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FlightPlan
Cert: 12A
Starring: Jodie
Foster, Peter Sarsgaard, Sean Bean, Erika Christensen,
Kate Beahan
Director: Robert
Schwentke
Running Time: 98
minutes
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Going
purely on the trailer, Flightplan had the potential to be an absolute
belter. Its ‘high concept’, (a woman takes a nap on
a transatlantic flight and wakes to find all traces of her daughter
gone) is certainly an intriguing one, although sadly, once established,
it doesn’t know what to do with itself, and before too long,
starts to go very much downhill.
Kyle (Jodie Foster), is an engineer whose husband recently passed
away unexpectedly. Whilst flying back home to America with her
daughter (complete with her husband’s body in the hold of
the plane), the premise is set: she wakes up from a light snooze
to find her daughter has disappeared. Bizarrely, nobody on the
plan remembers seeing the little girl. And if this wasn’t
bad enough, her name isn’t even on the passenger listings.
Horrified by this, she begins a desperate search of the plane,
although everybody else on board suspects that she is just mentally
unbalanced.
Unfortunately, this is where the film starts to go badly wrong.
Without giving away the ending (which is utterly illogical), the
film’s screenwriter seemingly ran out of ideas about 40 minutes
into his script, and rather than follow-up his neat idea with intelligent
twists and/or well concealed red herrings, he instead opted to
write a tedious, improbable and highly frustrating build-up to
a very limp finale. Jodie Foster tries her very best to maintain
the suspense generated by the film’s first act, although
to no avail.
All in all, Flightplan is a nice idea masquerading as a story.
To come up with a dynamic and original premise is only half the
battle won: there also needs to be a solid story with captivating
characters and rewarding developments to maintain the audience’s
interest.
Unfortunately, Flightplan has neither. |
King
Kong
Cert: 12A
Starring: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien
Brody, Andy Serkis, Colin Hanks, Thomas Kretschmann, Kyle Chandler
Director: Peter Jackson
Running Time: 3
Hours
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Unfortunately,
King Kong is released a little too late for me to check it
out for a final review, although I promise that there will
be a full report of it in January’s edition of The Harp!
In the meantime, here’s a quick preview…
Set in the 1930s, King Kong is the tale of a group of explorers
and documentary filmmakers who travel to the mysterious Skull
Island (near Sumatra) to investigate legends of a giant gorilla.
Once there, they discover that King Kong is indeed a very real
creature, living in a massive jungle where creatures from prehistoric
times have been hidden for millions of years. As the explorers
search for the great ape, their quest pits them up against
both Kong and his dinosaur enemies. Ultimately, it is the attention
of a beautiful human woman that soothes Kong long enough for
him to be subdued by the explorers and shipped back to New
York, where his bleak future involves being put on display
in front of humans... but how long can even the mightiest shackles
of man hold back an ape 25 feet tall?
Directed by Peter ‘Lord of the Rings’ Jackson,
and boasted his usual team of special effects specialists,
King Kong promises to a visual feast. Early indications have
been good, with a 20 minute sneak-preview containing some wondrous
examples of modern day SFX.
I for one can’t wait till it’s released on December
15th, and with a bit of luck, it’ll more than live up
to the enormous levels of hype that’ve been building
up over the past year. |
The
Exorcism of Emily Rose
Cert: 15
Starring: Tom Wilkinson,
Laura Linney, Jennifer Carpenter, Campbell Scott
Director: Scott
Derrickson
Running Time: 119
minutes
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Emily
Rose, a 19-year-old college student who died after a botched
exorcism, has her case taken on by a lawyer, Erin Bruner. As
we see what happened to Emily, Bruner’s initial scepticism
son fades, especially as spooky goings-on start to occur as
the case proceeds.
The film is 'based on true events', although to make a horror
film out of the real-life story a great deal of overstatement
and exaggeration has been intertwined with the screenplay .
The film certainly looks the part, and a few of the ‘scary
bits’ are disturbing enough to warrant them worthwhile.
Unfortunately, there never really feels as if there’s
any genuine tension building, due to the constant flashbacks
from trial to possession; it just feels too disjointed.
The acting is pretty consistent throughout, and thought it
dos have its creepy moments, there are way too many utterly
un-terrifying sequences lopped in alongside them. The law case
sequences also only work in small doses, as the film’s
makers seem to have tried way too hard to make The Exorcism
of Emily Rose cleverer than it actually is.
A mixed bag – not a complete disaster by any means, although
the 1973 classic The Exorcist still remains untouched in this
particular field of horror. |
The
Chronicles of Narnia
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Cert: 12A
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ray Winstone,
Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, James
McAvoy
Director: Andrew Adamson
Running Time: 132 minutes
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The
Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is one of the most famous
and best-loved children's stories ever written, and kids worldwide
have been mesmerised by the entire Narnia collection for decades.
So, with the recent success stories of Harry Potter and Lord
of the Rings, it made perfect sense to see the fairytale world
of CS Lewis translated to the big-screen.
Naturally, there was talk of uncertainty amongst Narnia’s
diehard fan base, with many citing the lavish adventures penned
almost 60 years ago as being unfilmable. However, the doubters
can rest easy, because director Andrew Adamson, the animated-movie
master behind the Shrek films, has risen to the task in the
most commendable of fashions.
Although the film was shot in New Zealand (using many of the
same backdrops as Lord of the Rings) by a Kiwi director, the
film manages to remain true to its English heritage. The wondrous
wintry world of Narnia is crated with a spellbinding combination
of amazing CGI special effects, a booming, triumphant soundtrack
and a selection of extraordinary cast performances (Dawn French
and Ray Winstone almost steal the show as the voices of the
squabbling Mr and Mrs Beaver).
However, there is very little doubt in who the real star of
the show is, and that’s the mighty Aslan, with the ever-superb
Liam Neeson bringing the lion to life with his amazing vocal
range. It’s sometimes difficult to believe that the creature
is the result of top-notch CGI…
It’s extremely pleasing to see that the film has managed
to stay so faithful to the original book, and director Adamson
has noted all seven Chronicles may well eventually be bought
to the big screen, depending on the success of this first movie.
However, going on the strength of this effort, I hardly think
he has a thing to worry about.
The film is sure to be a huge hit at the box-office this Christmas,
and will doubtlessly thrill every generation on the family.
Go see it!
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