City of God, Cidade de Deus. In the beginning I begin to suspect influences from Scorsese and Innaritu but then half way through I realize this is a whole different animal. Still, the comparison to Goodfellas is inevitable, because it is a similar kind of story- a narrated, almost documentary-like chronicle about.. gangsters. But where Goodfellas was a story you about familiar kind of people from familiar places, City of God transports you to a place where the fate of these people is inevitable- the slums outside Rio, where everything seems alien.. yet familiar- for they are only children. Expect a full review very soon! This one is for the ages.

De-Lovely, the story of Cole Porter’s life, has a brilliant opening act and closes with a flourish. It’s quite a shame it has a meandering middle. I think most of the problem lies in the fact that the story and character development solely relies on the telling through Porter’s songs. While this is novel to start with, when my wide-eyed wonder begun to dim, I was wondering if I was reading too much or too little in to the songs. Kevin Kline is super in the role and carries much of the material alone. Overall, serves as a masterful requiem for Porter that will bring his fans to smiles and cheers. But don’t expect it to do much else.

Spectacular documentary about the inner-workings of controversial Arab news channel Al Jazeera. The news channel has been called the ‘mouthpiece for Osama’ by the president of the USA and has been castigated in Arab countries for being a western influence. The role of Al Jazeera in a culture where free speech is a novel concept is very interesting. If Farenheit 9/11 was the story you knew if you read all the right newspapers, then Control Room is the story you sort of suspected.

I just counted- with this film, I’ve now seen 24 directed by Woody Allen. That’s easily more than any other single director; easily more than most have made in a lifetime. And you know what? He probably has the best success rate with me as well. Anything Else is his only effort I’ve been seriously disappointed with. This film, Alice is a delightful exercise in psychotherapy of the title character played by Mia Farrow- psychotherapy through herbal medicines, opium and hypnosis by a strange doctor in Chinatown. But all that is just subterfuge, just waving hands, simply a plot device that allows Woody Allen to make Alice have bizarre personal experiences- ghosts of her past, a muse, invisibility- that help her understand and then change her life for the better. This was also the last film Farrow did for Woody Allen.

Director Elia Kazan’s supposed explanation for his actions (naming names for the House of UnAmerican Activities), On the Waterfront has a script and actors that feel like they wouldn’t even need a director. But oh what a director they have. ‘I coulda been a contender’- that speech alone is worth price of admission. Rank it up there with ‘And then your enemies would be my enemies’ as Don Corleone.