Stealth
Charlie and the chocolate factory
The sun
Stealth
"Stealth" is forgettable and predictable, but also enjoyable in a guilty-pleasure kind of way. Directed by Rob Cohen, the impetus behind "xXx" and "The Fast and the Furious," this movie is a giant, fast-paced explosion of action. "Stealth" is "Team America: World Police" with real-life puppets and no apparent sense of humor- the feature wants to be taken seriously but it just can't. Story-wise, everything runs on autopilot. While there are enough explosions and flight battles to make the first half of the movie entertaining, the two-hour running time is definitely more than the miniscule narrative can carry. Nevertheless - apart from a great amount of bollocks dialogue and a thick narrative - the movie just about delivers as an entertaining action flick.
( Julie Vinten )
It's very rare that I find a film so bad I have to stop watching it half way through, but director Rob Cohen has helped me to achieve this impressive feat not once but twice, first with "The Skulls" and then with the "The Fast and the Furious." His latest offering is "Stealth," a big, brash and brawny story about a runaway hi-tech stealth jet whose artificial intelligence program goes haywire after being hit by a bolt of lightning. Lt. Ben Gannon (Josh Lucas), Henry (Jamie Foxx) and Kara (Jessica Biel) are the three hotshot naval pilots who pull together to save the day. Expect a sequel starring Vin Diesel called "Really Stealthy, Very Fast and Exxxtremely Furious" some time soon.
( Laimons Juris G )
Charlie and the chocolate factory
It's always a joy to find oneself in the unique, colorful and quirky universe of Tim Burton. This dark comedy is a bizarre and amusing fairytale, a sentimental and heartfelt story for kids and grown-ups alike. The feature is more an adaptation of Roald Dahl's popular 1964 novel than a remake of the 1971 screen-version featuring Gene Wilder. It's impressive-looking and entertaining, but not entirely well-told. The depiction of the kids is vivid and charming to begin with, but as soon as Johnny Depp's enigmatic Willy Wonka enters the scene, their stories get brushed aside to make room for the chocolatier's peculiarity and his troublesome relationship with his father. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a marvelous dive into a miraculous world with a slightly shallow feeling narrative.
1/2 ( Julie Vinten )
This is director Tim Burton's best film in some years and goes some way to atone for the embarrassingly bad "Big Fish." Based on Roald Dahl's much-loved children's book, it is by and large a faithful adaptation in both story and spirit. Johnny Depp is outstanding as the eccentric and reclusive chocolate making genius Willy Wonka and a strong supporting cast helps keep the film on the right side of saccharine. The factory itself is a wonder to look at and the children are all delightfully disgusting, except for the cherubic Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore). Look out for the brilliant scene involving a group of irate squirrels. The only downside is the superfluous psychoanalytical subplot about Wonka's youth. In Hollywood every troubled man has a troubled child within.
( Laimons Juris G )
The sun
In "The Sun" Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov ("Russian Ark") portrays Japanese Emperor Hirohito in the final days of World War II. Sokurov has earlier depicted Adolf Hitler in "Moloch" (1999) and Vladimir Lenin in "Taurus" (2001). Sokurov sets out to create something aesthetic and deep, portraying the Emperor on an intimate and human level. Though the story is interesting, the film is indescribably tedious and pretentious. The persistent slowness works as an insufferable test of patience. Embroidered acting and redundant and endlessly long intercuts of legs and hands make the feature seem awkwardly comical. The look of the film is uninventive or even ugly. Oddly enough, it's shot and edited as if this was the director's first encounter with the cinematic medium - a desperate attempt that somehow didn't succeed.
1/2 ( Julie Vinten )
This is the third part of Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's trilogy of historical films, following "Moloch" and "Taurus." "The Sun" looks at Japan's defeat at the end of World War II and Japanese Emperor Hirohita's epoch-making confrontation with General Douglas MacArthur and how he was forced into taking the disgrace of defeat on himself to help spare his country. Sukorov's film is not easy watching but it is a rewarding experience and an original treatment of an extremely complex and fascinating historical theme. One of the best Russian directors around at the moment, Sukurov uses an intense visual style similar to the one he used in the groundbreaking 1997 film "Mother and Sun" to explore the psychological nuances of his characters and how reality is warped by perception.
( Laimons Juris G )
