 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Mille Bornes
Four good friends decide to fulfill their best friend's last wish to be cremated in Italy by stealing his body from a
morgue in France without his family's knowledge. This fresh piece of French work is interesting and light, some poignant scenes and
easy on the brains (no negative connotations intended). A simple straight forward movie that speaks of friendship and the bonds of
family and love etc. A little quirky but not the least morbid or dark in humour, Mille Bornes seems like a good portfolio piece of
a directorial debut. This is Alain Beigel's second try as a director after almost 2 decades of acting in feature films.
Touted as nothing more than "mainstream porn", L'Ennui sure lives up to its name. Despite reviews suggesting that there is more to this French film,
I found nothing short of in-you-face corpulations over and over again. A man finds himself obsessed with a 17-year-old girl constantly in need of sexual gratification.
We see the interesting reversal of roles as the male lead pleads and pines for her attention despite her candid confession of polygamy practices. He goes berzerk and even proposes to her,
promising to allow her to continues her affairs. This weird film is almost warped, seems senseless and definitely not recommended. A let-down closure to the French Film Festival here.
An enigmatic movie seemingly using sex as a tool for enlightenment, 8 1/2 Women seems more like a farce. Highly unusual with a lot of sexual innuendoes
and nudity, this film is surprisingly more tasteful than it seems. A father and his son ventures into sexual 'exploration' after the death of his wife. Hints of incest,
homoeroticism and characters including weird nuns, opera singers, Kimono-wrapped Japanese and a pig - 8 1/2 is one of the most 'out-of-this-world' movie experience for
a mainstream audience. Give it a try.
Running was never hotter since half a decade ago when Tom Hanks did his "Run Forrest Run". This German critical and commercial blockbuster
is kinetic Sliding Doors meets Go MTV style. Lola has exactly 20 minutes to get 100 000 bucks and meet her boyfriend at a phone booth before he resorts to
robbing a supermarket to pay off some drugs-dealing mobsters. Lola dashes, sprints, and screams over 50 per cent of her onscreen appearance. The movie is cleverly written to
provide 3 different endings through 3 20-minute odd segments to show the dramatic impact of the twists and wimps of 'fate'. Robust and hip, Lola is undoubtedly fresh but
quite frankly over-hyped. Techno soundtracks, minimal dialogue with a thin plot did not charm as much as the intelligent Sliding Doors (Gwyneth Paltrow) or the highly engaging
Go.
Christopher Eccleston (Jude) is Gary Ellis, a married man who finds a replacement heart in a 17-year-old teenager who met with a tragic traffic accident. His cheating wife has not given up on her adulterous affair.
The mother of the teen relentlessly haunts the couple to get closer to her dead son through his living heart. The doctor reveals that the transplanted heart was not her son's. Things get berserk
and killings occur. This thriller seems directionless and only picks up after halfway into the story. Other than for Eccleston's performance, everything else about the movie seems half-baked and floaty.
Not recommended.
This upsetting film about armageddon sees a disappointing Arnold returning to the silver screen after a 2-year break
trying to duplicate his earlier success with Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The opening title is long and tiring, much like the first half of this action thriller about good versus evil. So predictable and cliche is the plot
(Satan can never win God, mortal men can never beat Satan), so poor are the punchlines and so bad is the camera-work and lighting that the big-budget picture is little better than The Relic.
The movie is redeemed, although not fully, by the picked-up action and special effects toward the end of the movie. It was still painful to see Arnold as bodyguard Jericho trying to save the world: thinking that a few guns can blow
Lucifer into bite-size pieces. Moreover, the wears of a surgery is evident on his once formidable built and omnipotent aura. His voice no longer intimidates and his stun-work no longer as nimble. Saving grace of End Of Days comes,
ironically, in the form of the Devil himself, played charmingly by 50 year-old Gabriel Byrne. His satanic presence is almost reminiscent of Al Pacino's in The Devil's Advocate, well, almost.
For the lack of a better word, this movie sucks for an Arnold film and you should consider staying away from it.
|
