Popcorn Fodder
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
I can’t really say I enjoyed this. I love the stories, but the movie just didn’t hang together at all. It’s like they spent the entire budget on Aslan’s fur rather than on a scriptwriter. Most of the characters seemed off somehow; the only really convincing ones were Lucy, Edmund and the White Witch, while the rest of the characters felt like they were written by someone who’d heard a third-hand description of the book at some point.
I think that the biggest disappointment was Aslan. The CG model generally looked fantastic, but the interpretation as a whole didn’t work. He’s meant to be this giant figure who inspires awe, loyalty, sacrifice, fear, etc. (just like your standard anthropomorphic Jeebus analogue should,) so it’s kind of a let down to see this small-voiced cat being towered over by a 12-year-old girl.
The rose-tinted-spectacles factor may be reaching the “welding mask” level here, but I’m pretty sure that the BBC adaptation was much better. At any rate, in my mind the BBC one has become better over time, while I’m sure the film will gradually seem worse and worse.
It’s probably worth watching, but only if you’ve read the books first, otherwise you’ll be missing out. It’s also a bit worrying that if they do choose to do the rest of the books then the next one, Prince Caspian, is the most boring one in the series.
In a way, the most disappointing thing about this is that it’s not bad enough. It’s never really hits ‘good’ but the bad bits don’t descend far enough to give you any real laughs. In game -> movie terms it’s a bit below the first Resident Evil flick. Every nerd of a certain age is going to see this whatever happens, and while it’s not terrible it’s not the ridiculous, funny, gory blast-em-up it could have been.
I really liked this. A British Diplomat’s wife is murdered on the way back from an aid camp in Africa, and he goes about unravelling the knot of government and drug-company involvement in the act. It stays remarkably true to the book, and is quite odd for a movie in that everything stays very low-key. There are no huge explosions or ridiculous gun fights, just a bunch of fantastically-acted characters moving around in quiet desperation after a life-changing event (although it’s vaguely weird seeing Bill Nighy play a serious role these days.) Just like in the novel, there’s a very British sense of repressed seething fury bubbling under the whole proceedings.
An independent film about the John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, slowly destroying himself, and squandering his own talents while encouraging those of others. Basically an excuse for Johnny Depp to act all sexy-like for a couple of hours. I really enjoyed the film, but I’m not sure I can say why. It definitely evokes its sense of place perfectly, and it was a lot of fun watching which of the different parts of the film offended people enough to make them leave the cinema. (3 people left during Depp’s opening monologue!) Go see it now!
Advent Children (Final Fantasy 7-2)
A film sequel to one of the most talked about computer games ever. In a way it makes more sense as a film than it would have as a game. The huge, world-changing event has already happened, and now the story follows up on the aftermath to give some resolution for the various characters.
Stylistically it’s set up to look a lot like a computer game world rendered in movie-quality CG, if that makes any sense at all. Lots of the outdoor landscape shots really ‘feel’ like an FF world map. As you’d probably expect, the film is a bit overly-sentimental, but since it’s absolutely intended as a piece of fan service then the target audience will end up happy enough with it.
An excellent, twisty LA-noir story that does the self-knowing, nudge-nudge-wink-wink trick a-la Scream and Mullholland Drive. Robert Downey Jr and Val Kilmer get some great dialogue to bat back and forth between each other and the entire movie is just incredibly slick. Probably too late to see it at the cinema now, but you should rent the DVD as soon as it comes out.