Reviews

Movies

Phone booth

Directed by Joel Schumacher, starring Colin Farrell

Publicist Stu (Farrell) finds himself trapped in a phone booth and in the sites of a hidden sniper. He has to keep the shooter on the other end of the gun from pulling the trigger.

The film succeeds in creating a tense and compelling aura with its storyline, which keeps viewers wondering: Who is this hidden sniper? How does he know so much about Stu? And why does he believe Stu deserves to be shot?

An invisible person who knows everything about you and controls your life - sounds like God. During the over-the-phone negotiations, Stu confesses many secrets and sins, and the godlike voice punishes him for these failures by trapping him in his own panic.

But that is only one of the possibilities that could be drawn from the film's engaging 81 minutes of suspense. Liu Wei

The Last Samurai

Directed by Edward Zwick, starring Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe

Call it Dances With Samurai if you will, but there's a really good film struggling to break free from director Edward Zwick's tale of an American finding redemption in ancient customs. But every time that you are lured in by the magnetism of Ken Watanabe as the warrior chief or the brilliant cinematography and battle sequences, someone has to ruin it by saying something dumb. This is a credible effort at epic filmmaking let down by clunky dialogue and action star baggage.

Dumb sentiments and a trite romantic subplot also prove telling wounds to this body of work. Cruise is fine as the alcoholic US captain Nathan Algren, and the superstar proves pretty handy with a blade, but his ability to single-handedly sever the limbs of seven men robs the character of credibility. The film's need to display Algren's action prowess seems at odds with its central theme of emotional empowerment. Algren comes across as yet another action star, not a man seeking salvation from his many misdeeds.

But for sheer scale, The Last Samurai is something else. Before the climatic battle scene, Algren cites the Battle of Thermopylae, saying that his considerably smaller band of men may find glory just like the Greeks did by breaking the back of a huge army. It's a bold statement to the audience; he's really telling us to prepare for one mother-of-a-fight scene. That it is, but swords and arrows alone can't elevate the movie into the realm it aims for. Ben Davey

Get Shorty

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring John Travolta, Rene Russo

In 1995, the year Get Shorty was released, John Travolta was smokin' hot. "The biggest resurrection since Lazarus," was the clich most often bandied about. And it was all due to an opportunity given to the Saturday Night Fever star by a one-time video store geek. Since then, Travolta has remained A-list, but since the mid-1990s he has never shone quite as brightly. His turn here, as the gangster and cinephile Chili Palmer, is one of two fantastic performances during this time that reminded the world what he is capable of.

This is a screen adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel, and anyone familiar with the pulp crime novelist's work knows that his hip banter is only window dressing to stories of biting parody. The screenplay, by Scott Frank, takes full advantage of the material he has to work with and the results are remarkable. This film features some of the most infectiously funny street-thug dialogue you're likely to hear.

The characters vary from low-life crims to B-grade movie producers and big stars. But they've all got something to sell, and Get Shorty seems to revel in its portrayal of Hollywood as a town where even stand-over guys have got a pitch. Director Barry Sonnenfeld has not topped this effort yet, but even if he never does, this is still quite a trophy to rest your laurels on. Brilliant fun. BD

(China Daily 07/26/2007 page20)