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Splice (2009) 6/10 is a biological horror film set in the near-future world of genetic engineering. Hotshot bio-scientists Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley have had so much success as a husband and wife team that they've been given total freedom by their rather slack bosses to do whatever they like for their next project. The result is a quite remarkable human-animal crossbreed that grows very quickly and starts fucking everything up bigstyle while still seeming human enough (the creature was played by a real actor) that you don't just want it to be killed like any old moster. Sympathy for the thing is enhanced by the two arrogant scientists not being very likeable from the outset (he, because he's played by Brody, more than her).
Inglourious Basterds (2009) 8/10 is the best thing QT has done since Pulp Fiction but I found it a bit too talky and sometimes pretentious. The good bits are really good though and I wanted to like it more; the fact that I didn't has more to do with my own failings than the film's.
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) 8/10 is a Ken Loach film about Republican paramilitary (and later political) action in Ireland in the 1920s. The British Empire at that time was in control of the entire island of Ireland and embittered English soldiers fresh from the savagery of First World War trenches brutally oppressed the Irish civilian population. In this completely one-sided but very enjoyable film a bunch of brave Irish young men join the IRA and start to fight back. The story combines shows the big, overall paramilitary and political machinations alongside the affecting personal story of a young man (Cillian Murphy) who was about to quit Ireland for London to become a doctor but changes his mind to fight for his country's cause, with shattering consequences.
Festen (aka The Celebration) (1998) 9/10 is a low budget Danish film, one that supposedlyadheres to the 'Dogme 95 Manifesto' which dictates that that films be as natural as possible in every way: handheld camera, available light, real sound etc. A wealthy patriarch is throwing a party to celebrate his 60th birthday at his large country house for all his family and friends. During the course of the celebrations and meal, dark, damaging secrets emerge and wayward family members, guests and even staff get totally out of control on drink and violence. This is filmmaking at its rawest and most riveting and it's surprisingly accessible so anyone half-tempted shouldn't let the film's avant-garde image and reputation (which is mostly bullshit) put them off.
Requiem for a Dream (2000) 9/10 is a tough watch but less so if you know what's coming, and it's totally worth it anyway. Ellen Burstyn's hallucination scene where the TV show comes into her apartment is magnificent.
The Time of the Wolf (2002) 7/10 is a post-apocalyptic drama set in France directed by Michael Haneke. So don't expect a barrell of laughs - or even a single one. There's some horrible stuff in here and not much relief - Haneke likes to really rub the abject misery he's created right into the face of his audience so, for example, there's one scene lasting minutes just of a wretched woman wailing and wailing in foreign over the tiny grave of her newly dead child. Surely one of the most grating sounds there is, and the director knows it and wants you to hear it for a long time. People fight, trick, betray and abuse each other constantly and from start to finish I had a clear sense that this is in all likelihood as accurate a representation of what the end of the world will be like as any I've seen.
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