Lumière Editor TIM WONG recaps a year’s worth of highlights, frustrations, and small triumphs in the world of film, with Top Ten lists from DAVID LEVINSON, ALEXANDER BISLEY, PHILIP MATTHEWS, JACOB POWELL, and DARREN BEVAN.

Aaron Sorkin/USA/1999-2005; R4, 44-disc set
Warner Bros, $250 | Reviewed by Adrian Wilson

WHEN I was fourteen I started watching The West Wing. Unfortunately I only had enough smarts to know that I didn’t understand most of it, and given that it’s a talky and technical political drama you’d think that it would probably only work on a cerebral level. Nevertheless, there was something else about it that hooked me and drew me in. After following it through for seven seasons, over eight particularly formative years, I can’t emphasise enough the profound influence that it’s had on me. I can also attempt to articulate what its “something” is, which to my mind serves to make it the best TV show ever; or at the very least, the best American political drama to come from the network television system in the past decade.

A roundup/recap of the current best and rest in film. In this installment: Into the Wild, Juno, The Golden Compass, Control, Priceless, Venus.

Alfred Hitchcock/USA/1950-56; R4
Warner Bros, NZ$9.95 each | Reviewed by Tim Wong

CULTIVATING a serious streak during his Warner Bros years, Alfred Hitchcock’s mastery of suspense found gravitas in films like The Wrong Man (1956), even if the public were less than enamoured with the results. A commercial disappointment, it’s an example of Hitch at his most solemnly straightforward, forgoing his trademark cameo so as to not detract from the real-life ordeal of Manny Balestrero, embodied here by Hollywood’s noblest star, Henry Fonda. Mistakenly identified and charged with armed robbery, Fonda walks the line as an innocent everyman defiled by the justice system; his loving wife, the undervalued Vera Miles, lacks the same grace under pressure, committed to an asylum after seeds of doubt trigger a mental breakdown. The striking New York locations inject some much-needed soul into the true crime material – a noir without any moral grey areas – as do several unusually heartfelt scenes between Fonda and his family. As such, the film is never bogged down in austerity, but remains one of Hitchcock’s saddest tales all the same. Tellingly, when Fonda finally confronts an institutionalised Miles with news of his acquittal, we’re afforded neither a medical miracle or moment of joy – just the bitter pill of an end credits coda to swallow.

Reviewed by David Levinson

STUBBORN and declamatory, like a tombstone, the title card to Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford doesn’t appear until the film’s end, shovelling the last 160 minutes into a single dry-retch of historical detail. But then again, like Dick Liddil (one of the “petty thieves” enlisted by Frank and Jesse James) says early on: “You can hide things in vocabulary.” In the case of Dominik’s prim mouthful, what’s hidden is trauma – the way Jesse, beyond being the merely assassinated, burned through Ford’s consciousness with such force that in the end he had to be put out. By reinvoking both men for the sake of The Assassination..., Dominik, who last courted celebrity killer Chopper Reed, isn’t hoping to penetrate the flame of their existence – only to stand close enough to feel its heat.

A roundup of the current best and rest in TV on DVD. In this installment: Lost: The Complete Third Season, Jericho: The First Season, Alias: The Complete Fifth Season, My Name is Earl: Season Two, Family Guy: Season Six, Entourage: Season Three, Part 2.

A roundup of the current best and rest in DVD. In this installment: Crossing the Bridge, Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Disturbia, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Meet the Robinsons, Hollywoodland.

USA/2005; R4 (6-disc)
Warner Bros, $99.95 | Reviewed by Brannavan Gnanalingam

IT’S QUITE surprising that not many people have thought of tackling the Roman Civil War before, though obviously many have taken on the infamous Ides of March. The tale of two friends Pompey and Julius Caesar, united by a familial bond, the two most powerful figures in the most powerful city state in Europe, who eventually collapse the Roman Republic through their struggle. (Of course, I’m not mentioning the crucial Triumvirate figure of Crassus, who is ignored by the series makers). Two immensely powerful people who despite not wanting war, seemed fated to bring the empire to its knees. It’s the type of story that screams epic coverage. Thankfully, HBO tackled this task with their incredibly ambitious Rome, and for the most part pull it off.

Reviewed by Darren Bevan

EVERYONE who’s been to see this low-budget, shot-on-handheld-in-next-to-no-time tale of a friendship between an unnamed busker and an immigrant girl has raved about it – and sadly I’m no different. I had been expecting very little and came out feeling like my entire world view has been changed from its usual skewed point of view, with songs in my heart and a silly grin on my face (something which anyone who knows me would say is a distinctly uncommon disposition for me).

Doug Ellin/USA/2006; R4 (2-disc)
Warner Bros, NZ$39.95 | Reviewed by Darren Bevan

WHEN WE last saw Vince and his crew, long time agent Ari Gold had just been shown the door, fired after losing Vince his pet project (a Ramones film). So when the second part of the season picks up, it’s all change for the boys with Adrian Grenier’s Vince now signed up with Carla Gugino’s Amanda: an attractive woman whose charms are not lost on Vince himself. In fact, the first time we see her, Vince asks “Is that my agent or America’s Next Top Model?”