The Simpsons

The first time I watched 'The Simpsons' was probably about 10 years ago when I first moved to Aberdeen. I must confess it was my brother that actually found the show at first, and he encouraged me to watch it. I got extremely addicted to it, and till this day I am still a huge fan of them. There have been other shows that have sprouted out from it - most notably 'Family Guy', and 'Southpark', but nothing beats the original. Every year since we found the show we have been speculating about a movie, and its finally arrived, and I must say, even though I was skeptical about it (due to the fact that the last few seasons have not been as exciting), this is a fantastic film, full of laughs, and light hearted comedy.

There is a genuine storyline to the movie, and it really begins when Homer dumps a huge amount of waste to the lake when several laws have been passed by the town not to. He does otherwise, and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) picks this up and rates Springfield as the most polluted city in the US. They trap them in a dome to 'prevent any poisons escaping the city' and Homer is blamed for this.

I don't want to give too much away so I'll leave it at that for the story. The jokes are great - they are not too offensive, nor are they too stupid. I have always felt that although I enjoy southpark as much for its open, honest humour, there might be others out there who might be easily offended by it. The Simpsons though, in this movie does a fine balancing act - it ensures that everyone can have a good time in this movie.

Matt Groening here has created something truly fantastic. The movie is full of light hearted humour, and it is fun all around for everyone. If you are a fan of 'The Simpsons', this is a must watch. In fact, for anyone that's just probably watched even only 2 episodes, this is a worthwhile experience.

Rating: 4.2/5

Notes:

1) I think this movie might probably be the most effective at spreading the message of protecting the environment - even though it may not seem that way.

2) This movie is steadily climbing up the IMDB charts - last I checked, it was #122. Its given a rating of 9.0 if you consider the votes given in so far. Its a good movie, but its slightly overhyped in that sense - people might get carried away.

Written by Kevin Lau

Transformers

The three act structure of film dates back to the days of Aristotle, and consists of normal situation, a conflict and a resolution. The pledge, the turn and the prestige, if you will. Transformers underlines the fact that no matter how good the first two acts, it is the resolution of film that stays with us.

Transformers is an amazing showcase in how to build tension and set up for a climax. We know there are giant robots coming. There is no way of hiding it. And yet, for the first hour of the film, I was mezmerised by the mystery. The juxtaposition of a mysterious military strike, and high school boy with girl, car and parental problems is wonderfully real, and transforms each of us, just a little, into an awkward unwitting hero.

I had to dip into a pool of freshly baked fusion superlatives in order to describe the visuals; from hence I have selected fantabulous. The transformers themselves are beyond imagination, with fluid organic motion, and each a spectacular design. The audience actually applauded the first time Optimus Prime transformed, so beautiful was the vision. The CGI work was made more spectacular by the performance of Shia LeBoeuf, whose emotion and shy curiosity belied interaction with a blank green screen belies

Unfortunately, act three gets the full Micheal Bay treatment. Bay breaks the rules he sets for himself, particularly in one scene where our young hero runs up 20 flights of steps whilst being chased by a giant killer robot who can transform into a plane. Even the children of the audience were saying “Megatron would have killed his bitch ass TWICE by now”. In another scene, Optimus Prime laments the death of a fellow autobot, whilst the rest of the audience struggles to remember who this character is, having appeared for a handful of brief occasions.

Worse still, the ending. Our hero is faced with a very difficult choice, when possessing a mysterious “cube” of phenomenal power. His dilemma was between a) using it to destroy his friend and all around good guy Optimus Prime, destroying the cube in the process, or b) using it to destroy the robot who had been trying to kill him for 20 minutes, and all around bad boy Megatron, destroying the cube in the process. Unfortunately the plot was less that meets the eye.

So do go and watch transformers, and enjoy the tension and suspense in an action movie whose plot could hold not possibly hold any surprises from the outset. Then go home, rouse your inner child with candy, and rewrite the ending for yourself.

Rating: 3.5/5

Written by Christopher See

Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix

Alas, the fifth installment of the Harry Potter series is here! The hype leading up to this movie was like any other Harry Potter movie, but please, like the other movies (bar the first one), be prepared to be disappointed. To its credit, this movie is definitely much better than the previous 3, but it still lacks any coherency or fluidness and there are still gaps in the movie which make you wonder what on earth is going on at times.

Harry Potter is now in his 5th year in Hogwarts, and after the previous year's incidents, many have had a change of attitude towards him. Those around him do not believe that Voldemort is back, and it is only made worse by the fact that the Ministry and the press have been insisting that he has been lying. He gets accused of this throughout the first hour of the movie or so, and he himself feels as if he is all alone in his crusade - when he really isn't. To make matters worse, Dumbledore has not spoken to him in months, and the new principal, Dolores Umbridge (played masterfully by Imelda Staunton), who terrorises the school and she runs the school like a megalomaniac - watching every student's single move. Harry senses that Voldemort is up to something, who wants to steal an item from the ministry (for what reason apparently? we are not told this till the very end). It all leads to an exciting fight scene at the end in which we get the opportunity to see some impressive CGI effects.

