:: FILM

Chicago

Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in the razzle-dazzle multiple Oscar winner.

1920s Chicago - sex, crime and jazz are in full swing, and a pair of femme fatales, wannabe singer Roxie Heart (Renee Zellweger) and her vaudeville idol Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), meet after both being locked up for murder.

Velma is the talk of the town until the slick spin-doctoring attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) appears on the scene to turn Roxie into the tabloid darling of the day.

Zellweger deftly displays the naive aspiration and ruthless cunning of the showgirl who takes on the roles of heart-tugging victim and headline grabbing heroine.

Zeta-Jones is deliciously glamorous, and sizzles with smoldering confidence as the fading star who has 'done her man wrong'.

Gere is in his element as the fact-twisting puppeteer turning notoriety into celebrity, guilt into innocence.

Chicago is a showcase of bitches and bastards, a peeling back of the slimy layers of human indecency - greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, and treachery.

Yet somehow this high-kicking flick, based on Bob Fosse's musical first staged in 1975, mesmerises you and leaves you with a sense of exhilaration and intoxication as they belt out and twirl.

And a little razzle-dazzle, in these times of hypocrisy and double standards in the name of justice and peace, may be just what many of us need.

reviewed by Ikuna Okazaki

from 4/19
2002/US/113min
Dir: Rob Marshall
Cast: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere

Daredevil

Daredevil - the latest Marvel comic to make it to the big screen.

Daredevil, the latest superhero on celluloid, ranks right up there with Batman and X-Men for its gothic tones, melancholy, dark wit and crackling energy.

Matt Murdock (Affleck), aka Daredevil, grows up blinded by, predictably, a spray of toxic waste that also enhances his remaining senses - allowing him to 'see' through walls.

After witnessing his father's mob killing, he vows to fight injustice: blind lawyer by day, leather-clad whirling dervish by night.

Affleck, overcoming a woeful haircut, underplays his role well to make a convincing hero, and Jennifer Garner gives her best Lara Croft impression as the high kicking love interest Elektra.

But the actors having the most fun throughout are Michael Clarke Duncan as the cigar-smoking megalomaniac Kingpin and Colin Farrell as the comically psychotic Irish hit man Bullseye who, when asked what he requires to dispatch DD, gets to peevishly retort, "I want a bloody costume."

Writer-director Mark Steven Johnson's (Jack Frost, Simon Birch) wire-strung battles suffer some lame CG effects and he lets things fray a little towards the sequel set-up ending, but overall he delivers a movie with all the zip, pow and wham that you could ask for.

reviewed by Neil Buckton

from 4/5
2003/US/103min
Dir: Mark Steven Johnson
Cast: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farell

Cradle 2 the Grave

Hip-hop/chop-socky Rush Hour re-spew, in which Taiwanese kung-fu artist Jet Li (secret agent) teams up with hip-hop star DMX (jewel thief) to get the Black Diamond and DMX's daughter back from the bad guys.

Junk food for the big screen.

2003/US/100min
Dir: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Cast: Jet Li, DMX, Anthony Anderson

Analyze That

Sequel to 1999 hit comedy Analyze This.

Robert De Niro, as the mob boss, goes back into therapy with his neurotic shrink (Billy Crystal), and treads the same comic paths as the original.

Some of the recycled jokes work, others don't.

2000/US, UK/98min
Dir: Harold Ramis
Cast: Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, Lisa Kudrow

Spirit : Stallion of the Cimarron

The latest release from DreamWorks is a poetic flight of imagination following a wild mustang's journey across the Old West. Relatively realistic for a cartoon - Spirit doesn't talk, only 'thinks' - and great for kids under tenish.

2002/US/84min/UIP
Dir: Kelly Asbury, Lorna Cook
Cast: Matt Damon, James Cromwell, Daniel Studi

Equilibrium

In a future where all forms of emotion are banned (suppressed by a drug) under a fascist government, a man charged with enforcing the law rises to overturn the system.

Lacking in originality it may be, but still suspenseful and exhilarating.

See it.

2002/US/107min
Dir: Kurt Wimmer
Cast: Christian Bale, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs

Star Trek : Nemesis

The puke-inducingly PC Next Generation crew save the Federation from Picard's clone.

Surprisingly watchable and, at times, enjoyable, yet worm holes away from the charm and electricity of classic Kirk and Spock.

A test of Trekkie loyalty.

2002/US/116min/UIP Dir: Stuart Baird
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner

Swim Fan

You wouldn't just add chlorine (a sterile rewrite) to stagnant pond-water (Fatal Attraction) and expect Graham Thorpe (audience) to dive in...unless you are the makers of this crawling belly-flop of a stalker flick.

Flush it.

2002/US/85min
Dir: John Polson
Cast: Jesse Bradfold, Erika Christensen, Shiri Appleby

Beautiful Joe

A 'boring' old bloke with a cheating wife and a brain tumour meets a thieving woman with a messed up life and two kids, and together they embark a tear jerking journey of self-discovery.

A happy weepy for romantics.

2000/US,UK/98min
Dir: Stephen Metcalfe
Cast: Sharon Stone, Billy Connolly, Gil Bellow

I Spy

Austin Powers 3, Spy Kids 2, xXx, The Transporter, Bourne Identity and a new Bond.

Obviously, we need more. We need an Eddie Murphy-ized remake of a '60s Bill Cosby TV comedy.

Where's the ejector seat button?

2002/US/96min
Dir: Betty Thomas
Cast: Eddie Murphy, Owen Wilson

Antwone Fisher

America should see a shrink and sort out its pop (should that be poop?) psychology obsession.

Denzel's directorial debut is a snail-paced dreary dud about an angry young child-abused soldier and his therapist.

Zzz.

2002/US/113min
Dir: Denzel Washington
Cast: Denzel Washington, Derek Luke

Dreamcatcher

A Steven King story featuring (you'll never believe this) a group of childhood buddies with supernatural powers, reconvened as adults to battle aliens.

Well, at least there are 'shit weasels' in it.

Silly but scary.

1999/US/99min
Dir: Lawrence Kasdan
Cast: Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee

Bend It Like Beckham

Caution!

This is not a fan club flick about your dearest David Beckham, but the story of a young British Sikh girl whose desperate attempt to play football involves a culture and gender clash, with her strict and conservative parents.

2002/UK, US, Germany/112min
Dir: Gurinder Chadha
Cast: Parminder K. Nagra, Keira Knightley

The Other Final

On the same day last year when Brazil beat Germany, 20,000 fans turned out to watch Bhutan (ranked 202nd in the world) host a match against Montserrat (203rd).

This documentary, which follows the months of build-up, is must for footie fans.

2002/Holland, Japan/77min/Robot
Dir: Johan Kramer