42MMERCURY June 13, 2008
email: mercury@hertsessexnews.co.ukStill on screenAlso released this weekSevendays
filmLAND OF THE LOST: Mark Wahlberg, Ashlyn Sanchez and Zooey Deschanel
in The Happening(s)filmfanA column for film
fans by a film fanMean, green smashing
machine erupts againTHE INCREDIBLE HULK (12A)
8211 Hot on the rocket-
boosted heels of
Iron Man
and pre-empting the
imminent return of The Dark Knight
, the not-so-
jolly green giant is back 8211 bigger, badder and
angrier than ever.
A change in director 8211 Louis Letterier replaces Ang
Lee 8211 also sees a change in leading man, with
Edward Norton taking over from Eric Bana as
volatile scientist Bruce Banner, giving the franchise
a fresh makeover and providing a welcome change
from the rather po-faced, action-light original.
Desperately scouring the four corners of the globe
for a cure to his increasingly short fuse, Banner is
captured in Mongolia by a unit of US commandos
under orders to return him for use in a programme
to develop super soldiers.
Kept under sedation by his captors until they
manage to extract his warped DNA, he inevitably
becomes a bit miffed 8211 we all know what happens
when he8217s angry 8211 and soon breaks out to journey
home to New York.
But unbeknown to him, General 8216Thunderbolt8217
Ross (William Hurt) and his military scientists
have been rather busy with his stolen genes, using
them to create their own monster of incredible
strength, size and power 8211 The Abomination 8211
using the distinctly un-hulking frame of Tim Roth8217s
ice-cool soldier Emil Blonsky as its host.
Whereas Ang Lee8217s
Hulk
took itself far too
seriously by concentrating on Banner8217s angst and
parental issues at the expense of the action scenes
for which the fans laid down their money, this
reboot is a much more pleasing beast, significantly
ramping up the action and the Hulk-outs until
Banner and Blonski come face to face for a
colossal last reel smackdown.55555GREEN STREAK:The Hulk confronts super soldier Emil Blonski (Tim Roth)Iwill be interested to see if
writer-director M Night
Shyamalan has returned to
form with his latest film, The
Happening
(see above).
Like the rest of the movie-
going world, Iwas impressed
by the excellent
The Sixth Sense
8211 and no, I didn8217t see the twist
coming. I8217m not one of those
people who deliberately tries to
work out the ending of a movie
while I8217m still enjoying it.
Also in common with the rest
of the movie-going public, I
was disappointed by his second
major mo
vie, the tedious
Unbreakable,
and his most
recent effort, the dire
The Lady
in the Water, which took
Shyamalan8217s career into ever
more obtuse, self-absorbed
territory.
In between, the superb
Signs
proved that The Sixth Sense
was
not a one-off and that
Shyamalan could combine
suspense, science-fiction and
family drama in a gripping
story.
The Village, his fourth
major release, was
intermittently engaging but let
down by a twist that could be
better surprised as a limp turn.
My conclusion?Shyamalan is
at his best when he ditches the
airy-fairy tales and focuses on
suspense. The brilliant
understated moment when an
alien walks past the window in
Signs, the tense chase scene in
the house in
Unbreakable
and
the fleeting glimpses of the
dead in The Sixth Sense
prove
Shyamalan is a director with
talent. Let8217s hope it8217s happening
for him in The Happening
.qTell me what you think of
Shyamalan by posting your
comments on the On Screen
section of our website atwww.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk.SUPERHERO MOVIE (12A)
8211 This tongue-in-
cheek romp of good versus evil takes half-
hearted jabs at Spider-Man, X-Men, Superman
and Fantastic Four, among others.
Even if it could boast a miasma of polished
one-liners and inspired visual jokes 8211 which it
can8217t 8211 there8217s no escaping the fact that
Superhero Movie
far exceeds its sell-by date
and should be flung into the nearest dustbin.
55
555
PROM NIGHT (15)
8211 Donna (Brittan
y Snow),
is understandably still haunted by the
unprovoked massacre of her entire family by a
creepy teacher just three years previously 8211
but what8217s this? The killer has escaped? From
the asylum? On the night of the prom? What
an unfortunate coincidence 8211 as is the film8217s
teen-friendly rating (PG-13 in the US), which
means that even hardcore slasher fans will be
disappointed at the lack of gratuitous footage
and paltry amount of ketchup spilt.
