Dan Owen reviews

DAN'S   MOVIE   DIGEST

2 0 0 5   R e t r o s p e c t i v e

P a r t   T w o

Cover
JULY
Steven Spielberg is the master of summer blockbusters (heck, the created the genre with Jaws) but War Of The Worlds, like Mr & Mrs Smith, was overshadowed by its star's sex life (in this case a sofa-hopping Tom Cruise proclaiming undying love to girlfriend Katie Holmes). Spielberg's modern retelling of H.G Wells' novel is a sporadically successful movie, but ultimately fails thanks to a schmaltzy ending, lazy narration by Morgan Freeman and a rushed third act. Still, when it worked it worked incredibly well - the opening attack of an alien Tripod is spine-tinglingly effective and realistic.
Marvel comics continues their annual battle for superhero supremacy (but lost out, badly, to DC's latest Batman) with Fantastic Four. The comic's a difficult one to adapt - as it's the most comedic and family-friendly of the superhero franchises, which is at odds with the downbeat realism of Batman and the teen angst of Spider-Man. However, while the film was critically savaged it did great business and a sequel is already planned.
Tim Burton put the ghost of Planet Of The Apes firmly behind him with Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, another solid effort to sit alongside Big Fish. Did someone push his quality control switch? It's more likely that having his muse (Johnny Depp) cast as chocolatier Willy Wonka made the difference. An excellent translation of Roald Dahl's classic novel.

AUGUST
Michael Bay failed to set the summer box office alight with his latest offering, The Island. It starred Ewan MacGregor and new hot property Scarlett Johannsen, but that didn't stop audienced being somewhat underwhelmed by the Logan's Run style plot - about an island of clones grown to medically aid their real-world counterparts. Still, the movie is still brainless entertainment with some typically OTT Bay moments.
Yeehaw! The Dukes Of Hazzard has finished. The outtakes at the end prove infinitely more entertaining than the movie. Good casting, promising trailer... but it shoots itself in the foot thanks to two issues - 1, not enough Jessica Simpson and 2, it's not funny.

Cover
SEPTEMBER
A cult landmark arrived in the shuffling undead form of Land Of The Dead - the fourth in George A Romero's zombie saga. While Romero is undoubtedly the godfather of the modern zombie movie, he remains a cult figure only - as proven by poor box office takings. Still, despite a squandering of some potentially intetesting facets to the premise, it has done well enough on DVD to secure a fifth installment...
On an entirely different note, Jane Austen's classic opus Pride & Prejudice arrived in the Autumn with Keira Knightley in a role she was surely born to play. If you need a pretty English role who looks good in a corset, look no further. The movie performed well, despite some critical grumblings in the direction of Matthew McFadden's Mr Darcy.

OCTOBER
Forget Keira Knightley, real British superstars dominated the October box office with their first feature-film adventure. Yes, Wallace & Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit became Aardman Animation's belated follow-up to Chicken Run's success and went on to great success the world over. Even a fire that destroyed the studio's archive of characters and sets couldn't melt W&G.
A disappointing outing for Night Watch - the 2004 Russian film that made no dent in the UK box office despite underground fervour. Well, blame the marketing. The movie itself isn't as wonderful as fans will have you think, but it's an interesting blend of US action movies like The Matrix and The Lord Of The Rings thrown into a suburban Russian setting. Yes, there are some great visual moments, but the plot remains impenetrable towards the end. I hope the Russian sequels iron out the kinks and that the US-funded remakes do the premise justice.
Ever cursed when your favourite US TV show gets cancelled because its domestic audience fail to appreciate its delights? Step forward all you American Gothic, Carnivale, Space Above & Beyond and Firefly fans. Well, good news for Firefly's fans anyway, when Josh Whedon's cancelled sci-fi series became a rollicking adventure called Serenity. Not to everyone's taste perhaps, but there's a certain spirit and zest to Whedon's creation lacking in recent Star Trek and Star Wars outings...
Lord Of War deserved better. Nicholas Cage impresses as a gun-runner who reconsiders his nerfarious arms-dealing days in Andrew Niccol's witty, satirical drama. From the writer of The Truman Show and Gattaca, you expect quality, and this delivers.
A surprise hit last year was Saw, so exactly a year later a fast-tracked sequel found its way to multiplexes in the lazily entitled Saw II. More ghoulish games, gross deaths, torturous decisions and a (disappointing) twist ending. No classic, but effective in short bursts.
A double-whammy for Tim Burton this year, as his animated The Corpse Bride pulls in respectable business. Somewhat overshadowed by Wallace & Gromit, and not as good as The Nightmare Before Christmas, but still solid black comedy for kiddies.

Cover
NOVEMBER
The boy wizard returned to Hogwarts for a fourth year in Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire - with Harry embroiled in a Tri-Wizard Tournament that will lead him to confront the evil Lord Voldemort. Mike Newell ensures a brisk entry, full of teenaged angst and magical visuals. Goblet could well be the best Potter adventure yet, but will audiences flock to see altogether less impressive Order Of The Phoenix next time?

DECEMBER
An epic fantasy for kids arrived - aiming to dominate the Christmas box office for a good few years to come; with The Chronicles Of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. Think The Lord Of The Rings for the under-10s. Some great special effects and decent acting saves the day, but overall the movie lacks the scope and nasty bite it should have had to appeal to a wider audience.
Peter Jackson returned to reclaim the Christmas box office, post-Lord Of The Rings, with a remake of his childhood favourite King Kong. In a stunning display of directorial muscle, Jackson's remake was quite rightly lauded by audiences and critics alike - stunning effects, gorgeous scenery, fantastic acting and a sense of adventure that's breathtaking to watch.

Cover So, there ends another movie-going year. Historial epics were given the brush off (Alexander, Kingdom Of Heaven), superheroes split audiences (Batman Begins - good, Fantastic Four - bad), and Christmas continued to outshine summer blockbuster season with the quality of Harry Potter, Narnia and King Kong.
Next year, X-Men 3 and Superman Returns fight it out for superhero supremacy and Tom Cruise returns for a third "impossible" mission in, er, Mission Impossible III. See you at the movies!