One of the best films in the last year, Invictus is a highly emotional story of post apartheid South Africa. Although it focuses on Nelson Mandela (with a brilliant performance from Morgan Freeman) and Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon does a decent job), the most memorable scenes involve Mandela's security guards, initially all black but soon "integrated" with some tough white guys from the previous regime. The movie manipulates your emotions on how black and white are united through Mandela's insistence. And it is great to be manipulated. It is all down to the most wonderful direction from Clint Eastwood.
It is hard to put into words my feelings about A Single Man. However much I wanted to agree that Colin Firth deserved his BAFTA for best actor, I just could not. Don't get me wrong, he was very good. But whether it was his character or the script, I did not feel at all sympathetic to his loss. I thought that Mathew Goode as his dead lover was brilliant in the flashbacks. And Juliana Moore can do no wrong. When the highlight is her dancing with Colin Firth to "Green Onions" by Booker t and The MG's, something is wrong. I guess that Tom Ford could not quite cut it in his first directorial role.
I had no great optimism about The Wolfman being other than standard B Movie fare. What I did not expect was to be reminded so much of the Hammer films I used to see in the 60's. They always padded out the action with scenes in the local inn where the horrors that have taken place locally are discussed. And this was repeated in this modern version. But as "harmless" fun, this movie passed the test, just. The stand out section came over halfway when the action unexpectedly transfers from the countryside to London. If only there had been more like that.
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