Filmbiz blog

La Mirada Film Festival – An Unconventional Romance

by Ernesto Zelaya Miñano | April 07, 2010 18:48

Filmink went along to check out the Opening Night festivities at La Mirada

Latin American and Spanish cinema is a pleasure Australian audiences rarely have a chance to enjoy. Bridging this gap for the last four years is Melbourne's La Mirada Film Festival, showcasing the best in Latin cinema and culture, with none other than the celebrated Pedro Almodovar as programmer and spiritual guide.

Guests at the Opening Night were welcomed by a video of Almodovar and his guest curators, Martin Scorsese and Stephen Daldry, who introduced the varying roster of films, including the Opening Night film, Me Too, the debut feature from directors Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro.

As an introduction to Spanish cinema, Me Too is a crowd-pleasing good choice. An unconventional romantic comedy, it tells the story of Daniel, a young man with Down's Syndrome who graduates from college and lands a job at a welfare office, where he meets and falls in love with Laura, a free spirit with a secretive past. The relationship that develops is hampered not just by his condition but by the prejudices of the people around them.

Naharro and Pastor's goals with the film are noble: to denounce discrimination against people with a disability and to portray them as normal members of society who have rights as much as anyone to make a life for themselves and find happiness. Thankfully, they avoid beating audiences over the head with this point, going about it in a much subtler fashion.

Me Too actors Pablo Pineda and Lola Dueñas won acting awards at the San Sebastian Film Festival; and they have surprising chemistry as good friends who might just be more than that. Pineda is especially good, basically playing in a fictional version of his life story, which served as the basis of the film. He's also not afraid to poke fun at himself: this movie is funny in a good-natured way, and we end up laughing with him rather than at him.

Me Too is a romantic comedy which manages to portray a sensitive issue in a respectful manner, without preaching to its audience or being over-the-top (this extends to the climax, unexpected for the rom-com genre but in line with the situation). It's slight, but also good-natured and fun.

Naharro and Pastor's film is a winning way to introduce Melbourne film fans to the joys of Latin American cinema - a crowd-pleasing and undemanding time. La Mirada opened its doors wide, inviting filmgoers to discover something new in the world of film.

La Mirada runs from the 1^st to the 12^th of April at the ACMI Cinema and Cinema Nova in Melbourne. Me Too will screen on the 12^th of April as part of the Best of the Fest programme. For more information head to the Festival website.

Aussie Flick Aims For Film Noir

by Sophie Watson | March 25, 2010 14:42

Filmink recently went along to the screening of a new Aussie psychological thriller

For fans of psychological thrillers, it is continuously disheartening to see the modern day versions of the genre sanitised with clean cut visuals and predictable plots. It was all too refreshing to witness the new Aussie made flick A Perfect Life harkening back to the good old days of raw cinema, as in Rob Reiner's 1990 classic Misery and David Fincher's Se7en (1995) with its gritty and menacingly stylised neo-noir approach.

The film premiered at Fox Studio's Hoyts Cinema last week to a crowd of horror aficionados, along with members of the cast and crew including producer, writer and male lead Johan Earl, leading lady Heidi Houghting, and director Jith Sen.

A Perfect Life follows Andrew Walters (Johan Earl), a man with an insatiable desire for success, love, and lust. Andrew is abducted, along with his wife Helen (Heidi Houghting), into the ominous art studio of his mentally fractured mistress Rachael (Amelia Beau Kaldor). In a series of events which bring a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘brutally honest,' Rachael tortures Andy into truthfully answering questions regarding his love for his wife and his promise to leave her.

The film is skillfully shot with underdeveloped film and low-shutter speed sequences, which is a real testament to director Jith Sen and his spiritual mentor, Jean-Luc Godard. "The noir technique was quite deliberate," says Sen. "It's such a dark story we needed that looming noir feel to really capture what was happening to these characters."

A Perfect Life is anything but predictable. In conjunction with the style of the film, the story takes many unthinkable twists and turns, revealing one insidious plot point after another. Unlike the transparent nature of many psychological thrillers these days, this film will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat.

