Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson is a typical American teenage boy, that is, until he discovers he is the son of an ancient Greek God. Percy is also accused of stealing Zeus’ Lightning Bolt, and he must embark on an heroic quest to prove he is not guilty. Along the way, Percy does battle with an extraordinary amount of superbly computer-animated monsters and mythical demons. Directed by Chris Columbus, and starring Logan Lerman, as Percy, and Pierce Brosnan, as a wise Centaur, the movie is a hell of a lot of family fun. Look out for Uma Thurman, making a cameo appearance as an ‘over-the-top’ Medusa! I can’t wait for ‘Percy Jackson Part Two’, which I am pretty sure will come.
The Princess and the Frog
Good old-fashioned movie musicals are hard to find these days. In-fact, most traditional movie musicals are now found in cartoon form. Walt Disney’s latest cartoon, ‘The Princess and the Frog’, is indeed a good old-fashioned movie musical. The story concerns that old fable about a Princess who must kiss a Frog, and thus release a handsome Prince entrapped by an evil magician’s spell. However, the story has been given an amusing twist by setting it in Jazz Age New Orleans. Much of the terrific production numbers are inspired by the lush Busby Berkeley musical extravaganzas of the 1930s.
Baaria
The problem with having an immense hit early on in a career is that the luckless director must spend the rest of his or her movie life living up to their youthful reputation. Unfortunately, this is the case for Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, who was to be immortalized in 1988 with his enduring classic ‘Cinema Paradiso’. Tornatore’s latest movie, ‘Baaria’, is also very good, but, naturally enough, it pales with comparison to ‘Cinema Paradiso’. Tornatore uses a series of vignettes and anecdotes to depict the way of life in a small Italian town, as a metaphor for Italy at large, as it moves through Pre-War Fascism, American Occupation, Sixties Communism, and onto Contemporary Italian Urbanization. However, what Tornatore is quite successfully saying, is that no matter the disruptions wrought by progress or politics, the basic values of the traditional Italian way of life never change.
End Game
Following in the wake of Clint Eastwood’s over-bloated ‘Invictus’, comes director Pete Travis’ much more intimate, and much more interesting, look at South Africa in the late 1980s. A British gold mining company is worried about the stability of their operations, in a South Africa on the brink of civil war, and they send their head of public relations to open up an unofficial dialogue between the bitter rivals struggling for the abolition of Apartheid. The movie is a very intelligent examination of the racist politics which dominated South Africa at the time. Among many, William Hurt stands out.
Triage
This is an unusual Irish psychological drama, written and directed by Danis Tanovic. Colin Farrell stars as a photo-journalist, who returns from a Middle Eastern war with some good photographs, but, with a bad case of depression. It will take a top notch psychologist, played by Christopher Lee, to get to the roots of his angst. The movie takes some interesting twists and turns before we discover the cause of Colin’s deep psychosis. Paz Vega, as the beautiful and concerned girl friend, decorates nicely, but she really doesn’t do much.
The Echo
From the producers of ‘The Ring’ (2002) and ‘The Grudge’ (2004) comes this rather eerie little ghost story. Jesse Bradford plays a newly released prisoner, who, as part of his parole, must live in his dead mother’s empty apartment. The neighbors are not all that thrilled to see him, and, after settling in, Jesse starts hearing violent sounds of spousal abuse, emanating from the apartment next door. But, while trying to be of assistance, Jesse is forcefully told to mind his own business. The tension and suspense builds slowly but relentlessly, while Yam Laranas directs with Hitchcockian flair.
Mao’s Last Dancer
This movie, directed by Bruce Beresford, has been a big hit in its home country of Australia, but, it doesn’t really make the grade on an International level. Also, this movie appears to be another one which has been inspired by the legendary Busby Berkeley. In-particular, his ‘Gold Diggers of 1933’. In that piece of classical nonsense Ruby Keeler, as the understudy, had to overnight learn a complete musical show, and stand-in for the ailing Leading Lady. Ruby had to go out and wow the audience. This time around a male Chinese ballet student, on loan to a renowned ballet company, has to learn ‘Don Quixote’ in three hours, and ‘come back a star’! Although the ballet dancing is quite exceptional, much of the direction and acting is appalling.
Edge of Darkness
Directed by Martin Campbell, Mel Gibson’s latest “solid, action packed movie”, (Hollywood reporter: Kirk Honeycutt), is actually a bit dull. Mel plays a Boston cop, and when his daughter dies of radiation poisoning, he suspects all is not well with the secretive munitions company for whom she worked. Mel starts his own unofficial investigation. The movie is pedestrian and boring. Mel simply doesn’t have the physical impact he previously had.
Ice Castles
A re-make of a 1978 movie, which was silly then, and is still silly now. An ice-skating champion goes blind and finds the confidence to return to the ice.
