fresh "steamers" from the torrent pile

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

No real surprises here: the second instalment in the new incarnatation of the Transformers franchise does pretty much what it says on the tin: mind-boggling special effects, a plot-line that manages to be at once wafer-thin and hopelessly muddled --- plus a generous serve of eye candy on the side. I'm therefore not going to belabour the movie's obvious and expected weaknesses: having seen the first one, I knew what I was in for. With this in mind, the main criticisms I would level are the following:

1. The movie was over-long: half an hour could easily have been shaved off without detracting at all from the experience. Why do action films like this insist on passing the two-hour mark?

2. The Decepticons all looked the same to me. Half a dozen times I thought I saw Megatron blown away or ripped apart, when in fact it was one of his minions. They need different colours and "bits" which relate to the vehicles they transform into...

3. The whole storyline regarding the "Fallen" seems a little scraped-together and unconvincing. Why not draw on some of the original mythology and bring in Unicron, Galvatron and all that? (Uh oh.. I better stop there before the geek inside gets the better of me...)

Having got that off my chest, the movie is by no means all bad. After all, seeing characters such as Ironhide, Starscream, Soundwave and others brought to life would bring a warm glow to the face of any childhood fan of the original toys and tv series. The most special moment for this fan was undoubtedly seeing the Constructicons combine to become the gestalt, super-Decepticon Devastator. 

Now, for the third instalment (which will undoubtedly ensue) can we see some Dinobots please?

Sous le Sable ("Under the Sand", 2001)

At the other end of the cinematic spectrum from the robotic fx-fest just discussed is this slow, melancoly, haunting french film (boy, how many french films could those adjectives describe..). It's the story of a woman (played by evergreen english/francophone actress Charlotte Rampling) whose husband of 25 years disappears after going into the water on a visit to the beach together, and her subsequent descent into a state of self-delusional denial.

This film has been on my low-priority "to-see" list ever since it was shown as part of the Alliance Francaise french film festival back in Perth in 2002. I was studying french at TAFE at the time, but didn't manage to see it (IIRC we had a class excursion to see "Va Savoir" instead). I wouldn't rate it as a classic, but I quite enjoyed it and would recommend it to fans of the genre.