The performances were brilliant on all fronts, particularly Amelia Beau Kaldor who was insatiably magnetic as the furiously tormented freight train Rachael. Johan Earl gave an immersive performance, luring the audience into the film's anguish and disarray. Heidi Houghting forced the audience to suffer the pain of her startlingly haunted portrayal of Helen, giving her performance a mesmerising quality. Houghting explains, "I literally had to think of reasons to cry every day; it was really tough to find the motive to convey these really powerful emotions every time we shot."

A Perfect Life is significant not only as a trail blazer for putting Australian genre films on the map, but also for the psychological thriller genre as a whole. In recent times, the genre has been preoccupied with achieving sterile visual perfection, which ironically diminishes the integrity of the films. Few have endeavoured to use the time honoured traditions of film noir or German expressionism to re-invent the genre, and even fewer have done so successfully. Here's hoping A Perfect Life signals a shift in Australian genre films and psychological thrillers in general.

 Producer Johan Earl is negotiating the possibility of further screenings in Sydney before the film makes its way over to the US for distribution. Check out the film's trailer here.

High Five!

by Yumi Stynes | March 19, 2010 13:53

Yumi gives us the rundown on the new Liam Neeson thriller, why we should give Miley Cyrus' new flick a chance and predicts the new Dreamworks pic will be a hit with the kids

German director Oliver Hirschbiegel is a cool cat.

In 2004 at the age of 47 he suddenly became an international directing hotshot on the strength of his acclaimed feature Downfall. Never mind that he'd already accumulated more than two decades worth of directing experience (including 5 episodes of Inspector Rex - which must be to German directors what Neighbours is to Australian actors); the crossover appeal of his story of Hitler's last days was enough to deliver him the bloated budget and emaciated stars required to assemble the stinker that was The Invasion - a rip-off of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

No matter, he has dusted himself off and given us an economical, clever and thoughtful new film called Five Minutes of Heaven. It's a story based on true events that occurred in 1975 in Northern Ireland, when 17-year-old Protestant Alistair Little shot and killed Catholic Jimmy Griffin in front of his younger brother Joe.

Joe grows up with permanent emotional scars from witnessing the murder of his big brother and fantasises about a revenge killing that might not bring him absolution but will at least deliver five minutes of heaven.

Baritone-voiced widower Liam Neeson stars as the smooth and wealthy adult Alistair. TV character actor James Nesbitt (Murphy's Law, Cold Feet) relishes his role as the tormented adult Joe Griffin.

The first third of Five Minutes of Heaven is fantastically tense - Hirschbiegel depicts innocuous Irish minutiae in such a way that the threat seems to emanate from the very air. Terrific filmmaking.

The action shifts to 33 years later, when a classy reality TV show (this bit is not based on real life, obviously), arranges a meeting between Alistair and Joe, hoping to capture the moment of reconciliation and forgiveness. What unfolds veers into different territory you may have been led to expect. The second half of the film is very different from the first but wonderful and redemptive. For an Irish story with a German director, this is highly accomplished filmmaking and recommended.

Another film I'm recommending for the Twilight crowd is the new Miley Cyrus vehicle The Last Song. The two films are worth comparing because they're both exercises in male longing and deferred desire that seem to particularly appeal to teenage girls but don't discriminate too much; also attracting mums, hip gays and anyone else who likes a good love yarn. Aussie hunk Liam Hemsworth is the guy and if you've thought Miley's appeal was a bit dubious, give her a crack because even though she's unusual looking ("she's got a face like a smashed crab" said one critic at my screening), she has great charisma and does a pretty good job in The Last Song. 

Finally, I want to talk about a film from Dreamworks that I can recommend with great enthusiasm! My kids loved How to Train Your Dragon, I loved it, and it's going to be massive.

It tells a fairly predictable story: A hapless and thoroughly disrespected underdog kid, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel from Knocked Up, Tropic Thunder) is the skinniest non-conformist in his village of courageous and muscled Viking dragon-slayers. He fancies a tough but sweet Viking girl, Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera) but most of all he craves approval from his alpha-male Dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler).

