20 MILLION MILES FROM EARTH
20 Million Miles From Earth (1957) would be just one more instantly forgettable 50s b-movie if it wasn’t for the wonderfully engaging model work of special effects genius, Harry Harryhausen.
-
-
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON 2
Television drama rarely specialises in big ideas. Amongst the comfortably circumscribed crises that litter soaps, medical dramas and police procedurals there is little room for questions about religion, identity or politics.
-
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: RAZOR
The real strength of the current incarnation of Battlestar Galactica (BSG) has been its ability to use its futuristic setting and the basic conflict humans and machines to place its characters in realistic, morally complex and ethically challenging situations. Its great achievement has been to create a set of multi-faceted characters who retain the audience’s […]
-
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON
For the first time, watching In The Shadow Of The Moon, I came to understand why some people are so convinced that the Apollo landings were a giant hoax. Looking back on it from our more fearful times the whole Apollo project seems like an impossible dream. We have moved so far from the mindset […]
-
COMIC BOOK POLITICS
In a recent review of Heroes in The Times, Kevin Maher argued that it was a sign of the fundamental decline of American politics that superheroes were being used to address serious political issues. Can superheroes do politics? Does the very act of dressing serious issues in spandex and transplanting them into an artform that […]
-
THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP
One of the most common criticisms I’ve heard levelled against The Science of Sleep is that it is a “slight” film – that in it simplicity, wit and even innocence, somehow Michel Gondry’s new film fails to be serious enough. It isn’t intellectual. It isn’t grown-up.
-
APOCALYPTO
I have a feeling that if I knew anything at all about the Mayan people that I would probably be deeply, deeply annoyed by Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. It has the feeling of authenticity – from the idyllic jungle village to the fantastically realised city through to the subtitled language – there has been a great […]
-
PAN’S LABYRINTH
Pan’s Labyrinth is a visually stunning film. The extraordinary imaginations of director del Toro and cinematographer Navarro have created a truly spectacular fantasy land full of images that will live with the viewer long after they have left the cinema. But there is far more on offer here than eye candy. As well as being […]
-
THE PRESTIGE
One of the major themes running through Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Prestige is that many things in life (magic tricks, rivalry, love) retain their appeal only so long as there remains mystery about their inner workings. Knowing the secret of a trick renders it mundane.
-
WARS OF THE WORLD
Typical, isn’t it? You wait nearly fifty years for another movie adaptation of The War of the Worlds, and then three turn up at once. This year has seen the release of two straight-to-DVD versions of the story, The War of the Worlds (Pendragon Productions/Timothy Hines) and HG Wells’ War of the Worlds (The Asylum/David […]