Four Movies I Have Seen Recently

, in Films, Science Fiction

I, Robot : nothing like the original stories, but enjoyable in its own right as a bit of mindless action. Its main problem with the film was the it spends a lot of time establishing that the new robots are incredibly strong and fast, only to have Will Smith take on about three hundred of them singlehandedly at the climax. At least they didn't let him rap the theme song.

The Third Man : fantastic thriller/dark comedy written by Graham Greene about a naive American out of his depth investigating the death of his friend in post-war Vienna. The acting and direction racket up the tension. One problem is that the DVD box and credits clearly list Orson Wells as playing the man who is supposed to have died just before the start of the movie, so it is not much of a surprise when he turns up later.

Cannibal, the Musical : a movie by Trey Parker (of South Park fame), made when he was still a student. The music is not as polished as some of his later efforts, but the movie is well-paced and entertaining. Released by the infamous Troma film company, but much better than 95% of their other movies.

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events : a children's film, based on a series of books about 3 very unlucky orphans. Jim Cary is excellent (for once) as the villainous Count Olaf and the child actors are not too annoying, but the real star of the show is the art department - the film looks amazing. A perfect antidote to Harry Potter and all he stands for.