Reviews - 2006

Apocalypto

A slight tale of a South American tribesman captured by the Mayans for sacrifice who subsequently escapes to try and rescue his family. There's really not much more to it than that. I didn't really buy into this film at all; it's just the wrong side of believable - a lot of the incidents struck me as false, especially some of the narrow escapes the main caharacter pulls off. Some of the dialogue doesn't ring true either - I'm certainly no language expert but some of the Mayan translating strikes me as cavalier at best. More importantly than these things though is the fact that there just wasn't enough to this film to sink your teeth into - it's really just a bloke being chased through the jungle, and with a running time around the two and a half hour mark that's not good enough.

Babel

Babel is three films that merge into one at the end. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are a couple on holiday in Morrocco when a chain of events is sparked off by the most innocent of circumstances resulting in an international incident reported round the world. The film is set in Morrocco, Mexico and Japan and the characters' lives are all interwoven although most of them are unaware of this. The Japanese section of the film struck me as a bit superfluous, but it's still an interesting snapshot of modern life in Japan. The Morroccan and Mexican segments are where the real drama is taking place and it's fun trying to figure out how everything will fall into place and tie in with the Japanese story. Watching a film set in three different continents, with three sets of characters speaking four different languages certainly makes for a very different cinematic experience than usual and that has got to be a good thing. Babel might be a bit grim for a lot of peoples' tastes - director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu would never be accused of viewing the world through rose-tinted spectacles - but anyone who's seen his previous films - Amorres Perros and 21 Grams should be well aware of what to expect. Although I think Babel qualifies as a very good film and would recommend it, the mindset you approach it with will pretty much determine how much you'll enjoy it.

Blood Diamond

I reckon if you removed some father and son sappiness and the overwrought ending from this film then you'd have an absolute peach. Leonardo DiCaprio is really excellent as a South African diamond smuggler and is the anchor of the film. His first Best Actor Oscar is long overdue (though he'll be walking away empty-handed this year) as he's one of the very best actors working in Hollywood today. That this film is as good as it is though is a minor miracle when you consider director Ed Zwick was also responsible for the appalling Last Samurai. If only Zwick had toned down his 'message' of the West exploiting Africa for its diamonds and realised that most people who wear diamonds couldn't care less where they came from as long as they're real. It's naive to think that people would stop buying conflict diamonds if only they knew the truth. Anyway, when all's said and done this is a very good film that could have been great.

Bobby

Fascinating film about the day of the Robert Kennedy assassination. It's not without it's faults - its portrayal of Bobby Kennedy as good and pure is certainly one dimensional, some of the characters are a bit cliched, and the pacing is lethargic - sometimes you're left with the feeling that the film is going nowhere and its taking its time getting there, but I never found it dull or unengaging: If you just let the film flow around you you'll find some nice character pieces, some sharp dialogue, some funny moments, and a whole bunch of fine acting. It seems to me that director Emilio Estevez - who also wrote the film and acts in it - may well be a big fan of Magnolia which is the film this most reminds me of, especially the final fifteen minutes or so which are gut-wrenchingly emotional. It's maybe not as accomplished as Magnolia but it's from the same mould. There's no reason Bobby couldn't snag Oscar nominations for Best Film, Director, and Screenplay this year, plus some technical awards - it features very imaginative use of sound for example. And if there were any justice Sharon Stone, who delivers a performance of uncommon depth and poignancy, would bag a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

The Break Up

Normally this isn't the kind of film I'd gravitate towards but I liked its pedigree. Vince Vaughn's usually worth a watch. Vincent D'Onofrio is always interesting and Jon Favreau is very watchable too. Jennifer Aniston is certainly easy on the eye and I think she has good comic timing. As far as the story goes it doesn't really have one. Its about a couple breaking up and the vicious things they do to each other, and that's about it really. The script's just fine and the performances are good across the board. If you were to look a little more deeply than the filmmakers would like you'd realise that this couple would never have been together in the first place but that aside this is worth a watch.

