Entertainment Googooly

By BUMPY BOUNCY BANJO BABY

01 January 2005

Newbies:

Watch out for...

“Black British Style” – the latest V&A exhibition for all you (non-pretending) fashion-freaks out there

“National Treasure” (24th December) – starring Nicolas Cage, no. 1 blockbuster in America, though from what I’ve seen I’ve no idea why. Perhaps the word ‘national’ just does it for all those over-patriotic Americans

“Alexander” (7th January) – Colin Farrell tries to do a “Troy” whilst having lots of hair and kissing another bloke

“Seed of Chucky” (7th January) – Fifth in the series, the murderous dolls Chucky and Tiffany come-to-life again, this time they have a son

“Closer” (14th January) – an A-list cast: Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Clive Owen and Natalie Portman in a confusion of love and affairs. For such an overused script, how is it that it is deemed worthy of many Golden Globes and a major contender for the top honors at the Oscars? Guess we’ll have to wait and see

“Creep” (28th January) – most people dread traveling on the London Underground as it is, but imagine that one of those times when you accidentally fall asleep, you manage to sleep through the arrival of the last tube and end up being locked in! Franka Potente demonstrates just how scary the London Underground can be

“Ocean’s Twelve” (4th February) - yes, the masterminds are back! George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Andy Garcia, Casey Affleck and Bruce Willis (to name but a few), are all hoping to steal over 2hrs of your attention

“The Magic Roundabout” (11th February) – starring Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and Joanna Lumley

Listen out for...

“Bloc Party” - pinned (by many a critic) as the next Franz Ferdinand

In stores now...

“The Ultimate Matrix Collection” - The trilogy plus 35hrs extra with 100 new featurettes

“Xena Warrior Princess” - every episode packed into over 36 DVDs

“Harry Potter: 6-disc DVD Box Set” - Includes The Philosopher’s Stone, The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban

“The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: Special Extended DVD Edition” (12 DVDs) - All three films, plus tons of extra footage and bonus features.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (39 DVDs) - Complete Seasons 1-7 Box Set Limited Edition

“Friends” - Complete Series 1-10

“Sex and the City” - Complete Season 1-6 Box Set Limited Edition

Bonus Opingnionated Reviews:

Spiderman 2 (Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina)

Not as good as the first one but then sequels never do normally match up. Look out for the incredibly cheesy scene with the train. The ending is highly predictable both regarding the criminal and the lover as well as a not so subtle hint that there will be a “Spiderman 3”. It’s hard to believe that Peter falls from a building maybe ten storeys high and yet escapes with just back pain. Strange criticisms of a comic book adaptation but: this is less realistic and less moving than “Spiderman” and thus a movie that is enjoyable but not much more.

Lost Souls (Winona Ryder, Ben Chaplin)

Apparently ‘a mix of The Exorcist and The Omen’ but to me, this film was 1½hrs of absolute nothingness. It looks like the draft to a potentially okay “Anti-Christ movie” but what’s happened is several scenes have been bundled together with far too little explanation linking them, as if the film-makers had given up or run out of budget midway. Best bit would have to be the scare in the toilet, always an ideal place for horror. Nevertheless, if the aim was to completely baffle and disappoint its viewers then it has been 100% successful.

The Day After Tomorrow (Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum)

From the director of “Independence Day”, one would expect no less than a spectacular roller-coaster ride with plenty of action and special effects, and that is precisely what one is presented with. But for a movie that is entirely based on a “natural global disaster”, the film concentrates too much on the “disaster” (death of American people) and barely even reflects on the “natural” and “global” side (global warming causing the onset of a new ice age worldwide). And it is this lack of consideration for scientific reasoning and appreciation of countries other than America that strips the film of all credibility. If this movie had any intention of scaring the general public about the issues and consequences surrounding global warming, it has surely failed since it is just another Hollywood action-movie thriller that puts the severity of global warming to shame. For anyone who has studied science knows that a hypothesis is worth nothing without scientific background, and what this film does is focus on the procedure, formulates its own idyllic results and offers a weak conclusion, all with a complete disregard for science, which is deemed to be inferior to politics. If the film-makers were to evaluate their work as I am doing, they would realize that they had made the issues of global warming seem science-fictional, which is a complete mockery of science. A project that is barely worth a pass mark and yet had it not required some scientific basis, would have been an enjoyable watch.

Before Sunset (Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy)

Without trying very hard, this film has class. Set in real time, with a story told practically by word of mouth, it is surprisingly compelling, entertaining and original. Following the reunion of 2 long lost lovers, this fiction-like romance struggles to survive in the painful reality. Through in depth conversation we learn of these two characters and obligingly gain a liking for them. They are adorable, believable and down-to-earth like the film itself. With only the slightly dissatisfying ambiguous ending to fault, this film is excellent on all accounts, a wonderful script, great acting, beautiful scenery and a perfect presentation. (And to think this is actually a sequel!)

House of Flying Daggers (Andy Lau, Ziyi Zhang)

It was always going to be a tough challenge to follow suit after the masterpiece that was “Hero” and the originality that came with “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” been thoroughly snuffed out by the huge influx of oriental martial art movies that have arrived since. But if anyone should be able to rise to the challenge it’s the director of “Hero” and the producer of “CTHD” however regrettably, this time they failed to deliver. There is still admirable attention to detail as stunning costumes and beautiful scenery are put on show once more but the quality of story-telling is much less impressive. Here’s a story of love, conflict, duty and senseless passion with a few added twists, a plot well worthy of sustaining a movie. But the film does not care to elaborate and instead, is in the habit “stopping and starting” whilst unnecessarily prolonging some scenes and cutting short others. With a paragraph of text for an introduction, the film proceeds lacking in gusto, it then peaks mid-way as the bamboo, surprises, emotions and daggers start flying in only to end with too little realism and conclusion. In all fairness, this film would be well worth a cinema visit if it didn’t require the reading of subtitles but otherwise it can be missed, especially to spare disappointment to any who’ve seen “Hero”.

Runaway Jury

A truly original and captivating law-court thriller, exploring the dark and dangerous depths of the justice system. The court was always a war zone but between who? The defender and prosecutor, the jurors or is the jury consultants? A guns company is sued for the death of a man, murdered during a violent shooting incident. But what hope has a poor widow of winning a case against an all powerful guns corporation? Gone are the days when a court trial would seem like a fair ordeal, an honest way to assess an alleged crime. For now evidence can be manipulated, judges can be bribed and a jury can be bought. Will the verdict be won or will it be sold, and will justice be served? Be sure to watch this clever, exhilarating monster of a movie to find out.

P.S. any entertainment news or suggestions for reviews are very welcome