Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle Of Life (2003)

 

Directed by Jan De Bont. Starring Angelina Jolie; Ciaran Hinds; Noah Taylor; Gerard Butler. Cert: 12. Running Time: 113 Mins Approx.

Well, what to say? It is not really a film, just a reason to keep stuntmen and stunt co-ordinators in work, and it does that fine. Jan De Bont is a perfect director to have on board then? Well he makes a better go of this than he did Speed 2. The cast here know what is expected of them and it isn’t much. It is like a series of levels in a computer game that seem barely connected except for the fact that you have to get through them to get to the next one. And the prize? A terrifying lava lamp. It uses all the same dynamics as the last film. It doesn’t push the envelope, it isn’t bigger or better. It’s only better in the sense that you may have expected much worse. It gets from A to B and you don’t have t have an embolism to get there – it’s no Sherlock Holmes mystery. Mildly enjoyable popcorn for playstation addicts.

The Family Man (2000)

Directed by Brett Ratner. Starring Nicholas Cage, Tea Leoni. Cert: 15. Running Time: 120 Mins Approx.

This charming film has the flavour of many other films: It’s A Wonderful Life; Groundhog Day; and Sliding Doors and I suppose the word one would use to describe it is Capraesque.

Cage is great — at once able to pull off the cold, ruthless business man with only commerce in his life, and the family man with a big heart. The whole thing runs so smoothly and progresses so naturally that you forget you’ve been sold this idea before. It seems new, the characters seem real. Jack Campbell’s is a journey you are glad to have taken. And it pulls off the feat that the best of Capa did, to not seem overly sugar-sweet while being heart warming. A wonderful film.

Wallace And Grommit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit (2006)

Directed By Nick Park and Steve Box. Cert: PG. Running Time: 2 Hours 3 Mins.

Aardman is a hallmark of quality. The team seems to have the Midas touch. If only every single film-maker paid as much attention to detail or so lovingly created each piece of scenery and lit it so well. This is like the best children’s books, and of course films, in that there is stuff for the kids and the adults.

You mention Wallace and Gromit and you have a guaranteed audience already. They are as easily identifiable as The Simpsons, and in their own smaller way just as much-loved. That old adage about if you know where you are going just enjoy the ride applies here but never has it been easier to do. The time flies by. And it’s probably been said before, but you love those two lumps of plasticine. Strange or not? That they can make you care more than flesh and blood actors?

There’s enough inventiveness and panache in this film to shame big budget buffoons who throw money at lost causes. You care about the vegetable growers, about Wallace’s love interest, about his plight. And you are happy when they succeed. Gripping, funny, another unmissable triumph.

The Net (1995)

Directed by Irvin Winkler. Starring Sandra Bullock; Jeremy Northam. Cert: 12. Running Time: 110 Mins.

If The Net were not a film and were used for catching fish I think it would be a poor showing. The whole thing is flatter than a pancake which has just been paid a visit by a steam-roller. It’s a wonder after this film that Bullock and Northam weren’t considered for a sequel to Mannequin where shop dummies come to life and take over Hollywood, they’re so wooden.

Angela Bennet’s plight did I suppose keep me watching until the end, but this kind of thing has been done so much better elsewhere: Enemy Of The State for one. It’s not overly gripping, has the pace of a hobbled seaside donkey and at 110 minutes overstays it’s welcome by a long stretch.

Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

Directed by Nancy Meyers. Starring Jack Nicholson; Diane Keaton; Keanu Reeves; Amanda Peet. Cert: 12. Running Time: 123 Mins Approx.

With a comedy like this you know it’s fluff. You sit down and you know where it’s going pretty much straight off. So what’s the trick? To enjoy the ride; and with big hitters like Nicholson and Keaton playing ball it’s gonna be an entertaining game.