Casino Royale

Without a doubt the best Bond film there's ever been because almost everything that was wrong with the Bond franchise has been fixed. Gone are the dodgy double entendres. Gone are the silly gadgets. Gone is the bumbling fool that was Q. Gone are the ludicrous villains who lust after world domination. Gone are the superfluous Bond bimbos. Those were the things that made the Bond films ridiculous, all be it in an entertaining way sometimes. What remains is a high octane high class espionage caper with a no-nonsense terrorism plot, great action sequences that aren't too silly, and some brutal fight scenes featuring a proper get-the-job-done-at-all-costs type of Bond played by Daniel Craig who is about as good a Bond as you could hope for. If the rest of the Bond films are up to this standard I'll be first in line to see each one of them.

Children of Men

Adapted from a P.D James novel this is a thoughtful, well presented and quite exciting look at a bleak future London that exists in a world where humans can no longer procreate. We follow Theo Faron - a former activist enlisted to help transport a miraculously pregnant girl to scientists working on the fertility problem to save humankind from extinction. Director Alfonso Cauron has captured British life and the character of the people rather well and has managed to portray a future Britain that seems authentic - quite an achievement for someone who hails from Mexico! Clive Owen seems to improve with each film he makes and gives another solid performance here. There are quite a few powerful scenes in this film - most of which explode out of nowhere and leave you breathless. Children of Men didn't have a promising start in life because it wasn't really pushed by the studio and the trailer that promoted the film didn't do it justice but this is a film that will probably garner quite a loyal following and will grow in stature as time passes.

The Departed

The new Martin Scorsese film and it's a straight remake of the excellent Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs (a review of which you'll find in the foreign section). Obviously I'll never know how I'd feel about this film had I not seen the original but as I have I'll say that this isn't as good. For me there are three major problems with The Departed: Firstly, Jack Nicholson's performances can sometimes veer into porcine territory and in this film he's teetering on the brink a lot of the time. His part, originally played wonderfully by Eric Tsang would have been better suited to Robert DeNiro, who would have invested it with more genuine menace and less cartoonish leering. Secondly there are a number of scenes that are very derivative, of Scorsese's own films in particular: The opening scene is nicked from Goodfellas music and all, and the scene on the beach is lifted from Casino, to name just two. Obviously nothing to concern viewers who haven't seen these films. Lastly and most importantly the ending has been altered significantly in a way that changes the whole point of the film. This last point is almost unforgivable considering Scorsese really should know better than to do something like that. Again though, this is not a problem for those who haven't seen Infernal Affairs. The Departed does have an ace up its sleeve though: Leonardo DiCaprio. He is excellent in the part that was originally played to perfection by Tony Leung. DiCaprio reminds me of a young DeNiro, and when he's onscreen you're not focussing on anything or anyone else. The central idea of two moles on either side of the law each trying to uncover the other's identity is a compelling one that works really well, but Scorsese hasn't brought anything new to the table in terms of style or originality so it comes off feeling like a retread of something else, or maybe that's just me comparing the two versions again. Anyway, all things considered is it worth watching? Well, Scorsese on autopilot is still better than most of the films you'll come across in the local multiplex so I'd have to say 'yes' but being that it's a remake you could just watch the original instead. That's what I'd recommend.

Flags of Our Fathers

I like Clint Eastwood as a director; for the most part he makes intelligent films with an interesting point of view. He's not afraid to show his protagonists in a bad light - especially when he plays them himself. Eastwood doesn't appear in this film but he does another good job directing what is his most amitious work so far in terms of scope, technical ability and sheer logistics. Shooting this back to back with the upcoming Letters From Iwo Jima is quite an achievement for a man in his seventies. The film itself concerns the lives of the soldiers shown in the famous photograph raising the U.S flag atop Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. Rather than focussing solely on the struggle to take that hill Eastwood is more concerned with the reactions of the soldiers after they're flown home as heroes and also what the photograph meant to the American public. It's a good idea for a film and Eastwood pulls everything off without much of a hitch but I found myself struggling to get to the end of it. I really didn't care for Adam Beach's performance as Ira Hayes and I got bored with watching the publicity tour these men were on, but aside from that there's really no reason not to recommend this film.