The beauty is in the telling of the story, which is thrilling, emotional and at times, devastating. Hiccup discovers that the dragons which terrorise his village are, like him, chronically misunderstood as he befriends one very special dragon, Toothless.

I have to warn you: There was a moment in the cinema when a few kids under five years all started crying and one of mine started wailing in distress and sucking furiously on her thumb - but the story pulls through, and so will the kids. Highly recommended.

BOTOX CITY

by Yumi Stynes | March 02, 2010 17:50

Yumi Stynes just can't separate botox and the movies.

I recently tried to watch Zack and Miri Make a Porno when it screened on Foxtel but was so distracted by Elizabeth Banks' botoxed face that the movie fell into pieces for me. All I could see was that creepy forehead. Any time Seth Rogen started getting his charm on, I just pictured him staring into that immobilised skin and gulping, holding his breath so he could fake liking a girl vain and silly enough to do that to herself.

A similar distraction nearly brings the new New Zealand drama Separation City undone. Joel Edgerton does a valiant job in the lead as a love-struck married man carrying a torch for another woman. It's Rhona Mitra's other woman, Katrien, who distracts the hell out of me with what appear to be multiple procedures and none of them contributing to her acting skills! *sigh* 

Give me a few more years and let's see how my anti-botox resolve holds... but it's just horrible, HORRIBLE when actresses do that to themselves. Nicole Kidman is another case in point. She's gone from being one of the world's leading actors to one of the most derided, and a large part of that crash in esteem stems from the fact that she can no longer move her face.

 In Separation City a lot of adult concerns are discussed (lip-plumping not among them). There's love. Manhood. Parenting. Passion. Edgerton's Simon is in an unsatisfying marriage to Pam where sex is very low on the agenda. When his passions with Pam are repeatedly thwarted, it's almost natural that they start diverting elsewhere, especially when the woman attracting that attention, Katrien, seems so needy, beautiful (!) and bruised. Simon's stoicism is, to Katrien, a giant asset, and their quest for resolution - or consummation - takes them across continents. I liked the film and it's clear that director Paul Middleditch, who spent the earlier part of his life as a political cartoonist in NZ, has an interesting and thoughtful career ahead of him. Perhaps he'll enjoy greater discretion at future castings too.

The Last Song Reviewed... Twice!

by Tiana Stefanic and Sam Kilborn | February 15, 2010 12:02

Our two interns checked out the latest film starring teen sensation Miley Cyrus. Will their reviews indicate two vastly different responses or will it be unanimous: Cyrus should stick to her alter ego, Hannah Montana? Find out by reading on...

Tiana Stefanic's review

As the latest in a production line of films based on novels by the ubiquitous author Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song is sure to appeal to the same audiences who flocked to previous adaptations of his formulaic weepies including A Walk to Remember (1999), The Notebook (2004), Nights in Rodanthe (2008) and soon to be released Dear John (2010).

Tween sensation Miley Cyrus stars as Veronica ‘Ronnie' Miller, a rebellious teen who must reconcile with her estranged father over a summer reluctantly spent at his beach house on the picturesque Tybee Island in Georgia. Her emotional rollercoaster of a summer break features an intense teenage romance, baby turtles, the healing power of music and realisations about the importance of family.

After perfecting the disaffected surfer look with roles in Aussie soaps Home and Away and Neighbours, young actor Liam Hemsworth convincingly plays a supportive boyfriend here in his first major feature role. Just like brother Chris, who impressively made his Hollywood debut in the 2009 blockbuster Star Trek, Hemsworth has a magnetic screen presence and the potential to shine in more challenging roles in the future. He frequently appears shirtless, providing eye candy for the teenage audience wishing to distract themselves from the unrelenting cheesiness of Ronnie's journey to maturity.

By contrast, the big screen debut of Cyrus as a character other than Hannah Montana is sorely lacking in depth and conviction.