One of Nicholson’s many strengths as an older male actor is to not be afraid to play his age, and that is not something not many of them can say. He convinces. The story convinces. He’s Jack, but then he always is. It’ just when he does it right you forget. And each event seems to grow organically, not to be stage-managed to get you somewhere, which is where these kind of things can fall down.

Keanu’s a tad wooden but he has an underwritten part to fill so what can be expected?

It has charm. It makes you smile. And there are enough nice touches to make this a pleasure to watch. Not as good ‘As Good As It Gets’ or ‘About Schmidt’ but better than the average rom-com.

Keaton is sexier than Peet. Nicholson is more charming than Reeves. The older generation wins a total smackdown in this battle. A great film.

Men In Black 2 (2002)

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Starring Tommy Lee Jones; Will Smith; Rip Torn; Lara Flynn Boyle. Cert: PG. Running Time: 84 mins.

What do you get when you have absolutely no new ideas and a big budget? This film perhaps? Stale popcorn? Not to say it’s not watchable. Not to say it’s not above average fare. But it offers nothing new. And for being only 84 minutes long it plods somewhat.

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are fine as usual, though somewhat telegraphing their performances. The supporting cast does what it needs to. And that’s it. It doesn’t knock your socks off. Doesn’t make you go ooh, ah, that’s cool. Not like the 1st one did. Which is what a sequel needs to do. Underwhelming.

Mr & Mrs Smith (2005)

Directed by Doug Liman. Starring Brad Pitt; Angelina Jolie; Vincent Donofrio. Cert: 15. Running Time: 115 mins.

Well, it’s obvious that the names are picked to be unassuming, shame the film has to be too. Doubly disappointing when you have the teaming of Mr Pitt and Ms Jolie, together with a trusted director like Liman on board — you definitely expect a little more.

The action scenes are serviceable enough but pacing tends to be the problem, in what seems to be an overly long film spun out from a momentarily interesting idea. It is all carried off with such interminable smugness that your interest, which occasionally piques, is squashed back down again.

Not enough gusto, not enough guts, and finally not enough gumption to make you care about the characters and their predicament. They’re pretty to look at, yes, and this is a popcorn movie, but it seems hobbled from the first. See it only if you have nothing else to do.

28 Days (2000)

Directed by Betty Thomas. Starring Sandra Bullock; Dominic West; Elizabeth Perkins; Steve Buscemi. Cert: 15. Running Time: 1Hr 40 Mins Approx.

Sandra Bullock is Gwen Cummings, whose life, lived to the full as she sees it, comes to a halt when her drinking and drugs ruins here sister’s wedding and sees her crashing her car and getting a drink driving charge. This lands her in a rehab programme.

The film, as its title suggests follows her through her 28 days in rehab. It’s one of those preachy, go through a trial and emerge smiling at the end kind of films. You have the cst of quirky characters all doing their best to be quirky. You have the darkness and you have the light.

You walk a mile in each of their shoes and despite the cheesiness it does hit hard sometimes.

I had watched this film once before and even after realising that was happy to do so again, and for a film that no one would claim to be brilliant I feel that is some kind of reccomendation. So it bears repeated watching and you won’t want a drink at the end either so it does its job in tha sense too.

Just Like Heaven (2006)

Directed by Mark Waters. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo. Cert PG. Running Time: 1 Hr 31 Mins Approx.

I thought I’d hate this movie but Reese Witherspoon (Elizabeth) and Mark Ruffalo (David) are pretty likeable characters. There’s a small spark of on-screen chemistry despite the flatness of the script and you have to give kudos to the actors for that.

The pacing is problematic, being at points very pedestrian, but it occasionally raises itself above that level and you do end up caring what happens to the characters. It’s fluff, but it’s fluff you won’t have to work hard to get through. That you root for the characters has to mean something and it does. This does become more than just a pleasant journey.

If you sit down to watch a film guessing how it’s going to end and it takes it in that direction and you’re still happy to follow it has achieved something. Light but easily digestible fare which at least has a big heart. not every movie needs to be clever.