I must be honest, it was a long while since I read the book, so I'd forgotten what most of the story was about. I was hoping that the movie might do that for me, but it lacked so much in information. I understand that this was the longest book in the series, but there were just one or two holes in the script that could have been filled up with ease. But yet, they choose to neglect it and in the end, for the first half hour or so I was left confused, and bored. I had no sympathy whatsoever for Harry - I could not understand his anger. Why was he so frustrated? His friends were clearly by his side, but is he too ignorant or too proud to realise that?

The film dwells too much on extremely unnecessary details - the clearest example being Harry's kiss with Cho. There is no chemistry here, and the scene itself lasts 5 minutes or so. It makes you wonder if that time might have been better spent explaining other parts of the movie. There is another scene, in which George and Fred Weasley fill the examination room with fireworks, and you it makes you wonder really what the purpose of this scene was. It does not contribute much to the story line nor to the ultimate goal of the movie.

I have to admit though, that the ending was very well done. It's just a pity really that it does not match the beginning in terms of quality.

The acting performances in this are uninspiring. Daniel Radcliffe looks extremely out of depth here and Micheal Gambon (as Dumbledore) has completely misplayed his character here. From what I understand, Dumbledore was one of a kind and understanding nature, never really showing his power. Unfortunately Gambon does the opposite - he looks like someone extremely authoritative and unapproachable. There are some good performances though, most notably Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge, and Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood. How tragic it is to see that there are not entirely important to the story itself, but rather just as supporting characters.

The general problem about this movie really is that it is confused within itself. It lacks the understanding of the general rule of media publishing which is to understand your audience. I feel that the producers might have tried to hard to keep it as a children's movie while trying to appeal to adults. Sadly when you try to do a bit of both, it does usually end up quite disastrously. It needs to decide on appealing to one kind of audience - rather than trying to get a mix.

The movie needs to grow up, as Harry grows. Harry Potter is now 15 by my count, and when he reaches 16, there is no way the movie can still try to appeal to younger kids of the ages of 10 - 12. As the series gets darker and darker, the current PG rating should go - I would not be surprise to see the next 'Harry Potter' to be a 12 rating.

Rating: 3.1/5

Written by Kevin Lau

Empire of the Sun

Spielberg rarely makes bad movies, in fact he is so focused on the details of each of his movies that he prevents any of them being disastrous. He has always understood the basic concepts of media publishing - knowing your audience, the use of certain artistic techniques to get your point across, always ensuring that the audience can follow the story, etc. In Empire of the Sun, he has used every trick in the book that he knows about film making - he makes the perfect shots, he amazes us with his attention to detail of each scene. Unfortunately, where this movie falls is in its message. What point is Spielberg trying to make here? He pulls us in so many different directions, but at the end of the movie we get the feeling that there is no definitive message about the movie itself. The story is interesting, but it fails because it does not have a fixed theme - nothing the audience can take home with them.

Empire of the Sun is about a small boy, Jamie, (played brilliantly by Christian Bale), whose parents own a large cotton industry in China. We are not made aware of the details of what his parents do - it is not important. The British in Shanghai own land which was agreed agreed between both parties that the British would stay there without and interference. They enjoy many riches - parties of all sorts, and they are unaware of the activities of the normal Chinese people that are around them. The Japanese invade Shanghai eventually, and the foreigners are taken captive, and placed in camps. We follow Jamie's story throughout the movie when he is separated from his parents, and he fights his way to be placed at a 'better' camp.

Throughout his struggle, he meets Basie (played by John Malkovich) who is certainly very savvy and streetsmart. He learns things from Basie, and is thought on how to survive during the war. We fast forward 4 years, and we see that he has adapted to his surroundings brilliantly whereas some still are struggling. He becomes so comfortable through it that he is unsure as to whether he might want the war to end, as it means he would have to adjust to something new.

The story sounds very straightforward - its all about a boy that adapts to one situation, but he has doubts about whether a bad thing ending might be a good thing after all. However, the movie does not make it as straightforward, it plays around this idea, but never fully realising it. We are constantly reminded during the movie about Jamie's fascination with aeroplanes, and how he would love to be a pilot one day - but is this important, do we need to know this? It is no doubt an interesting side plot, but for it to dominate certain scenes seem unnecessary to say the least.

Jamie's an innocent soul, and he's always willing to help people regardless what. But this is only shown towards the end of the movie, whereas in the beginning he is shown as someone who's spoilt and selfish. I wasn't too sure what point the movie was trying to make here - that war changes people? (but how, it shows almost no transition) or that a child's innocence is something precious (it can't be, as his previous behaviour contradicts his current).

The shots are perfectly taken, the acting is superb. Christian Bale here does wonderfully here especially considering that he was only a small kid in this movie. John Malkovich for me puts in one of the performances of his career, and he plays the role brilliantly. Its such a pity that such performances have to go to waste though, as really the film ultimately lacks direction.

Empire of the Sun is a great watch for film makers. It shows the wonders again of Steven Spielberg and what he can do with a camera. Unfortunately, its only really a great spectacle - it does not really have much of a story. It lacks direction at some parts, and there is no real message - we end the movie feeling a sense of emptiness.

Rating: 3.4/5

Written by Kevin Lau