Review: Impostor (2001)

In 2079, Earth has been losing a war with aliens from Alpha Centauri for 10 years. The success of the Centaurians and their ability to create human-like robots create a climate of fear and paranoia on Earth, leading to the establishment of a totalitarian regime headed by a Chancellor.

The film starts with physicist Dr. Spencer Oldham (Gary Sinise), a high-ranking scientist in a government weapons organisation, putting the final touches on a new weapon against the Centaurians, and the Chancellor due to pay a visit to the facility. Unexpectedly, Oldham is arrested by Major Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio), who accuses him of being a Centaurian robot created to assassinate the Chancellor. Oldham escapes from Hathaway, but cannot turn to either his wife Maya (Madeline Stowe) or his best friend Nelson (Tony Shalhoub) for help. Instead, he flees to a devastated part of the city, where he meets Cale (Mekhi Phifer), a drug dealer, who he convinces to help him find evidence to prove that he is not a Centaurian. Meanwhile, Hathaway has organised a massive manhunt for Oldham in the city.

A surprisingly high-powered team of writers, Scott Rosenberg, Ehren Kruger, David Twohy and Caroline Case, adapted the 1953 short story, 'Imposter' by Philip K. Dick, for the screen. Gary Sinise (who was also a producer) gives Olham's character more depth than a typical hero in an actioner. Maybe they are fans of PKD, because they have kept many elements of the short story, the back story and the themes of identity and paranoia, while embellishing it with just enough flash to appeal to mainstream audiences.

This is not an out-and-out great film, though. The back story is revealed clumsily and you have to tolerate the obligatory sex scene before the action starts. It also seems to suffer from a limited budget and bland production design that makes it look like a TV feature rather than a cinema release.

A solid SF thriller.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith

Tears of the Giraffe
Alexander McCall Smith
2000
Abacus, London

In the second in a series of novels that features Botswana female detective, Precious Ramotswe, she searches for an American student who was last seen near the desert 10 years ago. While she solves that mystery, her friend, Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni, proposes to her and also makes an unexpected commitment, and her efficient secretary, Mma Makutsi, gets a case and an ethical problem to solve.

Smith, who was born and lived in southern Africa, shows his strong affinity with the Botswana landscape and people in his work. He writes his characters with kind humour, and even the 'villains' are treated sympathetically. Like his other novels, his protagonists have a idealistic and old-world view, where people are generous within their means, as the giraffe in the title, and treat each other well.

A pleasant read, like a nice afternoon picnic.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios / Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

The life of TV actress Pepa (Carmen Maura) is turned upside down when her lover, Iván (Fernando Guillén), leaves and avoids speaking to her. Before Pepa can sort out her life, she visited by a frantic Candela (María Barranco), who has found out that the men she has been staying with have been arrested as terrorists. Pepa also has to deal with a young couple, Carlos (Antonio Banderas) and Marisa (Rossy de Palma), who arrive at her apartment to rent it. What she doesn't know is that Carlos is Iván's son, and that his mother, Lucía (Julieta Serrano), has just been released from a mental hospital and plans to kill Iván for infidelity. When Marisa is knocked out by Pepa's spiked gazpacho, Carlos, unfaithful like his dad, starts to make out with Candela. Meanwhile, we discover that the absent Iván is leaving the country with his lawyer, Paulina (Kiti Manver).

In Pedro Almodóvar's breakthrough comedy, all the female characters share the same situation: they have been, are being (and will be?) betrayed by their men and are suspect to a nervous breakdown. Some, like Lucia, go mad, others, like Candela, have no idea what to do, while Pepa (a typical Almodóvar heroine) finds the inner strength to overcome her setback and to help others in the process.

The film's later scenes are foreshadowed by funny short clips near the beginning, such as in the condom advertisement that Candela acts in, and which Pepa dubs, and in the detergent advertisement where Pepa plays the mother of a gangster who washes her son's blood stained shirt just before the police barge into her house.

A lively riot of colour and movement, vivacious and warm-hearted in the end.

