Reviews

My lack of faith in the audience is justified, how can this film be so highly rated when it's total garbage. Batman was my favourite comic book, the dark tortured hero really appealed to me. But this film really is a mess. Where do I begin? Probably the biggest problem of any bad movie, the characters.

BATMAN The one we're supposed to identify with and feel his plight, is so wooden in this film that I could mistake him for a tree. Christian Bale's Batman seems devoid of any emotion or any internal plight, Plus in a film that is supposed to be about him, Batman seems relegated to a supporting role. In TDK he's merely a goon with a bad case of laryngitis. I know he's supposed to disguise his voice, but it's so over the top it's laughable. This is were Keaton and Conroy got it right, he seldom talks, when he does the voice change is subtle. Not sounding like a goon on a sugar high.

The JOKER, The main villain. Heath Ledger's performance is good with what he's given, But the writing for the Joker is all wrong. Joker in this film is actually a very generic psychopath. If it wasn't for the make-up I would have never guessed it was supposed to be the Joker. The Joker isn't supposed to be a nihilist. Everything to him is a big joke, even murder has to be funny to him. Ledger's Joker lacking virtually any sense of humour, he's more akin to Jack the Ripper who seems to have an obsession with knives and scars. Also what put me off is how the Joker always looks physically ill. Constantly hunched over, waddling about, constantly licking and smacking his lips like his saliva is on overdrive. This simply doesn't work for a clownish criminal amusing himself.

With the exceptions of Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, the actors in the film just seemed rather lazy. Like they wanted the film to end as quickly as possible and collect their pay cheque. Why in a film where characters are supposed to be the central focus be so wooden and one dimensional with them. The film flops completely on it's characters The directing was equally sloppy.

A lot of pointless noise and generic action scenes that seem to be put in as filler in order to extend the film to the 150 minute mark. Excessive cuts that make the action difficult to follow and often in poor light where we can't see anything. Equally pointless was the plot, in fact it's more a collection of subplots, none of them with any closure or resolution to them. With the sloppy cuts, it also leaves enough plot holes to sink this film into an incoherent mess.

Yet I hear this film heralded as a masterpiece, I see critics and fan reviews who just gush over this film. Has the standard of film making really reached this low? 20 years ago, a film called Robocop came out. A very silly concept at it's core, but the characters are what made the film work. We could identify with Robocop ironically enough.Tim Burton's despite it's plot flaws, The characters were well created and acted and kept to the spirit of the source material. TDK has no such redeeming features.

I had high hopes for War of the Worlds, especially with such an advancement of CGI technology the potential of such a blockbuster was there. Instead the CGI became the only good thing about the film. The films suffers from everything that can go wrong in a film. Even people back in the 50's would laugh if they saw this. War of the World is perhaps the biggest collection of disaster movie clichés ever made.

The characters- The focal point of most movies and the anchor of us, (the audience) into the film's world. The characters in the film wouldn't seem to be able to pass a grade 2 math exam. All of whom seem to do their best to be as hateable as possible, Armageddon has arrived on earth and people bicker and fight among each other about such trivial matters like a cheap sit-com. We're also treated to a 10 year old girl who's presence there is merely as a screaming machine. Also after a street is torn from under their feet, and behold a giant mechanized alien device towers before everyone, suddenly brains fade out of existence to stare up at the behemoth before them dumbfounded. I mean come on, especially when the teen makes an emotional scene just to have a better view of the futile military engagement. The characters manage to make themselves so unsympathetic that you're hoping the aliens succeeds in killing them.

The plot- The plot is simple enough, aliens exterminating humanity, And we follow a certain blue collar worker's hard path of survival from the ultra-advanced alien invaders. All the while he has to show how bad of a father he is along the way with a child and a teenager deciding now was the time to be rebellious. Oh by the way the rest of the world has been destroyed. I don't know how they managed to green light that gem...

The Aliens- Ah yes, the great antagonists of the film. They are killing people on sight, Why? The film never bothers to explore that. As far as we know, it's just a zoo gone mad. Where did they come from? The film also never bothers to explore that either. They're just around, in big machines, zapping people one at a time in the most inefficient extermination methods possible. Of course they are totally invincible for the sake of making our character's plight even more hopeless. I don't know about you but it seems to me something is more scary when the odds are against us rather then when it's totally hopeless. The aliens are just there cause the movie has nothing better to do, so they'll kill off a whole species one at a time for the hell of it.

Cliché upon Cliché upon Cliché- could the film be even more predictable and clichéd? Even Roland Emmerich couldn't top the cliché list higher then this. Father just woke up, Big mechanized Alien zapping everyone. Father escapes in a car, idiot killed, Big mechanized alien zapping everyone. Father and kids make it onto a boat, Big mechanized alien zapping everyone. Military engages, energy shields deflect everything. Sudden weakness discovered, Aliens don't stand a chance anymore. Main characters survive. This list of clichés is just from the plot alone, There's a whole bunch more during the finer points of the film.

