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Certificate: 
Director: Dennis Gansel
Release Date: 19 September 2008
Main Cast:
Jürgen Vogel … Rainer Wenger
Frederick Lau … Tim Stoltefuss
Max Riemelt … Marco
Jennifer Ulrich … Karo
Fascist autocracy could never happen again in these enlightened times, could it? Worryingly, the answer is yes and The Wave demonstrates this brilliantly. A school has a ‘project week’, and teacher Rainer Wenger is assigned a class to discuss autocracy. However, things soon get out of hand…
Undoubtedly based on the events of the real life ‘Stanford Experiment’ (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_experiment), The Wave is a powerful film that shows how careful and alert we must all be that such events never happen again.
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Director: Haim Tabakman
Release Date: 2 September 2009 (France)
Main Cast:
Zohar Shtrauss … Aaron Fleischman (as Zohar Strauss)
Ran Danker … Evri
Tinkerbell … Rivka Fleischman
I have no idea about Israeli films and what are taboo subject matters, but I’m guessing this is one of them. It’s basically a story of having to repress emotions and desires and the consequences one faces in a religion and community where such desires are deemed unacceptable. It also shows that religion is still controlled and driven by fear.
This isn’t a bad film, but it’s dreary. Very dreary.
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Director: Dean Parisot
Release Date: 28 April 2000
Tagline: The show has been cancelled, but the adventure is just beginning.
Main Cast:
Tim Allen … Jason Nesmith
Sigourney Weaver … Gwen DeMarco
Alan Rickman … Alexander Dane
I’m a ‘fanboy/girl’. I love going to conventions for my favourite programmes/films and have stood in awe of some of my favourite actors and have, on occasion, been barely able to utter much more than an “I love you” with a stupid grin on my face! Whilst I am seriously dedicated to my celluloid heroes, I am also able to take a bit of genial fun-poking too, and this is what Galaxy Quest is. Specifically, it is a parody of Star Trek‘s fans. ‘Trekkers’ (they hate being called ‘Trekkies’) do a lot of dressing up and acting in character at their conventions (some even speak nothing but ‘Klingon’ all weekend – which is, in truth, very sad), and this makes them a perfect subject for a parody.
On to the story. Actors from a long since ended TV show (Galaxy Quest) appear at a fan convention – some more happily than others – and are approached by some (seemingly nutters) people claiming to be from another galaxy requesting help. It turns out that these people really are aliens, and they have watched episodes of “Galaxy Quest” believing that it is real life events, and they are on earth to recruit the ‘crew’ to help them vanquish their enemy. Needless to say, the Galaxy Quest crew find themselves well out of depth, but can they pull this charade off, and help defeat the enemy!
Alan Rickman is brilliant as the jaded actor who is resentful of the fact that the only living he can now make is off the back of the character he played and now hates, and Sigourney Weaver as the ‘blonde bimbo’ role from the TV show is totally brilliant! Gwen DeMarco is the very antithesis of Ellen Ripley (Alien) – genius casting!
Not only does this film work as a parody, but it also works as a stand alone sci-fi film in its own right. It’s bloody marvellous 
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Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Release Date: 13 April 2007
Tagline: Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany’s Secret Police listened to your secrets.
Main Cast:
Ulrich Mühe … Oberstleutnant Anton Grubitz
Martina Gedeck … Christa-Maria Sieland
Sebastian Koch … Georg Dreyman
Know everything. They pretty much did. This might, at first, seem like a boring and dull subject, but the films hooks and reels you in from the first few minutes. A member of the East German authorities is given the task to monitor a writer who is seen as a threat to the government by writing anti-Communist material. The whole house has been bugged and Grubitz listens to and reports on any and every event that happens. However, the longer he listens to the events, the more unsure he becomes of his convictions…
Brilliant!
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Director: Tim Burton
Release Date: 28 February 1997
Tagline: Nice planet. We’ll take it!
Main Cast:
Jack Nicholson … President James Dale / Art Land
Glenn Close … First Lady Marsha Dale
Anette Bening … Barbara Land
The best ‘retro’ alien invaders film ever! Tim Burton captures the ‘Dan Dare’ era and essence perfectly. Not much to say about the plot – Martians come to Earth, there’s a big welcoming party, they say that they come in peace but then start shooting the crap out of everybody.
All seems lost but fortunately, Slim Whitman saves the day!
Really good fun.
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Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Release Date: 18 May 2001
Tagline: Love. Betrayal. Death.
Main Cast:
Emilio Echevarría … El Chivo
Gael García Bernal … Octavio (as Gael García)
Goya Toledo … Valeria
An absolute must see. It’s wonderful on so many layers, that to reveal any of them would be wrong. Watch it and observe all the details. The way that all three stories are linked is sublime. Cinema at its best.
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Director: Mikael Håfström
Release Date: 31 August 2007
Tagline: Based on the terrifying story by Stephen King.
Main Cast:
John Cusack … Mike Enslin
Samuel L. Jackson … Gerald Olin
Utterly brilliant. Can’t say any more than that!
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Director: Peter Brook
Release Date: 13 August 1963
Tagline: Evil is inherent in the human mind, whatever innocence may cloak it…
Main Cast:
James Aubrey … Ralph
Tom Chapin … Jack
Hugh Edwards … Piggy
A wonderful vision of human (especially male) behaviour.
Read the book, then watch the film.
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Director: Zack Snyder
Release Date: 6 March 2009
Tagline: This city is afraid of me. I’ve seen its true face.
Main Cast:
Malin Akerman … Laurie Jupiter / Silk Spectre II
Billy Crudup … Jon Osterman / Dr. Manhattan
Matthew Goode … Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias
I watched the first seventy minutes of this and then switched it off. It is so incredibly boring I think that only fans of the comic will appreciate it.
Can’t say any more than that.
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Directors: Ron Clements & John Musker
Release Date: 10 October 1997
Tagline: A comedy of epic proportions.
Main Cast: (voice)
Tate Donovan … Hercules
Josh Keaton … Young Hercules
Danny DeVito … Philoctetes
James Woods … Hades
Surprisingly, I didn’t really enjoy this. It lacks the usual touch of disney magic and charm. The songs are not of the usual quality (I didn’t find any of them catchy or memorable) so perhaps that is the reason why. They’ve also made Hercules a bit of a whiney brat too.
Younger children will be fairly bored by it, so whilst it is a U certificate, I would think that the target age is around seven year olds. I also think that, unlike many other Disney films, there is no repeated viewing value.
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