one.point.zero

Movies

Entre ses mains

Score: 7

A good French thriller. No surprises from the storyline or the camera work. What makes this film are the magnificent and intimate performances from the two lead actors. Benoit Poelvoorde is downright creepy in this radical departure from his familiar roles and Isabelle Carré's slow shift into darkness is entrancing. Well worth seeing. [IMDB link]

The End of Suburbia

Score: 8

A very thought-provoking documentary and a good introduction to the peak oil concept, even if it's very Americentric. The doom and gloom scenario details how most of us are ignoring the seriousness of the oil depletion problem and how fast our "way of life", as Bush and Blair love to call it, is heading for collapse. There's this "consensus trance" in which everyone believes someone will think of a solution or some form of alternative energy will surface in time. As it stands, the world depends on (too) cheap fossil fuels for absolutely everything (not just powering your car, but growing crops, making pesticides, building wind turbines, the list goes on...) and there is no form of alternative energy, including the over-hyped hydrogen economy, that can maintain our current system as it is. The authors' view of our future is that of reverse-globalisation, where smaller, local, mainly self-supporting communities on a human scale will exist and other people will return to the city. The truth? Probably somewhere in the middle, but radical changes are certainly coming our way and much faster than we think. My recent bike purchase seems like an omen now... [IMDB link]

Outfoxed

Score: 6

I finally got around to seeing this admittedly partisan critique of Fox News, a channel where the term '"journalism" is really pushed to its limits, where political bias is enforced and peddling fear is on the daily agenda. I'm unsure if it will provoke any thinking or changes of opinion though. People who see through Fox's simulated objectivity don't need to be pushed and diehard Fox viewers will just see it as more of that "liberal media propaganda". It's still worth watching, if only for the segment on Jeremy Glick, the son of a 9/11 victim who signed the "not in our name" petition and got treated viciously by Bill O'Reilly for being unpatriotic. [IMDB link]

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Score: 8

Deliciously creepy, yet magical and psychedelic, Burton has captured the Willy Wonka (played by an outlandish Johnny Depp) universe perfectly, from nut-sorting squirrels to a Kubrick-inspired TV room. The movie is true to the novel, more so than the seventies musical, even throwing in the real oompah-loompah lyrics along the way. I just have one gripe: did they have to stitch that father-as-a-dentist backstory into the plot? It didn't feel Dahl-like at all. That's not enough to stop me highly recommending it though. [IMDB link]

War of the Worlds

Score: 7

The aim of this movie is mindless entertainment, seat-grabbing horror and a special effects extravaganza; and that it does amazingly well. We feel no emotional attachment to the characters though, certainly could have done without the multiple references to 9/11 and dropping the obligatory lessons in responsible parenting would have made a refreshing change. See it for the visuals and the atmosphere, ignore Cruise and his brats. [IMDB link]

BBS: The Documentary

Score: 10

If you connected to BBS's, were a Sysop or are just curious about what getting online was back before the internet became so ubiquitous, this documentary will describe a period in history that is unknown to many and wrought with nostalgia for old fogeys like me. From the first CBBS to commercial multiline systems like Exec-PC, it's all in there: Fidonet, the ANSI art scene, H/P/A/C, Boardwatch magazine, interviews with BBS authors (PC Board, WWIV,...) and more. And if you were part of that scene, it's pretty strange putting faces on names you knew only in text 15 years ago. Worth every cent. [IMDB link]

Batman Begins

Score: 8

The best Batman adaptation ever. Actually, probably the best superhero movie to date. Much closer to Frank Miller's Dark Knight than the men in tights Tim Burton and friends gave us; Christopher Nolan tells the story of the caped crusader's origins in a wonderfully dark, gritty and introspective way. Recommended. [IMDB link]

Human Traffic

Score: 5

A pretty accurate picture of one half of the club/rave scene in the nineties. I was sitting in the other, looking in. The film is one big hedonistic trip without a point, which makes you wonder why footage from Criminal Justice Bill protests are shown in the opening credits. Worth seeing if your weekends were spent dancing to repetitive beats, some of the characters may even seem quite familiar. [IMDB link]

Revenge of the Sith

Score: 6

Feeble dialogue, wooden acting and innumerable lightsaber fights abound, but all the nagging questions are answered and you get a much better film than its predecessors (which isn't saying much). Worth seeing? Yes. A masterpiece? Not even close. [IMDB link]

The Corporation

Score: 9

The film demonstrates how large corporations have an obligation to put the financial interests of their shareholders above all other concerns and, as such, pollution, sweatshops, support of abusive regimes, anything goes in the name of the bottom line. Although flawed at times and a little one-sided, the film is quite convincing and the detached narrative reinforces this. You'll wonder if you're consuming or being consumed. Recommended viewing. [IMDB link]

Kung-Faux

Score: 8

Find some old seventies martial-arts movies, cut the story down to 25 minutes, get some hip-hop stars to dub over the original dialog with ghetto slang, edit the hell out of it, then add a major dose of video game and graffiti references. What you get is Kung-Faux, where wise old men become mumbling potheads, heroes watch out for their Guccis and Chinese girls turn into gangland hoes. It's irrevent and vulgar but it's also extremely funny! [IMDB link]

Atomik Circus

Score: 7

Completely out there French B-movie. A melting pot of head-sucking aliens, love, rock'n'roll and motorbikes. One of those love-it or hate-it flicks. The critics hated it (expecting something else), I loved it even if it felt rushed at times. A shame Jean Yanne couldn't be part of it. [IMDB link]

Finding Neverland

Score: 8

Movies

Entre ses mains

The End of Suburbia

Outfoxed

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

War of the Worlds

BBS: The Documentary

Batman Begins

Human Traffic

Revenge of the Sith

The Corporation

Kung-Faux

Atomik Circus

Finding Neverland

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Ocean's Twelve

The Incredibles

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Un long dimanche de fiancailles

Super Size Me

24 Hour Party People

Matrix Revolutions, The

21 Grams

Interstate 60

Caro diario

Anything Else

Good bye, Lenin!

Lost in La Mancha

Marcel Superstar

Spider-Man 2

Fahrenheit 9/11

Shrek 2

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The Ladykillers

La mala educación

Big Fish

Podium

Lost in Translation

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Intolerable Cruelty

Finding Nemo

Pirates of the Carribean: The curse of the black pearl

Filles Uniques

Le mystere de la chambre jaune

The Matrix Reloaded

28 Days Later

Johnny English

Adaptation

Catch me if you can

Analyze That

The Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers

Die Another Day

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Bowling for Columbine

Austin Powers: Goldmember

Minority Report

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi - Spirited Away

Men In Black 2

L'Auberge Espagnole

Ocean's Eleven

Ice Age

Lilo & Stitch

Spider-Man

Ghost World

Donnie Darko

The Mothman Prophecies

Panic Room

Hollywood Ending

Attack of the Clones

K-Pax

No man's land

Le Boulet

From Hell

Lord of the Rings

The Others

The man who wasn't there

Zoolander

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Joy Ride