Director Of The Month Film Review: Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan

Rating: 6/10 - Good

Billed as a psychological drama, Black Swan (2010) garnered a fair amount of acclaim for its lead Natalie Portman in her Oscar winning role. As for the film itself?

Director Of The Month Film Review: Darren Aronofsky - The Wrestler

Rating: 7.2/10 - Very Good

Welcome to our second to last review in our series on Darren Aronofsky. Is it as good as his previous effort, The Fountain? See the full review after the jump.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Darren Aronofsky - The Fountain

Rating: 9.7/10 - A Masterpiece

As a film reviewer, most of the films I get to watch are pretty dull and uninspiring. Truly remarkable films are few and far between but I guess half the reward of sitting through the most of the nonsense is the hope of catching a true masterpiece every now and again. The Fountain is one of those rare masterpieces.

Director Of The Month: Darren Aronofsky Requiem For A Dream

Rating: 7/10 - Very Good



There have been a number of movies about drugs - or shall I say the reality of drugs? Trainspotting could not have been more vivid; dead babies, filth-encrusted toilets, wasted lives. Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000) hits hard and hits fast. There’s no glamour, only seedy underbelly.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Darren Aronofsky - Pi

Rating: 8.8/10 - Excellent


Welcome to the first review in our series focusing on the films of Darren Aronofsky.

Pi is Aronofsky's directorial debut, which he made fresh out of film school. It was made for only $60 000 with the director choosing to shoot in black and white. It starred Sean Gullette, who has not really been in anything noteworthy since. It was sold for $1m and grossed over $3m. It won Aronofsky the Directing Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, the Gotham Open Palm Award and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Sccreenplay.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Wes Anderson - The Darjeeling Limited

Rating: 5.2/10 - Average

Welcome to the final review of a film by our Director Of The Month for May 2011, Wes Anderson. See what my thoughts are on The Darjeeling Limited after the jump.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Wes Anderson - Fantastic Mr. Fox

Rating: 6/10 - Good

Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox was one of the first children’s books I ever got for Christmas. I loved the story of the wily fox who stole from the odious farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean, to feed his family and as it turns out, quite a number of other animals starving to death from the farmers’ meanness. Dahl’s stories are dark, the villains ooze nastiness, and the protagonist frequently ends up having to give up something in his or her quest.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Wes Anderson - The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Rating: 6.5/10 - Good

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou does not quite reach the lofty standards set by Wes Anderson's previous works but it is nonetheless a fairly entertaining film. It has all the hallmarks of a Wes Anderson film such as offbeat characters, quirky music and, of course, Bill Murray.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Wes Anderson - The Royal Tenenbaums

Rating: 7.5/10 - Very Good

While this is probably the most coveted Wes Anderson film, it is not my favourite. It has interesting characters but it loses momentum. The audience has to "buy" the crazy people in it since it relies so heavily on characterisation and dialogue.

Director: Wes Anderson. Screenplay: Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. Producers: Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel and Scott Rudin. Executive Producers: Rudd Simmons and Owen Wilson. Cinematographer: Robert Yeoman. Editor: Dylan Tichenor. Score: Mark Mothersbaugh. Distributor: Touchstone Pictures. Starring: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Andrew Wilson, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray and Alec Baldwin. Running Time: 110 Minutes.

The movie tells the story of the Tenenbaum family. The head of the family, Royal Tenenbaum announces he is dying which prompts the dysfunctional family to get together to see him off. The array of characters is quite impressive and they fit well into humorous stereotypes. Credit must go to writers, Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson for making the characters original but stereotypical.

Royal had three child geniuses. Ben Stiller (Chas Tenenbaum) is a control-freak financial "gamechanger" businessman who wears strange tracksuits, which his sons wear too. Luke Wilson is cool as Richie Tenenbaum, a tennis champion who collapsed because of a confusing love story in his life. Gwyneth Paltrow (Margot Tenenbuam) is an interesting adopted daughter. She is an award-winning playwright.

All three children were very successful in their teens. But life has been disappointing for them since. Chas is a widower. Margot is lacking direction in her life. She has not written anything in years. She married a much older neurologist called Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray), and is not sure if she loves him. I enjoyed the clever layers of "dysfunctionalness" within the film. Royal is going through an existential crisis and his children are going through early mid-life crises. The children find themselves living with their mother, because they do not feel strong feelings of love from their father.

But even their mother, Etheline, has an unclear agenda which develops later in the film. She is now engaged to a more settled, stable person than Royal; Henry Sherman (Danny Glover). But she still opens herself up to Royal.