Spanish with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Torchwood Series 1 (2006)

'Torchwood' is an adult-oriented SF spin-off from 'Dr Who', featuring Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), previously a recurring character in 'Dr Who', as the leader of a secret government organization of the title. In episode 1.1 'Everything Changes', we are introduced to Torchwood via Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles), a Cardiff police constable who tails the Torchwood team back to their base after an incident with an alien. She finds out that Cardiff is the centre of a rift in space and time, and the Torchwood unit in the city is assigned to monitor and deal with incidents related to that rift.

In line with the edgier premise of the series, there's a lot of violence, coarse language and sex scenes. Unfortunately, many of the early episodes seem to be little more than an excuse to draw a reaction from the audience. For instance, episode 1.2 'Day One' has the team tracking a sex alien and 1.7 'Greeks Bearing Gifts' has geek girl Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) in a girl-on-girl relationship with an alien. In addition, the team's doctor, Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), is bisexual, and Harkness is bedding Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd), the team's administrator. It is not until episode 1.9 'Random Shoes' that the series leaves behind its adolescent focus on sexuality and starts to, um, actually tell stories.

During the course of the series, various events foreshadow the arrival of something extra nasty out of the rift. These threads are played out in the final back-to-back episodes 1.12 'Captain Jack Harkness' and 1.13 'End of Days', where a spooky time-traveller Bilis Manger (Murray Melvin) is introduced. The climatic fight between Torchwood and the Big Bad, though, is underwhelming.

Not a good start to a new series, too much effort on adolescent sexuality and angst, and not enough on telling stories.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: La Chambre des Morts / Melody's Smile (2007)

In the port city of Dunkirk, a young blind girl is kidnapped. When her father tries to pay the ransom, he is accidentally killed and two retrenched workers end up with the ransom money. Then another girl, a diabetic, is abducted. Without insulin, she would die within a few days.

Among the police assigned to the case is a junior profiler, Lucie Hennebelle (Mélanie Laurent). Her investigation leads her to an earlier crime scene in the local zoo, where animals have been stolen and mutilated by someone related to the kidnappings. As she constructs a profile of the kidnappers, we see a possible link between the current case and an earlier traumatic event in her life.

This French thriller is very similar in look to Jonathan Demme's 'The Silence of the Lambs' (trivia: a copy of the book is visible briefly in Lucie's apartment), with a lot of shots of dark corridors in run-down mansions and some slightly nauseating scenes involving taxidermy and decomposing bodies. For most of its running time, the film maintains a realistic tone but as the bodies pile up near the end, the conclusion becomes rather predictable.

French with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: These are the Damned (1963)

Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey), a retired American executive holidaying in the tourist town of Weymouth, meets and becomes attracted to a young local girl, Joan (Shirley Anne Field), much to the displeasure of her older brother, King (Oliver Reed). King, the leader of a gang of punks, beats up Wells and tries to imprison his sister, but the couple escape in Well's boat. With the gang trailing them, the two lovers end up in a secret government installation and discover a terrible secret.

Made in 1961 but only released in 1963, this film quite blatantly exploits the public fear of nuclear war in that period (the Cuban missile crisis occurs in October 1962) and the collapse of the law and order, signified by King's gang openly roaming the streets of Weymouth with impunity, to justify the extreme actions of the government. Viewed away from that period, it's really a rather plodding film that takes a very, very long time to set the scene, overplays a very irritating song for the gang's call sign, includes an obligatory but unlikely romance between the leads, and casts Carey inappropriately as a middle-aged romantic lead. On the other hand, Oliver Reed makes a substantial presence as the well-dressed gang leader with a cane, quite possibly a precursor to Malcolm McDowell's Alex in 'A Clockwork Orange', and there are some fearful and gloomy scenes in the end.

1 out of 5 stars.

Review: La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón / Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure (2003)

Filemón (Benito Pocino) and Mortadelo (Pepe Viyuela) are two agents of the TIA (Técnicos de Investigación Aeroterráquea), a secret government organization. They are assigned to retrieve a stolen device from Tirania, whose dictator has declared war on England by dropping a giant ball of dung on the Queen's palace. Complicating their mission is that their boss, El Super (Mariano Venancio), has sent super agent Fredy Mazas (Dominique Pinon) on the same task earlier, and Fredy has turned rogue and is trying to kill them.