The Good Shepherd

I was looking forward to this film so much. It was one of those projects where the ingredients sounded so right that it had to be good. You've got Matt Damon - one of the better actors around - in a film about the formation of the C.I.A - which sounds interesting - directed by Robert DeNiro - who learned directing from Martin Scorsese. Unfortunately having all the right ingredients doesn't guarantee a tasty cake and The Good Shepherd is proof of that. The film looks good, the supporting roles are all fine but the pacing is way off, and there's a distinct lack of incident throughout, resulting in a tedious experience for the viewer. It also goes some way to explaining Damon's static, one-dimensional performance. I've always had a lot of time for Matt Damon but watching him in this film was a real chore. Considering the subject matter and the calibre of the talent involved this was a real wasted opportunity.

The Guardian

Wow. The last film I can remember that was so utterly riddled with cliche after cliche to the point that it could almost be viewed as a parody of the genre was way back in 1995 when I saw Outbreak. I just can't express how much dismay I feel every time I see a film like this painting by numbers hack job. There were tens of millions of dollars invested in this project. It stars Kevin Costner - an actor for whom I've always had a lot of time - and he's good in this - also Ashton Kutcher who isn't as bad as you'd expect. It's directed by Andrew Davis - who did a respectable job on The Fugitive. A lot of time, money, and talent went into this project and what was the point? Everyone involved seems to have agreed to take the lazy slipshod route and use the oldest, most tattered Hollywood template to produce a film that we've all seen a hundred times already. On top of that the dialogue is just horrifically, painfully embarrassing. It's really quite a feat for these actors to spout such utter nonsense without bursting into gales of laughter at the sheer ludicrousness of what they're saying. In short The Guardian typifies why Hollywood films are such an easy target for ridicule around the world.

Ice Age 2

I'm not a child. If you ask a child if they liked this film you'd probably get a very different opinion to the one I'm going to give you here. I'm pretty sure I have a very different set of criteria for liking this film than a child has although I'm really not sure what a child's criteria would have to be to give this film the thumbs up. Where the first Ice Age film was a good chuckle this sequel has a serious message about the depletion of the ozone layer or global warming or some such. I'm not at all sure that this sort of political message belongs in a film like Ice Age 2 (or at least the kind of sequel the first Ice Age promised). Anyways, the upshot is you're left with a cartoon aimed at very young kids with a political message at it's core. This doesn't sit right with me, but the kids will probably not consciously register any sort of comment on the current state of the planet and instead focus on the little weasel guy trying to keep a hold of his acorn. And while this is mildly amusing it's a carbon copy of his plight in the first film so what's the point?

The Illusionist

Obviously there are comparisons to be drawn between this film and The Prestige. If I had to pick one I'd go with this film because it doesn't have all the downsides The Prestige has. Where The Prestige had Christian Bale and Michael Caine being dragged down by Hugh Jackman and Scarlet Johanssen, The Illusionist has Ed Norton and Paul Giamatti - both of whom are class in a glass, as it were - and they're unhindered by sub-par actors. The main reason I preferred this though is that the theme of magicians and magic is merely a plot device, as it turns out, rather than the real subject matter as was the case with The Prestige and I felt a great deal of satisfaction at the end of the film looking back on all the events in a different light and replacing all the pieces of the puzzle back in their proper place now that you know what the film was really all about. The only problem I had - and I suppose it's quite a sizeable problem - is that the illusions that Ed Norton pulls off in 18th century Hungary really beggar belief; they're so patently the product of modern day cgi trickery, with no possible way to explain them that it really takes a fair amount of good will on the part of the viewer to suspend disbelief and get on with enjoying the film as a whole. But there's plenty that's good about this film - the central performances, the elegant cleverness of the story, the lovely cinematography and that's more than enough to overcome some believability issues.

