arrangement complicates matters with the man’s son Nejat. The prostitute tells Nejat of a daughter she has back in Turkey who she supports financially. After a tragic turn, the son Nejat (Baki Davrak) leaves Germany for Turkey to look for the daughter. But the daughter Ayten (Nurgul Yesilcy), unbeknownst to Nejat, is involved with some radical militant group and befriends the German girl Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska) who she falls in love with much to the consternation of the German girl’s mother Susanne (Hanna Schygulla).

The acting is clearly one of the strong points of the movie. The young Yesilcy radiates such an intensity that, though we may not agree with her politics, we can at least sympathise with her passion.

The veteran German actress Schygulla gives arguably the finest performance portraying a wise but loving mother. She maintains an air of dignified rigidity except for one incredible scene with the camera positioned atop a hotel room. The other supporting actors fill in commendably. Since the movie is character driven, it needed good acting to underpin the drama.

Akin masterly uses the contemporary political situation like the effect of immigration on Europe changing the cultural landscape and the schizophrenia Turkey displays as it chooses between being Asian or European to serve as background. He never strays to make any overtly personal comments or sermonises. He trusts his story, his actors and the drama inherent in the script.

This is a movie for film lovers. Those looking for good, solid, serious drama to take a break from the more inane Hollywood offerings of the past few months will gladly welcome “The Edge Of Heaven”.

Cast: Hanna Schygulla, Patrycia Ziolkowska, Baki Davrak,
Nurgul Yesilçay
Director: Fatih Akin

We rejoin Hellboy (Perlman) – also known as Red – living with his girlfriend Liz (Blair) and their clutter of cats at the top secret Bureau for Paranormal Search and Defence. Red is struggling with domesticity – as he complains to Abe (Jones), the acquatic empath, Liz expects him to save the world AND do the dishes – whereas he just wants to relax. Of course, when you are a occult detective with horns and a tail, fate is bound to have other things in store.

An ancient truce has existed between humankind and the original sons of the Earth – the elves – but naturally humans have forgotten it and so break it in their careless fashion. Prince Nuada (Goss), weary of centuries of deference to mankind, is plotting to reawaken The Golden Army: unstoppable killing machines who will rid the world of the plague of humanity and free the magical creatures to take back what was originally theirs. And only Hellboy – and his band of superheroes – can stop him and save the world from annihilation.

Guillermo del Toro here succeeds in harnessing all his visionary imagination and inventiveness to a major studio blockbuster to create what is perhaps the film of the summer. For all that this is studio fodder, it still feels incredibly personal – anyone who has seen any of del Toro’s other films will recognise all those deft touches. The credit sequence, for instance, is full of clockworks and cogs – a visual introduction to the Golden Army, but also a favourite image of del Toro’s. The magical creature effects are utterly marvellous – tooth fairies have never been more scary, and yet also strangely sweet, just like the fairies in Pan’s Labyrinth; the elemental nature spirit has to be seen to be believed, and there is a ecological message that is lightly handled and never preachy.

That isn’t to say that Hellboy doesn’t have his moments. His love of publicity means that the Bureau’s security is becoming compromised, and not everyone loves the ‘freaks’. Saving the world is fun, but being called ugly while doing it is less so. And then there’s Liz. Though she is coming to terms with her pyrotechnic abilities, she is still wary of her powers and not entirely comfortable being part of the world of the BPRD.

If there is one failing, it’s the villain. Luke Goss is fine, but we never really see that much of Prince Nuada, apart from his cool martial arts skills. (And for some reason he reminded me of Julian Sands, which is never a good thing.) But this is really a quibble when there is so much else to love. Red and Abe swigging beer and singing ‘Can’t Smile Without You’, and trying to deal with the age old question of women AND saving the world; the annoying German agent, Johan Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane); the magical market; the Irish stone giant; Prince Nuada’s troll sidekick; the climactic battle in the huge underground city. The Golden Army itself, truly unstoppable. Fabulous entertainment.

Director:
Guillermo del Toro
Cast:
Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt

