Category: Films

Based on the stage musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street stars Johnny Depp as Benjamin Baker, who returns to 19th century London after fifteen years in exile, seeking revenge against Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who imprisoned Barker and stole his wife (Laura Michelle Kelly) and infant daughter.

Renaming himself as Sweeney Todd, Benjamin sets himself up as a barber, above a grotesque pie shop run by Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who has always secretly loved him.When Todd kills a blackmailing rival barber (Sacha Baron Cohen), he finds himself with a body on his bloody hands, until Mrs Lovett hits upon an innovative solution that soon sees her pie shop transformed into a roaring success. Meanwhile, as Todd plots his vengeance against Turpin, a young sailor (Jamie Campbell Bower) falls in love with Todd’s imprisoned daughter (Jayne Wisener) and vows to rescue her.

This sixth collaboration with director Tim Burton, Johnny Depp delivers an exceptional performance in the leading role that combines the gothic horror, black comedy and heartache similar to his previous hit in Edward Scissorhands.

As for his singing, Depp’s vocal performance was full of passion with a nod to David Bowie. He may not be a great singer, but his voice was both distinctive and perfectly suited to the part as the demon barber.

Helena Bonham Carter was terrific as Mrs Lovett providing some laughs thanks to her sharp wit. She can also sing well with the dreamy summer sequence the highlight.

As for the supporting cast, Alan Rickman brings a crafty charisma to Judge Turpin alongside the creepy Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford. As for Sacha Baron Cohen – better known as Ali G and Borat – his short appearance was memorable thanks to his humour as Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

Despite the gory factor, Sweeney Todd is a beautifully directed, superbly designed and suitably bloodthirsty musical. Entertaining with a sense of dark comical moments make this a movie to remember.

After the misfire of Cars, Pixar returns with a delightful story on a rat that seeks to become the best chef in the heart of Paris. With Ratatouille, the animated geniuses behind such great hits like Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo has provided a stunning and entertaining journey into a life of a small rodent that loves to cook.

Being a fan of Disney/Pixar films, I love the simple beauty of the CGI visuals. The advancement of computer technology has made the images even more photo-realistic over the last few years but I always take the pleasure that the studio is there to tell a story with fascinating characters. And with Ratatouille, the idea that Remy can inspire the love of preparing a meal is a sight to behold, no matter if he is seen as a street vermin.

Ratatouille is written and directed by Brad Bird, whose previous Pixar hit with The Incredibles was by far my favourite in the digitally-animated series. His talent is on par with the legendary Hayao Miyazaki by providing enthralling stories and characters in an emotionally driven movie. In fact, the director has gone from strength to strength since The Iron Giant and I am sure his next hit will be even more special.

The voice acting from the likes of Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Peter Sohn, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy and Peter O’Toole are sensational and give these characters a sense of poetic warmth to the viewer.

Remy (Patton Oswalt) is a little rat who dreams of becoming a chef just like his idol, the human Gusteau (Brad Garrett). After a mishap, Remy loses his family in the sewers and comes upon a fading restaurant that had previously been owned by Gusteau before his untimely death. There he comes upon a lowly garbage boy, Linguini (Lou Romano), and together they set out to revive the once-legendary restaurant.

Ratatouille is filled with plenty of surprises that will amuse and excite. As for the animation, this is by far the best than any other Disney/Pixar productions. The breathtaking landscape of Paris adds a layer of realism to the movie, while the food looking so real it must be delicious!

In summary, you couldn’t ask for more than an entertaining movie with Ratatouille. It has become a new benchmark with amazing animation and visuals. Not forgetting Pixar’s sense of humour that will delight the young and old. An instant classic.

The third chapter in the series of the CIA amnesiac super agent that is Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) ends an exciting trilogy inspired by Robert Ludlum’s books. With The Bourne Ultimatum, the trained assassin is trying to piece together his identity and with it, uncover the truth of project Treadstone.

The opening scene follows immediately from The Bourne Supremacy where a wounded Jason Bourne is evading the Moscow police. From there, the action shifts to a relentless pace as he travels around the world looking for the truth behind the CIA operation named Blackbriar, which was first uncovered by a newspaper journalist (Paddy Considine).

The action sequences in London’s Waterloo station – as Bourne directs Considine’s nervous Simon Ross through a crowd of hostile CIA agents – is simply breathtaking. You assume the film has peaked just twenty minutes in, but from here director Paul Greengrass continues to set a dynamic and edgy pace to thrill the viewers throughout the 115-minute running time.

We are also treated with not one, but two exciting car chases and yet, the frenetic foot pursuit across the rooftops of Tangier overshadows both metal-crunching incidents. To see Bourne leaping from building to building – tumbling though opening windows and crashing into living rooms before engaging in a furious fighting scene with Desh Bouksani (Joey Ansah) is truly spectacular.

As for the supporting cast in Ultimatum, Joan Allen makes a welcome return as the CIA investigator Pamela Landy. Working alongside her is David Strathairn, the main villain in the movie. Albert Finney has only a brief role but plays an important part to Bourne’s previous life. As for Julia Stiles, she gets more screen time then the previous two films but her role feels slightly redundant.

