mike paines

If I hadn't already seen Zhang Yimou's Hero the previous week, I would have had to say that Casshern is one of the most beautiful-looking films I've seen in years (or ever). However, it'll have to suffice with second place. The CGI is highly stylised, with some green-screen shots looking purposefully false, but the real joy is in the production design - very evocative of Metropolis. Visual references are also made to the Nuremburg rallies of the 1930s, the Holocaust, Orwell's 1984 and those retro wind-up robots. A massive twenty-storey building is suspended in the air by hundreds of propellers like some overgrown zeppelin, and there's shots of a train so wide it requires five strips of rail side-by-side to accommodate it. The battle scenes are particularly awesome, and the combat scenes between Casshern and the Neo-Sapiens equally sharp.

However, the story primarily revolves around the drama of two families and there's very little affinity made with the main characters. Perhaps it was because the action scenes were so bombastic, but I found it very difficult to spur my interest in the character-driven moments, and this consequently made the two-and-a-half-hour running time feel a tad too long.

The final closing message, which runs contrary to the adrenalized mid-section of the film, is presented rather clumsily. But in true Japan-fashion, you can't help but be charmed by the sincerity of the whole thing.

Screened at the 2004 Frightfest in London, Romasanta had the privilege of being the only one amongst the five films that I attended to send me to sleep. Only briefly.

As such, perhaps I shouldn't comment on a film that I was only awake for 98% of the running time. Perhaps the "clincher" - the outstanding scene that would win me over - was the one that I was counting sleep to.

I doubt it.

I'm a big fan of the Hammer films, and there's a certain feel to this this evokes a similar mood to those old Terry Fisher and Freddy Francis flicks. It may be the period costumes, the older and more respectable actors hamming it up, the dodgy dialogue and the total lack of any real suspense. But the majority of the Hammer films were made more than 30 years ago, so they do have an excuse for their creakiness.

There's even a scene in the cornfield pinched (or a homage?) from Gladiator.

As per my one line summary - dull and only worth watching for Elsa Pataky.

After watching a string of US movies with derivative storylines at the 2004 Frightfest in London, The Machinist stands out as an impressive exception. Similar to Cypher or The I Inside, you know straight off that there's a puzzle here waiting to be solved, but although (on reflection) all the pieces are there, I found the resolution to be totally unpredictable, and consequently a real joy. Christian Bale's appearance is simply stunning (in a Q&A with the director after the screening, Brad Anderson mentioned that Bale lost 55 pounds in two months to achieve the effect, and then took another two months putting the weight back on to film a very brief flash-back scene).

The support roles, including Jennifer Jason Leigh and Michael Ironside, are also very convincing, and the retro-creepy soundtrack is very reminiscent of Herrmann's work on The Day The Earth Stood Still - this might sound strange, but it actually works to the film's benefit! The general tone of the film is particularly dark and grim, but there are some comic moments to relish, and there is very little in the way of padding.

Evidently Brad Anderson couldn't get financial backing for the film's production in the US due to the story's subject matter, so found assistance in Spain, where the film was shot. None of this notices, as the locations look suitably American. Highlight of the film has to be Trevor's visit to the DMV office and his subsequent attempts to be a hit-and-run victim.