Movie Reviews

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'Avatar' - BOOK NOW showing in 3D

'The King of the World', James Cameron, triumphantly returns after a self-enforced, 12-year hiatus following the colossal

success of 'Titanic', amidst boastful assurances of purpose-built technology which will change the future of

film production. For once, the hyperbole and excited praise are justified.

Cameron has achieved a milestone in cinema history, in much the same way as 'The Abyss' and 'Terminator 2: Judgement

Day' developed a morphing technique which became the standard for C.G.I. effects ever since. He has also crafted

a film so ravishingly beautiful and jaw-droppingly crammed with a non-stop barrage of special effects - making the

fantastic and surreal so real ( If you're in any doubt about this, just witness people's satisfied expressions leaving

the cinema following the screening of this film ). Whatever your preconceptions or reservations, you will be amazed by

what's on screen.

The story develops quickly. After the death of his twin brother, paraplegic ex-marine Jake Sully ( Sam Worthington )

enlists in the 'Avatar' programme. Overseen by a corrupt corporation ( SecFor ), and aided by 'tree-hugging'

scientists ( 'Aliens' star Sigourney Weaver is Dr. Grace Augustine ), Jake Sully volunteers to have his soul ( or

consciousness ) injected into a genetically grown alien body. His mission is to infiltrate the Na'vi race for

scientific study, but the Corporation ( as represented by a totally wasted Giovanni Ribisi ) and Colonel Miles Quaritch

( the excellent Stephen Lang ) have a different agenda : they intend to displace the alien tribes by force and seize

possession of their precious natural mineral ore resources ( a single kilo fetches $ 20 million dollars ! ). The latter

is worthy of especial mention : the villainous, battle-scarred Colonel steals the show as a marine so

hard-bitten and grimacing that he looks like he chews tree bark for breakfast. Witness the scenes wherein he fights

on, nonchalantly patting his blazing arm or firing after a retreating aircraft, without an oxygen mask. The 'Fast &

the Furious' star Michelle Rodriguez alos reprises her tomboyish image, this time flying gunships rather than

drag-racers, and Zoe Saldana provides a sensual sight as Neytiri, Jake's feisty ( half-naked )concubine warrior.

Over-obvious comparisons have been made with themes already covered in 'Dances with Wolves' : an American frontier movie

that dealt with the invasion and attempted displacement of an indigenous race; and the inner conflict within a soldier

who must choose a side / race to defend and betray. But this does not detract from any potential enjoyment as

nothing quite prepares you for the exotic scenes in this Science-Fiction-Western.

The alien world of Pandora fully encapsulates your attention, whether it's showcasing the massive mechanised

might of the military or its lush nature in all its Pantheistic splendour. Honestly, every scene boasts

flamboyance, originality and an unparallelled scope of imagination. Reawakening as a nine-foot alien with cerulean

skin, indigo tattoos, massive green eyes and elvish ears, Sully's facial expressions and movements are still utterly

convincing. We also regularly see : fleets of gun-ships ( helicopters with twin circular rotors for wing-spans );

alien hybridized beasts such as black viper-wolves and hammer-headed, armour-plated beasts; massive mountain ranges

floating in mid-air with cascading waterfalls; soaring and careening points-of-view astride the back of winged,

sky-diving dragons scraping the sides of cliffs; and the lush, alien, jungle vegetation becomes even more vibrant at

night, with all its purples, pinks and aquamarines of luminescent flora. This is a fantastic, surreal world that

looks believable, rather than cartoonish or animated. The plethora of action scenes also transcend any expectations of

an intense video game experience : they are simply better. This film has a running time of at least 2 hours and 40

minutes, which honestly just zips by. But do yourself a favour : savour this film in the most maximum of comfort or

at least appreciate it in its intended format, 3D. The latter is a richly rewarding experience, heightening the

realism and placing you in the middle of the action. In a year replete with effects-laden blockbusters ( 'Star

Trek'; 'Terminator:Salvation'; and 'Transformers 2'), Avatar easily eclipses the aforementioned, raising the bar to a

stratospheric level that even his contemporaries ( George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson ) will struggle to

exceed or match. James Cameron appears to have a talismanic gift for

blockbuster entertainment, as his half dozen films have become progressively epic in scale, imagination, ambition

and ground-breaking effects. Rather like the cerebral Stanly Kubrick, he is obsessed with redesigning technology

or at least waiting for it to catch up with his fertile imagination. Judging by the effects on the screen, the 12 -

year wait was worth it, but let's hope we do not have to wait too long for his next master-work.

By William Marcus

 

'Alice in Wonderland' - BOOK NOW

Yet another adaptation of ‘Alice in Wonderland’? Tim Burton’s choice of projects have always been bizarre and

left-field, but he has the alchemist’s touch of turning them into commercially lucrative, mainstream fare. And this

is actually a perfect marriage of director to source material, suiting Burton’s warped, surrealistic

sensibility.

