Featuring some of the most painfully obvious product placement since the last two Bond films, Cast Away is a reasonably effective marooned-on-a-desert-island film. Hanks, who features solo on screen for a lot of the time, gives his usual likeable and good, but nothing incredible performance that could, but hopefully won't give him another Oscar come March. As this is a Robert Zemeckis film, its pretty much what you expect; a pretty solid studio film with some great scenes, but a little too much sugar and not enough bite. The plane crash near the beginning is palm sweatingly tense, and much of the desert island stuff is well done, but the overlong book-ends on land are dissapointingly lifeless and over sentimental. I also thought that Hanks' character kept himself together a bit too well after 4 years alone on an island, although he does talk to a volleyball. Also, although Hanks lost a lot of weight for the 'four years later' bit, he didn't really lose enough, and just looks average instead of scrawny. All in all this isn't bad, but isn't great either. 6/10
Having made a number of large-scale very serious films in the last few years, most of which didn't quite hit their mark, its refreshing to see Spielberg take a break and make a more light, enjoyable film. That said, the 'lightness' of the film is probably the reason its never going to go down as one of Spielberg's classics, but its still a lot of fun. This reminded me a bit of Oceans Eleven as both deliver great entertainment value, but because of the undemanding and frivolous nature, they're both a little unmemorable. It seems as though I'm just contradicting what I said at the start, but thats how I feel. All that aside, this is a film where all involved seemed to enjoy themselves, and this rubs off on screen, keeping everyone happy throughout its (slightly too long) running time. All of the leads (DiCaprio, Hanks and Walken) are excellent, the attention to period detail superb, especially the set design, and the film bosts one of the most impressive credit sequences I've seen for a while. Spielberg handles everything almost faultlessly, focusing on the sentimental family side of things (as usual), but never getting bogged down in schmaltz. My only gripe with the storytelling was when Hanks caught up with DiCaprio near the end of the film, it seemed to come out of nowhere, and the ending was dragged on a fraction too long. All in all, as I've said throughout this review, I enjoyed this film a lot, but its a bit too light (and a little too long) to really love. 7/10
I went into the cinema expecting not to like this film. I'm not a big fan of musicals, and all the dodgy canvasing to get this a best picture Oscar annoyed me (it really should have been Lord of the Rings, or some of the superior independent films). However, I was pleasantly surprised and actually enjoyed the film quite a lot. I still don't think it was the best film of last year, but its a well paced, sexy and surprisingly nasty film. This last factor partially saved the film for me, but was also one of its downfalls. This is because the nastiness of the characters was deliciously portrayed and made for a fresh take in the usually happy and cheery world of the musical, but it spoiled the film by making pretty much all of the characters unlikeable, leaving no one to really connect with, apart from maybe John C Reilly's character. This aside, the film is nicely shot, with some stunning lavishly theatrical lighting and well choreographed dance numbers which make the film sizzle with raw passion. Overall, this is a deliciously dark film, which possibly goes a little over the top in the nastiness of its characters, but is well worth watching anyway, especially on the big screen. 7/10
Chicken Run, like it's Wallace and Gromit counterparts, and also like the Toy Story films, is a great family film that actually does appeal to the whole family and not just the kids. The stop motion animation techniques used are virtually flawless (bar a couple of liquid shots), and the production team spared no expense in packing in a great amount of detail into the film, which is one of the films greatest assets. Where most family films just go for obvious set piece gags, this mixes those with more subtle in jokes mostly pointing fun at escape films, which the film is an obvious take on. For instance, on one of the many occasions the female lead (Julia Sawalha) is thrown into "the hole" (as in most prison films), she is seen bouncing a ball against the wall of her cell (ala The Great Escape). This is a very enjoyable film, with some great vocal support, especially from Mel Gibson as the charismatic rooster, Rocky. 8/10
Coming from accomplished director Michael Winterbottom and featuring the acting talents of Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton I expected this to be a powerful and thought-provoking sci-fi drama that would be challenging, but satisfying. How wrong I was. The only challenge was staying awake, and I must admit I think I did doze off for a moment, but don't let that take any credibility away from my review as the other four people I watched the film with agreed with me that Code 46 is a pretentious, dull and unnaffecting dissapointment. The science fiction elements are never really very interesting, the plot moves at the pace of a snail and the central love story has about as much spark as a wet book of matches. Robbins and Morton just don't have any chemistry, an 'erotic' scene in a shower for instance was almost laughably cold. It doesn't help that Robbins is about a foot taller than her either. This gives 'arthouse' films a bad name, reinforcing the stereotype that they're all dull and eneventful. It does have a few positive elements I must add, its a beautifully shot film and the music is very good (apart from the ill-judged addition of a Coldplay song over the final scene). Overall, this is a big dissapointment, and I don't advise tracking it down at the local arthouse. 3/10
From the trailers and the write-ups on this film, I really wasn't expecting to like it, but when I eventually got talked into watching it I was pleasantly surprised. 'Pleasantly' probably isn't the word though, as this is at times a brutal and harsh film. It tells the story of deserting soldier Inman's (Jude Law) journey back to his sweetheart Ada (Nicole Kidman) who is struggling to survive on her own. Its Inman's journey that really captivates though rather than Ada's turmoil. This is largely due to an excellent supporting cast who Law's character meets throughout the film, especially the ever reliable Philip Seymour Hoffman as a corrupt clergyman. Natalie Portman pulls out a decent turn too as a lonely young mother, regaining my faith in her acting abilities after her poor Star Wars performances. Director Minghella makes good use of the scenery too, which makes a stunning backdrop to the story, and his handling of the action, especially the war scenes at the beginning, is first class. My only dissapointment with the film was the predictable finale, and the cheesy sentimental epilogue. I didn't find Kidman's character quite as strong as Law's or the supporting talent either. This is an exceptionally well made and gripping film though and was much better than I expected. 8/10
(From Insomniac Mania)
Mixing kung-fu action with epic storytelling, Crouching Tiger overwhelms in the former and succeeds reasonably well in the latter. The fight scenes are quite frequent and outstanding. The actors swoop about all over the place, up walls and over roofs, and do battle in the most breathtakingly fluid and beautiful ways. This, matched with some of the most stunning cinematography I've ever seen make this a great feast for the eyes. Elsewhere in the film though, this is in standard, but very well handled 'epic' territory, drawing out simple love stories and tales of revenge with bog standard dialogue (this could be the fault of the translators though), but firm performances, especially from the excellent Zhang Ziyi as the troubled teen Jen, the character the film focuses on most of the time. Much like Gladiator, the main body of the film slightly dissapoints, but the bits you really came to see (ie. the action) are so astounding, and it is visually so stunning that you forget any faults in the other elements of the film. All in all, this is a great film for the kung-fu and cinematography alone. 9/10
