Watchmen

PERHAPS it’s the recession that’s bringing comic book heroes to the silver screen at the moment.
With the credit crunch biting, there’s few of us who don’t feel like we need saving right now and that’s reflected at the cinema.
Based on what is considered to be the best graphic novel ever written, Watchmen – a product of the troubled 80s – brings its own sense of crisis and impending doom.
Described by its author, Alan Moore, as ‘unfilmable’, Watchmen’s arrival on the big screen is unexpected but very welcome.
And who better to make the transition than geeky director Zack Snyder, whose credits include the stylish film transformation of Frank Miller’s ‘300’?

Watchmen tells the story of a redundant super hero team living in an alternative reality in which Nixon never resigned after the Watergate scandal.
The world is on the brink of oblivion due to the escalated nuclear arms race between America and the USSR and masked vigilantes have been outlawed.
But when former ‘hero’ The Comedian is brutally murdered, the group reform to unravel the mystery.
Jutting back and to from the past to the present, Snyder paints a vivid and faithful picture of the graphic novel. At two hours, 40 minutes, perhaps the only problem here is he didn’t know what to leave out.
For many people, Rorschach will be the star of the show. A terrifying sociopath who sees the world’s good and evil in black and white, he is a reflection of the film’s troubled world.
That’s the beauty of the story – Watchmen’s ‘heroes’ are all actually troubled antiheroes.

Gran Torino

LIKE an old Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood makes a magnetic return to the silver screen in Gran Torino.
Playing on how his screen persona has developed over the years, the 78-year-old growls viscerally at his disaffected younger relatives in his latest role.
Gran Torino examines the generational and cultural gaps that exist in our society with the precision of a scalpel.
Korean War vet Walt (Eastwood) lives on a moral code that no longer exists. He has isolated his family that enjoy the luxuries of 21st century life and lives next door to a Hmong family that he does not trust or understand.
As a result, he lives alone with only his faithful dog for company after the death of his wife.

But when a gang starts to threaten his neighbours, he is drawn into the Hmong family’s lives.
Ultimately, Gran Torino is a tale of redemption.
This racist old man finds peace in himself by helping others – you can almost see the character looking younger as the burden is lifted.
Another strength of the story is the pacing. Eastwood, who directed the film, allows the audience to laugh at his deeply troubled character in the first lighter half.
And when the themes become darker, so does the tone of the film, right through to the shocking ending.
Just like in his earlier films, Eastwood’s piercing stare is terrifying, showing there’s still life in the old film star yet.
In fact, following on from the brilliant Changeling, perhaps its fair to say the director is in the prime of his life.

Vicky Christina Barcelona

WOODY Allen returns to his roots to explore the wonderful chaos of love in Vicky Christina Barcelona.
Beautiful people and stunning locations offer as much of a visual treat as food for thought in this light-hearted but insightful comedy.
Two friends, free-spirited Christina (Scarlett Johansson) and soon-to-wed Vicky (Rebecca Hall), are holidaying in Spain when they are offered somewhat of an indecent proposal by smove talking painter Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem, last seen in a very different role in No Country For Old Men).
He promises to sweep them off their feet with sight seeing, good food, expensive wine and passionate love-making.

To watch the girls’ polar opposite responses is a delight to watch and says a lot about how we each respond to a stranger’s advances.
Christina considers him attractive, mysterious and exciting while Vicky thinks he is sleazy and potentially dangerous.
It’s as if the mechanisms of someone’s conscience are being played out as a conversation.
The situation is only complicated further when Juan Antonio’s fiery ex Maria (Penélope Cruz) returns to the scene.
At this stage, Allen explores the idea that romance dies when relationships strengthen as romance relies on the disbalance between two people while long-term relationships restore that balance.
Its a fascinating idea that is explored to the full in the film.
Barcelona may be new for the veteran director in terms of setting but the dialogue makes it instantly recognisable as one of Allen’s works, reminiscent of his earlier films like Annie Hall.
It goes to show that if directors return to their roots, good things can happen.
George Lucas should take note.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

MORTALITY’S a funny thing.
Most people spend years trying to forget how fallible they are...but it always catches up with you, whenever someone you care about is ill, whenever someone dies.
For a whimsical Tim Burton-esque story about a man who ages backwards, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button really hits this point home.
In an inititially heartwarming – but then heartbreaking – tale, the overriding theme here is that nothing ever lasts.
Prepare to see Brad Pitt as you’ve never seen him before. Based on the 1920s F.Scott Fitzgerald book, Benjamin Button (Pitt) is born as a man in his 80s ‘with one foot in the grave’.
Unwanted and rejected, he ends up living in a retirement home and gets used to death from an early age. But he also finds acceptance and love.