Purists of Lewis Carroll’s nonsensical, literary whimsy may be dismayed, but for the rest of us, it is yet another

visual treat. Truth to tell, it is not a slavishly faithful adaptation of either ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Through

the Looking Glass’ as it merely chooses to incorporate elements, scenes and characters from those two slim stories.

It plays like a re-visitation or sequel ( rather like Stephen Spielberg’s ‘Hook’ was a continuation of Peter

Pan – only this cannot be derided as much ). After the opening ten minutes, wherein a nubile, nineteen

year-old Alice is forced into an engagement with an unpleasant, domineering, ginger-haired noble man, she is

finally given an excuse to escape from the real world and tumble once again down the rabbit hole. This is when the

film becomes visually spectacular. And being a Tim Burton pic, the dark fairy tale elements are very much in evidence

: gnarled, skeletal trees in flamboyant landscapes are darkly shaded in detail, as if by an HB pencil; a bombastic

Danny Elfman score resounds in the background ; and there’s a warped Brothers-Grimm fairy-tale quality,

without being too nasty or scary – a miniature Alice traipses across decapitated heads floating in a moat. The

scenes are bewitching and Dadaistic. 

The cast appear like a roll call of honour for British and international talent : newcomer Aussie Mia Wasikowska is a

likeable enough heroine, all pale-faced and shadows around the eyes, trying to assert herself and make her own

decisions; Burton’s real-life paramour, Helena Bonham Carter plays the Red Queen as a bobble-headed caricature of

Elizabeth I, a harpie from hell; Crispin Glover is a scarred, cycloptic Captain of the armour-plated,

card-guards; Anne Hathaway is gracious and whiter than white aswell, the White Queen ( but looks more like a Goth/

punk groupie with her black eyebrows, lipstick and nails ); and Johnny Depp, unrecognisable as the Mad Hatter, lisps and

lapses into an unintelligible Scottish brogue, allowing himself to be transmogrified into another of Burton’s

lovable grotesques with his orange hair, lime-green eyes and airbrushed pallor. This is his seventh collaboration with

Burton and it’s easy to see why it won’t be his last. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the vocal talents of

Barbara Windsor as a feisty Dormouse, Alan Rickman as Absalom, Christopher Lee as the Jabberwocky, Timothy Spall

as a bloodhound and a velvet-voiced Stephen Fry as the rictus grinning, cheshire cat, constantly swirling and

disappearing. And with a head like a cue ball, Matt Lucas is slightly digitally altered and duplicated into the

spherical twins, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Burton’s films may never have been strong on their

story-telling ( in this case, it may be the fault of Narnia scribe Linda Woolverton ), but he is a supreme imaginative,

visualist. But this is an original, visually imaginative take on old material. It merely reaffirms Burton as an

individualistic talent. Quite simply, no one makes films like him.

By William Marcus

 

 

 

Shutter Island - BOOK NOW

This slow-burn, psychological, chiller-thriller leaves an indellible, haunting impression for days afterwards. In a

welcome departure from his gangster flicks, director Martin Scorsese’s oft-delayed fourth collaboration with Leonardo

DiCaprio (‘Gangs of New York’, ‘The Aviator’, and ‘The Departed’ ) is one of the must-see films of the

year.

Set in 1954, the story begins with a slight film-noir feel. When we first see U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels ( DiCaprio )

with his partner Chuck ( Mark Ruffalo ), he is being sea-sick on the ferry carrying them both to Ashecliffe

Asylum, on a remote island. Approaching the mist-shrouded, jagged rocks, a deep, bass, cello-stringed score strikes

forebodingly, which soon reaches a nerve-jangling crescendo of hysteria. As you would expect, DiCaprio is earnestly

committed to his performance, intensely stressed and coiled up like an over-wrought spring. Despatched to investigate

the disappearance of a dangerous patient, Rachel Solando ( Emily Mortimer ), who was guilty of infanticide, they find

catatonic patients roaming around whilst reticent guards bush-whack the grounds and a distinctly resistant, if civil,

Dr. Cawley ( Ben Kingsley ). Accompanied by the serenely sinister Dr. Naerhing ( veteran Max von Sydow – ‘The

Exorcist’ ), they dismiss such tell-tale riddles such as "The law of 4. Who is 67 ?" Pharmacopoeia, savage

surgery and inhumane experiments are hinted at , and there is a gothic feel to the storm-swept cliff scenes and the

spiral staircase within the lighthouse.