I mean there's nostalgia I understand but there's a limit to that too, A film called 'War of the Worlds' consists of 3 people running and running and running. A foe which is impossible to to defeat but all miraculously die from something you'd think with all their advanced technology would be able to counter. This makes even sci fi films from the 50's look bad.

Jin-Roh is a masterpiece of a film to say the least. Just having it made is a miracle in itself as it deviates from the conventions of Japanese Anime. This film may be the closest to an anime version of independent film, The characters are the focal point of the story, and the setting is unique to say the least. And never before has an anime ever been so believable.

The story takes place in an alternate past of post WWII Japan, The victors were not the Allies but the Germans and Japan finally being rid of German occupation. The transition isn't without it's problems, However the political situation isn't the focal point of the story, But of one man who is part of an elite police unit. He a young teen girl blows herself before his very eyes which traumatizes him. Soon he befriends and falls into a romance with someone who is supposedly her sister and resembles her very much. But both of them have their secrets which influence their relationship as the movie progresses. There is also a side-plot of police establishments vying for power, But this is a distraction at best, The point of the film is the way the relationship between the two main characters develops. The real story of Little Red Riding hood is the theme for the movie, numerous references and symbolism is genius presented with these characters who we slowly begin to care for. Who is the wolf? Who is the human? Can the two coexist? It's up to you once you see the film The film's visuals are a wonder to behold as well, The animation is unconventional for an anime as the characters have realistic proportions and features. The level of detail is simply breathtaking as well as it's surprising realism, Even down to the guns, all the guns are from WWII, most of which are of German design, And are recognizable to the smallest detail, this familiarity only enhances the realism that this film achieves.The sounds are just as precise to the simple thing as rain impacting a coat, or a heavy boot trudging onto a puddle, or the unique rattle of the MG-42 that the elite police force use. Usually animations are very loose with such details but the amount of care given to this film is absolutely remarkable.

The icon of the film an elite police unit in his battle gear. While I must admit I was in awe of this equipment and couldn't help saying 'That is so F@#$!ing cool' It is only a small bonus of the film. There is a childish delight to be had seeing these guys appear and do their thing. But there's more to it then that. First is the level of detail in it as well as the believability factor, They wear heavy armor, The German Stahlhelms on their heads and elaborate breathing masks, And the glowing red eyes are equally intimidating to the audience as they are to the characters who confront them. But also the metaphor of the 'wolves' in this film being these men, Fuse (the main character) in particular. When he see him putting the armor, and most notably the mask on, you get the feeling that he is revealing his true form, Not hiding it. The transformations simply send a shiver down your spine, A wolf taking the guise of a man like in Little Red Riding Hood.

The film isn't shy on the level of graphic violence, However this doesn't dominate the film, nor does it become gratuitous. The violence is there when it's appropriate for the scene and not done for the sake of it that a lot of animes tend to do. A bold move for the film is that it never glorifies violence, It's shown to be very ugly. The suffering is disturbing to see when someone is shot. The explosions, effects are never over the top and kept on a very real level which brings us into this world, It becomes familiar to us and not alien. This alternate past could have easily been the real world if it played out that way.

My only real complaint of the film, is the conspiracy with the law enforcement establishments. While interesting there wasn't much told on it and was easy to regard it as irrelevant, But it's only a minor quibble the real story behind it is more then enough and keeps the focus where it should be.

A MUST HAVE film, whether fans of animated movies or not. This is a film that just does it right and makes characters that the we, the audience, can identify with and sympathize with and feel for as well as a world that reeks of reality even though it's fiction. Genius is all I can say of the writer and director, And it is a shame that not many films of this type are made more.

The 10th installment in the Star Trek franchise films, Being the Trekkie that I am I was eager to see this film. I have been waiting eagerly ever since I first heard of it in production. And I was shaking when the day come that I could watch it. What surprised me was how few people where with me in the line waiting to see the film. This was 3 days after it's release here. I can tell you that after seeing the film, I can understand as well as condemn those who dislike the film.

The plot was a great one, Taking a more serious and darker tone then it's predecessor. Though there are some good bits of humor in the first 15 minutes of the film. It becomes very serious when the Enterprise arrives at Romulus. The chemistry between Patrick Stewart and Tom Hardy is quite rich. Unfortunately the greatest tragedy of this film is not Data's death, nor is Shinzon's potential being all but wasted. It's that the strong character development that the script calls for is very rushed and unfulfilling, And if this is the final Star Trek film, at least with the Next Generation cast. It feels as if all of those years of knowing these characters was all for naught. This is not the fault of John Logan, who written the script, Nor the actors. This time the omnipotence of the director is shown to be quite fallible and is to blame for the failed fulfillment of this script's potential.