Based on a long-running Spanish comic book series 'Mortadelo y Filemón' by Francisco Ibáñez, writer-director Javier Fesser and co-writer Guillermo Fesser have created a colourful and surreal world of secret agents, crazy gadgets and violent cartoon slapstick humour (people are squashed into pancakes, survive explosions with no ill effect other than a black face, leave man-shaped indentations when they run into doors, etc.). The plot takes a while to get into gear and oddly enough, the two principals don't cause as much mayhem as expected.

A lot of the jokes are rather ponderous and are slow to set up, and not having read the comic books, I suspect I missed many of the sight gags. My kids found parts of the film hilarious, rather like Lisa and Bart Simpson when they watch 'Itchy and Scratchy'.

Spanish with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: Cave of the Yellow Dog (2006)

This film follows Urjindorjyn Batchuluun and his family, who are nomadic herders in the Mongolian steppe (or grassland). Their life revolves around tending their herd of goats, sheep and cattle, and seems little different, aside from a wind generator and an ancient motorcycle, from that of their ancestors. One night, two sheep are killed by wolves, and the next day, their eldest daughter, Nansal, while collecting dung to smoke meat, finds a pup in a cave. When she brings the pup home, her father refuses to keep it because it may have run with wolves and could attract a pack to his herd.

'Cave of the Yellow Dog' works best as an observational documentary, such as when it follows the mother on her farm chores, Nansal minding the sheep on her pony or when the family move to a better pasture by disassembling their yurt and loading all their possessions on carts. The film that suggests that this rural way of life may not be around for much longer; the family may have to give up herding to settle in a town and send their children to school, and when Urjindorjyn meets some hunters, he finds that they can't find anyone to take over their role. In contrast, the story of Nansal and the dog seem awkward, and the climax a bit forced.

Mongolian with English subtitles.

3 out of 5 stars.

Phoenix Thai Takeaway

On nights when the kids decide on junk food, we found that the Phoenix Thai Takeaway has the right sort of Thai food for dinner in front of the TV: spicy enough to be interesting but not so hot as to kill your taste buds, sauces with some body and a reasonable price.

Details: Phoenix Thai Takeaway, 186 Huntingdale Road, Oakleigh East 3166. +613 9543 6550

Review: La tourneuse de pages / The Page Turner (2006)

One summer, a young work experience student, Mélanie (Déborah François), becomes a live-in baby sitter for Tristan, son of wealthy lawyer Jean (Pascal Greggory). Jean's wife, Ariane (Catherine Frot), a pianist for a small ensemble, takes a liking to Mélanie. When Ariane discovers that Mélanie has music training, she employs Mélanie to be her page turner during her performances. What the family doesn't know is that the innocent-looking Mélanie has revenge on her mind.

This drama from writer-director Denis Dercourt and co-writer Jacques Sotty is about revenge as a dish best served cold. For a while, it is somewhat fascinating to watch Mélanie exploiting Ariane's and Tristan's weaknesses to wreak her revenge on an event that happened many years ago. However, the premise is very far-fetched, and without any elaboration on Mélanie's character, it is hard to accept that anyone, let alone a teenager, could conceive or execute such an elaborate and complete plan.

French with English subtitles.

2 out of 5 stars.

Review: Blue Collar (1978)

Zeke (Richard Pryor), Jerry (Harvey Keitel) and Smokey (Yaphet Kotto) are three friends who work in the assembly floor of a Detroit car company. The work is hard, and Zeke, the youngest of the three, is frustrated with the unwillingness of the auto workers union to help their members, while his older friends are more equanimous. When Zeke runs into money problems, he convinces his friends to help him burgle the local union office, an act which starts a chain of violent events.

This film has a surprising and effective performance by comic Richard Pryor, sans moustache, in the dramatic role as the voluble and vocal Zeke, who uses colourful language to get his point across. His co-stars don't have such flashy roles: Yaphett Kotto's Smokey is a quiet ex-con while Harvey Keitel's Jerry is an established family man.

