| Issue #50, March 23, 2007 |
Dave Evans' MINI – MOVIE REVIEWS
TMNT
Given the strength of the eighties revival in music and fashion, it was perhaps inevitable that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be given the revamp treatment. Here the amphibians are given a darker makeover (a la Batman Begins) to stylish, action-filled effect.
Reign Over Me
In a conversion that must have Jim Carrey green with envy, Adam Sandler puts in a strong performance in a serious role. Playing a man whose family dies on 9/11, Sandler convincingly works through a wide range of emotions, never allowing things to tip over into sentimentality.
The Hills Have Eyes II
Finally the hoardes of people who have been crying out for a sub-par sequel to last year’s sub-par original can sleep easily. The crazed rural inhabitants of the desert continue to raise merry hell for a selection of attractive but talentless young fodder.
The Shooter
Wesley Snipes’ continuing career is a mystery to many and this turgid thriller will go no way towards solving it. Here he plays an ex-CIA agent drafted in to take out a terrorist who discovers that someone higher up is manipulating his every move. Tedious.
Pride
Troubled teens are a favorite staple of cheap ‘feel-good’ cinema, each film needing only a new sport or environment in which to play out their trite redemption stories. Here it’s swimming and Bernie Mac is involved. Enough said, perhaps.
300
This film adaptation of a comic book about the Battle of Thermopylae might seem like a hard sell but this really is smart and spectacular, fantasy filmmaking. Obviously there’s kind of a lot of violence on show here, but it is so perfectly choreographed and executed that there are moments when one forgets that what is actually happening is something horrifying rather than beautiful. Mesmerizing, but not for the faint-hearted.
Zodiac
It’s been five years since the uninspiring Panic Room and director David Fincher is trying hard to regain some street credit with this film that is based-on-a-true-story of the Zodiac killings in 1970s San Francisco. It’s a strong, dark film, aided by an excellent cast (Mark Ruffalo, Brian Cox, Robert Downey Jr. and the fantastic Jake Gyllenhaal), which should place him firmly back on top.
The Number 23
Jim Carrey takes another swipe at serious acting in this thriller about a man who finds a book which seems to be based on his life but ends with a dreadful murder. Carrey isn’t bad as the frazzled hero but even without the laughs, his rubber face is hard to take all that seriously. Joel Schumacher directs in his usual manner: commercial, schlocky but often entertaining.
Black Snake Moan
Fresh from the success of Hustle and Flow, director Craig Brewer returns with this tale of an abused young girl who finds help and guidance from Samuel L. Jackson’s retired bluesman. There’s something unpleasantly racist about the assumption that blackness is in and of itself spiritually healing and while Christina Ricci’s central performance is strong, her character never quite feels complete.
Miss Potter
Renee Zellweger has few charms but one thing she certainly does have is a great English accent. That’s about all that keeps her afloat in this twee-biopic of children’s writer, Beatrix Potter, and while the flights of fancy with animated animals are sometimes diverting, the central love story (between Zellweger and the ever-lovely Ewan McGregor) never really ignites sufficiently.
Breach
Espionage and excitement in the Cold War is not a hard thing to imagine but this adaptation of a true story captures the pitch and tension perfectly. The excellently creepy Chris Cooper puts in a fine performance as the traitorous Robert Hanssen and Ryan Philippe has just the right look for newbie Eric O’Neill. Slick, dark thrills abound.
Reno 911!: Miami
Why those in charge of Comedy Central saw fit to bring this mediocre cop comedy to the big screen is anyone’s guess. That’s not to say there aren’t funny moments and that fans of the show won’t enjoy this immensely but there’s nothing new that comes from transplanting the bumbling constabularies to Florida. Fans only.
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