MARCH
The Machinist wasn't a massive success, but proved Christian Bale as
one of the most dedicated actors currently working. The weight loss he
underwent to star as the insomniac lead in this intelligent thriller was
staggering, and the fact he piled on the muscle to play Batman straight
after is all the more amazing. Great movie too!
APRIL
Few movies have a production history as long and complicated as Douglas Adams'
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
First a radio series, then a series of books, then a classic BBC TV series,
and now a Hollywood movie. In the end, just a few years after Adams' sad death,
the movie was the dictionary definition of "mixed bag". The visuals were
generally fun and interesting, the creature effects were great, but the plot
was convoluted and too saggy for a movie, while the casting ranged from
dependable (Sam Rockwell), to disappointing (Martin Freeman. One last thing:
so did they ever deliver that gun to John Malkovich?)
Disappointing sequels don't come much more disappointing than Be Cool,
the John Travolta starring sequel to Get Shorty. A great cast (Uma Thurman,
et al) couldn't hide the cracks in this altogether mediocre second outing
for Chili Palmer as he joins the music biz.
Forget what I wrote above about Be Cool, the year's worst sequel was surely
The Ring 2. Same actors, same writer, the director of the original
(some say scarier) Japanese movie... and it all equalled the most turgid waste
of time for any horror fan. Save for a few jumps, Ring 2 disappoints in almost
every way and reduces the ghostly Samara to just another rent-a-spook.
It may not have had mass appeal, but The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
was a decent big-screen outing for the Brtish comedy-horror troupe. Still,
there wasn't enough Royston Vasey for longtime fans of the series, and it
proved too bewildering for anyone not familiar with the BBC series. An
entertaining oddity that quite rightly tried to give fans something different...
but unfortunately forgot to include the elements of the TV series fans
particularly enjoyed.
The best comic-book movie of the year is a close fought contest between a
billionairre who likes to dress as a flying rodent and
Sin City.
Sin City? You'll never forget it once you see it. A superb trawl through the
dingy streets of (Ba)sin City in four vignettes packed with acerbic humour,
decapitations, multilations, brawling, shooting, torture, cannibalism and a
yellow-skinned paedophile. Robert Rodriguez gave us his best film... er,
ever... and showed George Lucas how to shoot a film using 95% greenscreen.
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