I


I, Robot

  

There's nothing wrong with the idea behind I, Robot (at what point do we start considering robots as living beings), but unfortunately it has all been done many, many times before: RoboCop, Bicentennial Man, Artificial Intelligence or even Star Wars for that matter. I, Robot really does not add a single new feature to the robot genre. The Will Smith type of jokes are starting to become tiring, and the female interest isn' t really that interesting.
What remains is some excellent special effects and a few good action sequences. Just about enough to keep me entertained for the duration of the film, but no a film to get real excited about.


Identity

  

This pretty spooky psychological thriller definitely made me think hard while trying to hang on to the story. As a matter of fact, it was only a few hours after watching the film that I completely grasped what was going on. Ideally, things fall into place just when you see the first end-titles of this kind of film, so in my opinion, this script might just be a little too complicated. Or, I'm simply not intelligent enough to understand it, that's an other option of course (I'm hoping for the first alternative).
No matter what the script, Identity is at the least a very original psychological thriller. It plays around with the good guy / bad guy idea a lot. At a certain point it's a complete mystery who you can trust and you can't. Add to this the suspense of the isolated motel in the pouring rain, the numerous murders and you've got yourself a pretty exciting thriller - with a twist.
In any case, Identity kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the time. Well worth the watch.



Insomnia

  

Al Pacino stars as a detective who gets entangled in a psychopath's web, somewhere in Alaska. Pacino's mind gets more and more foggy, since he can't sleep because it doesn't get dark over there that time of the year.
This is a very "moody" film, the Alaskan scenery works well for the film. The main attractions are Robin Williams as a pretty credible psychopath, and most of all Al Pacino, who's made "looking-tired" into a form of art.
Insomnia is a remake of a scandinavian film, but a very good remake at that. Well worth the watch.



Ice Age

   

Standards for computer-animated features have been set very high in recent years. Think of the excellent two Toy Story films, the extremely funny Shrek, or Monsters Inc. All these looked spectacular, with very natural looking figures, that seemed to move around like real humans.
Ice Age lives up to this new standard. I thought the graphics for the backgrounds could sometimes have done with some more details; some trees seemed to look a bit pale and a little too smooth for my taste. The characters however are beautifully done, and there is a breathtaking sequence where they slide through an ice-cave at high speed.
Most of all, Ice Age is very funny. There are a few jokes aimed at the adult audience, but mainly the humour is suitable for all ages. The ending was a Disney-like (so sweet your fillings feel like jumping out), but on the whole Ice Age is a very entertaining, high quality film for all the family to enjoy.



An Ideal Husband

   

In Oliver Parker's screen adaptation of this Oscar Wilde play, Sir Robert Chiltern (Jeremy Northam) is threatened by a blackmailer, the devious Mrs. Cheveley (Julianne Moore). Chiltern makes the mistake of trying to hide all of this from his rather overly virtuous wife Gertrud (Cate Blanchett). Luckily, his friend Lord Goring (Rupert Everett) comes to the rescue (with Minnie Driver playing his love interest).
The story is very clever; there are plenty of comic misunderstandings, and there are also plenty of twists in the story to keep it all exciting. The strong points here are the portrayal of the British high society, and the (very humorous) way in which the protagonists manage to slaughter (figuratively speaking of course) each other in conversation, while keeping their stiff-upper-lip.
All the actors are fine, but it's Moore and Everett that stand out (although I have to say that this part doesn't pose much of a challenge to Everett, who has played this type of character many times before).
Highly entertaining.



The Interpreter

  

This first film to be shot at the UN headquarters in New York City starts with an intense scene in the imaginary country Matobo. The violence shown in this scene is brought to New York when the cruel leader of the country wants to speak in front of the UN general assembly.
The Interpreter has some interesting and very true points to make about the UN being one of the few influential organisations in search of peace, but also about certain regimes in (among others) Africa - the country of Matobo bares a strong ressemblance to the current situation in Zimbabwe for instance.
Unfortunately, the film does not keep the same level of tension throughout its two hours. Main disturbances: too much attention is paid to the troublesome relationship between Sean Penn (as the CIA agent) and Nicole Kidman (as the interpreter) who both make the best of their parts by the way, and most of all Sydney Pollack should try to stay behind the camera instead of in front it. You're a director Sydney, not - I repeat, NOT - an actor.
Still there are enough exciting scenes to keep you entertained, which still makes this a very acceptable thriller. It could have been a lot better though, with a few alterations to the script, and a lot less Sydney Pollack...


The Incredibles

   

A computer animated feature about superheroes? It really doesn't sound like much of a film beforehand, but in fact, Pixar has done it again: an original , amazing-looking film that keeps you glued to your seat the whole time. I read a review saying that this film lacked the emotion of Finding Nemo, but I think you can't really compare these two. That's like saying that all computer animated films should fall within the same genre: always funny, always exciting and always with a bit of drama. Well, this is just a bit more of an action film, full of original ideas, but also borrowing heavily from all kinds of superhero (Spiderman) and spy films (James Bond).
The standard of the last few Pixar films was incredibly high, and I'm wondering how long they can keep this up. But for now, they've delivered another brilliant film, which is surely a must-see for all the family.