All of the Tenenbaums grew up in strange circumstances, even their childhood friend, who is now a surprisingly successful novelist, Eli (Owen Wilson). He is clearly still looking to fit into the Tenenbaum brood, however. Every character is damaged but audiences may not be able to handle the film's attempts at explaining this damage. You may not care that much about every weirdo in the film.

Is the movie funny? It is but it is funny in a sweet way. This is in line with Anderson's style. It's offbeat and rich in originality.

The movie is not obvious in what it wants to portray either. How is one supposed to react to things on screen? This is a charm that it has but it can get tiring. Perhaps people can be made to think about off-kilter topics too much in a film?

It is visually exciting. Robert Yeoman is a talented cinematographer. He has worked on every live action Wes Anderson film and he has established a fresh look. The art direction is original too. The characters' costumes are also fresh.

Verdict: If you feel like an offbeat, original comedy, watch The Royal Tenenbaums. But be prepared to see some strange scenes and meet some odd characters. It is not a run-of-the-mill comedy. It is depressing at times and beautiful at others. It is worth a viewing at least to witness some strong chemistry from some of the world's most watched actors.

Alistair Anderson

The Royal Tenenbaums is available now on DVD.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Wes Anderson - Rushmore

Rating: 7.3/10

Rushmore is the sophomore film from our Director of the Month for May 2011, Wes Anderson, and it is quite simply a joy to watch.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Wes Anderson - Bottle Rocket

Rating: 8/10 - Excellent

If this 1996 Wes Anderson debut does not make you even remotely cringe with pure Wes ‘Andersonesque’ delight, then sadly the art of Anderson was not cut out for you to enjoy. As his debut, based on the short film by the same name, Bottle Rocket is the epitome of everything Wes Anderson. And an exciting, slow but rearing action comedy.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Paul Thomas Anderson - Magnolia

Rating: 8.1/10 - Excellent

Magnolia is another Paul Thomas Anderson (PTA) film that features a large ensemble cast every character is an important piece of the narrative puzzle. This is one of those brilliant, masterfully made films that can't be fully explained in a normal film review without writing a 10 000 word thesis and even then you would still come woefully short from fully elaborating on all the various themes, meanings and religious subtexts that PTA has artfully woven into this film's fabric. The least complex way to describe the film's plot is through a brief discussion of each of the films major characters and how they relate to each other and the story as a whole.

Director Of The Month Film Review: Paul Thomas Anderson - Hard Eight

Rating: 8/10 - Excellent

Released in 1996, Hard Eight is a strong start to director Paul Thomas Anderson's career. It allows John C. Reilly and Phillip Baker Hall to deliver good performances.
It also features Gwyneth Paltrow and Samuel L. Jackson.



The film is not a strict action or crime film but rather a human interest story. Anderson has shown courage by risking his debut feature, starring highly rated, if still up-and-coming actors, with an unconventional approach.

It tells the story of John played by John C Reilly, a young loser who has lost all of his money. He is feeling sorry for himself when gambling-maestro Sydney finds him, buys him coffee, and takes him to Reno. Sydney shows John how to get a free room without losing much money and to become a better gambler. Sydney's character is interesting because he has gambling skills but he also has a forced calmness which he tries to put on when acting as a father figure character to John. Sydney is actually a lonely man, looking for a family.

Years later, John meets Clementine (Gwyneth Paltrow), a cocktail waitress and sometimes hooker. The story continues to be interesting from there one.

Even if some people may not enjoy the subdued overtone of the film, John C Reilly, is my favourite element in this film, shows that he can act well in serious roles. He was strong again in Anderson's films, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, a few years later.

Perhaps, Anderson will get a leading role out of him soon but Hard Eight is a powerful ensemble.

Baker Hall also deserves to be commended.

Hard Eight launched what has proven to be an impressive career for director, Paul Thomas Anderson. He may not make films that often - his last was released film was 2007's There Will Be Blood, but he's an exceptional talent.

Alistair Anderson

Director Of The Month Film Review: Paul Thomas Anderson - Boogie Nights

Rating: 6.4/10 - Good

Our film reviews for our Director Of The Month series begin today with a review of Boogie Nights. This was released in 1997 and is Paul Thomas Anderson's 2nd film after Hard Eight. See the full review below.

Director Of The Month April 2011: Paul Thomas Anderson

Welcome to the first of what will hopefully be a long running series where we do a monthly profile on a director who we consider to be one of the great masters of the art and craft of film making. The only qualifying criteria that must be met for a director to be considered is that he/she must have directed at least 3 feature length films. We will then review all of the chosen director's films and from there give our own verdict on whether or not they are indeed a master film maker or they're just simply brilliant peddlers of style over substance. So without further ado, we present to you our Director of the Month for April 2011, Paul Thomas Anderson.