They shared a few moments on screen in Michael Mann’s Heat in 1995, and they had no scenes together in The Godfather: Part II. In theory, seeing them play off each other for an entire film should have been a thrill, a clash of the scenery-chewing titans. In reality, it’s hard to take them seriously, even though each actor has dialled down his all-too familiar persona: the repressed rage of De Niro, the voluminous volatility of Pacino.
Under the pseudo-flashy direction of Jon Avnet (who also directed Pacino this year in the flop 88 Minutes), De Niro and Pacino play geriatric New York police detectives who go by the nicknames Turk and Rooster. They’re on the tail of a serial killer: a vigilante who takes out bad guys who have it coming, then leaves a poem behind at the crime scene. As the bodies pile up, the evidence suggests that a cop is the one pulling the trigger: The script from Russell Gewirtz drags us down one obvious avenue for most of the film, only to leave us with a gimmicky, obvious twist at the end.
Gewirtz’s screenplay for Spike Lee’s suspenseful, darkly funny Inside Man was far more clever. Whereas that film was skilfully paced and plotted, Righteous Kill meanders from one shooting to the next until the climactic, bombastic confrontation between our two hammy stars at the end. Along the way, Avnet shows us chess pieces and bullet casings falling as groan-worthy metaphors. (He does make the daily rhythms of New York feel authentic, however.)
Carla Gugino seems wedged in as a crime scene analyst who becomes suspicious of Turk, her long-time quasi-boyfriend. She’s also into rough sex, a gratuitous, borderline offensive detail. Brian Dennehy is solid, as usual, as Turk and Rooster’s sarcastic lieutenant.

And rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is as stiff and monotone as ever, playing a supposedly charismatic drug dealer. Apparently, he hasn’t taken any acting lessons since starring in 2005 Get Rich or Die Tryin’—and in that movie, he essentially played himself.

Directed by Jon Avnet
Starring: Robert De Niro,[1] Al Pacino, John Leguizamo,
Carla Gugino, Donnie Wahlberg,

Brendan Fraser, who has cemented his reputation as the action star with “The Mummy” series, leads the cast as they set out to the journey to the centre of the earth to uncover the mystery of the disappearance of his brother.

He is accompanied by his nephew Sean (Josh Hutcherson) who soon after going to Iceland meets a tour guide named Hanna (Anita Briem). Together they find themselves lost in the magical ‘world within a world’ but must soon find a way to escape before the place heats up to melting point.

The movie’s plot line is incredibly simple. The are no unnecessary twists and turns to annoy the viewer. The pacing doesn’t lag and is punctuated timely with some nifty action sequences. The only disappointment is that once they get to this magical world they don’t spend enough time there. We don’t get to soak in the magic. As soon as they reach this place, they have to begin to escape. But while there, we are introduced to some glowing birds, menacing fish and even a predatory dinosaur. It is clear that the film makers took full liberty with the computer generated imagery.

Fraser is a fine actor and he does well here. His comic timing is impeccable. But he suffers from a poor script. The one-liners are limp and fall flat occasionally. Josh Hutcherson does a commendable job. Anita Briem complements the men well by playing a no-nonsense woman who is independent and brave.

The director Eric Brevig allows too much dialogue in the initial parts of the film but manages to transition well when it comes to the action. A lot of space is given for the viewer to construct in their own imagination as they enter this magical world.

Adults may not find enough to admire in this movie since it seems to be designed for 10-year-old boys. But for children who are familiar with the Jules Verne book, this movie should meet their expectations. For those not introduced to Verne, this movie might just whet the appetite.

For clean wholesome family fun, and a few scares, this movie is a nice experience even as it strives to not blow us away, but just thrill.

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem
Director: Eric Brevig

Sophie [Amanda Seyfried], the young bride-to-be, invites three men – one of whom she suspects is her father – to her wedding on the idyllic Greek island of Kalokairi, where she lives with her ex-hippy mum Donna [Meryl Streep]. Naturally Donna takes it up a few notches after discovering this trio of former lovers [Pierce Brosnan, Collin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard] on board her premises.

Donna herself is not sure who Sophie’s father is, but it’s soon clear that she still holds a torch for Sam [Brosnan], the most-grounded of the three candidates. With such a gorgeous and romantic backdrop such as the pink sunsets and sandy beaches of the island, the old flame is soon rekindled. They break into fun and sometimes awkward song-dance sequences which are so endearing and hilariously funny too.

Meryl Streep always gives a no-holds-barred performance and is especially buoyant in her rendition of ‘Dancing Queen’. Beyond the song-and-dance pieces, she also gets to showcase her natural flair for comedy, but it’s Julie Walters who gets the lion’s share of belly laughs as her doddering pal Rosie. It’s Pierce Brosnan who catches you off guard with his vocals! If you worried that the stiffness of Bond had not worn out, he surprises you as he delivers his verses with unreserved gusto!

The movie moves at a dizzying pace. The sugar-sweet ABBA tunes blend into an endless medley strung on a very lucid screenplay. But there’s no question of boredom; on the contrary, you are bound to find the enthusiasm of the cast dangerously infectious, leaving you high-spirited and smiling at the end of all the drama.

Cast      Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski & others
Director     Phyllida Lloyd
Producers     Judy Craymer & Gary Goetzman
Writer     Catherine Johnson
Cinematographer     Haris Zambarloukos
Music     Benny Andersson