Bovie Movie

Watching this messy comedy drama, you may well wonder if director Spike Lee has totally lost the plot. Not only is this film audaciously offbeat, but it’s also excruciatingly clichéd and so unconventionally constructed that it plays like a handful of genre movies all competing for supremacy. Jaws will certainly drop, as suave Anthony Mackie goes into unofficial business by impregnating rich lesbians — including Monica Bellucci’s Mob princess — after being sacked as a whistle-blower from a corporation pushing a defective Aids vaccine. Following the internalised emotion of 25th Hour, Lee is back on his socio-political hobby horse, attacking corporate culture, greed and preconceptions about black men. Unfortunately, the feature’s increasing ludicrousness and his insistence on pandering to crude male fantasies ultimately undermine any serious messages. Still, there are some very funny moments, not least John Turturro as a Godfather-quoting Mafia don. Consequently, the overall effect is like a car crash — a tragic waste, yet impossibly riveting. 

Based on a true story, this twisting psychological thriller focuses on a serial arsonist whose terrifying six-year crime spree is juxtaposed with the increasingly desperate efforts of investigators to bring him to justice. Charged with investigating many of these fires is Captain John Orr (Ray Liotta), a legendary figure in the Glendale Fire Department, possessed with an uncanny ability to pinpoint the origins of a fire, as well as the devices by which an arsonist may have carried out the crime. Through a fingerprint left at the scene of one crime and a series of surprise revelations focusing on arsons set in several towns, the task force is able to close in on an unlikely suspect. . . and ultimately crack the case.

It may be superficial and predictable, with special effects bloated out of all proportion, but this western fantasy from Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld is still good-natured fun thanks to the winning charisma of Will Smith and some fabulous Jack-in-the-Box gadgetry. Little more than Lethal Weapon in the Old West, shaken and stirred with a touch of James Bond, the plot has Smith and Kevin Kline as mismatched US secret service agents using anachronistic contraptions and fancy disguises to stop mad genius Kenneth Branagh from assassinating President Grant (Kline again). The script is remorselessly smutty, the one-liners are below average (“No more Mr Knife Guy”) and the giant mechanical spider climax endlessly drawn out, but the wildly inventive gizmos (the best being the metal collars that attract magnetic blades) give entertainment value and draw a shield over the numerous flaws. 

René Clair’s first French film for over a decade is a bittersweet, regretful look at the silent cinema in which he began his career. Maurice Chevalier plays an ageing ex-actor, now a director, who teaches his assistant (François Périer) the arts of seduction, unaware that they are both in love with the same young girl (an insipid Marcelle Derrien). The re-creation of the era is rather more convincing than the plot, but the 59-year-old Chevalier shows a rare depth. 

American Businessman and China Scholar, Nick Orton is enlisted by the Buddhist goddess of mercy to save his world from de-evolving to the time of the Demon Master Shu and the 5 Traditional Masters who wish for no progress to ever happen. Nick is given help in the form of The Handsome Monkey king, Pigsy and Friar Sand who must do battle with dragons, demons and a heavenly legal system to assure that Earth remains as it should be.

Directed by Kerry Conran, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow revolves around the mysterious disappearance of some of the world’s most revered scientists. When an investigation is launched, Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow), reporter for the prestigious Chronicle, and Sky Captain (Jude Law), resident flying ace, are at the forefront of the case. Though the mission’s perks include traveling around the world, the stout-hearted duo are nonetheless risking their lives with each passing moment, as the culprit is none other than the nefarious Dr. Totenkopf, and his goal, from what they can gather, is to destroying the earth in its entirety. Luckily, Sky Captain and Polly are not alone — Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie), the commander of an all-female amphibious squadron, and Dex (Giovanni Ribisi), an unparalleled technical genius, have joined them in hopes of saving the planet before it’s too late. Laurence Olivier appears posthumously as Dr. Totenkopf, via old film-clips “recycled” (or CG-altered) to fit the dialogue and scenes at hand.