Short Cuts

A few quick reviews.

Ang Lee is, if nothing else, a versatile filmmaker. The man that gave us a psychologically motivated “Hulk”, the Emma Thompson “Sense and Sensibility” adaptation and more recently “Brokeback Mountain”, the hetero love story with boys, now gives us the spy drama “Lust, Caution”. The film is a slow burning spy thriller, treading the same terrain as Verhoeven's "Zwartboek", and is written by collaborator James Schamus. It's a well crafted tale of deception and love in a time when it took both to survive, especially as a woman. The film's slow narrative won't sit well with most viewers and it's light on action, but Lee's drama yields rewards for those inclined to so-called 'art house' cinema.

Geek-favourite Neil Gaiman’s ("Stardust") film with long-time frequent collaborator Dave McKean, “Mirrormask”, is a visual mess that, ironically, and fatally for a film trying to be “imaginative”, loses the viewer the moment we exit reality to enter fantasy. Some appealing performances can only do so much to buoy this lame brained effort. Trite.

How unfortunate that Will Smith’s foray into the superhero genre ends up being the first half of a much better, never-to-be-seen feature film. Clocking in at 81 minutes, “Hancock” leaves everything barely explained. The film’s climactic battle ends up playing out as the foretelling of a much more significant confrontation with evil that never happens. A mildly entertaining wasted opportunity.