Bovie Movie

Director Lasse Hallström and screenwriter William Wheeler’s smart and playful account of one of the greatest literary scams of all time benefits from a brace of great performances in the shape of Richard Gere and Alfred Molina. In 1971, failing author Clifford Irving persuaded publishers McGraw-Hill that he was working on an authorised biography of eccentric recluse Howard Hughes, and thus banked a gargantuan advance. Gere is well cast as the charismatic Irving, conveying the slightly seedy charm he employed in Amerian Gigolo, and the always watchable Molina plays his nervy best friend and collaborator, Dick Suskind. The fabrications soon mount up, and what results is a desperate race to fake the necessary evidence, with Irving betting that Hughes won’t come out of hiding to reveal the truth. The film is pacey, funny and often enjoyably tense. The real Irving was less impressed, though — cheekily objecting to the movie playing fast and loose with the facts. He described it as “a hoax about a hoax”. 

Bob Clark’s 1974 movie Black Christmas was a progenitor of the slasher genre and paved the way for the likes of Halloween and Friday the 13th. This cheeky but no less brutal remake pays its dues to Clark’s cult classic, borrowing wholesale from its gruesome tableaux as a killer stalks a sorority house in the run-up to Christmas, suffocating his victims with plastic bags. Producer James Wong cut his teeth on the Final Destination franchise and employs the same mix of gore and black comedy here, as the incongruities of murder in a Christmas setting are given a grotesque spin. Eyeballs are used as Christmas tree decorations, a candy cane is turned into a deadly weapon and even Santa’s sack doubles as a body bag. All this gives an otherwise forgettable horror movie a likeable chutzpah. 

Martin Lawrence embraces his feminine side once again in this uninspired sequel to the smash-hit comedy. When a deadly computer “worm” threatens national security, FBI agent Malcolm Turner (Lawrence) disguises himself as chubby grandma Hattie Mae Pierce and poses as a nanny to infiltrate the home of suspect Tom Fuller (Mark Moses). Unsurprisingly, chaos ensues as Big Momma tries to juggle law enforcement and “her”own unconventional take on domestic perfection. With its tired plot and weak dialogue, the film is forced to focus on cheap, visual gags, getting extensive comic mileage from the idiosyncrasies of Momma and her three dysfunctional charges. Director John Whitesell (Malibu’s Most Wanted) works hard to keep the humour flowing, but despite occasional moments of crude hilarity, there’s just not enough substance here to justify this lazy cash-in. 

As with The Black Dahlia, this starry thriller is based on a sensational crime case that shocked the US in the 1940s. But, sadly, like Brian De Palma’s botched James Ellroy adaptation, this is all about surface authenticity — cool suits, hip jazz soundtrack, hard-boiled narration — rather than true noir. John Travolta plays a homicide detective still grieving over the suicide of his wife, who, together with loyal partner James Gandolfini, is on the trail of a pair of murderous con artists. Jared Leto and Salma Hayek play the predatory pair who contact their victims via the lonely hearts columns. Writer/director Todd Robinson nails the period details perfectly, but the characters themselves never really ring true — all the more surprising given that the detective Travolta plays, Elmer C Robinson, was the film-maker’s grandfather. 

Upgrading the motion-capture animation process that Robert Zemeckis pioneered in The Polar Express, first-time director Gil Kenan creates an animated comedy horror with terrific success. Executive produced by Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, it’s a fun and thrilling ride for kids, full of smart jokes for adults, and with tons of sharp, imaginative detail to delight both. As Halloween approaches, youngsters DJ (Mitchel Musso), Chowder (Sam Lerner) and Jenny (Spencer Locke) must unlock the secret of a creepy haunted house before it swallows the neighbourhood’s trick-or-treaters. The traits of these friends echo the successful formula of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter stories: a boy, his gawky best friend and their studious female companion. But more interesting are the clever visuals that reference horror classics like Freaks and Quatermass and the Pit. With its unique, distinctive storybook-look that utilises new technology, Monster House is an unforgettable and irresistible adventure. 

Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) springs into action for a third time as the mega-budget espionage franchise rolls on. Only here, with JJ Abrams (creator of TV’s Lost and Alias) as director, we get to see a more intimate side of the superspy — along with the requisite explosions, gadgets and gunplay. The story unfolds with the newly betrothed Hunt called out of retirement to rescue a former trainee who’s been kidnapped by a ruthless arms dealer (a superb but underused Philip Seymour Hoffman). But when the assignment goes wrong, it’s Hunt’s fiancée (Michelle Monaghan) who’s the primary target for revenge. The race against time that follows is fast-paced and slick, with some standout sequences including a thrilling base-jump from a Shanghai skyscraper. Yet for all the film’s visual intensity, the formula itself feels stale and mechanical, with a flimsy plotline and cardboard characters merely compounding the problem. 

Marshall Lawson loses his strike-team in a cold-blooded and seemingly random attack. After this he takes it upon himself to investigate the suspicious circumstances of the brutal killings. Soon he uncovers CTX Majestic, a covert military operation so secret, that now the military wants Marshall eliminated. Resolute in his pursuit, Marshall engages in a merciless battle with a drug dealer operation that appears to be secretly funded by a rogue arm of the military.

With his debut feature, In the Bedroom, director Todd Field explored the darker side of middle-class suburban angst, and he’s still in the same territory for this follow-up. The setting is a tight-knit American community, into which convicted sex criminal Ronald McGorvey (an extraordinary turn by Jackie Earle Haley) has been released. He fades into the background quickly, as we’re soon introduced to Sarah (Kate Winslet), a married mother who becomes fascinated with a charming — and equally married — father (Patrick Wilson) at the local playground. Passions flare, but before you can say “American Beauty” McGorvey bubbles back to the surface as the stories mesh together, leading to an implausible finale that’s not quite as profound as it thinks it is. Though its production values are impeccable and its performances pitch-perfect, Little Children feels intellectually hollow and more than a little exploitative of a hot-button subject. 

David R Ellis’s much anticipated slither-fest certainly generated a wave of internet hype, but this by-the-numbers thriller barely surpasses the standard of a straight-to-video movie. As the gimmicky title suggests, the poisonous reptiles are let loose on a Hawaii to LA flight. Their target is Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek), the only witness in a major murder case, who is in the protective custody of FBI agent Samuel L Jackson. The script is a few one-liners short of an Airplane! sequel (and some of these were tailored to internet bloggers’ suggestions), and the plot is as unconvincing as the CGI snakes that gorily strike the mile-high club’s bevy of eccentric passengers. Once you’re past the shock of a “snake shower” falling from the oxygen masks, repetition soon sets in, and the attacks merge into standard disaster movie fare, complete with plummeting aircraft. And, yes, stewardess Julianna Margulies does have to fly the plane. 

40 years ago, Don Haskins went on the recruiting trail to find the best talent in the land, black or white. 7 blacks and 5 whites made up the legendary 1965-66 Texas Western Miners. They were mocked and ridiculed for their showboating and flaunting of black players on the court. Yet, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Haskins and his Miners came together as a team united to reach the National Championship game against powerhouse Kentucky.