Reviews

Experimental documentary in which Dutchman Martin de Vries uses a selie-sticks to reveal his experiences as he embarks on the Camino de Santiago, a 1600 kilometer walk which takes him through France to Spain. Of course there are beautiful images of the mostly desolate surroundings and Martin turns out to be an engaging personality, but the rigid visual structure and his reports on his experiences do not reveal much depth. It's only in the second half that De Vries reveals a bit more about his reasons for taking on this gruelling challenge and how his self-imposed pilgrimage has affected him personally. There may be quite a few dull stretches here, but Camino may get you thinking about putting on those hiking boots (again) yourself. And those who love hking themselves will probably enjoy this a bit more. And for anyone taking on El Camino: I salute you!

Horrifying mistreatment of animals on public display, given a light touch by the commentary, which makes it even more disturbing. A shocking indictment of attitudes towards animals in general, whose only grace is that it shows us how much those attitudes have improved since then.

On Christmas Eve a crazed killer sneaks into a girls' sorority house where he starts making frightening, obscene phone calls to the girls downstairs and picking off the residents one by one. The premise of this hugely influential shocker, which is one of several films credited with starting the stalk-n-slash genre, sounds silly, because how can he do all the things he does without any of the girls noticing? But Roy Moore's screenplay and intelligent actually turn this problem into an asset by the murder juxtaposing with - among others - the girls laughing very loud about a present they've just given to their landlord and a group of young kids singing Christmas Carols. Not only does it explain why the murder goes unnoticed, it also adds some very dark, sardonic humor to the proceedings. All this makes for a very intelligently written, well-acted and at times truly scary horror film, with possibly the most memorable final shots ever.

An American husband (Ewan McGregor) and wife (Naomi Watts) and their three children, looking for some R&R in a beach resort in Thailand, are in the wrong place at the time, as a tsunami literally hits them. After this opening sequence, which at times relies too much on obvious CGI- effects, the story trails Maria (Watts), who is badly injured, and her eldest son Lucas (Tom Holland), who together try to find a safe haven and any trace of their family. Although Watts and Holland acquit themselves pretty well, Holland's character is marred by dialogue which suggests this child has the wisdom of someone who's seen it all. It takes away a lot of the credibility of this story, as do a couple of coincidental, melodramatic twists, which may or may not be true, but if truth is stranger than fiction, go for fiction! It would also been easier to care for this family, if they hadn't been a bunch of rich, spoilt Americans. McGregor is not given a lot to do, but Joslin and Pendergast are perfectly cast as the little brothers, and there's a wonderful, authoritative cameo by Geraldine Chaplin, in one of the most poetic scenes in the film. All in all a mixed bag, which depends on your willingness to buy into the characters.

While 'on vacation' in Moscow to visit his son Jack (Jai Courtney), John McLaine (Bruce Willis) just happens to stumble into a CIA operation attempting to free Komarov (Sebastian Koch), as he is the only one that can lead them to an extremely valuable file. As you'd expect with McLaine around, a big mess is made out of the operation and of Moscow. And that is just the first of a relentless string of very impressive action sequences, which feature one of the greatest car chase sequences ever filmed. The plot is merely an excuse for loads of crashes and explosions, and makes very little, if any, sense. McLaine's trademark sardonic one-liners are replaced by very dry, almost British tongue-in-cheek wit, which may be inconsistent to the early Die Hard-films, but it works pretty well within the film. Fans of the franchise will not be looking for an ingenious plot, so they will not be disappointed. If you are unfamiliar with the series, please, do not forget to check you brains at the door. You will be in for one of the rides of a lifetime.

After the controversial BBC-produced The Girl, one could be forgiven for cringing at initial reports that this film about the production of Alfred Hitchcock's legendary thriller Psycho has taken liberties with what is generally regarded as 'the truth'. However, there are many truths in this amusing comedy drama: there's Hitchcock's obsession with his former leading ladies, which was apparent in his snubbing of Vera Miles (played here by Jessica Biel), who 'chose' to become pregnant over taking the lead in Vertigo. There is, however, a great part for Scarlett Johansson as leading lady Janet Leigh, who seems completely unimpressed with Hitchcock's practical jokes, and actually had a good working relationship with Hitch. There are brief references to screenwriter Josephn Stefano and composer Bernard Herrmann, and of course the shooting of the famous shower scene is included. But it's the personal and professional relationship between Hitch and his mentor, collaborator and wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) that is the heart and soul of this picture. It is fair to say that after the initial failure of Vertigo - his most personal film - that Hitchcock lost much of his confidence and relied more and more on Alma's support and approval! This film examines how this may have affected their relationship on and off the set, but Hopkins and Mirren play it pretty straight, not veering into caricature. It's not nearly as irreverent as This Girl, and quite the better for it. It does give an insight into one of the most productive and celebrated working relationships in cinema history.

The singing voices of Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe will start to nauseate you about halfway through this tortuously lengthy musical version of one of the most oft-filmed novels in cinema history. The story of Valjean (Jackman) looking for redemption after having served time in prison under the watchful eye of Javert(Crowe), becoming a mayor, but continuously running from Javert who is obsessively chasing Valjean, wanting to exact some revenge. I can't help wondering why on earth it was decided to sing virtually every line. I'm convinced that the talented actors (NOT singers), would have been perfectly capable of lending their own sense of melody and rhythm to the words by simply saying them the way an actor would. There's a lot of tears, a lot of loud music comprising a rather dull and, literally, monotonous soundtrack. You know you're in trouble when the specials effects in the opening scene are as true to life as Postman Pat. A complete and utter bore.

