15 minutes into writer/director Mike Leigh’s saga centering on ever cheerful primary school teacher Pauline a.k.a. ‘Poppy’ (Sally Hawkins), one wonders about her annoying, unfunny and hugely irrelevant conversations.  By the film’s end, Leigh and actress Hawkins will have everyone cheering for this wonderful unforgettable human being – a feat that credits HAPPY-GO-LUCKY as one of the best films of the year.

Director Ridley Scott (BLADE RUNNER, ALIEN) returns to BLACK HAWK DOWN (to me, his best film) territory with the action suspense BODY OF LIES based on the novel by Washington Post’s David Ignatius.  The story revolves around two men with a clash of cultures.  One is CIA operative, Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) doing a fine but dirty job in the Middle-East and the other, his cunning but experienced boss, Ed Horrman (Russell Crowe) working at home in the U.S.

Director Gary Fleder’s inspiration sports drama THE EXPRESS follows all the rules of the sport film genre, playing it safe from start to finish.  Based on the true story of the first black football player to win the Heisman award, the film is a sort of rags to riches to tragedy story.

What is a ROCKNROLLA?  As one thug Archie (Mark Strong) says to wealth and fame wannabes in the film, a rocknrolla is one that wants the money, the sex game, the drug, the glamour, the fame i.e. the f***ing lot.” In a way, director Guy Ritchie’s film is the same way.  It wants all the success of his LOCK STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS and SNATCH hits by copying the identical formula and style of those two gangster films.

In LA GRAINE ET LE MULET (or Couscous), the French have a go at dysfunctional family drama.  The story concerns Slimane (Habib Boufares), a 60-plus ex-boat repairer who decides to use his severance pay to open a restaurant on a boat with the help of his family.  His ex-wife cooks the house speciality – the fish couscous while his children serve.  The restaurant start-up is aided by the daughter (Hafsia Herzi) of Slimane’s new lover.  Kechiche’s script offers lots of opportunity for family arguments, which he orchestrates well towards the climax.