Star performances go to director Paul Greengrass and actor Matt Damon, who both exceeded themselves in Ultimatum. From the stylish and quick cut camera work to Damon’s portray as the 21-century killing machine. The Bourne Ultimatum is definitely the best summer film of 2007; not only for its compelling story but also with its impressive action scenes from start to finish.

American’s longest-running animated comedy featuring a dysfunctional family continues to delight and entertain a generation of fans for the last 18 years and with the film version based on The Simpsons, you would expect the magical formula of providing witty jokes and visual gags would work on the big screen.

Unfortunately, The Simpsons Movie provides little joy which is disheartening compared to the sublime half-hour show on Springfield. It seems the team of writers were having difficulty on how to adapt the popular cartoon series into a feature-length picture, as every pop-culture references and situations have been done before… After all, why would you buy a ticket when you can watch it on television?

The lack of jokes hits you hard. It’s unbelievable to discover that the movie is more like a mediocre episode from the current season, only this time it is stretched over eighty minutes… And it certainly doesn’t help that some of the inhabitants of Springfield have only very brief cameos including Monty Burns.

Speaking of characters, Homer J Simpson never reaches his true absurdist extremes you come to expect. Rebel Bart Simpson is lost in a dull storyline of being neglected by his father’s love and turns to Ned Flanders for a sense of well being… Lisa falls in love with a random Irish boy. As for Marge, she continues to despair over her husband’s antics while Maggie… well, she does say her first words.

Don’t get me wrong, the movie is still entertaining and the quality of the animation is more advanced over the cartoon show, but you can’t help but feel a little under whelmed. It still has it charms and Homer continues to make you laugh at his stupidity, but by ‘Simpsons’-standards it’s just not good enough.

Based on a toy franchise by Hasbro, Transformers tells a story of an epic intergalactic war between the Autobots and Decepticons. In this live action movie directed by Michael Bay, the giant robots are fighting over a cube, the Allspark.

The Allspark holds the key to the Autobots and Decepticons as the relic can bring mechanical objects to life. In fact, anything that is exposed to the Allspark can both repair Cybertronians and convert Earth electronics and vehicles into Transformers.

But to locate the cube, first the robots need to acquire a map and thanks to the Internet plus eBay (yes really!) Optimus Prime and his group of Autobots track down a teenager who has it. The item in question turns out to be a pair of glasses, which happens to have an imprint of the location on the lens!

Rising Hollywood star Shia LaBeouf plays Sam Witwicky, who receives his first car from his father. The car was no ordinary vehicle however, but it turns out to be Autobot Bumblebee! But unlike the original cartoon series, the yellow car with black racing stripes is based on a 1977 Chevrolet Camaro instead of a Volkswagen Beetle.

The alien robot is tasked to protect Sam, who is in a possession of something his great-great-grandfather (Captain Archibald Witwicky) owned. If the item falls into the wrong hands such as the evil Decepticons, then the world and mankind will be destroyed.

Meanwhile, as the US military led by Secretary of Defense John Keller (Jon Voight) and his team of advisors are trying to figure out who is hacking into their computer system and stealing classified files, Sam and his girlfriend Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) must evade the Decepticon Barricade as well as Agent Reggie Simmons (John Turturro) from the secret government group Sector 7.

Being a Michael Bay movie, the action scenes speak louder than words and it is not surprising that the CGI-heavy fighting sequences take centre stage in this two-hour plus film. The poor dialogue, humour and a lack of plot doesn’t help but to make up for that are some of the most impressive special effects thanks to the creative geniuses at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). The detail of each robot when transforming are stylish and far more complex compare to the original.

Overall an entertaining film that will please fans but for others, a lack of character development and its ridiculous story will put off many.

Yippi-kay-yay! Bruce Willis is back as detective John McClane – the all-action American hero – as he single-handling takes down a group of computer hackers set to terrorising the United States by crashing all transportation, telecommunications, financial and power networks.

Inspired by a magazine article in Wired, “A Farewell To Arms”, by John Carlin, the plot to this exciting movie describes a likely-scenario in which the country is under cyber-attack. Willis reprises his 19-year-old role as the super New York cop set out to kick some bad guys ass and with it cause as much destruction as possible!

Deadwood’s star Timothy Olyphant plays computer guru Thomas Gabriel, who is hell-bent on seeking revenge against the US government that shunned him. Gabriel’s mission is to show how vulnerable the country’s security system is by systematically taking down major parts of the network causing chaos and mayhem.

Enter John McClane, to sort out the mess! The detective is called up to do a “favour” by picking up a student (Justin Long) who happens to be computer wiz-kid. When the student, Matt Farrell, becomes a target for the terrorist group under Gabriel, McClane is drawn to the same old routine once again.

Working together, McClane and Farrell attempt to stop Gabriel from basically “resetting” the entire country. Add into the mix of McClane’s daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) being kidnapped by Gabriel to keep John in line, and the conflict gets much more personal.