The Inside Man

I like a good heist movie. These days it's difficult to make a good heist movie because a good heist movie has to have an angle - a clever trick up its sleeve about how the protagonist intends to get away with the loot and evade capture, and as the years go by it's more and more difficult to come up with a believable idea that hasn't been done before. Well, I haven't seen every heist movie by any means but I think The Inside Man qualifies as a good one. Clive Owen stars as the man with a plan and Denzel Washington is the cop on his tail. Both are fine, as is Jodie Foster as a ruthless, shady negotiator. The central idea is a good one and it's satisfying watching the events play themselves out. A good effort from Spike Lee in a departure from his usual style and subject matter.

Jackas: Number 2

In these days of ultra safe Hollywood blockbusters starring sure-fire big name actors in stories you've seen a million times before it's nice to know there's a bunch of idiots out there deliberately putting themselves in harms way just for the hell of it. Of course I'm sure they're all doing very nicely now considering the success of the first Jackass movie but these guys seem to genuinely enjoy hurting each other, and watching them you can't help but laugh at the sheer wrecklessness of the stuff they get up to. Some of the stunts are irresponsible, some are disgusting, most are pretty dangerous, and a few are inspired, but the one thing they all have in common is they're funny. At the end of the day the purpose of comedy is to make you laugh and there are more laughs in ten minutes of Jackass than there are in 90% of all the other comedies out there combined. Here's hoping the boys survive long enough to complete the trilogy.

Little Miss Sunshine

This film was achingly close to being great. It doesn't seem to aspire to any great heights; it's just a movie about a somewhat dysfunctional family on a road-trip to a kid's beauty pageant. But the characters turn out to be fascinatingly off-kilter and I found myself wanting to spend as much time with them as the filmmakers would allow. The acting is uniformly excellent from the young Abigail Breslin, who radiates a simple innocence to the grizzled Alan Arkin as the grumpy, profane grandfather, via a hilariously understated Steve Carell as the suicidal uncle Frank. The family dynamic is fascinating to watch throughout the film and the dialogue is really deftly handled. This was one of those films that, as the end was approaching I was willing everything to be resolved in a solid, believable way, but alas during the last twenty minutes or so, things descend into formulaic cheesy feelgood territory - a real shame. Still, looking at it philosophically you've got almost an hour and a half of top quality, intelligent entertainment by an ensemble cast all at the top of their game and two standout performances - from Alan Arkin and Steve Carell. I can forgive a lot for that.

Lucky Number Slevin

Quentin Tarantino is wholly responsible for this film. You won't find his name anywhere in the credits but it couldn't have existed in its current state without Tarantino. Its all smart dialogue, laid back violence and amusing, articulate gangsters. Its also a lot of fun and it features a bucket-load of your favourite actors playing parts that look to have been written just for them. It oozes style and the whole enterprise is told with a deadpan verve and a knowing wink to those weird film anoraks (myself definitely included) the film is obviously aimed at. Your average cinema-goer would probably dismiss this as boring, which explains its poor performance at the box office (that and the truly awful title) but for those that have signed themselves up for a seat at the post modern film banquet this film is a choice little sweetmeat to savour in between your main course of Pulp Fiction and your delightfully rich dessert of creamy Magnolia. And if you don't know what I'm talking about then you're probably normal.

Mission: Impossible 3

It's been a long time since the celluloid train-wreck that was Mission: Impossible 2. At the time I was adamant that I wouldn't entertain the notion of a third M:I film. However, the package that's being presented to the potential viewer here is a tempting looking gift, all ribbons and bows tied around an unfeasibly large box covered in expensive looking wrapping paper: Tom Cruise is back again - he's good at Mission: Impossible films. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the baddie - he's always good in everything, and this is no exception - he's a deliciously slimy snake of a baddie. J.J. Abrams is at the helm - he's hot right now and he's perfect for this kind of film. So I gave it a go and you know what? It's actually very good! Yes it's silly, but it's nowhere near as silly as the last one. Yes it's bombastic, but in a good humoured way. Yes, it's cheesy and ludicrous and over the top but it knows it is all these these things this time round and revels in it and that makes all the difference in the world. Great fun.

