Death Race

I saw Death Race at a preview screening in UGC de Brouckere in Brussels where the total cost for 2 tickets including credit card booking fee was €7.50! Suck on that all other cinemas.

Death Race is one of those films where the trailers only appear about a month or so before it's releases. Therefore, you're not already bored and tired of it before you go to the cinema to see it. A good start. The premise of the fim is simple. It is the near future and the american economy has collapsed (rings true at the moment, doesn't it?). Prisons are overcrowded and are turnedover to private companies to run. In order to make money, the prisons broadcast a television show where prisoners race to the death. Simple eh? and rather reminiscent of ancient Rome.

The film stars Jason Statham, one of the true current action stars, as a man who is *shock* framed for the murder of his wife. Why? Because he is a superb racing driving. But he is of course a man of honour and decency, though not without a mean streak, and not unsurprisingly takes offence at being sent to jail.

What did I think? Overall, it's not a bad film. It's one where you can leave your mind in neutral and enjoy the loud, noisy and messy car scenes. It races across the screen in full high-octane mode and Statham produces a mean performance as toughman Ames.

Pineapple Express

Sunday night rolled around and, once again, I was facing the prospect of getting up at 5 a.m. for the morning flight to Brussels. Sunday evenings like that suck donkey balls (as an old friend of mine used to say), so in such situations, the cinema is always a good option.

This is one bizarrely good film, in my opinion. I don't think I've ever seen a film that combines stoner sequences with hard action. Those aren't two themes that you'd think would sit well together, but it works for Pineapple Express. Denton (Seth Rogen) is a slacker and dope fiend, who holds down a job and a teenage girlfriend. His supplier Saul (excellent performance from James Franco) is lonely and looking for a friend. When Denton witnesses a murder, the two end up on the run hiding from the murderer.

This film tries to convey some messages (such as growing up into adulthood and the effects of dope) but the final action scenes override these and the engaging characters really made the film enjoyable. A surprise surprise for me.

Bangkok Dangerous

The Pang Brothers are the people behind such Asian films as "The Eye" and the 1999 movie "Bangkok Dangerous". For reasons best known to themselves, they decided to remake this latter film, this time with Nicolas Cage in the main role.

Cage plays a hitman, who surprisingly, lives an isolated and regimented life. He moves to Bangkok to undertake a serious of 4 hits for a local crime family. However, things change for him in Bangkok as he hires a young man who he begins to train (with scenes reminiscent of The Karate Kid) and he meets a mute pharmacist with whom he begins a relationship. Suffice to say that Cage's character is at a new crossroads in his life.

The problem with all this is that the film is grey, dull and cliched. Cage doesn't spark with any of the other characters in the film. The only bright part to the film is the young apprentice played by Shahkrit Yamnarm.

Cage has the remarkable ability to look permanently constipated, which works in his favour in some films, but definitely not here. And what the hell is up with his hair?

Wall-E

There are very few people in the world who can resist cuteness; think cute puppies or cute babies. E.T. was undeniably cute. But would a cute rubbish-collecting robot work? That's what Pixar attempted with the character of Wall-E in their latest offering.

We meet Wall-E as he zooms around a desolate, rubbish-covered Earth, from which humans have long since departed. Wall-E is designed to compact garbage and stack the resulting blocks into neat piles. As he does this he collects interesting objects, such as a Rubik's cube or a gas lighter, from the piles of rubbish which he carefully stores in his little home. As he trundles around, we realise that he is the last robot of his type left on Earth and is accompanied only by a chirpy cockroach. The sadness of his situation appears overwhelming and he appears to realise it as he watches songs from the musical "Hello Dolly" late at night. He dreams of holding hands with someone.


One day however, a super sleek white robot comes to Earth looking for evidence of plant life, and as she wanders around searching, Wall-E becomes entranced by her. His little binocular eyes manage to convey a whole range of puppy-dog emotions as he watches her with adoration.


Wall-E's adventures throughout the film are vehicles to display his charm and cuteness. The lack of speech between the robots means that their expressions and gestures are vital to conveying emotion. There is a fine balacing act between conveying emotion and hamming it, and sometimes this film crosses over that boundary.

However, the film is also trying to convey an environmental message about the dangers of polluting our planet. Wall-E is unaware of this as he tries to get back the love of his life, but his actions have a huge impact on humanity. Wall-E is not motivated to help humans out of some deep desire to fix the world or for more altruistic reasons, he is doing it simply because he has fallen for EVE.

It's a good film, it's an adorable film, and Wall-E is a beautifully crafted piece of animation that tugs at your heartstrings. Ultimately, it's not a great film as there is some charm missing from Wall-E's soul. When you compare it to other great animated films of recent years such as Finding Nemo or Toy Story, this film comes up short in some way that's hard to define. It's a pity, as the visual images of Wall-E and his adorable actions will stay in your head for quite a while after you leave the cinema.