The Happening

Suddenly and inexplicably people in Central Park, New York, stop what they are doing and start committing suicide. This strange phenomena spreads all along the north east of America and no one knows what is causing it? Is it terrorism? Is it the plants? The wind?

Disappointing movie from the master of "twist in the tale" endings M.Night. Shyamalan. Intended to be a B movie but ended up being a box office hit. Why?? Watching this movie is like sitting down to a gourmet meal. You get a delicious appetizer, a pretty good entree and you have left lots of room for a delicious desert, but oh, the restaurant has run out. You don't even get a coffee. It leaves you feeling totally unsatisfied. The story went no where. Desperately hoping for that oh so familiar "I wasn't expecting that" ending, the film finished with almost no explanation. In the end we discover that the reason all these things happened was actually explained in the first ten minutes of the movie, which basically was that the plants were giving off a chemical that affected people's brains causing them to kill themselves. But why the plants were doing that no one knows. This script has more holes than Swiss cheese. The only reason it was a hit was because Mr M has an amazing track record and surely he couldn't do a duff movie? Oh, yes he can.

1 elephant

The Day the Earth Stood Still

A remake of a 1951 Sci-Fi movie. A sphere lands in Central Park in New York and Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) a representative of a group of aliens has come to assess whether humans can reverse the damage it has inflicted on planet earth.

This is a perfect role for Keanu Reeves as he has to play someone who does not have any emotion. Our favourite line in the movie is when Klaatu is asked by the Secretary of Defence (Kathy Bates) why he has come to their planet. Klaatu replies "Your planet?" Keanu Reeves says it with such detachment it's actually funny. An okay movie. But no wow factor.

2 elephants

Yes Man

Life for Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is going nowhere until he enrolls on a personal development programme based on a simple idea "say yes to everything." Suddenly life becomes perfect -- for awhile, anyway.

We liked it but we didn't love it. It's a ton better than a lot of other movies we've watched and there are moments that are really hilarious. Sometimes Jim Carrey's gurning gets a bit old, but then who else could possibly do that as good as him? The very best character in this movie is Norman (Rhys Darby) Carl's nerdy boss. He steals every scene he's in. Come to think of it this isn't a bad movie at all, the story line was just not strong enough. However, we'd watch it again.

3 elephants

Jackie Chan's First Strike

Jackie Chan takes part in a sting operation on an international spy ring. But when one of them gets away he is chases him, and a missing nuclear warhead, to Australia.

We had this 1990's Jackie Chan movie sitting on our shelves gathering dust and had never watched it. So this weekend we decided to give it a view. It's only 88 minutes long but it's packed lots of action and the obligatory fight scenes Jackie is so famous for. In these depressing times when all everyone talks about is the economy and swine flu you can always reply on Jackie Chan to entertain and make you forget your problems.

3 elephants.

Wall-E

The future. Earth has been abandoned by mankind because it's just one great big rubbish tip due mostly to the waste from products sold by a multi-national company called Buy N Large. WALL -E is a garbage collecting robot who has been left to clean up the mess. He is all alone except for a little cockroach, until a reconnaissance robot called Eve is sent to earth to see if life is once again sustainable. WALL-E falls in love with Eve and shows her a little plant he has found amongst the rubbish. As she is programmed to do so Eve takes the plant and shuts down except for a bleep while she awaits collection. When the space ship returns, WALL-E follows Eve on board because he can't bear to be apart from her. For the first time he sees humans. Discovering the plant, the ship's captain announces to his passengers that they can go back to earth, but the ships computers have other ideas.

A delightful, magical movie of high quality that all the family will love. Little dialogue at first but it doesn't matter because we are skillfully drawn into the story and before we know it WALL-E has captured our hearts.
4 elephants.