Archive for August, 2008
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Released 29th August
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If you are not a critic, then you can watch a film, walk out tell your mates exactly what you think (be it ‘top’ or hideous), and have no feeling of guilt if it is the latter. However, in this case, being a critic was the blessing because without the production notes that accompany any film handed to you on your way in, you would have absolutely no clue as to the background to the story, or the characters in Babylon A.D. The main flaw with this film is the fact it is void of any of these explanations. However, not having this information does not deter from the fact this is a sci-fi catastrophe.
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Released 29th August 2008
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First-time writer/director Bryan Bertino’s suspense thriller, The Strangers, ticks all the right horror boxes: lone, stranded couple (tick); secluded holiday home (tick); useless mobile/disconnected phone line (tick); nutters trying to get in (tick) etc, etc. It also does a commendable job of setting the scene by developing the characters, Kristen (Liv Tyler) and James’ (Scott Speedman) relationship — flaws, tensions and all — to ensure that the viewer relates to the happy couple’s predicament before the deadly ‘fun’ is unleashed. Without this vital step, it’s questionable whether we would really care what happens to our leads — or the film for that matter.
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Released 29th August 2008
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Set in New York in the sweltering summer of 1994, when the streets were booming with hip hop’s finest and infused by the sweet aroma of marijuana, The Wackness tells the story of a troubled teenage drug dealer (Josh Peck) who, by high school graduation and in spite of his lucrative business, has no friends. He trades weed for therapy sessions with a drug-addled psychiatrist (Sir Ben Kingsley). Forming an unlikely friendship, things get more complicated when he falls for one of his classmates, who just happens to be the doctor’s step daughter. Set against the backdrop of the greatest year in hip-hop history, this is ultimately a coming-of-age story about sex, drugs, music - and what it takes to be a man…
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Released 23rd August 2008
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Our quest for answers into any disaster or mystery is insatiable and such a documentary as Zero: An Investigation into 9/11 fuels every conspiracy theorist’s curiosity with events on that fateful day. What this influential film does in a ‘matter-of-fact’ way is questions official explanations using a whole raft of scientific theories and experts, from metallurgists to experienced military pilots, to plant incredibly unnerving doubts with the official line into the minds of anyone who watches it. It is questionable whether this is a good or a bad thing, and some of the points it makes could be further argued, but some of the debates the film flags cannot (and should) not be avoided. Zero provides some very convincing evidence that will destabilise and further shatter any pre-conditioning we, as Westerners, have about the ‘democratic’ workings of the powerful U.S government.
