Blade Trinity heralded the end of the vampire-bashing trilogy, and
unfortunately it went out not with a bang, but with a whimper. Writer David
Goyer, who wrote the prior movies, settled into the director's chair - with
lacklustre results. The plot, about vampires resurrecting Dracula was silly,
the martial-arts old-hat compared to Flying Daggers, and the addition of new
ass-kicking characters just screamed spin-off sell-out. It also didn't help
that Snipes seemed to be sleepwalking through his monosyllabic role. A sad
end for a trilogy with two excellent predecessors.
The Phantom Of The Opera has been a musical smash hit for years now -
in fact it's amassed a $3 billion fortune that makes even Titanic haul look
like a low-budget affair! So, a movie has been long overdue, and it arrived
courtesy of Joel Schumacher. The production is handsome and the actors are
all very good, although for some reason the whole enterprise just never really
flies as it should.
Finally, Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events breezed into
cinemas for Christmas. Based on a series of children's novellas, this starred
Jim Carrey as the villainous Count Olaf, a master-of-disguise who attempts to
snatch a family fortune from two young relatives after their parents die in a
fire. An entertaining children's movie with some dark sequences - all with
the air of The Addams Family, particularly in terms of the gothic set-design
and anarchic streak.
So what will 2005 bring? Well, Jennifer Garner tries her best to get typecast
as an action heroine in the Daredevil spin-off Elektra, John Carpenter's
classic Assault On Precinct 13 is glossily remade, Keanu Reeves delves
into the occult with Constantine and unwanted sequel Son Of The Mask
will piss all over the Jim Carrey original.
Wes Craven returns with post-modern teen werewolf shocker Cursed, John
Travolta belated returns as Chili Palmer in Get Short sequel Be Cool, a
Ray Bradbury time-travel adventure story is brought to cinemas as A Sound Of
Thunder and Samara continues to scare the shit out of everyone in The Ring 2.
Robert Rodriguez delivers a star-studded and stylish comic-book noir in the
form of Sin City, a classic shocker is remade in Amityville Horror,
Ice Cube replaces Vin Diesel for XXX State Of The Union and Ridley Scott
returns to history for Kingdom Of Heaven.
Douglas Adams' celebrated sci-fi comedy finally gets the big-screen treatment
in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, George Lucas completes his prequel
trilogy with Star Wars Episode III, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt heat up
the screen in action thriller Mr & Mrs Smith and Christian Bale will
step into the cowl in Batman Begins.
Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise fight aliens in War Of The Worlds,
legendary comic-book franchise Fantastic Four will be unleashed, classic
TV sitcom Bewitched is adapted for the big-screen with Nicole Kidman
and Tim Burton serves up Charlie & The Chocolate Factory with Johnny
Depp.
Ewan MacGregor headlines Michael Bay thriller The Island, The Dukes Of
Hazzard blast into cinemas, futuristic comedy 3001 is released and
classic video-game Doom finally becomes reality, starring
Bourne Supremacy's Karl Urban.
Rob Schneider's cult hit Deuce Bigelow get a sequel with Deuce Bigelow European
Gigolo, Steve Martin steps into Peter Sellers' shoes as Inspector Clouseau
in Birth Of The Pink Panther, Antonio Banderas returns for belated sequel
Legend Of Zorro and axed TV show Firefly gets a movie with Serenity.
The Rock arrives as Spy Hunter, claymation heroes Wallace & Gromit
get their own movie, The Fog becomes the second John Carpenter remake
of the year and George Romero continues his legendary zombie saga with
Land Of The Dead
CGI animation returns with Cars, Harry Potter continues his education
with Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire, Terry Gilliam brings us the
whimsical fantasy Brothers Grimm and The Chronicles Of Narnia
attempts to become the next Lord Of The Rings franchise.
Unwanted vampire sequel Underworld 2 is released, Peter Jackson returns
to movies with a remake of King Kong, The Producers is remade
after the success of the stage musical, Zathura arrives as a sci-fi
version of Jumanji, Mel Gibson returns to acting in Mad Max Fury Road
and Bruce Willis plays hard-boiled cop John McClane yet again for Die Hard 4:
Die Hardest.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