While he may look like the other residents living out their silver years talking about the weather, Benjamin has the natural curiosity of a young child. It’s so bizarre but it really draws you in and whatever age he is, incredibly, the character looks unmistakably like Brad Pitt.
Over the years, you see the episodes of his life as he gets younger, experiencing things in a unique way and meeting fantastic people. He then meets the love of his life Daisy (Cate Blanchett) and they find happiness when their lives cross and they are both in their 40s.
You can probably guess the outcome of this relationship but it will still pull on your heart strings.
This is a very different type of film for filmmaker David Fincher, who normally directs darker thrillers like Seven and Fight Club, but it suits him well.
No film has examined pain, regret and loss more succinctly in quite some time.

Revolutionary Road

THE agony of heartbreak and separation is transferred seamlessly to the silver screen here.
No light relief, no escapism, just two hours of a bitter relationship gone drastically wrong.
But if you can stand the tension, you’ll find a really engaging film here with great performances from the leads Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
Reunited on screen for the first time since Titantic in 1997, the pair are electric. It makes you wonder why they weren’t brought together again sooner.
In fact, the film is almost as if Titanic’s Jack and Rose both survived the ill-fated voyage and 10 years later, their marriage is failing.

With Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, you don’t really see why Frank (DiCaprio) and April (Winslet) are drifting apart, you just see the twisted aftermath.
There is also a wonderful, humourous, transparency to the story as the mentally ill character John Givings (brilliantly portrayed by Michael Shannon) continues to say what everyone else is thinking.
Kate Winslet is incredible here, chain smoking and always looking on the verge of a breakdown, while DiCaprio’s character Frank tries to ride the wave of the post-war optimism of his 1950s America.
Both feel caged by domestic life and want to make a change by living in Paris...but the real message here is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Obviously the strength of a film like this is that we can all relate to it. There are only a few of us who can claim to have had flawless relationships and we all know the impact when they go wrong.

Twilight

ETERNALLY condemned to walk the earth...and go to high school. It must be tough being a 17-year-old vampire.
Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it, Twilight appeals to its key demographic – by keeping it in the classroom.
The film tells the story of Bella, an overly sulky teenager whose two passions in life seem to be the macabre and her own internal monologues.
Naturally, when a pale, mysterious and moody boy walks – in slow motion of course – into the school canteen, an awkward love story begins.
With its setting and characters, Twilight plays right into the hands of its teenage fans but will appeal to most cinema-goers as it is fairly well directed and has a compelling story.

But don’t expect a Lost Boys clone. All humour and quirky charm has been replaced with adolescent sighs and frowns.
That said, the vampire love story offers a decent subtext about doomed teenage relationships – whether fighting against raging hormones or vampiric urges they tend to end in the same way – disaster.
The film did have a few problems though, most notably, the stunts. Whenever a vampire jumps, it is achingly obvious the actor is on a wire, slightly shattering the illusion.
The pacing too is a bit iffy with the edge-of-your-seat stuff only coming into play in the last half hour.
Also, true to the novel but slightly odd, when vampires are exposed to sunlight in the film they sparkle rather than burst into flames!
But forgive its flaws and you’ll find a film with real bite here.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

ARE we really worth saving?
That’s the question The Day The Earth Stood Still asks, and for people who have not seen the original movie, there is plenty of food for thought.
A twist on classic sci fi tale, it is about an alien invasion that has not come to obliterate the planet but rather to save the Earth from its wasteful human inhabitants.
Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), an alien who has taken human form, is taken into custody and warns scientists and Government officials that they only have themselves to blame.

It is a poignant green message, which is met with hostility rather than a desire to change — think a modern day Noah’s Ark story.
And just like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, it seems Reeves has found his perfect film role here. An alien with no concept of human emotion, Reeves’ wooden acting abilities fit the bill.
Some elements of the film were a bit unconvincing but it is an enjoyable wake up call for anyone who worries about the planet.
But since that wake up call was first told in 1951, are we really going to listen this time?