Mr.Biard simply tried to turn a character story driven film into an action movie. And that is something amateurs try to do. He is also seems to be an impatient director. So many scenes seem incomplete and you get the sense that it was cut short. If the audience notices that, the film was indeed poorly directed. On the DVD commentary, I've lost count on how many times Mr.Biard says 'Brevity' 'essence of the scene' and 'to move the story along'. These scenes are available in the deleted scenes of course on DVD, but they should be in the final cut. These characters are what holds this film together, Not the car chase nor the ship battle. The scenes of the wedding for instance, beautiful chance for character development, yet its' insanely brief and thus limits out own bonding with these characters as well as depriving them of crucial development.. As well as the personal memorial for Data at the end, This character whom these people have known for years and have bonded so much together is honored by a minute long memorial of a quiet drink of wine and blank faces on everyone. I know directors like to be artistic, but in this case, Less is very much less.

There is a lot of good in this film, it's mostly from the actors and the saving grace of a good script. But I must admit the action scenes are also beautiful. The ship battle was the best I have ever seen in any trek incarnation. However I found making the Scimitar a god ship to be quite a cop out in order to make the Enterprise crew's peril all the more hopeless at the expense of believability. Watch the film and you'll see what I mean. The sets where beautiful, And treated to a few gratuitous shots of the Enterprise in all of her beauty. And I hope this isn't the last for the Next Generation cast. They need a better opportunity to bow out.

Had a director like say Irvin Kershner directed this film, It would have been a masterpiece. Kershner is best known for directing Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back. And it's the most character intense of the list. Nemesis was also such a story, And would have benefited greatly by such a director.

I LOVE horror films. And zombie films have a place in my heart, especially George Romero's zombie films. And when I heard of a remake of Dawn of Dead with Romero having a hand in it, I was excited. Finally a decent budget and modern day effects along with Romero's touch. Unfortinately I felt betrayed and very unsatisfied after the first 10 minutes of the movie. And sadly the rest of the movie followed suit. The only good thing if any in this film was thankfully the gore wasn't restrained, But that's the only decent thing about this film.

What makes this film so bad? Well it follows the trend of movie 'remakes' which in reality are a totally different movie and using an existing title to get fans to watch. And unfortunately this was no different. The director simply had no respect for the original masterpiece of it's older namesake. It lacked everything that made the original so memorable and replaced them with cheap thrills, action sequences and annoying characters. I understand that it was Mr.Snyder's first time, But jeez he already had a base to go on and plenty of reference material. The Mall seemed to be there in name only, and the zombies where laughable rather scary.

There's not enough space and time for me to explain every reason why this film was beyond disappointing. So I'll just summarize instead.

First 'And foremost' the zombies. They ran, they climbed, they hissed and they made threatening faces at you. Wrong, very wrong and shouldn't even be called zombies. Romero understood what made the zombies so scary in the original 'Dead' movies. They were believable, and that's what made them scary. Because he realistically portrayed what a reanimated dead corpse would do. Their muscles where too rotted and stiff to move fast or do complicated movement, if at any. They were too stupid to speak or make facial threats at you. And they were relentless and numerous. They simply wouldn't stop and they were simply so many it was overwhelming. These aspects are what made Romero's zombies so scary, the 'remake' is completely devoid of all of that.

Secondly was the overwhelming stupidity of all the characters, It's expect that a few of the characters in films such as these are supposed to be stupid. But in this case they all are and none of them give you a sense of loss, (infact quite the opposite) when they are finally dispatched. The only character I felt sorry for was the lone gun-shop owner, But his demise was all but predictable and on the whole, irrelevant. The rest of cast, you feel rather gratified when they meet their doom. In this film, The characters and the zombies have something in common, their IQ.

Films like 28 days later and Return of the Living Dead I enjoyed, even though they feature what I described as (the first part at least) as Dawn 'remake''s failings. But neither of these films boasts or pretends to be on the same level of Romero's work. 28 Days Later is not a Zombie film per se, as the people weren't undead but diseased, so them running and screaming wasn't as far fetched. And 'Return' was more comedic and satirical in nature as well as it took a totally different path from Romero's 'Dead' movies, Dan O'Bannon made it abundantly clear that his movie had nothing to do with Romero's work or story lines. The 'Remake' however boasts about remaking a classic that carries the same name, this is where it becomes inexcusable.

If at all possible, watch Romero's 1979 version of Dawn of the Dead. It's a classic, And avoid the 'remake' travesty of a film.