MOON
Reanimating the spirit of stylish space-set classics from 2001: A Space Odyssey
to Solaris, Brit indie gem Moon launches itself as a genuinely worthy contender
to such sci-fi greats. Sam Rockwell is faultlessly compelling as a near-future
astronaut mining helium energy sources on a lunar base, helped by a borderline
creepy companion robot voiced by Kevin Spacey. Eschewing obvious alien storylines,
soon strange occurrences, primarily the unexpected arrival of a clone, begin
mental games that put a rocket beneath the plot. An excellent, hair-prickling
score from Clint Mansell, who wrote the soundtrack for Requiem For A Dream
and π, seals the deal, alongside unlikely appearances from a couple
of cult UK comedy stars. Placing cinematic subtleties and suspense above
gore and guts, Moon is likely to land in many viewers’ all-time favourites
list.
Verdict: Out of this world
BRÜNO
You know the drill by now. Sacha Baron Cohen adopts fruity foreigner alter ego
with predictably unpredictable results. Say “Wassup!” to Brüno,
his gay-as-a-window comic creation, dispensing one in, err, the rear for the
fashion world; essentially Borat re-born as an Austrian fashion reporter. Once
again peerless in befuddling and downright offending intellectually challenged
Yanks, he dons a Velcro jumpsuit and narrowly escapes physical attack from half
of America while crashing more catwalks than a blind model in 12-inch stilettos.
Sadly, mooted sub-title Delicious Journeys Through America For The Purpose Of
Making Heterosexual Males Visibly Uncomfortable In The Presence Of A Gay Foreigner
In A Mesh T-Shirt proved just another of Baron Cohen’s elaborate hoaxes,
alongside that Eminem stunt. Regardless, anybody who endures the whole cringing
performance without squirming like a three-year-old in church is either humourless,
Austrian or possibly dead.
Verdict: The look of summer 2009
MESRINE: KILLER INSTINCT
Dug last year’s German terrorist blow out The Baader Meinhof Complex but
prefer rebels without a cause? Pathologically violent real life French criminal-slash-gangster
Jacques Mesrine is your man, then. Vincent Cassel, the insolent star of Parisian
masterpiece La Haine, possesses perfect me-against-the-world demeanour for the
title role, at once cocksure, fearless, murderous and suave, portraying the lead
up to a career of burglaries, bank robberies, jailbreaks, killings and kidnaps,
dispensing more bullets than a dozen action movies in the process. Treading a
finely weighted balance, without passing judgment on Mesrine’s law-disregarding
ways or elevating him to hero status, the concluding chapter in this stylish
two-parter will be worth waiting for.
Verdict: Criminally good
EMBODIMENT OF EVIL
Desensitisation to gruesome horrors takes the shock value from most of the genre,
so it’s always a relief when a fresh grisly terror-fest lumbers into view.
Brazilian José Mojica Marins, a celebrated master of bloody bodycounts,
resurrects his Coffin Joe franchise, nightmarishly depicting a devilish gravedigger
looking to impregnate the perfect woman with his demon seed, as a slow start
soon screams into full-on sadist carnage. In short, don’t take a potential
back row conquest and a bag of Maltesers along for this particular hellish – and
occasionally ridiculous - ride.
Verdict: Eviler than The Exorcist
Adam Kennedy looks to the skies