Let The Right One In

Director - Tomas Alfredson

Genre - Drama/Mystery/Horror

A devastatingly unsweetened film about an unlikely friendship forged in blood and terror. Based on a Swedish novel, a Hollywood remake is already in the pipeline and it isn't hard to see why. This chilling tale shines a light on what it means to be a vampire and no, it isn't pretty like 'Twilight'. The novelist reportedly didn't set out to write a book about vampires, only a look back on his childhood mixed in with fictional, terrifying encounters to overcome. Eli, a girl who lives on the precious red fluid fueling our existence is manifested from this idea and god almighty, she is one hell of a dark creature! Not so much a breath, but a torrent of fresh air.

5 STARS!

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Achilles and the Tortoise

Director - Takeshi Kitano

Genre - Comedy

Morbid humor surrounds this film like vultures homing in on a corpse. Ironically, this comedy of the macabre is also the much needed ingredient which saved Kitano's creation from being too dark to digest. Helping ease the otherwise depressing atmosphere as well are the ample placements of paintings drawn by the director. We must add that after seeing these works of art, we felt a sudden surge of respect for Kitano. The story of Machisu, a privileged kid who grew up to be a poor, struggling artist due to his father's business failure and subsequent suicide is largely used as a tool for Kitano to express his feelings about the art world. In this world, Machisu finds that it isn't easy to become a famous painter as art (like movies) is subjective and evaluated differently from one person to the next.

3.5 STARS!

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Crazy Heart

Director - Scott Cooper

Genre - Drama/Music/Romance

Jeff Bridges puts on a stetson hat to play Bad Blake, a fictionalized country crooner who is washed up, liqueured up and filled with a regretful past. Taking its time to flesh out the character of Bad, this film doesn't offer much else but the performance of a lifetime for Bridges. Which could mean a bad or good thing, depending on how you look at it. Colin Farrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal gave serviceable performances but their roles were just there as mere props. It is as if they were backup singers to the real deal and that was Bridges. Watch this if you're a fan of Bridges or simply if you're curious why he won the Best Actor Oscar. If you're in the latter category, the proof is in the pudding. The man made a mediocre picture stand way out with his presence.

3 STARS!

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My Name Is Khan

Director - Karan Johar

Genre - Drama/Romance

Shot mostly in the States, this motion picture by Karan Johar is not only worth a look, it serves a deeper purpose. Johar's works have always been about the connectivity of souls, with love being the binding agent. Here, he used the tragedy of that infamous day, September 11, to convey his social responsibility to the world. Shahrukh Khan plays a Muslim man with autism. Kajol (a Hindu) is the soulmate who takes on his name in marriage, thereby forever changing their destinies in a devastating time for both Americans and good Muslims. There are many instances where the story gets rather preachy and ungrounded, but through it all, Johar's noble intention of spreading peace and harmony in the face of a horrible event is worth commending. Our names or religions don't dictate who we are as people. We're the 1minutefilmreview posse, and WE TOO ARE NOT TERRORISTS (but if your movie stinks, get ready to be shot down by our words!).

3 STARS!

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Edge of Darkness

Director - Martin Campbell

Genre - Crime/Drama/Thriller

Another conspiracy-based story. Hollywood never gets tired of supplying the market with movies where evil, classified projects are uncovered, resulting in deaths and the eventual avenging of these murdered innocents. When Gibson decided to take on a role after a long hiatus from acting, we felt hey, this might be worth a look. Boy, were we ever wrong! Gibson landed himself a part that could've been played by Charles Bronson, Steven Seagal or Jean-Claude Van Damme. Sure, none of those actors have Gibson's depth by a mile but is that really needed in a picture like this? The script starts out with Gibson who plays a detective watching his daughter killed right in front of him. He is beyond grief and gets right into finding out what actually caused his only child to be destroyed in this manner. What follows is not the edge of darkness, but rather teetering on the edge of our tolerance for this type of stories. Forgettable and marinated in unimaginative plot.

2.5 STARS!

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