Just as he did with the Samurai genre in 1999’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, writer/director Jim Jarmusch now gives us an entirely different perspective on the vampire movie. A sparkling script and charismatic cast injects a new burst of life into a genre that’s become pallid and toothless thanks to blood-sucking franchises and adolescent fantasies and, together with Neil Marshall’s recent Byzantium, resurrects the vampire as an entirely adult anti-hero.
Reading the Internet buzz about Terminator Salvation – which, if you’re a film fan of any degree, has been impossible to ignore – it seems that the movie has been inviting popular enthusiasm but critical apathy. McG’s bold, brash addition to the seminal sci-fi franchise is one of those films that appeals to the masses, but leaves the professional reviewers cold; that it’s both described as a ‘confused, humourless grind’ by Anthony Lane of the New Yorker and an ‘awesome movie’ by filmgoer Philip P on reviews website Metacritic highlights this massive gulf. Of course, it’s all a matter of opinion, and in the opinion of this reviewer Terminator Salvation is neither a grind nor awesome. Instead, as a bombastic big-budget blockbuster it does exactly what it says on the tin
If any franchise is deserving of a flashy reboot, it’s Star Trek. This work horse of a series started life as an American sci-fi TV drama back in 1966, winning over audiences with its cardboard cut-out sets, colourful storylines and hugely likable, well-defined characters. Its cult popularity saw the original show endure right through until 1969, and it has since spawned four spin-off series, an animated show and 10 feature films, not to mention endless books and graphic novels, partworks, fan films and even chart hits.
roll credits... 