Underworld director Len Wiseman has produced a stunning and adrenaline-filled motion picture with some of the most impressive (and outrageous) stunts ever seen this year. These include: Driving a SUV down an elevator shaft after ramming into Mai Lihn (Maggie Q), smashing into a helicopter with a car (because he didn’t have any bullets…) and pulling off a wheeling with a big trailer truck under missile attack from a fighter jet!

The spectacular results of Wiseman’s efforts makes Die Hard 4.0 a ludicrously but entertaining popcorn movie. But despite the fun, it showcases the chilling and scary concept of what might happen if virtual terrorism took effect. Imagine the panic that might ensure when traffic signals go wrong, broadcast media and phones are hijacked, bank accounts evaporate and the electricity cutting out…

Live Free or Die Hard would have worked as a dark thriller on a post 9/11 world – but thanks to its unique blend of humour, including those witty McClaine’s one-liners, makes this a thrilling ride for the viewer.

The final instalment of the popular Pirates of the Caribbean movie proves to be hit and miss, despite the best efforts from Johnny Depp in the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. The plot is extremely difficult to follow, leaving the viewer dazed and confused as to what the hell is going on.

It doesn’t help that the film involves lots of twists and turns, with everyone double-crossing and backstabbing each other. However, the action sequences are pretty spectacular with some of the most impressive CGI effects this year. It’s just a shame that the charm and personality from the 2003 original – The Curse of the Black Pearl – are cast aside with a hollow and uninspiring narrative.

Despite the poor storyline, you can’t fault the performances by the leading players. Johnny Depp is superb and it was amusing to see multiple Jack Sparrow as he suffers from his hallucinations. Depp’s enthusiasm carries the whole weight of the film with some of the best dialogue and comic timing you come to expect.

Geoffrey Rush also provides top quality entertainment in the role of Hector Barbossa and it was great to see the two captains upstaging each other over who gets to command the Black Pearl. Davy Jones makes a reappearance, played by the talented Bill Nighy, along with Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat as the evil Captain Sao Feng, though this character was underused in the story.

And what about the two ‘eye-candy’ stars, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom? Both seem to be enjoying themselves but you can’t help but notice that Keira and Orlando were being upstage by a multi-talented monkey! The simian even had more screen-time than Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards playing Jack’s father…

As for the action sequences, the cinematography is a work of art in itself with some truly beautiful imagery. So is this the end for Pirates of the Caribbean? Well, the final scene in this epic 168-minute film might suggest a possible fourth sequel, so it all depends how well it receives in the box office. But for the viewer, At World’s End can be seen as a high sea adventure with action and humour in the company of the charming Jack Sparrow.

The third instalment of Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movie is an ambitious but deeply flawed story. The director wanted to set a more sinister mood to the film with more action featuring not one or two, but three villains taken from the popular Marvel comic books.

By introducing the Sandman, Venom and the second generation Green Goblin into the narrative, the film struggles by not providing significant character development for the three actors playing these roles – Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace and James Franco respectively. It feels as if the villains were placed in to provide nuisance for our hero, who would later take them all on in separate dramatic and heavy CGI-influenced fighting sequences.

Worst still, the love story between Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson means certain scenes resembles more like a light-hearted romantic comedy than an action movie… At one point, Peter’s confidence in wearing the new black Spider suit (which was infected by a strange alien symbiote) transformed him to a Travolta-like figure from Saturday Night Fever – including those hip-thrusting dancing moves!

Despite all that, Spider-Man 3 still provides some exciting moments – in particular the chase and fighting scene featuring Spider-Man and the Green Goblin – it just a shame that the movie lacks direction with too many characters and situations.

It is unclear whether there will be a Spider-Man 4 as this outing is likely to be Raimi’s last involvement. Judging by the disappointing ending, this could be the last of the trilogy, unless Sony Pictures has other ideas…

Following on from the success of Sin City, comic book writer Frank Miller has created a stylish look with this brutal and violent movie. Based on his graphic novel, 300 focuses on the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 of the finest warriors are led to an epic battle against the advancing Persians. This struggle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world’s first democracy.

The fighting sequences in 300 are truly breathtaking with strong uses of gore and slow motion. Director Zack Snyder (whose previous work includes a remake of the cult horror classic Dawn Of The Dead) has done a spectacular job in creating a visual masterpiece that seems to be lifted straight off Miller’s comic book. The heavy use of blood splatter and CGI may seem over-the-top, but the end result works well.

Even though the dialogue consists of much shouting including the well-known phrase that is “Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!” the action is the true star in this two-hour film. And it delivers with fancy editing that puts the viewer right into the heart of the battle.

As for Gerard Butler playing the lead role, his presence on the screen is immensely powerful. You could feel the fire burning inside of him, with the sadness, inner struggles, but also the dignity and the kindness of the King.

300 is a movie that integrates the potentials of film-making and story-telling in a wonderful new way that is the best of both entertainment and artistic achievement.