The beginning of the film is interesting because it sets the scene to explore some of the social issues of the working class in America, a topic that seems to be completely ignored by mainstream American films. However, once writer-director Paul Shrader and co-writer Leonard Schrader introduce an FBI investigation into union corruption, the premise is effectively forgotten and the film turns into an OK low-key thriller.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Between the folds (2008)

Origami, the art of paper folding, is often considered a minor craft to keep kids occupied. Vanessa Gould's documentary Between The Folds shows us what dedicated practitioners can really do with origami. This film takes a broad perspective, showing you models can require hundreds of folds and computer software to design, models that represent the real and the abstract, and linking origami with computational geometry.

Having dabbled with origami all my life, I found the models and demonstrations fascinating, and I am amazed at the possibilities stemming from a single sheet of paper and the act of folding it. Film maker Gould narrates her documentary, and unlike the images and interviewees, her text is rather prosaic and uninspiring, and there are occasions that the narration is redundant and just describes what is on screen.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Identity (2003)

On a stormy night, on the eve of a convicted killer's execution, the killer's defence team tries to persuade a judge that the killer is insane and should be committed to an asylum instead of being executed. The case for the defence rests on the judge examining the killer, so he is being transported from prison to the court house. At the same time, ten travellers find that the highway is flooded, so they shelter from the rain in a motel. Among the travellers are Ed (John Cusack), an ex-cop driving a limousine, Paris (Amanda Peet), a call-girl and Rhodes (Ray Liotta), a police officer transporting a prisoner named Robert (Jake Busey). While they wait for the storm to abate, they find themselves being picked off, one by one, by a savage killer.

The start of the film is intriguing, with each person having a secret and a reason to distrust the others. However, after the first murder, things start to go downhill as the film veers between a slasher flick and an episode from 'The Twlight Zone'. Director James Mangold, who goes on to better things, doesn't handle the material well, relying too heavily on clichéd tricks to scare or horrify the audience. Even so, it could have been a passable popcorn flick ...

... Except that writer Michael Cooney adds one twist which invalidates the entire set up. We expect thrillers to use plot twists to keep you interested and a good twist (some so good that no one else could use it) would delightfully rearrange your perception of earlier scenes. In this film, the twist just made me feel cheated and after that point, I simply didn't care about what happens.

1 out of 5 stars.

Review: Tony Takitani (2004)

Tony Takitani (Issei Ogata) is a quiet and introverted technical illustrator. He lives a solitary life, his mother (Rie Miyazawa) having died soon after childbirth, and him only meeting his father Shozaburo (also Issei Ogata) every couple of years. Tony falls in love with a much younger woman, Eiko (also Rie Miyazama) who attracts him because she perfectly wears her clothes. In addition to having found a companion, Tony also realises that he no longer wants to live alone. They have a blissful married life, except that Eiko's insatiable need to buy designer clothes makes Tony request that she moderate her desire, with tragic results.

Tony lives in a hushed world of muted colours. Everyone, except Eiko and Shozaburo, is kept at arms' length. His home is a sterile tidy apartment. Tony sees the details in his world, such as the veins in a leaf or the fabric of Eiko's clothes, but never the whole picture. Based on a short story by popular Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, writer-director Jun Ichikawa's film perfectly captures the idea of loneliness.

Japanese with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Skyland / Skyland, Le Nouveau Monde (2006)

Sometimes, a TV series can have a lot of potential but be lumbered with poor execution, so poor in fact that you can't help but start noticing its flaws. The kids' SF series, 'Skyland', is one of these series.

Set in the future, when Earth has been blown up into lots of small floating islands, the plot revolves around two teenagers, Mahad and Lena, who have special powers. After their mother, Mila, is captured by an oppressive organization called The Sphere, the kids flee and become the crew of a flying rebel or pirate ship (it's not quite clear to me) captained by Aran. Their subsequent adventures revolve around flying to different islands to get support against the Sphere or escaping the Sphere's robot minions.

At first glance, the animation, using motion capture, is fluid, the backgrounds are detailed and gorgeous, and I have a soft spot for sky pirates, so it should have been easy to enjoy the series. What started to spoil it for me is the inane introductory voice-over at the start of each episode, which plainly contradicts what is on screen. Things that I usually overlook begin to grate. Why is there still air if there's no gravity? Why are all the islands oriented the same way? Why is there night if there's no body to block the sun? Argh! By the third episode, I got so annoyed that I just stopped watching.

0 out of 5 stars.