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A
History of Violence
Cert: 18
Starring: Viggo
Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt
Director: David
Cronenberg
Running Time: 95
minutes
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From
Scanners to Videodrome, to Naked Lunch and Crash, David Cronenberg
has consistently demonstrated a fascination of the macabre. With
this in mind, A History Of Violence (based on John Wagner and Vince
Locke’s original graphic novel) is probably his most accessible
film to date. It’s a straight action movie, and works well
as one, but at the same time it contains enough in the way of Cronenberg’s
signature techniques to keep his established fan base happy.
Tom Stall (played here by Lord Of The Rings’ Viggo Mortensen)
is a quiet man living in small town American. He owns and runs
a little diner, and is very much respected by the local community.
Unfor-tunately for him, his peaceful lifestyle is about to be shattered
forever when two cold-blooded criminals threaten to murder one
of Tom’s employees in the middle of a robbery, and acting
entirely on instinct (or is he?), he snatches the gun off one of
them and shoots the pair dead.
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After
this courageous act, Tom Stall is hailed a hero by the townsfolk
and the local media. Shortly afterwards, however, a gangster from
Philadelphia arrives in town, claiming that Tom lived a previous
life in the city as a dangerous killer some years before. Naturally,
this comes as a shock to his wife (Maria Bello), who begins to
suspect that Tom’s past contains a few more secrets than
he liked to let on to.
As mentioned before, A History Of Violence is an action movie.
But thanks to Cronenberg’s slick direction and the movie’s
tight script, it manages to transcend away from the stereotypes,
offering so much more than the over-blown eye candy usually served
up within the genre. The sequences where Tom Stall fights off the
baddies are thrilling and polished, although far more realistic
than many may expect. There are some great performances, and with
a plot that’ll keep you guessing till the film’s very
clever climax, A History Of Violence comes very highly recommended. |
Wallace
& Gromit
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Cert: U
Starring: Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham
Carter, Ralph Fiennes
Director: Nick Park, Peter Lord
Running Time: 83
minutes
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Wallace
and Gromit, with their annual giant vegetable competition fast
approaching, are running a 'humane pest control' business,
which sees them capture rabbits and then take them home for
safe keeping. As we’ve come to expect from the duo, they
employ all manner of Wallace’s ridiculous inventions,
including a machine which sucks the rabbits out of their burrows
and leaves them floating unharmed in a big glass case. However,
local vegetable patches are being devastated by a giant rabbit
that only seems to come out when there’s a full moon… So
naturally, it’s down to Wallace and Gromit to capture
the rabbit before it ruins the competition, as well as their
business.
One of the first things that strikes you about this latest
addition to the Wallace and Gromit franchise is the pace and
the density of gags – it’s obviously taken a few
leaves from the lucrative Hollywood book and used it to great
effect, producing a rich array of genuinely humorous gags that
will delight both adults and children alike. The traditional
stop-motion animation techniques have been incorporated into
the film’s production, although well-placed CG effects
have also been used to fantastic effect, massively boosting
the film’s visual appeal.
Despite the implementation of these new animation techniques
and technology, The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit still manages
to maintain all the charm of the previous Wallace and Gromit
adventures. It’s also proven to be an enormous success
at the American box office, which it very richly deserves,
and all in all is a fantastically enjoyable film for all the
family. Brilliant. |
Corpse
Bride
Cert: PG
Starring: Emily Watson, Helena Bonham
Carter, Johnny Depp, Albert Finney, Richard E Grant, Christopher Lee,
Joanna Lumley
Director: Tim Burton, Mike Johnson
Running Time: 78
minutes
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Tim
Burton surprised a few people upon the release of Charlie And
The Chocolate Factory, which some say saw him moderate his
usual style to suit an existing story and a mainstream film.
A little harsh, in my opinion, although Corpse Bride will without
doubt silence the non-believers, as Burton makes a timely return
to his twisted roots.
The general style of Corpse Bride is extremely rem-iniscent
to The Nightmare Before Christmas, as indeed is the humour,
although this time around the whole product feels that much
more polished. It’s set in a very gothic 18th-century
England, and Johnny Depp (who else?) provides the voice for
Victor Van Dort, the son of a pair of wealthy fishmongers who
is to be married off to Victoria Everglot (voiced by Emily
Watson); the offspring of aristocratic land owners.
To their own surprise, the pair do hit it off when they meet.
However, this does nothing to calm Victor’s nerves, and
we eventually see him sent into the woods to practice his vows.
Unfortunately for Victor, this is where it all starts to go
rather downhill. He accidentally puts the wedding ring on the
finger of a corpse (!), which dually springs back to life.
The Corpse Bride (brilliantly played by Fight Club’s
Helena Bonham Carter) drags Victor down into the underground
Land of the Dead, where she very much intends for them to live
happily ever after…
This gruesome humour will no doubt delight children and adults
alike, and the mostly British cast deliver a fantastic job
in helping the show along.(Look out for The Fast Show’s
Paul Whitehouse and the booming Christopher Lee.) It’s
fresh, very gruesome, but most importantly, it’s extremely
entertaining – perfect post-Halloween viewing! |
Serenity
Cert: 15
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres,
Alan Tudyk, Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin, Summer Glau, Chiwetel Ejiofo
Director: Joss Whedon
Running Time: 119 minutes
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Five
hundred years in the future, Earth has abandoned due to an
environmental catastrophe, and the human race has ventured
out to populate other planets. During this time, a big inter-galactic
civil war has been fought and won by the
all-reigning Alliance, who are a lot
more sinister than they make themselves out to be.
Captain Mal (Nathan Fillion) was on the losing side in the
war but continues to cruise through the galaxy in his ship,
Serenity, with his long-standing crew. Along the way they pick
up a girl called River, who boasts psychic powers, high-kicking
fighting skills and a dark, dark secret the Alliance would
rather keep under their hats.
Although it’s all a little camp, silly and perhaps even
faintly ludicrous, Serenity is still a lot of fun, and satisfies
its target audiences’ demands perfectly. There’s
space battles galore, pretty ladies pulling off extravagant
kung-fu moves, sharp dialogue and even a bit of romance.
It’s not serious sci-fi, but it never pretends to be,
either – it’s quite simply daft lightweight fun,
which will please Joss Whedon’s dedicated army of fans
no end.
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