Despite its shortcomings, the coming-of-age story is nicely realised and the film features standout performances by the always reliable Greg Kinnear (as Ronnie's father) and talented newcomer Bobby Coleman (as her younger brother).  Aside from Cyrus' presence and some cringeworthy moments, this is a capably realised and entertaining film.

Sam Kilborn's Review

Author Nicholas Sparks has become a household name thanks to his soppy novels which have been adapted to box office success. Unfortunately his latest offering, The Last Song, directed by Julie Anne Robinson (Grey's Anatomy), will make you cry for an entirely different reason - Miley Cyrus has effectively sabotaged what could have been a rather intriguing film.
 
The story revolves around seventeen-year-old Veronica ‘Ronnie' Miller (Cyrus), who is forced, with her younger brother Jonah (Bobby Coleman), to live with her estranged father Steve (a solid Greg Kinnear) at his Southern beach house. Sounds like a drag, right? The film soon unfolds into a Notebook style summer romance between Cyrus and volleyball playing jock, Will (Liam Hemsworth), and needless to say romance suddenly turns to tragedy in one of the few truly moving scenes of the film.
 
The character of Ronnie was a part specifically written for Cyrus, which makes the teen-sensation's confusion between human turmoil and a constantly snarled upper lip extremely irritating. The audience are left to wonder how effective The Last Song could have been with a different leading lady.
 
Despite monumental flaws in the film, The Last Song will likely prove a box office smash due to the commercial value of Cyrus, and it somehow manages to flow through until its emotionally spurious resolution with only a few grimaces.

As Cyrus half heartedly confirms in the film, "The truth only means something when it's hard to admit!" Well, I think there is one truth we all must admit - Cyrus was more believable as Hannah Montana.

Hurt’s So Good

by Yumi Stynes | February 12, 2010 14:29

Bad child acting In Percy Jackson and possibly the first female to take out the Best Director Oscar?

I knew that young actor Logan Lerman would be more than just a one-off when he gave a luminous performance as Christian Bale's son in 3:10 to Yuma. In that film, directed by James Mangold, he was the trophy in the battle between Bale's flawed and cowardly good guy Dan Evans and Russell Crowe's genuinely badass but charismatic Ben Wade.

All grown up now (he just turned 18) he's the leading man in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, a new fantasy film from a guy who knows a lot about making family-friendly entertainment, Chris Columbus (Harry Potter 1 & 2). 

Any teenage male hottie with a thick head of fashionably-cut dark hair and blue eyes is going to attract comparisons to Zac Efron but I'm afraid Percy Jackson reminded me far more of my colleague Lisa Hensley's review of the last Narnia movie. She said, "Three words: Bad. Child. Acting."  There's a fair bit of that with Lerman's wide-eyed disbelief getting harder to believe and his heroic sword-wielding made me wonder why Taylor Lautner's trainer wasn't available that day? No matter: His female offsider Alexandra Daddario, as Annabeth, will make you long for Megan Fox who at least is consistently awful.

I think the lesson in this is that directing children isn't easy and James Mangold won the contest. Other people rated this movie but it was all a bit Flash Gordon for my liking.

Six months ago The Hurt Locker was going to go straight to DVD in this country, much to the dismay of critics who'd been lucky enough to check in with advance screenings. Fortunately, a whole lotta industrial-strength hype has built up around the film courtesy of several Oscar nominations and now it's getting a cinema release and is being reviewed with gushing praise. It's thrilling to see quiet-achieving director Kathryn Bigelow finally attracting glory and she stands a good chance of being the first female to ever win the Best Director Oscar.