As a hurricane approaches the Island, a prolonged stay is inevitable. But the longer Daniels remains, the line

between what is perceived to be reality and imagined, recollected horror becomes indistinguishable. Daniels is

haunted by his war-time experiences, chiefly liberating a concentration camp at Dachau. There are also disturbing,

surrealistic dreamscapes wherein his dead wife seems to be sending him messages and portents concerning her killer (

Elias Koteas ) and the danger awaiting him inside the Asylum. One particular scene manages to be simultaneously

moving and disturbing. He is talking to his dead wife and there is ash floating around inside their house. He holds

her just as her back turns to charred embers and blood gushes from her abdomen.

There is also a cameo appearance from Jackie Earle Haley ( ‘Watchmen’ ) but to discuss his role would be to reveal

too much. Suffice to say, you can understand why he was chosen to play the maniac Freddy Kreuger in the new

‘Nightmare’ remake. Also worthy of mention is Ted Levine ( Buffallo Bill from ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ )

who delivers an intimidating and disquieting speech. The film abounds with several creepy scenes, but one is

particularly memorable – Daniels is constantly striking a sputtering match which quickly extinguishes as he walks

slowly down a flickering asylum corridor, with dripping water, maniacal laughter and distant screaming in the

background. You are constantly waiting for the surprise jolt but Scorsese has the jump on you ( Christopher Nolan

must be taking notes for his new Batman film, rumoured to be set in Arkham Asylum ). Scorsese is such a master

manipulator of psycho-drama that DiCaprio’s nervous exhaustion, paranoia, debilitation and hysteria seem not

only real, but infectious. Also, he is adept at slyly referencing such classic films as Psycho and The Manchurian

Candidate.

As with all great disturbing psycho-dramas, your subsequent thought runs to who could have penned such a story. The

friends of novelist Dennis Lehane ( ‘Mystic River’ ) reputedly said that he needed help after viewing this film

- a glowing endorsement, indeed ! After having your nerves serated for over two hours and

having reeled from that savage sting-in-the-tale ending, you feel compelled to rewatch this film in a different light and

piece together the clues. The twist in the tale is a rewarding, satisfying pay-off, deliciously ambiguous, and

guaranteed to leave you debating your own interpretation of events for days afterwards. Shutter Island gets under the

skin, into your mind and stays there, like one of its own in-mates.

By William Marcus.

 

Green Zone - BOOK NOW

So confident are Universal of the promising, pulling power of Matt Damon reuniting with his old director, Paul

Greengrass, that a grainy black-and-white poster of the aforesaid actor ( in typical Jason Bourne pose ) is

sufficient to sell this picture. And you just know that expectations and demand to see this film will be huge, based

on thieir past credentials with ‘The Bourne Supremacy / Ultimatum’ films.

Certainly, there are obvious comparisons : a lone agent goes rogue in pursuit of the truth concerning his corrupt

controllers; and there is a plethora of pulse-pounding, tense, quickly edited action scenes – a hand-held,

documentary-style jerkiness that invests every scene with urgency, intimacy and realism. But it soon transpires that

this is a different film from your expectations, perhaps even exceeding them. It plays like a political conspiracy

thriller, succeeding in raising intelligent, topical observations about the Iraq invasion without sounding

pedantic.

Opening on the night of 13th March 2003, during the bombing of Baghdad, General Al Rawi is fleeing his palatial

headquarters. Four weeks later, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller ( Damon ) is searching potential sites for weapons of

mass destruction – the first of which is guarded by a sniper. These tip-offs amount to bogus intelligence,

stemming from a mysteriously elusive source, known as ‘Magellan’. Constantly questioning the source and

veracity of this intelligence, and defying orders from his superiors to stand down, he embarks on a dangerous quest

to find General Al Rawi in order to find the truth. Aided by an impassioned Iraqi contact named ‘Freddie’ ( Kalid

Abdala ), a Wall Street Journalist , Lawrie Dayne, and C.I.A. operative Martin Brown ( the bear-like Brendan

Gleeson ), he inevitably faces opposition from Clark Poundstone ( Greg Kinnear ) – an amoral eminence-grise

working for the administration. And at the heart of his investigative chase, he exposes an unpalatable truth that

requires accountability. The supporting cast help to drive the action forward but you

can’t help wishing they had more screen time. Brendan Gleeson has his operations consistently counter-manded and

is left grimly fuming. Jason Isaacs, an exceptionally gifted and versatile actor, makes an impressive entrance as

Miller’s arch-nemesis, Major Briggs, flooring and subduing Damon in an arm-lock. But the stars of the show

are Greengrass and Damon. Clearly, this is the type of the picture people will want to see Damon in – and not

something like ‘The Informant’. The closing shot of the burning oil wells have a lingering

significance. As Freddie says, "It’s not for you to decide what happens here", it will be interesting to see

how this film performs in America, what with its damning inditement of U.S. foreign policy and its fabricated

justification for going to war. Or you could just take it at face value, and enjoy it as an exciting and tense

thriller that makes you yearn for yet another Jason Bourne film.

By William Marcus.