Wall-E

IT may be a film about two robots but WALL-E is filled with more human warmth and emotion than probably any other picture you’ll see this year.
Set almost a millennia into the future, it is the story of a garbage strewn, uninhabitable Earth abandoned by its population for a plush life in a space cruiser.
To clean up the mess while the humans are away, hundreds of bots were deployed but have gradually shut down.
WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class) is the last of his kind and has developed a flaw in his programming — a personality.
In between his bold efforts to sort out the planet singlehandedly, he collects trinkets from the junk and listens to show tunes.

With only a spritely cockroach for company, he longs to meet a kindred spirit until the slick robot EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) arrives on the scene, looking for signs of life...
Almost harking back to the silent movies of the past, the first half features only the beeps and whirrs of our robotic protagonists.
While the second is a play on the bland corporate lifestyle that is slowly but surely infiltrating our lives and a haunting reminder of the environmental damage we are causing the planet — a strange message for a film made with Disney money.
What gels WALL-E together though, is this unlikely love story that will melt every heart (despite the fact our two heroes don’t have one).
Once again, Pixar has set another milestone in animation standards with characters the kids will adore and a message strong enough to make the adults love it too.

Hancock

WHEN the American TV series Heroes emerged on the small screen, it wasn’t long before people started taking an interest.
Championed as a more ‘realistic’ approach to a world with super-powers, it focused on how ordinary people dealt with having extraordinary abilities.
Hancock seems to be the next natural phase in this reinterpretation of the super-hero mythology. Based on the novel, Tonight, He Comes, it is the story of a man (Will Smith) much akin to Superman living in Los Angeles.
No gaudy outfit, no cape, no underwear on the outside of his trousers, just a man struggling to come to terms with what he is.
Hancock never asked for his abilities yet he is expected to be the city’s saviour. And his incredible power often means he does more harm than good.
Feeling like he has a curse rather than a gift, he turns to drink.
The premise is excellent but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Once Hancock rescues a PR guru who offers to give him an image makeover, the plot loses its sense of fun and you just feel like you’re going through the motions.
A pretty good twist livens things up towards the end but ultimately it’s not enough from saving the film from being anything above average.
The first 10 minutes or so were by far the best showing a devil may care ‘hero’ and more of the film should have certainly stayed along this line.

Prince Caspian

“YOU may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember,” says the dwarf Trumpkin, shortly after meeting the Pevensie siblings.
Of course Trumpkin is speaking to the audience as much as the characters on screen and true to form this Narnia sequel is bigger, bolder and darker than its predecessor.
In The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, if people fell victim to the White Witch they were frozen and could be revived.Not so this time as real battles lead to real casualties and these darker themes are heavily symbolised as a great portion of the film is set in the murk of night.
That said, Prince Caspian still remains a Disney film at heart meaning you won’t see a drop of blood in any of the fierce battles.
Classic ambition for the throne is what fuels this story. A 1,000 years have passed since our heroes Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy visited Narnia but that only equates to one year in their own time.
They are summoned to help when corrupt General Miraz tries to kill his nephew and rightful heir to the throne, Prince Caspian, so that his son can become king.
After narrowly escaping with his life, Caspian enlists the help of the ancient Narnians — including minotaurs and fawns — to take down his corrupt uncle.
Apart from a few dodgy costumes and one or two poor stunts, this will entertain the whole family. Kids and big kids alike will really relish the appearance of all the talking animals including Trufflehunter the badger and Reepicheep, a dashing mouse knight voiced by Eddie Izzard.
But don’t expect a film to rival the epic scope of Lord of the Rings.

Wanted

WHEN visionary Russian director Timur Bekmambetov was called in to take the helm on a Hollywood film it was always going to be an interesting ride.
A melting pot of ideas, Wanted has scenes reminiscent of The Terminator, The Matrix and Fight Club and the visual stamp that makes you know its by the creator Night Watch and Day Watch.
Yet another in a long line of films based on comics, it is the story of a 1,000-year-old fraternity of assassins that have ultra fast reactions, can ‘bend bullets’ and get their orders from a binary code found in fabric (as you do).
It seems like such a B-movie premise but along with some incredible stunts that beat anything you’ll see in, say, a Die Hard movie, Bekmambetov has also drawn in a stellar cast including Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie.

