Thirtyish college (Cambridge) chums, along with their significant others, gather in a big house in the English countryside and take turns flinging home truths and barbed one-liners at... read more

Thirtyish college (Cambridge) chums, along with their significant others, gather in a big house in the English countryside and take turns flinging home truths and barbed one-liners at one another. Kenneth Branagh's film, written by Martin Bergman and Rita Rudner, is a British knockoff of "The Big Chill," and it's even more chilling than its glib American counterpart. The picture is meant to be funny and dramatic, but it plays like a horror movie: its world is one that, as a result of some unspeakable catastrophe, has been overrun by arrogant, self-absorbed poseurs. It's "Day of the Pseuds," in Twit-o-Vision. With Branagh, Rudner, Emma Thompson, Stephey Fry, Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton, Alphonsia Emmanuel, and Tony Slattery. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker (hide)

"Remember, remember the fifth of November," for on this day, in 2020, the minds of the masses shall be set free. So says code-name V (Hugo Weaving), a... read more

"Remember, remember the fifth of November," for on this day, in 2020, the minds of the masses shall be set free. So says code-name V (Hugo Weaving), a man on a mission to shake society out of its blank complacent stares in the film V for Vendetta. His tactics, however, are a bit revolutionary, to say the least. The world in which V lives is very similar to Orwell's totalitarian dystopia in 1984: after years of various wars, England is now under "big brother" Chancellor Adam Sutler (played by John Hurt, who played Winston Smith in the movie 1984), whose party uses force and fear to run the nation. After they gained power, minorities and political dissenters were rounded up and removed; artistic and unacceptable religious works were confiscated. Cameras and microphones are littered throughout the land, and the people are perpetually sedated through the governmentally controlled media. Taking inspiration from Guy Fawkes, the 17th century co-conspirator of a failed attempt to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1605, V dons a Fawkes mask and costume and sets off to wake the masses by destroying the symbols of their oppressors, literally and figuratively. At the beginning of his vendetta, V rescues Evey (Natalie Portman) from a group of police officers and has her live with him in his underworld lair. It is through their relationship where we learn how V became V, the extremities of the party's corruption, the problems of an oppressive government, V's revenge plot, and his philosophy on how to induce change.

Based on the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore, V for Vendetta's screenplay was written by the Wachowski Brothers (of The Matrix fame) and directed by their protégé, James McTeigue. Controversy and criticism followed the film since its inception, from the hyper-stylized use of anarchistic terrorism to overthrow a corrupt government and the blatant jabs at the current U.S. political arena, to graphic novel fans complaining about the reconstruction of Alan Moore's original vision (Moore himself has dismissed the film). Many are valid critiques and opinions, but there's no hiding the message the film is trying to express: Radical and drastic events often need to occur in order to shake people out of their state of indifference in order to bring about real change. Unfortunately, the movie only offers a means with no ends, and those looking for answers may find the film stylish, but a bit empty. --Rob Bracco

On the DVDs
On disc 1 is a 16-minute documentary "Freedom! Forever!: Making V for Vendetta" with discussions on the movie's origin and themes by the principal cast and crew (no Alan Moore or Wachowskis, to no one's surprise, but the graphic novel's illustrator David Lloyd is on hand to call the movie "a very good version"). On disc 2 is a 17-minute production featurette, a 10-minute history of Guy Fawkes, and the 15-minute "England Prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics." Lloyd and others from the comics industry such as Paul Levitz and Bill Sienkiwicz talk about the graphic novel and how it appealed to a different, older audience. The second menu of the second disc also has an easy-to-find Easter egg of a rapping and swearing Natalie Portman on Saturday Night Live. --David Horiuchi

Beyond the Film

The graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd	More by Alan Moore	From Graphic Novel to Big Screen
More by Natalie Portman	More by Hugo Weaving	More by the Wachowski Brothers

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Gosford Park finds director Robert Altman in sumptuously fine form indeed. From the opening shots, as the camera peers through the trees at an opulent English country estate,... read more

Gosford Park finds director Robert Altman in sumptuously fine form indeed. From the opening shots, as the camera peers through the trees at an opulent English country estate, Altman exploits the 1930s period setting and whodunit formula of the film expertly. Aristocrats gather together for a weekend shooting party with their dutiful servants in tow, and the upstairs/downstairs division of the classes is perfectly tailored to Altman's method (as employed in Nashville and Short Cuts) of overlapping bits of dialogue and numerous subplots in order to betray underlying motives and the sins that propel them. Greed, vengeance, snobbery, and lust stir comic unrest as the near dizzying effect of brisk script turns is allayed by perhaps Altman's strongest ensemble to date. First and foremost, Maggie Smith is marvelous as Constance, a dependent countess with a quip for every occasion; Michael Gambon, as the ill-fated host, Sir William McCordle, is one of the most palpably salacious characters ever on screen; Kristin Scott Thomas is perfectly cold yet sexy as Lady Sylvia, Sir William's wife; and Helen Mirren, Emily Watson, and Clive Owen are equally memorable as key characters from the bustling servants' quarters below. Gosford Park manages to be fabulously entertaining while exposing human shortcomings, compromises, and our endless need for confession. --Fionn Meade (hide)

I.Q. has all the elements of a classic romantic comedy. Certainly Meg Ryan has demonstrated she has the stuff for funny love with films such as When Harry... read more

I.Q. has all the elements of a classic romantic comedy. Certainly Meg Ryan has demonstrated she has the stuff for funny love with films such as When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle, and director Fred Schepisi's Roxanne ranks among top contemporary romantic comedies. Even though Tim Robbins received acclaim for dramatic work in Jacob's Ladder and The Shawshank Redemption, his early comedic work shouldn't be forgotten (well, maybe Howard the Duck, but not the hilarious Sure Thing). And Walter Matthau? No explanation needed.

Combine I.Q.'s talent with its fresh story and it charms. Garage mechanic Ed Walters (Robbins) is captivated at first glimpse by pretty, perky Catherine (Ryan), a gifted academic who lives with her uncle, Albert Einstein (a brilliant Matthau). Catherine is engaged to pretentious James Moreland (the oh-so-appropriate English actor and writer Stephen Fry). Catherine's early 1950s world is all bookish and brainy, even though she has aspirations toward the romantic (Moreland's idea of a honeymoon is the Belgian Congo with Pygmies; she longs for Hawaii). Einstein and his professor pals, played by Lou Jacobi, Gene Saks, and Joseph Maher, conspire to match their beloved Catherine with the sincere and smart (though not intellectual) Ed.

This is a sweet--but not saccharine--story about "engineering" the course of true love and the ironic triumph of heart over head. The topnotch performances (which also include Tony Shalhoub and Frank Whaley as fellow mechanics) really draw audiences into this winning movie. --N.F. Mendoza (hide)