batman begins
everyone knows that the last couple of bat-movies sucked, even tim burton's atempts were firmly set in the fantastical. so why do we need another bat film. maybe we don't but this version brings something new to the table. this isn't just dark because nolan (director) thinks that's what we want to see, he's adds dementia.

christian bale's batman will always be compared to his american psycho charachter patrick bat(e)man... maybe that's why bale was such a good candidate for the part but bateman is way more twisted than bruce wayne but it's not that movie we're talking about.

this feels distinctly british, not just because the primary cast is so undeniably brit, bale (batman), caine (alfred), oldman (gordon), murphy (scarecrow) and neeson (ducard) and not because director nolan is british. it's because the film doesn't languish in the glitz and show of previous outings.

you won't see batman with his hands on his hips, you get the sense of fear his foes have due to flashes of movement. you get the know that he's 'nails' but not indestructable and you also get the best bat vilain in the form of the scarecrow.

if superhero movies aren't your thing this may just be the one you'll end up liking. 		 
   
napoleon dynmite
out to prove he's got nothing to prove is the tagline and he's not kidding. this film won't be for everyone. taking elements of geek and emphasing them 10fold this movie makes you want to cringe for the charachters. set in a rural idaho community of clueless but loveable cretins the lives of these people seem pointless.

you'll either watch this movie 100 times or turn it off after 10 minutes. napoleon has the best collection of bad t-shirts you ever did see and fantastic titles.

the pace of the film seems almost static but that's what it's like for napoleon. he's going nowhere. you can't watch this film and tell someone about a funny part without going into why it's funny and then you loose the point you were trying to make in the first place.

watch it for his brother, for bikes, cows and dancing 		 
   
war of the worlds
you couldn't get a film more different from the one above. napoleon's budget was a shoe-string, war of the worlds' was a small counties debt. napoleon's leading man hasn't had to register his name as a trademark yet and the only thing alien about napoleon is himself to the rest of the world.

war of the worlds has a lot to live up to. an impresive legacy from director, lead actor and past incarnations of the story. no preasure then.

tense is how i felt watching it. it's certainly no let down. spielberg has returned to the sort of film making he'd started with duel and jaws. this is more horror than sci-fi.

based on wells' radioscript (the only one left in existance - he payed handsomly for it), you can tell why a naive america freaked out when it was read on the radio. this film is intense, charachters are beleiveable and the sound design is huge. i'm not going to spoil it for you, but summer blockbusters usually aren't this good.		  
   
   
   

july's recomended viewing
le mans (1971)
considered by most as the def finative race film, shot in an era where sponsorship didn't overshaddow the racing. this is the story about an american race car driver who returns to racing a year after a near fatal accident at the very same course.

mcqueen has rarely been cooler and considering he did most of his own filming on the 8.5mile long course at speeds of and over 200mph it's not hard to see why. he also went bankrupt making this film as it didn't do well at the box office which is pretty much a good indicator that this isn't a film you'll watch unless you really want to see it.

watching this film is an experience. uncluttered of poor dialogue (there was no real script to speak of, just a back story) the tone is set though scenes of pits, crowds, resteraunts and ambient noise. the photography and sound in this film are outstanding.

when the race itself eventually starts, the build up is incredible. a heartbeat pulses drawing you into the moment, visually we cut back and forth from drivers to the race clock to the stands. take into acount that this was made in 1970/71 you understand that this is where so many modern race cliche's derive from.

the cars scream round the course and unlike any other film you are likely to see, this is all real, even the in-car shots are real, nothing in this film is an effect. crashes are highlighted through silence and stop-motion, they are really something to see.

there are very few films made to this standard that take the actual subject and image as serious as this. if your looking for a film that is along the lines of 'days of thunder' look again. there are no funny mechanics, no steamy love scenes and no last minute heroics.

you get in the head of the drivers in this movie, if there was a skateboard movie like this, you'd say it was the best skate film ever made.