Pirates of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest

I never timed this movie, but if I were to guess how long it ran for I'd say about a day and a half. I've never checked my watch so many times during the course of a film. The action set-pieces just keep rolling along with monotonous regularity. It's like being at an all you can eat meal and they just keep forcing more food down your throat; even if you liked it you just can't stomach any more. And I must say I didn't care for this film at the best of times. The first Pirates movie was a good romp - I quite enjoyed it, mainly for Johnny Depp's hilarious performance as Jack Sparrow, but this - as is the case with the vast majority of sequels - just retreads the same ground, tells the same jokes and really has no originality. I for one would be much happier if Johnny Depp spent his time acting in more interesting films than this. Stick with the first film - it's really all you need as far as this franchise goes.

The Prestige

Just as Isaac Newton's Third Law states that for each action there is an equal and opposite reaction this film contains elements that lift it up, and those are equally opposed by elements that drag it down: It's a film about magicians - not a favourite subject of mine. But it's directed by Christopher Nolan - he did the excellent Memento. It stars two clunkers - Hugh Jackman and Scarlet Johansson - I've yet to see either of them be good in anything. But it also stars Christian Bale and Michael Caine - Bale's always good and Michael Caine hasn't put a foot wrong for quite a while now. Ricky Jay appears briefly - he's a real magician and a very good one. But he's not a very good actor, and has a dodgy accent here. It's set in Victorian times - I've never been keen on period dramas. But Nikola Tesla is a character in the film - that sounds interesting. But he's played by David Bowie - he's not the best actor around either. The central idea is an intriguing one, but Nolan doesn't quite pull it off, as there are too many plot holes. You get the picture. The Prestige is actually close to being a very good film, but it's just got too much going against it. It deserves a lot of credit for trying though.

The Pursuit of Happyness

Inspired by the true rags to riches tale of Chris Gardner, a man with such utterly terrible luck it's hard to believe things will ever come good for him. Of course eventually they do, and after monumental doggedness and a complete refusal to lie down and take defeat he gets to where he wants to be, and when he does it's such a relief for both him and the audience that you can almost taste his victory. Normally I'm not keen on this triumph over adversity kind of film but I have to say that this one is done with just enough irony and sense of humour and sheer likeability that it's hard to resist being swept along. It also helps when the writing is sharp and the central performance is as good as the one Will Smith gives here. There's a wonderful no-nonsense aspect to Will Smith's acting which results in a very natural, down to earth and consequently believable character. There are a few standout scenes as he's approaching the point where life is just asking too much of him which are really quite moving due to the quiet intensity of Smith's performance. Some of the events in the film itself stretch credibility a little and of course the movie has its fair share of cliches scattered throughout but all in all you'd be hard pushed to find a better quality feelgood movie than this.

The Queen

Every year around Oscar time I make a point of trying to catch all the films that have a chance at being nominated for Best Picture, and every year there's at least one that I'm not looking forward to watching. This year it was Stephen Frears' The Queen and the reason I didn't want to watch it was simple; I have never been in the slightest bit interested in the Royal Family. I never had any time for Diana and her publicity seeking antics either, as it happens. So for me there really wasn't much to look forward to except maybe the performances. Thankfully Helen Mirren's performance is immaculate and she will definitely be picking up an Oscar come February. I also thought Roger Allam's performance as the queen's private secretary was noteworthy. Other than that I could take this film or leave it - there really wasn't anything remarkable about it at all. I would have to say I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to but to be honest I really wasn't expecting much at all.

