“You! Yeah, you in the suit! Take a shower, hippie!”— Carl Fredricksen Carl Fredricksen is one of the most endearing characters in recent film history. He’s a grumpy old and eccentric man who loved his wife beyond everything. And he hates people who bother him. (Who doesn’t?) It also helps that Fredricksen was partly based [...]

“Are you kidding me? RoboCop?!”— Anchorwoman There is only one good scene in RoboCop 3; an anchorwoman recites the fabricated news that RoboCop has once again killed a lot of people. Then, in the best performance of the film, her face turns to puzzlement and, while standing up, she shouts to her colleague, “C’mon, this [...]

Trust me when I say that Lee Daniels’s Precious will be one of the best films of 2009. Yes, I’m making that statement by only having seen the trailer — sue me. Gabourey Sidibe is fierce, believable and incredibly talented as the main character, Precious Jones. If this girl is willing to work for it and to take good acting decisions, I’m foreseeing a great career for her.

“People like Sheba think they know what it is to be lonely. But of the drip, drip of the long-haul, no-end-in-sight solitude, they know nothing. What it’s like to construct an entire weekend around a visit to the launderette. Or to be so chronically untouched that the accidental brush of a bus conductor’s hand sends [...]

Studio Ghibli took over this week with My Neighbour Tortoro, Princess Mononoke and My Neighbours the Yamadas. Also this week, Confessions of a Shopaholic disappointed, Yes Man failed, and Audrey Hepburn was enchanting.

A week that started on an awful note, with Testosterone and Death Race, but one which ended on the uttermost of excellent notes, with two Merchant Ivory productions (Howards End and Maurice).