Tuesday 6 November 2007

Rendition, Stardust and 30 Days of Night

I could not have picked three more different movies. Rendition is a powerful political thriller. The time frames of the three interlocking stories could have been better formulated and the sudden Hollywood ending was alien to the feeling of foreboding that enveloped the film. But the photography and direction were first class.

It is hard to believe that Stardust was my favourite of the three films. It was highly entertaining, exciting, funny and visually stunning. It was taken from a book by Neil Gaiman who has co-written the new Beowulf movie. I'm not a great lover of fantasy films, but this one had a good story and the pace was excellent. Some good characters and Ricky Gervais coming to a sticky end. Brilliant.

30 Days of Night came with good reviews. It was OK, but I thought it was a missed opportunity. The concept of a month of permanent dark,that gave vampires the greatest chance to move around, was a great idea. The build up was quite gripping but after half way it ran out of ideas. The vampires were scary and the set was fine. And the ending was original if not in the tradition of the genre.

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