British filmmaker (writer/director) Carol Morley burst on the scene at the turn of the millennium with her semi-autobiographical documentary, The Alcohol Years, a portrait of self-destructive youth that, for many of Morley’s generation, captured the essence of Manchester in the 1980s. Eleven years later, her second feature documentary, Dreams of a Life, captures the essence of London in the Noughties; a London that Boris Johnson and Seb Coe might not wish to acknowledge. While many condemn our Big Brother Society, the constant invasions on our privacy by commercial firms and the intrusive CCTV cameras that record the city’s life, the fact remains that a once popular, pretty and vibrant 38-year-old woman, Joyce Vincent, lay dead in her seedy flat for three years before anyone noticed.  

You have to take note of a filmmaker who remains a card carrying member of the Czechoslovakian Surrealist Group and whose stop-frame animated films were considered so disturbing that they were banned by the Communist Part in 1972.  Jan Svankmajer’s latest feature release, Surviving Life, Theory and Practice, has been called a ‘psychoanalytical comedy’ as it explores a middle-aged, married, office worker’s secret dream life. It’s definitely recommended, even if it doesn’t quite match the best of his work.

It is not uncommon for unknown actors who shine in supporting roles to be given starring roles in future films, but it is less common with animated creatures.  Antonio Banderas’ Puss in Boots was such a hit in the Shrek franchise, that he’s now been given his own film. And Chris Miller, who animated Shrek 1 and 2, and directed Shrek 3, directs this offshoot.  If you are looking for a family film that will entertain youngsters without boring their guardians, look no further than the folklore-studded, surreal Western, Puss in Boots.

Once upon a time there were three funny comic actors, Steve Martin (now 65), Owen Wilson (now 43) and Jack Black (now 42), who made people laugh and made themselves A-list Hollywood millionaires. But eventually, they appeared in movies that didn’t make people laugh.  So someone had the idea to unite the three in The Big Year, on the basis that, statistically, one of the three has to be funny at any given point in the movie.  But whoever that was hadn’t realised that script writer Howard Franklin (Someone to Watch over Me, Quick Change hadn’t written a comedy while Director David Frankel (Marley and Me, The Devil Wears Prada) was struggling to direct one.

A year after writing the script for the hit 1999 comedy Analyze This, theatre (This is Our Youth) and film writer Kenneth Lonergan directed his first feature: You Can Count on Me.  The film, produced by Martin Scorsese, is still considered one of the best independent films of the noughties.  Lonergan then wrote the script for Gangs of New York before writing and directing ‘Margaret’ circa 2005.  Why this wonderful movie has taken six years to reach our cinemas, and in a form that is obviously edited down, though nonetheless intelligent and deeply moving, must be left to the feature writers and cinema magazines. 

Comedians argue that no subject is out of bounds and nothing too delicate or serious for comedy.  It seems that first-time feature writer (and Executive Producer) Will Reiser is testing out that argument with his script about Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a 27-year-old man who learns he has a 50/50 chance of surviving cancer. The result, ‘50/50’ shows that while any subject might be fair game, it still has to be funny to prove the point. Directed by Jonathan Levine, who wrote and directed the delightful coming-of-age comedy, the Wackness’, ‘50/50’, is a strained hybrid. It wants to pull the heart strings while making us laugh, but ends up doing neither very effectively.

With Daniel Craig (Casino Royal, the Mother) and his real life wife, Academy Award winning actress, Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), playing Will and Libby Atenton; and Naomi Watts (Mulholland Dr., 21 Grams) as their neighbour, Ann Patterson, Dream House has a dreamy cast. Alas, it is not a dream film. Rumour has it that the five-time Academy Award nominated Irish Director Jim Sheridon (My Left Foot) had some differences with the film’s money men, which might explain why any ten critics will have ten different interpretations of who did what, who was who and what the film is about (if anything). As Dream House is a thriller with several twists, there’s not much to say without giving away any of the likely scenarios.