Vertical Limit Goddammit, it takes a long time to die on a snowy mountain. And this movie reflects that rather well. Despite an opening that’s very clearly set in a studio, there are some later scenes of the Himalayas that just might make audiences understand what it is that makes westerners repeatedly spend the GDPs…
Read moreSmile, you’re on daddy’s cameras
Meet The Parents It’s an experience that most people have had to endure at some time or other: getting through the initial introduction to the parents of their loved one. But Greg (Ben Stiller) has to overcome more than a few obstacles and biases when it comes to winning the affections of Pam’s father, Jack…
Read moreHardship in fairyland
Where The Heart Is You are hereby warned: this is a sentimental, melodramatic film about working-class women just trying to keep their lives afloat for themselves and their children. Based on an Oprah-recommended book by Billie Letts, it’s a meandering tear-jerker that is only watchable on the strength of its cast, not its script. Seventeen-year…
Read moreWaiter, there’s no spice in my romance
Woman On Top The poster for Woman On Top looks rather Pedro Almodovar-like: lascivious, sexy and playful. And the film’s idea is an imaginative and original take on the Like Water For Chocolate/Eat Drink Man Woman food-sex nexus. Brazilian Isabella Oliviera (Penelope Cruz) is born with a severe case of motion sickness. As a child,…
Read moreBloodthirsty battles, cartoon characters
Bangrajan Since first being turned into a popular novel in 1968, Bangrajan is a story that’s been told in numerous forms in Thailand. The year is 1767, and the Burmese are advancing on the former Thai capital of Ayutthaya from the west and north. The troops advancing from the north have already been frustrated in…
Read moreUnbelievable
Unbreakable Writer and director of The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan, is back with a film equally as engrossing, well-paced and seductive. Unbreakable’s main downfall, perhaps, is that it follows hot on the heels of such a smash; as such, it has an impossible lot to live up to. Expectations aside, however, and Unbreakable holds…
Read moreA clone is a clone is a clone
The 6th Day If you have trouble finding one Arnold Schwarzenegger difficult to believe as an actor on screen, you’re going to come to serious grief watching The 6th Day, where audiences are treated to Arnie and Arnie acting together on-screen. At least that’s an interesting sort of concept, unlike the rest of The 6th…
Read moreTo be or not to be: And maybe find love along the way
Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her "Only a fool would speculate about the life of a woman," says blind Carol (Cameron Diaz) towards the end of this finely-woven film. Indeed this is a film that shows rather than speculates, as it charts short courses in the love lives of various Los Angeles…
Read moreBut where’s the magic?
Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas It’s ironic that a movie conveying the message that Christmas is about more than just buying presents needs to employ so much expensive gadgetry – around US$100 million – to get its point across. While Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas is certainly entertaining in parts, this…
Read moreFull steam ahead into trouble
The Yards This restrained film is a quiet study of human nature; of how people make choices they know are right or wrong; and of how sometimes they just get swept up and make choices without quite thinking at all. The Yards opens with Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) on his way home to Queens borough…
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