Kathryn Bigelow Top 5
5. James Cameron (1989 - 1991)
Okay, so he's not a film but the fact that she used to be married to the world's most successful director means she must have a tolerance for bull, and that would be primo training for dealing with Hollywood and its actors.
4. Near Dark (1987)
A vampire movie starring Adrian Pasdar, who was the Gael Garcia Benal we had before Gael Garcia Bernal came along.
3.  Strange Days (1995)
Okay, you thought Tom Sizemore was a deviant and Ralph Fiennes was a louche? Here's proof.
2. Blue Steel (1989)
Revolutionary in its time for its portrayal of tough women, starring Jamie Lee Curtis as a cop in peril from a stalker. Bitchin'.
1. Point Break (1991)
Keanu Reeves [as Johnny Utah]: "You're saying the FBI's gonna pay me to learn how to surf?"  Genius, and the first movie I ever paid to see twice at the cinema.

Animal Kingdom Review

by Joel Atkins | February 04, 2010 14:18

Filmink intern Joel Atkins has just come back from a screening of the Sundance Film Fest conquering Animal Kingdom, and had this to say...

In director David Michôd's feature debut, the talented Australian delivers a thrilling and stunning crime tale that promises to be one of Australia's finest films in some time. In this thought provoking and psychological drama, Michôd's cast bring to life the emotional story of a crime driven family.

The home-grown local talent shines through in moments of emotion provoking drama and moments of pure brutal violence. Each member of the diverse and intriguing family brings an amazing aspect to the film. Ben Mendelsohn stars as the psychotic, volatile and at stages comical, oldest brother Pope. His stand out performance as the peculiar criminal draws you in whilst making you afraid of what he is truly capable of. He is supported by Joel Edgerton as the bashful yobbo and Jacki Weaver as the seemingly innocent crime matriarch. The cleverly assembled cast bring to life a story of crime, loyalty and everything in between.

The film follows the journey of 17 year old Josh, who is sent to live with his grandma and four uncles following the death of his mother. Through the young boy's narration we are given an insight into the naive and fragile state of this kid. Surrounded by crime and drugs, Josh must stake his loyalties as he is embroiled into a family life of crime, in which he doesn't belong.

Animal Kingdom entices you with every twist and turn, and ultimately a sense of tragedy is evoked.  Each character has their moment to shine and draw you into their life and story.

Unlike many crime dramas, Animal Kingdom delves deeper into the heart and soul of families, loyalty and the innocence of being a teenager.  This truly stunning film keeps you on your toes thinking throughout, while still providing a mix of good old fashioned "cops and robbers" action.

Brand New Day, Get It?

by Yumi Stynes | January 13, 2010 09:47

Have you heard the one about boys having sexual dreams about Na'vi girls?

Bran Nue Dae is a new, big Australian film and I can't wait to see how it's received by local audiences. I suspect that the same people who embraced the fairly poorly-reviewed Charlie and Boots, are going to get on board and celebrate the brand new day.

It's a cute little film enjoying a lot of cut-through because of some inspired casting. Jessica Mauboy, in real-life a charming, sweet and hard-working country girl, is perfectly cast as the love interest from Broome, WA - a charming, sweet country girl who, like Jessica, is also a pretty talented singer. With up-and-coming singer/songwriter Dan Sultan cast as the bad-boy in the love triangle, the main actor, unknown Rocky McKenzie, has a tough job convincing us that Jessica Mauboy would choose McKenzie's Willie over Dan Sultan's far more attractive and adult Lester. I know who I'd prefer to having strumming on my guitar!

Besides the limited range of the main actor and the passiveness of his character, a few other things imbalance the film. An extended cameo by another singer/songwriter (the far better-known), Missy Higgins is distracting - she's too radiant and working too hard on being likeable for us to ever believe she's someone else, and Geoffrey Rush as Father Benedictus proves that sometimes the Christmas ham really does go off.

Overall though, the effect is positive, and audiences are pretty much guaranteed to leave the cinema smiling. It's old-fashioned filmmaking, and the result is a film you could take your mum, grandma, and children to see.

(Not like Avatar! - If you're around school-age children you may have heard of a syndrome going around called ‘Pandorum' where kids who mightn't have been allowed in to see Avatar alone but were escorted by their parents or friends, are being disturbed by nightly dreams of large greenie-blue alien beings. And older boys are reporting having sexual dreams about Na'vi girls. No joke!)

