Sunshine ****

It's Getting Hot In Here ...

Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans

Danny Boyle, seemingly master of any genre (bar possibly romantic comedy, but I'd be willing to see him give it another bash), has done it again. His slowbuilding sci-fi borrows knowingly from the masters (2001, Event Horizon, the Alien trilogy, and appropriately, Solaris) but reinvents the genre with a fresh young international cast (the only American here is Fantastic Four's Chris Evans), cutting-edge direction and a great premise: that we are killing the very thing which supports life as we know it: the sun.

When we meet our protaganists, they have been living in the claustrophobic hold of a spaceship for a couple of years, and there are the usual inevitable tensions. In fact, the first hour or so plays out as an intense character study, looking particularly at the psychological impact of sharing close quarters: Big Brother set in space, if you will. The mission (to drop a nuclear bomb on the dying sun in an effort to reignite it) is almost secondary to the inter-character relationships: the attraction between Murphy's engineer Cappa, and Byrne's Cassie; the disagreements between the calm, pragmatic Cappa and the hot-headed Mace (Evans at his most shrewd and charismatic), and the cultural differences between the American and Chinese members of the crew. Garland's dialogue is tightest when exploring these relationships, and the performances are superb, particularly Cappa as the reluctant hero, Byrne as the troubled heroine, and Evans. At about the hour mark, this is a five-star film. Then comes the disappointment.

For some obscure, one might almost say alien reason, Boyle decided to go in for a genre shift. Suddenly the slow-building sci-fi was a fast-paced teen slasher. The tension breaks into chases, gore and explosions. And while this is still thrilling, it becomes too unrestrained to be fulfilling. It holds our interest, sure, and the entire thing is beautifully rendered, but you can't help thinking that a filmmaker of Boyle's talents, and a scriptwriter of Garland's, might have thought to tauten it all up a bit.

CONCLUSION: The genre-shift jolts a little, but from beginning to end this is a rollicking, thrilling ride. Not a classic, but hugely entertaining, it leaves a slightly bitter taste. It was on a path to be so much more.

Bored At Work? Check This Out ...

This is a quiz website of scenes from movies with the actors blacked out, leaving only the clothes. For the true film buff, it's harder than it sounds.

http://filmwise.com/invisibles/index.shtml

Factory Girl **

Andy Warhol Looked a Dream ...

Director: George Hickenlooper

Writer: Captain Mauzner

Starring: Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Hayden Christensen

Oh yeah, Sienna Miller is fine. She's cute and naive and looks nice in a miniskirt (it has been maliciously suggested that she is really just playing herself). But don't see this movie for her. In fact, if you must see this movie (because you are dragged along by a pre-teen relative or because you have a secret crush on Sienna Miller/Hayden Christensen or because you haven't been pre-warned), see it for Guy Pearce's malevolent Andy Warhol, channelling everyone from Truman Capote to David Bowie's Thin White Duke to Dracula.

You do have to question the thinking behind making a movie about a tortured but ultimately dizzy poor-little-rich-girl with Daddy issues. The clothes look great, as does Miller's hair. But there isn't much else there. She has a clingy friendship with Warhol ("muse" seems a little excessive as a word to describe their relationship as shown here) and a failed love interest in "The Pop Star" (Christensen, doing a passable job at not playing Dylan) and then gets more and more heavily into drugs. The film is bookended with an annoying and unnecessary voiceover and inexplicably leaves out the last years of her life (including her marriage, divorce and death) which are arguably the most interesting.

It all looks like a grubby 2007 version of what the 60s might have been like if you were part of the glamorami - or, as Warhol might say, a superstar. Everyone having a good time doing not-sure-what-exactly (shown by swapping jumpers in a restaurant or making out with a horse on film) and taking drugs and wearing opaque tights, miniskirts and fur coats as they stroll through Central Park. Nothing actually happens, but that's kind of the point, as Edie herself might say - the inaneness of it all is what the Factory was all about. But I don't buy it. It's dressed up but has no grit, no intrigue and no ambition. Which is probably more to do with Edie's personality than with the movie itself. If someone were to make a film of Paris Hilton's life in forty year's time (we can only hope her fame will be as short-lived as Edie's) would we really expect to see a realistic portrayal of life in the Noughties?

Having said all that, this film could have worked if Edie's story were used as a backdrop for a character study of Warhol or Quinn (read Dylan), or of the changing times of swinging New York in the Sixties. As it goes, they could have paid their scriptwriter more, and gone without some of the minks.

Oh yeah, and the sex scene? Almost as bad as 300. There is no way they're actually doing it, despite what The Sun/Hickenlooper's PR team would have you believe. Terrible music, dim 90's lighting and a Desperado-style montage of positions? Come on, surely we've progressed further than that ...

IN CONCLUSION: It's hard to generate intrigue with such a vapid, spineless and naive central character, but it could have been done. If you must see it, leave your brain at home and go to look at the costumes or to gain inspiration for your next haircut.

Black Book ****

Zwartboek

Titties! Explosions! Paul Verhoeven is bringing sleazy back ...

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Writers: Paul Verhoeven, Gerard Soeteman

Stars: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman

If you were thinking of making a film about the Dutch Resistance of World War Two, and you had a number of resumes in front of you, Paul Verhoeven's would probably be the least impressive. Showgirls, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers are all there, but class and nuance are not. Of course, no one said the Second World War was classy (see Cabaret for further information). This film plays hard and fast with history, borrows from every resistance film in the book (if Hollywood is to be believed, the entire French population was covertly fighting the Germans, as opposed to the 2% who actually were), and is out to shock and awe with full-frontal nudity and big-budget explosions. Like a 50's hooker, it's crass, glossy and knows all the tricks.

So why bother? Because it's fun! Because history doesn't have to be boring. And because despite the sensationalism of it all, it does have a good basis in facts and Van Houten and Koch are attractive and capable.

Koch is handsome and charismatic, up next in The Lives Of Others, winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar over my beloved, Pan's Labyrinth. Van Houten is a real find, rolling with the punches, landing on her feet and somehow still finding time to develop character. She doesn't need to speak: her eyes say it all. It's classic goodies-versus-baddies and there's an extraordinarily high body count by the end (well, there is a war on) but you can't help but enjoy it. It's fast-paced and possibly unhealthy, but steers clear of playing too dumb. And it's high time we had a war movie with a sense of humour.

In Conclusion: It's not subtle, but it is clever, and if it's rude adrenalin you're after, give it a go. Just don't make the mistake of equating subtitles with understated elegance.