Be Kind, Rewind

IT must be interesting being inside the mind of French filmmaker Michel Gondry.
From erasing painful memories in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to trespassing into the world of dreams in Science of Sleep, the director certainly has a unique way of looking at things.
Now Gondry is exploring the way we perceive the films that have shaped our cultural consciousness in Be Kind, Rewind.
It is the story of a struggling video store run by Mr Fletcher (Danny Glover), an aging man clinging on to a bygone era and his young helper Mike (Mos Def).
Mike gets a chance to prove himself when Mr Fletcher takes a vacation but all doesn’t go quite to plan.
Meanwhile, Mike’s best friend Jerry (Jack Black in a typically zany role) becomes magnetised during an accident when he is trying to sabotage a power plant and inadvertently deletes all the video tapes.

To save the business, Mike and Jerry set about re-creating classic films with a handheld camera from Ghostbusters and Robocop to The Lion King and Driving Miss Daisy.
And while the first half of the film is hilarious, the second half weaves in a message about the important role movies play in our society.
When the duo decide to make their own film, the community rallies behind them and when the film is showcased in the video store, the camera pans on happy faces illuminated in the darkness.
It is also a film about the changing times as indepedent video stores have had to succomb to DVD rental monoliths.
But ultimately this is a light hearted comedy that will appeal to many cinema-goers.

Juno

TEEN pregnancy might not be a laughing matter for most people but you can’t help but smile after watching Juno.
It is the tale of a sixteen-year-old girl called Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) who discovers she is pregnant after her first-time sexual encounter with her best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera).Why this simple, and perhaps unsavoury, premise works as a movie is its delicate and honest precision.
Juno makes one mistake and as well as having to face the reactions of family, friends, medical professionals, teachers, students and the general public — she has to swiftly grow up to make some very adult decisions.
Should she have an abortion? Should she adopt? Should she keep the baby? All these issues are covered and yet Juno still manages to be packed with plenty of humour.
This is great film territory for rising star Ellen Page, whose acting abilities are incredible for someone her age.
Juno is also incredibly insightful about the whole spectrum of human relationships.
The film is strong in exploring the impact Juno’s pregnancy has on the people around her
from the dumbfounded reaction of unprepared Paulie to the genuine care and concern of her dad Mac (J.K. Simmons).
It is also heartwarming to see Juno’s stepmother transform from the villain in the piece to someone Juno can wholeheartedly rely on.
While the story is realistic, the dialogue certainly is not, sounding something like a Kevin Smith film.
But this, plus an excellent soundtrack, only cements the quirky charm of this surprise hit.

Cloverfield

IT starts out almost like an American teen drama with all the trials and trivialities you might expect.
But this makes it all the more shocking when New York is plunged into darkness and the scarred head of the Statue of Liberty flies through the air and scrapes along the pavement.
Once this potent metaphor for the fall of a nation has made its mark, you hear a bellowing roar. This is perhaps the first half hour of the film and to mention any more specifics would ruin the experience.
Cloverfield is more of a concept than a movie. Like a cross between the Blair Witch Project and Godzilla, it is a monster movie seen through the shaky camera recordings of one of the city’s residents going through the ordeal with a small group of friends.
Because of this, mystery and tension are the main devices of the film. These young people are right there in the thick of it but have no idea what’s going on.
Lost creator and Cloverfield producer JJ Abrams said he wanted to make a monster movie after seeing the popularity of Godzilla in Japan.
But audiences might be split on the execution of the film, shunning the traditional approach for something more realistic and frightening.
Some will love it, some won’t take to it, others will feel a bit queasy and many will be reminded of the atrocities on September 11.
But one thing is for sure — Cloverfield will make an impact on you.

Alien versus Predator: Requiem

WHEN Alien vs Predator (AvP) hit the screens in 2004, it represented a major milestone for two popular and enduring franchises.
An army of sci-fi and horror fans spanning a generation eagerly awaited the result of these two ferocious creatures doing battle.
The resulting film, however, left nothing but a sour taste in the mouth with its half-baked and ill conceived plot and direction.
It is somewhat surprising then that Alien vs Predator: Requiem, a direct sequel to the original got past the production phase.
Continuing straight after the first instalment, a predator spaceship crash-lands in a small town in Colorado when an alien-predator hybrid (basically an alien with dreadlocks) is unleashed.
Aliens escape and cause carnage but not before a distress signal is sent off to the predator homeworld, where a lone warrior answers the call...
The battles are satisfying and the movie goes some way in recapturing the spirit of the originals with its uncompromised 18-certificate rating but there are also a lot of problems.
For example, the lone predator is determined to cover the aliens’ tracks (with a strange blue liquid) but is content to leave his own mangled prey on proud display.
Meanwhile, the pred-alien hybrid is also able to impregnate humans — this makes no sense in the context of the other films.

This is the first full length movie directed by The Brothers Strause and it is clear the pair must have been big fans of the Predator films.
Unlike the rather robust-looking predator in the first AvP, the new predator is almost a homage to the excellent 1987 film.
The aliens on the other hand — which have enjoyed a largely distinguished reputation in movie history — shamefully lacked the fear factor or style from their earlier incarnations.
Even the human characters leave much to be desired as the viewer is given superficial glimpse into their lives before they are killed in a variety of horrible ways.
24’s Reiko Aylesworth plays an ex-soldier and tries to replicate the appeal of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley but can’t quite pull it off.
If you’re a fan, it’s worth a watch and it’s certainly better than the first but don’t expect to be enthralled.