Most surprising is star James McAvoy, who presumably wanted a break from his run of award-winning features.
He plays the apathetic and apprehensive Wesley — the latest to be recruited into the fraternity and unaware of his killer potential.
Its a slow boil and frustration begins to kick in when you realise that you have seen most the best bits in the trailer already.
But then the last half hour kicks in. An awesome train scene will leave you breathless followed by a bullet drenched crescendo.
If you can forgive its flaws and leave your brain at home, then this is weekend blockbuster fodder in its purest form.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss

ACCORDING to the film’s narrator, the New Year’s Eve midnight kiss is a culmination of all our fortunes and failures for the year and the soothing hope of a fresh start.
With its striking black and white aesthetic and an overwrought emotional framework, at first glance the film seems to be in love with itself more than anything — but it somehow works.
Stylish but fairly realistic and reminscent of Before Sunrise, it is the tale of heartbroken and jobless Wilson whose loneliness takes him to a new level of low and fate takes him to Los Angeles — a city he loathes.

Determined to pick himself back up and find a someone to share New Year’s Eve with, he joins a dating site before receiving a call from the hot-headed and enigmatic Vivian...
The strength of In Search For A Midnight Kiss is its honest portrait of day-to-day life. The film may be in black and white but the characters are awash in technicolour.
It is a real character study spotlighting the highs and lows that we all go through every day and how we rely on each other for support. Even the ‘villains’ of the piece you feel sorry for.

Doomsday

MANY directors like to use scenes in their movies to pay homage to the classics that have influenced them as a filmmaker.
But, unless you are Quentin Tarantino, if you take this idea as the foundation of your story, it is bound to fold in on itself and lose focus.
Doomsday is a case in point. To name but a few, the film pays tribute to 28 Days Later, Mad Max 2, Escape From New York and Aliens and even incorporates some whimsical fantasy elements.
But director and writer Neil Marshall has paid so much attention to his influences that he seems to have left out any room for any character development or cohesive plot.
It is the story of a dystopic near-future where a deadly virus breaks out in Scotland. The Government’s only answer to the problem is containment and after a gigantic wall is constructed, the country is considered a dead zone.
But when the same virus breaks out in London decades later, an elite squad (including British B-movie legend Sean Pertwee) is sent to Scotland hoping to find a cure, only to stumble into a war with the savage, cliched survivors.
The trailer looked so absurd that it could be great...but sadly this was not the case.

Iron Man

IRON Man’s rocket-fuelled destiny was secured long before it hit the silver screen.
First there were whispers and rumours, then an unauthorised trailer was leaked onto the Internet — the lengths comic book nerds would go to plug a film they had no stake in was mindblowing.
But once again it proved that grassroots support is more effective than any PR exercise as audiences scrabbled for their seats in the opening weekend.
It is the story of billionaire phillantropist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), who owns an innovative weapons company established by his father.
This allows for a clever little play on America’s domination of the world and its contradictory idea that stockpiling weapons of mass destruction creates a more peaceful world.
Stark lives the playboy lifestyle but things go awry when he demonstrates a Jericho missile to the US Air Force in Afghanistan (updated from Vietnam in the original comic).

After his vehicle is attacked, Stark is taken into captivity to construct the Jericho for terrorists.
Knowing his life is on the line he designs a metal suit for himself and escapes in a blaze of destruction.
A changed man with a renewed sense of morality he bids to design a better suit and return to Afghanistan to destroy the weapons that have fallen into wrong hands.
Like Batman’s Bruce Wayne, Stark is a super hero with no special powers which means we can relate to him (sort of) and Robert Downey Jr brings a wealth of charm to the character.
It is high octane blockbuster material throughout and is only let down by some poor pacing here and there and a cheesy final battle.