Rescue Dawn

I think Christian Bale is one of the best actors around right now and he's as good as usual here. Unfortunately this film is a test of the viewer's endurance because it's really rather boring. Bale is Deiter Dengler, a fighter pilot sent on a black-ops reconnaisance mission over Laos in the mid sixties whose plane crashes and who falls into the hands of the local Viet Cong. After that it's about an hour and a half of life in a bamboo prison camp with assorted unfortunates, which is really hard work to watch because basically nothing happens. The most interesting thing in this film is the performance - and appearance - of Jeremy Davies as emaciated inmate Eugene McBroom. His performance couldn't be more different here than that of fresh-faced Corporal Upham in Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, and when I finally recognised him it was quite a revelation. However, aside from the performances of Davies and Bale there really isn't much to recommend this film.

Rocky Balboa

I've always thought that Sylvester Stallone had the potential to be much more highly regarded than he now is; he can be a decent actor - in First Blood, Paradise Alley, and F.I.S.T and he had some early success writing and directing - before money and fame got the better of him. Since those days though he's really done nothing of note with the exception of Copland in 1997, so I approached Rocky Balboa with some trepidation - after all Stallone is now 61 years old and even George Foreman was only 49 when he made his last comeback, so credibility is stretched to the limit. Fortunately - miraculously even - he seems to have pulled it off. This, the sixth and final Rocky installment is quite a noble end to the series after all the glitz and silliness of parts 3 and 4 and the wrong-headedness of part 5. Rocky's back in the projects, his wife's dead and his no-good brother in law is still hanging around. On the other side of the boxing world the new heavyweight champion is bored - most of his opponents have been cherry picked, he's never gone the distance - there's just nobody decent around to fight. That's the cue for an exhibition match with Rocky and off he goes back to the gym. Stallone - who also wrote and directed the film - understands boxers and why they fight and that's the reason this film is halfway believable. This is a much more down to earth, nostalgic look at an old boxer's life and philosophy and as such is one of the best Rocky films.

A Scanner Darkly

I've always been a big fan of Philip K. Dick's books. The films that have been made from his fiction have ranged from very good (Blade Runner) to pretty bad (Total Recall) but director Richard Linklater has nailed what Dick was all about with this film - the nature of personal identity, the perception of reality, the meaning of consciousness and so on. Keanu Reeves stars as Bob Arctor - an undercover cop assigned to investigate some small time drug dealers. Linklater captures the strange atmosphere of drug-induced paranoia brilliantly with bizarre conversations between the main characters. The most interesting aspect of the film though is the 'scramble suits' the cops wear to protect their identities and was the main reason it was impossible to adapt the book into a film shot in the traditional way. However, thanks to Linklater's revolutionary Interpolated Rotoscoping animation technique (which he first used in the excellent Waking Life) this problem has been overcome, enabling him to portray the intriguing scenario of Reeves the cop investigating himself, as it were. Aside from the fascinating concept and interesting execution the film is pretty aimless a lot of the time and so won't be everyone's cup of tea but really it's well worth a watch and my gut instinct is that it will probably improve with each viewing.

Scoop

There's something very relaxed and unforced about Woody Allen films. They're full of sophisticated, intelligent humour, they're always entertaining and witty and although nothing really comes as a surprise these days they're a lot of fun without being crass or stupid and that counts for a lot. After the slightly disappointing Match Point his new film is a rather old fashioned murder mystery caper starring the man himself (looking very fresh for a man in his seventies) and Scarlett Johansson. As with Match Point it's set in London - Allen's new favourite haunt - and as always it has some great one-liners. Woody himself plays the same kind of character that fans love and others can find aggravating - in this case he's a vaudevillian style magician (or a prestidigitator as he calls himself at one point) and he has the choicest lines in the movie. I found his number association technique quite amusing and actually burst out laughing when he remembers the number 12 by associating it with spinning midgets. As for the rest of the cast Hugh Jackman is okay as the charming, smooth leading man and Scarlett Johansson is very pretty but not much more than that.