Over on the far more serious side of filmmaking is the new Clint Eastwood adventure Invictus. The film follows the classic sports movie formula - underdog team faces insurmountable odds but must use extensive montage sequences to train and overcome their issues of self-worth to triumph on and off the field. Only this time the hurdle they must overcome is South Africa's history of apartheid and racial oppression. And this time the guy giving the pep talks is Nelson Mandela! Genius. It's a genius idea, put together brilliantly by gentleman director Clint Eastwood, who proves once and for all that he's not shy of a little slow-mo in key action sequences.

I love Clint and won't hear a bad word about him but the real revelation here is Matt Damon, who looks like he was born to play the part of Springboks team captain, Francois Pienaar. Their physical similarities are remarkable and Matt finally loses that preppy white-boy naffness he's carried through all his roles, and looks, at last, like a man.

Manhood and fatherhood are very much at the forefront of the The Road, which is out January 28. The highly acclaimed novel on which the film is based was written by Cormac McCarthy, the same guy who wrote No Country For Old Men - and I recommend you try to read the book before seeing the film. Both texts offer no explanation as to how the world has reached such a diabolical state of breakdown but in the book one feels a certain acceptance of this post-apocalyptic world. Unprepared viewers of the film may find themselves waiting for an inevitable denouement where everything is explained and happiness arrives. Oops. Fans of the novel will be pleased to hear that the film is very faithful to the book and actor Viggo Mortensen is wonderfully heartbreaking as the father.

Boxing Day Bonanza and Brittany Murphy

by Yumi Stynes | December 23, 2009 11:39

Lots of movies coming out on Boxing Day, and poor Brittany Murphy...

There are two main talking points in the new Sherlock Holmes movie. One is Robert Downey Jr's amazing shirtless torso in a slow-motion fight scene. 44 year-old Downey manages to prove that some men really are like children: they improve with age. 

The other astonishing scene is a slow-motion explosion scene so audaciously good that the movie completely drops out after it. No matter. I'm curious about whether actor Andy Garcia (The Untouchables) has noticed that Mark Strong, playing the villain Lord Blackwood, has completely stolen his look. Weird! Never have two actors looked so similar. (Or not since Tobey Maguire and Topher Grace last hung out anyway.)

It's also great to see Jude Law reimagined as a flawed sidekick. Giving the British playboy actor a break from leading-man roles was a genius idea because he seems to have been set free to play and have fun while also competing furiously against the charismatic Robert Downey Jr for maximum acting chops. It's fun. With Sherlock Holmes, director Guy Ritchie may finally be able to kick the tag "The Artist Formerly Married to Madonna".

Another actor who was always better in support roles than leading ones is the sadly demised Brittany Murphy! She specialised in cute, little girl characters and first came to our attention as a chubby, bubbly ‘Tai' in Clueless. Her recent career got a bit B-grade but she has 3 films in post-production and you can still hear her voice work in the animated comedy series King of the Hill.

My Favourite Brittany Murphy Movies - Top 5:

Clueless

8 Mile

The Dead Girl

Freeway

Sin City

Did You Hear About the Morgans? is a new romantic comedy about an estranged married couple who have to go into witness protection after one of Sarah Jessica Parker's clients is pushed off a balcony. Yawn! Okay, so it's utterly predictable and mostly charmless but I must confess to finding (the usually insufferable) Hugh Grant, as the cheating husband, quite adept in this role at wringing a small chuckle from the stupidest lines. SJP, perhaps taking a break from looking like she's about to exclaim "Because I'm worth it!" actually looks kinda frumpy and her hair needs a conditioning treatment. Do you care about the Morgans? Not one bit. A good movie for a doona day at home.

You'll care more for Susie Salmon, the main character in The Lovely Bones. Played radiantly by Saoirse Ronan (the creepy little girl in Atonement), she's the 14 year-old star of the story. It's clear from the start of the film (and the book, by Alice Sebold), that Susie has been killed and she's narrating the story from Heaven. This knowledge doesn't exonerate you from sickening dread as the story edges closer to her inexorable murder.

