Summer Film

The Age

Saturday December 13, 2008

Reviews: Jim Schembri

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL

If Hollywood has taught us anything over the past decade it's that the most frightening word in the modern movie-making lexicon isn't "remake" but "reimagining". Classics such as Rollerball, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and even The Women have been "reimagined" for the sake of newer, younger, bigger audiences - all with shuddering results.

Leading the annual cascade of Boxing Day films is another such "reimagining" as Keanu "whoa!" Reeves leads the big-budget reboot of the 1951 science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. Reeves (above in scene from the movie) plays the alien who has come to save us from ourselves. We're quivering already.

BEDTIME STORIES

In Bedtime Stories gross-out comedy master Adam Sandler tries expanding his fan base into the Disney demographic with an anthology of family friendly adventure tales. If the film succeeds, watch for a new Disney World attraction featuring a four-metre-high animatronic Adam Sandler pulling down his pants.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Brad Pitt (below) upshifts into serious drama as he plays the hero of F.Scott Fitzgerald's brilliant 1922 short story who ages in reverse. It co-stars Cate Blanchett and is directed by David Fincher, who pursued a similar theme in Fight Club, where grown men slowly turned into primary school children.

FROST/NIXON

Ron Howard's brilliant screen adaption of the stage play Frost/Nixon offers one of the most incisive commentaries yet on the advent and impact of the television medium as a credibility hungry TV host David Frost (Michael Sheen) and former president Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) do battle in front of the cameras.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

Also hitting a new high is veteran director Woody Allen who outdoes his 2005 triumph Match Point with Vicky

Cristina Barcelona, easily his most mature adult drama since Husbands and Wives (1992).

BOLT

Hot on the heels of Beverly Hills Chihuahua comes the next in the long line of kid-friendly Disney dogs with Bolt (January 1), the funny tale of a canine TV star who escapes the alternate reality of the studio to discover the real world. Think of it as an unofficial "reimagining" of The Truman Show, but with cute CG animals instead of humans. And in 3-D.

THE WRESTLER

King of the "where are they now?" lists, Mickey Rourke takes another stab at a career revival with The Wrestler (January15).

MILK

The indefatigable Sean Penn again proves his Oscar credentials with his lead performance in Milk (January29), an outstanding biopic about the '70s' San Francisco gay rights activist.

BRIDE WARS

The powerful box-office performance of chick flicks throughout 2008 proved that anything with a wedding theme can't go wrong, or so Bride Wars (January 15) hopes to prove as Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson play best friends who knock heads when their wedding days fall on the same date. Oh, mercy!

VALKYRIE

Valkyrie (January 22) will test whether Tom Cruise can still hold a drama together as he plays one of the German officers who tried to assassinate Adolf Hitler. For Tom's sake here's hoping the only bomb that goes off is the one in the Fuehrer's lunch box.

THE CHANGELING

While it has its flaws, The Changeling (February 5) showcases Clint Eastwood's love of leisurely storytelling and character nuance with his 140-minute, fact-based period tale about the mother of a kidnapped son (Angelina Jolie) who has the wrong child returned to her.

FRIDAY THE 13TH

The undoubted film of the summer simply has to be the much-anticipated, prestigious Hollywood movie epic Friday the 13th. That's right, folks - it's a big-budget update of the blood-splattered 1980 slice-and-dice cheapie, directed by Marcus Nispel who also did the 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But don't think of it as a mere remake. Think of it more as a "reimagining".

© 2008 The Age

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