Latest Film Articles
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
2008
Rob Cohen
Anyone hiring Jet Li to star in a blockbuster movie would probably be considered a mug if they didn’t take advantage of his considerable martial arts skills. Rob Cohen wouldn’t care though: for this belated third Mummy outing he brings us Li to provide a menacing look without a kick or punch in sight. The rest of the cast put in about the same level off effort in what will surely kill off this franchise.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
2008
Chris Carter
Who wanted another X Files movie? C’mon, own up! Hardly seen on television screens anymore, Lost and Heroes provide the all multi-faceted storylines we need to see these days and even manage to make more sense than the tiresome Files “mythology”. The latter was used to spearhead the 1998 movie Fight the Future, but for I Want to Believe creator Chris Carter has left that long and winding subject to the series finale and moves on to focus on how FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are getting on with life outside the bureau.
WALL-E
2008
Andrew Stanton
Pixar movies were once invincible pillars of the CGI animated world. After Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) they went on to make hit after hit and usher in the age of CGI as the animated method of choice. Even Disney gave up on hand drawn characters in favour of their 3-D counterparts. With WALL-E, Pixar have won widespread acclaim for their depiction of love, innocence and heart starring a Short Circuit (John Badham, 1986) inspired robot. Touted as a modern classic, the first 45-minutes is a refreshing piece of cinema with only minimal dialogue somehow makes a robot’s ultimately thankless and depressing life humourous and, to a degree, enchanting. Then the twist comes and WALL-E develops into a disappointing offering dedicated to a worthy cause of saving the planet but never recapturing the originality that precedes it.
The Mist
2008
Frank Darabont
When a freak storm erupts over a small town and a mysterious mist descends on it from nearby mountains, the community heads to the local store for supplies in the wake of power cuts and damage to their homes by uprooted trees. But as soldiers from the nearby army base appear on the roads, it becomes clear the pea soup visiblity outside is no ordinary low cloud. A bleeding old man warns there is something meancing in the mist — and suddenly the one-stop shop becomes a refuge for the scared and mystified community.
Wanted
2008
Timur Bekmambetov
Silly season continues at the box office with the special effects action bonanza Wanted. A hyperactive comic book adaptation only in its stride when rival assassins are trying to literally shoot holes in each other thanks to its preoccupation with CGI, this blockbuster may have 18-rated kills but it is about as interesting as a Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers episode. James McAvoy stars as a shy loser catapulted into the high octane life of a hitman by the endlessly sultry Angelina Jolie answering to a typically authoritative Morgan Freeman. Delivering their lines without breaking out into laughter after every line is the extent of the challenges to their acting talents in this schoolboy yarn.
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