Jan Smit is miscast as Vincent a poor, semi-orphaned bellboy/baker/boxer who falls in love with German girl Eva (Roos van Erkel), who's about to embark on a marriage of convenience with a powerful businessman to save her mentally handicapped brother Herman (beautifully played by Jelle Pelmaerts) from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis. Although it is suggested that Vincent is illiterate (he only 'reads' a boxing magazine for its pictures) he somehow speaks fluent German which is pointed out, and then ignored. Moreover, Jan Smit looks far too squeaky clean to convince as a young man struggling to make ends meet in Rotterdam, just days before it is bombed to smithereens by the Germans. Nevertheless, Jan Smit does a very creditable job and handles the lighter scenes quite well, coasting on his seemingly natural charm which has made him the Dutch pop icon he is. There is also palpable chemistry between him and Van Erkel, who is also somewhat miscast as she is too plain-looking. Why would a shrewd, materialistic businessman - who is in a position to pick his women - settle for her? The voice-overs by venerable story-teller Aart Staartjes are disappointingly bland, and repetitive. The love story between the two leads, however, works surprisingly well, and is helped immensely by the stunning cinematography by Gabor Szabo, who creates some unforgettable moments. The bombardment of the title is well-designed and beautifully shot, and underlines the ambition of this film to be the Dutch answer to Titanic, which it has tried to emulate a bit too obviously. Not a great film, but quite entertaining and definitely worth watching.

There are some sinister snuff movies to be seen in this movie, and Ethan Hawke responds to them as if they are the most horrific things he has ever seen. It reminded me of Nicholas Cage in 8MM, which is not a good thing at all. There is a sinister musical score, but that does not a truly scary horror film make. In fact, Sinister relies to heavily on a strange soundtrack to cause discomfort among viewers. The story isn't particularly interesting, and, despite Hawke's OK performance, the characters aren't very convincing and to me it was pretty clear from the beginning where this was going to end. The make-up of the 'ghosts' is not exactly Tom Savini, either, so that in the end this is rather dull stuff.

Question: If your single-mom neighbour - whom you hardly know - were to be taken by ambulance to a hospital - for unknown injuries - and - for even more inexplicable reasons - someone was to ask you to take your neighbour's only son - whom you know is really weird, possibly emotionally disturbed into your home, consisting of a spouse, a 6-year-old son and a teenage daughter, would you say yes? If so, then you might just be ignorant enough to find some joy in watching this awful sequel, which veers into slasher-clichés and manages to destroy everything that made the original film so effective. Well-known scenes from such classics as The Shining and Nightmare On Elm Street are shamelessly copied and will annoy any horror afficionados with a clear conscience. The greatest horror comes during the credits, when you find out that the creative genius behind the original Oren Peli actually decided to co-produce this horrific piece of trash.

In this story of a Scottish princess Merida having to cope with the responsibilities thrust upon her by her lineage by initially rebelling against it and (obviously) finally settling for it, there's little in terms of originality. The story is rather slight, the casting a bit obvious, even though some of the Scottish accents are rather strained. It's all strictly formula, covered up with the high quality animation we've come to expect from Pixar studios. Someone apparently decided that the main character was to have extremely wrong, bright red curly hair, and it's plain to see that a lot of effort has been put into making Merida's hair move to and fro quite naturally. It's a bit too obvious as a showcase and I wish they had put more effort in creating a more compelling storyline and some interesting supporting characters, neither of which is apparent. Brave is graphically well made, but in terms of story-telling there's not that much to recommend it. Looks good, is never really boring, but there's nothing truly original to be found here, unfortunately.

Never mind the perfunctory storyline of the leader of a dance crew with big ideas falling in love with a classical dancer who just happens to be the daughter of the man who is about to tear down the dance crew's neighbourhood. It's more of the same, but probably even sillier and certainly a step down from the Step Up 3. That predecessor at least included two likable leads and one outstanding set piece shot in one take. This installment really is nothing more than an excuse to show some incredible dance moves being nearly destroyed by MTV-style editing, which makes you feel that although the dancing is probably quite good, the editor felt he had to cover this up by what he or she thought was 'clever editing'. Great dancing doesn't need any editing, as far as I'm concerned. A weak so-called plot, a silly screenplay, mediocre performances... there's very little to recommend this. Perhaps you'll enjoy the soundtrack. I sure as hell didn't, but there's no accounting for taste, is there?

Anne Hathaway is a revelation in her surprisingly good turn as Catwoman and Gordon-Levitt is great as a policeman who knows the secret of Batman's true identity. He represents the only slice of reality in this popcorn flick, but unfortunately his role is underwritten. Caine and Oldman aren't given much to do and that leaves us with the usual heavy-handed Bale and Tom Hardy's bland, one-dimensional villain whose voice has been dubbed by an actor who sounds remarkably like a highly intoxicated Sean Connery hamming it up. The screenplay is rather silly and has too many dull stretches, which the producers have tried to cover up by adding an extremely noisy and very annoying soundtrack to scenes that are too boring to discuss here. Add a couple of ridiculous plot twists, a perfunctory timebomb ending which would be more at home in the Batman series of the late sixties, except for the numerous loud explosions which only serve to cover up that this film could have (and should have) been wrapped up within 90 minutes.