55
555
GONE BABY GONE (15)
8211 Gone Ba
by Gone
, a
hard-hitting thriller about the abduction of a
four-year-old girl, was scheduled for release
last December, only to be postponed due to
similarities to the Madeleine McCann case.
Actor Ben Affleck8217s directorial debut is a
sharply-scripted, riveting tale of corruption
and twisted love. The narrative wrong-foots us
to the closing frames, when one character
faces an agonising moral dilemma that will
provoke heated debate for weeks to come.
5555
5
MONGOL (15)
8211 Kazakhstan8217
s entry for this
year8217s Academy Awards as Best Foreign
Language Film is an epic chronicling the rise
of Genghis Khan from orphaned boy to
bloodthirsty leader of men. Mongol
may not
sound like the most appealing prospect 8211 a
two-hour, subtitled history lesson filmed on
location in China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan 8211
but Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov knows
how to engage his audience.
555
55
SEX AND THE CITY (15)
8211
The film version of
Sex And The City
unwraps almost two-and-a-
half hours of fabulous couture, sassy girl talk,
toned naked men, breathtaking New York City
locations and relationship woes to give your
waterproof mascara a stern test. If, however,
you8217re not au fait with the vacillations of
author Carrie Bradshaw and her pals
Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, then
Michael Patrick King8217s film will be as
appealing as horizontal stripes on a beer gut.
555
55THE HAPPENING (15)
8211 It8217s make or break
time for writer/director M Night
Shyamalan, whose follow-up to 20068217s
turgid
The Lady In The Water
has arrived
with the usual fanfare of hyperbole 8211 but
will this be yet another case of studied
style over substance?
As usual, the promotional campaign is
self-consciously enigmatic, as is the film8217s
title, but suffice to say this is a slice of
post-9/11 apocalyptic paranoia, served up
with a not-so-friendly green sting in its
tail.
Mark Wahlberg plays Elliot Moore, an
unhappily married dad and high school
science teacher with a class of bright,
attentive students and a comfortable life in
a rural arcadia.
But when people inexplicably start killing
themselves in increasingly gruesome
ways, Moore takes it upon himself to find
out why 8211 but not before dragging his
estranged wife, Alma (Zooey Deschanel),
and a colleague8217s precocious young
daughter, Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez), off on a
desperate cross-country dash to elude the
spreading epidemic.
Encountering a barren, empty landscape
of evacuated towns and abandoned homes,
the three become more and more
desperate as they begin to realise the
terrifying extent of the cataclysmic
8220happening8221 8211 and that it has its roots
firmly in the natural world.CINEWORLD - HARLOWQUEENSGATE CENTRE, EDINBURGH WAYFILM TIMES FRIDAY 13 JUNE - 19 JUNEBook 0871 200 2000 Info www.cineworld.co.ukBooking fees apply.Programme times subject to change.
(S) Subtitles (AD) Audio descriptionHnow showing#THE INCREDIBLE HULK12A
contains frequent and intense scenes of moderate fantasy violence12.40,3.20,6.00,8.50pmTHE HAPPENING1512.00,2.00,4.10,6.20,9.00pmSUPERHERO MOVIE12A
Contains moderate sex and drug references and one use of strong language12.45,5.30pmPROM NIGHT153.00,8.30pmSEX AND THE CITY151.00,2.50,4.15,7.30,8.20pmINDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL
SKULL12A
Contains moderate action violence and scary scenes(11.00am
SAT & SUN only
),12.05,1.55,4.45,5.50,8.40pmmovies for juniors (1631)fun & games and a movieTHE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEPPG10.25am
SAT onlyPENELOPEU10.30am
SAT onlyALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKSU10.20am
SAT only# - passes not valid - except Unlimited cards1634.50BargainTuesdayBROXBOURNE CIVIC HALL
High Street Hoddesdon HertsTel: (01992)
441946BROXBOURNE CINEMATues 17 June1pm, 4pm & 8pmTerrace: Adults 1634.00,
Concessions 1632.30
Stalls: Adults 1633.50,
Concessions 1632.10
10% off for Friends of BCH3:10 to Yuma(15)
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