Zathura
Jarhead
Day Watch
Zathura
There is something wonderfully old-school about this action-packed children's movie. In good-natured spirit, "Zathura" combines joyful adventure and wondrous magic, relying less on fright and menace than the current Hollywood children's feature. The movie has some nice visual effects, but the real drive lies in its humorous dialogue, charming characters, creative use of sets and props and the clever script. The storyline is similar to that of "Jumanji" (1995), but "Zathura" is more emotionally grabbing and well told. This is a movie that grown-ups can enjoy, but it wasn't the parents that director Jon Favreau set out to impress. You somehow feel that this movie is exactly the way a child would want it to be.
( Julie Vinten )
Brothers Danny (Jonah Bobo) and Walter (Josh Hutcherson) spend their entire time squabbling until one day Danny happens to discover a dusty old board game called Zathura which throws the querulous siblings into a cosmic adventure, along with their elder sister Lisa (Kristen Steward). Brought to you from the makers of "Jumanji", "Zathura" may be a scream for kids but I sat there in agony waiting for the film to end. The moral lesson of the film was enough to make me wretch: love your brother because reciprocal affection is mutually advantageous when it comes to winning the game of life. To my amazement, "Zathura" got a lot of good reviews. Personally, I found the standard-issue lizard-like green aliens called the Zorgons more revealingly human than these all-American kids in space.
( Tim Ochser )
Jarhead
Visually, "Jarhead" has everything going for it. The visuals are haunting and beautiful 's and how could they not be with Director of Photography Roger Deakins behind the wheel? Jake Gyllenhaal carries this movie on his back with a well depicted character, but the supporting actors amount to little more than shadowy stereotypes. The movie never quite manages to establish an emotional tie to the audience, which it so desperately pursues. Though the feature is entertaining to watch, it doesn't leave a lasting impression. You can't help going home with the feeling that you should be more touched than you actually are. "Jarhead" is a well-made movie with some food for thought. But it doesn't, however, succeed in being as emotionally captivating or profound as intended.
1/2 ( Julie Vinten )
"Jarhead" is a truly jarring film that lingers uncomfortably in the mind long after you leave the cinema. When Swoff (Jake Gyllenhaal) joins the U.S. marines for lack of anything better to do, he finds himself being sent to Iraq to take part in Operation Desert Storm. Despite his gruelling period of boot camp training he gains some sense of purpose as a marine but the much-anticipated war takes forever to actually start. And when it does all the action seems to happen anywhere but around him. "Jarhead" is a timely and intelligent film that questions American foreign policy in the Middle East through the eyes of those who actually enforced it and the result is devastatingly ambiguous, confused and alienating. Beautifully filmed and scathingly witty, "Jarhead" tells it like it wasn't.
1/2 ( Tim Ochser )
Day Watch
The filmmakers have become noticeably better at story telling in "Day Watch," the second installment of the elaborate Russian vampire saga. But the movie still digresses into too many narratives, and should definitely have been shorter. Moving at amazing speed, "Day Watch" spends no time re-introducing the characters or the story, which is great for those who have seen the original, but might cause some confusion for those who haven't. The visuals are a glossy show-off act, MTV-style. Director Timur Bekmambetov has flair for making things look good, though no style of his own - every super-cool shot is lifted from somewhere else. Nevertheless, this is an entertaining action-epic with some good acting, humor, interesting characters and a whole lot of kick-ass.
( Julie Vinten )
"Day Watch" is a state-of-the-art action/comedy/fantasy/horror/sci-fi/romance film that is so ludicrously and self-consciously Russian it makes you wish Russia were really like that. Every stereotype in the book is there and then some: the racy heroine, the wise-old sage, the mafia thug, the noble and taciturn hero, all battling it out for good and evil in the form of a piece of chalk. Don't ask. The plot would have had Dostoyevsky scratching his head in puzzlement, but he still would have secretly enjoyed this bizarre meeting of Harry Potter and Bulgakov. You know this is destroying your brain cells but you still want more, a bit like vodka really. If ever a mainstream Russian film had a chance of challenging Hollywood's hegemony, this is it. It's cheesy, it's trashy, but it's also undeniably enjoyable.
( Tim Ochser )
