When I heard that Martin Scorsese was adapting the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs I was intrigued as it didn’t seem like something I thought he would be interested in doing. I saw Infernal Affairs before I saw the adaptation and it was interesting as it seemed to be influenced by Scorsese’s style and the way he shot his gangster films.

I didn’t get to see The Departed during the first theatrical release, but when I saw that it was being rereleased, I slipped out of work a little bit early one day and caught it in the theatre.

Knowing the broad outlines of the characters and plot allowed me to notice the style a bit more that I would have the first time through. While the film is violent, it didn’t seem to dwell on it as much as Scorese’s other gangster films. At this point in his career Scorsese could make a film in his sleep, so it is very interesting to see the things that he tries out in terms of constructing a film in the visuals, plot and the editing. The added twist with the Departed is seeing how some shots match the original with most of the plot intact with changes that reflect Scorsese’s sensibilities and strengths. It isn’t Scorsese’s best film, but it’s filled with some great performances (one of Leonardo DiCaprio’s best that I’ve seen) and is solid.

With The Last King of Scotland, Kevin MacDonald follows on the compelling mixture of documentary with dramatic re-creations in Touching the Void with a film that exists within the margins of historical fact. By placing a Scottish doctor into Uganda who happens to become Idi Amin’s personal physician, it provides an opportunity for a character study and a reflection on moral choices that are made. With an amazing performance by Forrest Whittaker as Amin and an equally compelling one by James McAvoy, it is a fascinating look at history from a different point of view.

Charlotte Gainsbourg has a distinctive voice that is quiet and lovely with flawless English and French accents probably from her parents. 5:55 is filled with her whispering and quiet voice combined with synthesizers and piano to create pop songs that I find quite enjoyable.

John Hodgman has written a plausible, but fictional collection of facts that is very, very funny. The Areas of My Expertise is part of the tradition of Woody Allen’s Without Feathers, Steve Martin’s Cruel Shoes or Jon Stewart’s Naked Pictures of Famous People. Hodgman has a strange collection of anecdotes, facts, lists, and tables that are imaginative and create a parallel world filled with hobos, mysterious floating states, and alternate histories. It’s a great book to dip into for a laugh or to sit down and carefully read to find a unique perspective on the world.

Born to Kill is a classic film noir that surprised me with the collection of characters that are in the film. Directed by Robert Wise, it prominently features strong women in roles that challenge the conventional portrayal of women in films at the time.

Delightfully amoral at times, it can be funny and dark at the same time. Well-shot with a somewhat convoluted structure, it’s must for fans of film noir.

Andrei Tarkovsky made some of the most beautiful and melancholic films that I’ve seen. I discovered him via “Solaris”: and it probably was the first art house film that I saw. Slowly paced, poetic and beautifully shot, it was intriguing and different from anything that I’d seen before. Years later I saw Nostalghia which was filled with some of the most strikingly beautiful images ever seen on film.

Finally I saw Stalker which is a story about a man who takes people into a mysterious Zone that contains a room where wishes come true. The Zone is guarded and it is dangerous to travel there and the bulk of the film consists of the journey into the Zone with Stalker who guides Writer and Professor there. But a description of the plot doesn’t really explain the film which is more visual and poetic than literal (as you can probably guess from characters known as Writer and Professor).
Stalker mixes sepia-toned scenes with scenes shot in colour all with an incredible attention to detail. It is set in a decaying world filled with people without hope, yet somehow it has a beauty. It washes over you and is haunting, slow and strangely compelling like all of Tarkovsky’s work.

At this point with an amazing body of work Tom Waits could release a greatest hits double-cd with 20 or 30 songs drawn from his past and throw in a couple of new songs and it would make lots of people very happy. But that’s not the type of artist that Tom Waits is and instead he has a collection of 56 songs, some old and most new that are all distinctive and beautiful.

Every new Tom Waits recording is the same for me. I listen the first time and not everything seems to click with me, but a few tracks I will instantly fall in love with. The same thing happened this time and then with repeated listening it starts to fit me in the way that a shoe starts to fit you better and better the more you walk in it. So now I’m very comfortable with the wonderful sounds and lyrics that I love listening to.

The songs cover the whole range of Tom Waits and what he’s capable of with a beautiful melancholy feeling that is bittersweet and always welcome.

One of the best quotes that I saw from Ray Bradbury commenting on his writing was “I don’t try to predict the future, I try to prevent it.” In watching Children of Men (adapted from P.D. James’ novel) I thought about the present and the near future a lot. It’s a bleak vision of the future that is shot in a hand-held, immediate way with virtuoso shots that go on and on, enhancing the experience and lending a documentary feel to the entire experience.

Within the film are some of the most incredible extended sequences that I’ve ever seen in a film.

It immerses you in a world and tells a story in an immediate and fragmented nature that gradually allows you to piece the bigger picture together. While some darker films may wallow in the muck of the world that is created, there is a dignity and respect that Alfonso Cuaron has for the characters that kept me going through the darker stretches of the film. The darkness is also balanced with some humorous moments and harrowing action sequences that make for one of the best films that I’ve seen in a very long time.

Shot over 42 years, the documentary series that began with 7 Up returned to follow the lives of people in England every seven years. I first saw 28 Up and have watched the other films since then, which means that I’ve been following the series for 21 years now. By seeing how a group of people age and change over a period of time provides a unique perspective on their lives and how things have changed for them. It also provides a parallel with my own life, which has changed a lot over the past 21 years. While the context outside of the documentary has changed with the contrived situations of reality television, the latest instalment is a bit more self-reflexive with most of the participants much more settled and content than in earlier instalments. Director Michael Apted has been with the series since the beginning and took over the directorial duties beginning with 14 Up. It’s a fascinating and somewhat voyeuristic look into how things change over time.

Kid Koala’s reputation preceded him and I listened to him performing some songs live and the sounds that he squeezes out of turntable are amazing. With a jazzy feel and infectious beats, he has to be heard to be believed. Layering sound upon sound he takes scratching to the next level and adds a musicality that transcends and refines the genre.