Kiwi director Peter Jackson said that he wanted to make this a film teenagers could go and see - considering, I believe, his own daughters as potential viewers - and his touch is delicate and considerate and he makes great effort to respectfully depict the thoughts and fantasies of a teenage girl. 

A lot of the greenscreen scenes (studio-shot content where the background is later superimposed using computers) are lunky and plastic, unfortunately, but there are really great, goosebump moments in The Lovely Bones.

All You Need Is Love by Yumi Stynes

by Yumi Stynes | December 14, 2009 09:29

Away We Go, Broken Embraces and Nowhere Boy. Love, love, love!

When the casting of John Krasinski was announced for role of Jim in the American The Office I was a little aghast. His English predecessor Tim, played by Martin Freeman was a short man, crumpled and a bit hopeless, wearing a permanent hangdog expression that made it clear his future contained neither inbuilt privilege nor luck. Perfect for Tim, one of life's underdogs, destined (hopefully) for love but never for greatness. Jim, on the other hand, was athletic with great teeth and though he worked hard to disguise it with the hairstyle equivalent of a cardigan, he was handsome.

Krasinski made Jim work because his character evolved away from Tim and his hopelessness became self-imposed. Krasinski looks poised to become this generation's John Corbett. 

Corbett is an actor who made his career playing gentle guys who worship women.

John Corbett's Top 3 SNAGs

Max - The United States of Tara.
The long-suffering husband of Toni Collette's mega-Crazytown Tara, he puts up with an army of psycho female personalities from just one wife!

Aidan Shaw - Sex and the City
The long-suffering lover of Sarah Jessica Parker's Carrie Bradshaw, he offers her loyalty, sturdiness and trust: direct opposition to Big's manly cold indifference.

Chris Stevens - Northern Exposure
The thoughtful and kinda groovy radio announcer of small-town Cicely, Alaska, he portrayed sensitivity, loyalty and a love of women and set it off with a Jesus haircut.

Krasinski is one of the stars of the new Sam Mendes film Away We Go and he establishes his SNAG credentials in the opening sex scenes. It's pretty funny! His hotness is disguised with a woolly beard and he plays Burt, a mid-30s insurance salesman deeply in love with his girlfriend Verona (Maya Rudolph). On discovering that his parents really don't care about the impending birth of their grandchild, Burt and Verona set off on a road trip zig-zagging America, looking for prototype parents to emulate.

This comedy, like the couple, is shambling and likeable. It's been criticised for its lack of structure but I quite liked its form. My main hesitation in recommending this film is that it really is only for people who have or really want children. If that's you then this film is recommended.

I'm fascinated to hear that English art-world hero and director of Nowhere Boy, 42 year-old Sam Taylor Wood, hooked up with her 19 year-old star Aaron Johnson and months after the film's completion, they are still together. He's impossibly cute as a young John Lennon in the film, with none of Lennon's angular sharpness but enough of his charm to push through the idea that this kid will eventually become a Beatle. If you're a fan this film offers you a terrific version of the key events in Lennon's adolescence and maybe a few clues about what led him to Yoko Ono. The scenes where Paul McCartney and other close friends react to the tragedy in Lennon's life are particularly good and for me, offer a moving and true insight into the bonds between boys in bands.

Finally, this is a time of year when a lot more people head out to the cinema than usual, so I'd like to offer my pick of the bunch. If you haven't already been sucked in to the maelstrom of Avatar hype, and you're the sort of person who can hack subtitles, then you need to go and see Broken Embraces. The film is the latest collaboration between Spanish auteur director Pedro Almodovar and his favourite actress Penelope Cruz. She stars as a gifted wannabe actress and sometime call-girl who falls passionately in love with her director, Mateo (Lluís Homar). The tragedy that ensues from their inability to compromise their art forms the greater part of the story, but it's joyful in its sadness and celebrates love. Love! It's inspiring. Just what you need this time of year.

Happy Christmas with love from Yumi. X X X