Talladega Nights

I suppose this is one of those films you'll either take to or you'll hate. I quite liked the double act of Will Ferrell and the always dependable John C. Reilly in this amiably daft dig at the NASCAR scene. The production values are high and the running time is overlong - it's kind of like watching Days of Thunder, except everyone's talking nonsense with a straight face, the situations are ridiculous and the way the characters behave is just silly. Wait a minute - that is Days of Thunder! It just goes to show maybe this film isn't as dumb as your average Hollywood blockbuster, although that probably says more about Hollywood blockbusters than it does about this movie. As far as what I didn't like about the film goes, I could have done without Sacha Baron Cohen as a French driver threatening to oust Ricky Bobby as number one driver: For me his arrival really signalled the end of most of the fun to be had from this movie. Anyway, if you've had a hard week at work and you left your brain back at the office on Friday then this and a beer might be just the ticket to unwind over the weekend.

United 93

There's a major problem with this film as far as a record of the events aboard flight 93 on September 11th 2001 goes, and that is there are no eye-witness accounts of what occurred onboard at that time. There are no flight recorders in the body of a plane either, only in the cockpit, so what went on up there on that day is, by and large, anyone's guess. Having said that it really shouldn't matter whether or not the events on the plane are 'true' from the point of view of it being a good film. Which brings me to the crux of the matter: I feel most viewers are very much emotionally invested in the situation presented, not because the film is a well-crafted piece of cinema but because they lived through 911 and already feel sympathy for the characters before they ever saw a foot of film. So the filmmakers can be lazy as far as character development, structure, narrative, and dialogue goes and that's what they did. Who were the people on flight 93? Why should we care about them other than the fact we know ahead of time they're all going to die? As for judging the film as a film without all the real-world 911 baggage we carry into it, the bottom line is this; aside from the faults already mentioned the acting is pretty ropey, the camera bobbing around incessantly cinema verite style is distracting and everyone shouts too much. United 93 is not a terrible film, but I think people are praising it because they feel it's the respectful thing to do, not because it's a good film - it's won plenty of awards already and it'll be nominated for some Oscars before we're done and it certainly doesn't deserve that kind of acclaim on the strength of its own merits.

World Trade Center

Or Two Guys Trapped Under A Collapsed Building. This film doesn't have anything to say about the 911 attacks, why they happened or who was responsible, which is a shame because you'd have thought that Oliver Stone would be the right man to address these issues in a film. The scenes featuring Nicolas Cage buried up to his neck in rubble range from quite clunky to pretty embarrassing and those scenes are the meat and potatoes of this film. The reason the film fails is that the rubble these guys are buried under is what's left of the World Trade Centre buildings and if you'd walked into the film tweny minutes late they could just as easily have been buried under some building in California that had collapsed because of an earthquake. Their ordeal just seems kind of disconnected to the whole 911 tragedy. There's no disputing that when those buildings collapsed a lot of people were killed and only a very few were rescued (20 in total) and I'm sure being trapped in there for about twenty four hours would have been a harrowing ordeal but as far as sitting down to watch a film about the events of 911 goes it's neither informative nor particularly entertaining so really there's not much point to this film.

X-Men 3: The Last Stand

The X-Men films all look lovely. They're big shiny crystal balls shimmering in the perfectly framed moonlight. But they're hollow. There's not much in the way of genuine emotion or anything resembling an interesting story. They're kind of fun in an empty, glossy way, but it's all just so much eye candy. I didn't really care about any of the characters' fate or was much interested in what they were doing at any given time. It wasn't very clear why people were behaving the way they were most of the time and the old problem I've always had with the X-Men films surfaced once more; that of not being clear what a given character's powers are and consequently how powerful they are relative to the situations they're in and the enemy's they're facing. That means that any potential tension in the viewer is replaced by a kind of dull curiosity about how scenes will be resolved. With this film most of your time will be spent gazing at some artfully lit scene simply biding your time until the next action set-piece comes along. Which I suppose is the nature of the your average comic book summer blockbuster.