My summer of film

So, long time, no blog! What better way to redress than the film blog equivalent of the school essay of what you did on your holidays?

Here's mine: Inception followed by Went The Day Well?, Bluebeard, Heartbreaker, Rapt, and Toy Story 3.

Inception: I was thoroughly engrossed by Chris Nolan's latest, which fuses the questions of identity and reality that dominate Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige with the more operatic action-oriented bent of his Batman films. DiCaprio still isn't brilliant, but at least he's better than he was in Shutter Island! Great visuals, sound, score and editing, coupled with a real doozy of a final scene (the audience reaction was stunning - everyone cried out 'No!').
Score: 8.5/10

Went The Day Well?: a beautifully shot Brit-flick from 1942, focusing on German troops masquerading as British troops in a English village. Adapted from a Graham Greene, this still exerts a curious power as the villagers fight back against the Nazi menace among them. Their lesson, that splendid isolation had truly ended, is painfully learnt.

Bluebeard: the new Catherine Breillat. Don't bother!
Score: 3/10

Heartbreaker: light and breezy French romcom that looks as good as any Hollywood variant. Vanessa Paradis is not much more than set dressing; ultimately the film is a vehicle for Romain Duris and justifiably so. The hell he puts himself through to 'accidentally' win her heart is truly something to behold - a man having to pretend he likes Dirty Dancing, for example! Bound to be remade for Matthew McCoaughey and Kate Hudson...
Score: 6.5/10

Rapt: cracking thriller in which Yvan Attal's multi-millionaire industrialist is kidnapped. And just as he thinks his life can't get any worse, the French press finds out about all the bad things in his life... Occasionally brilliant, but this ultimately falls short of its initial promise.
Score: 8/10

Toy Story 3: this really is a kids' film for adults. Quite frankly, I was a gibbering wreck for much of the film. This is really a film about getting old, retiring, of no longer being of any use to society and having to face death. Oh the gags and the brilliant characterisation is still there from the first two films, but an additional layer of pathos and tragedy is all too evident. There's one scene so strong that I can barely talk about it even days after seeing the film. Top bloody notch stuff. One day Pixar will make a bad film - but not yet, not yet!
Score: 10/10