Sci-Fi / Fantasy Films - Feb. 2008
Several interesting sci-fi / fantasy films are opening in February 2008, including Jumper and The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Over Her Dead Body
Feb. 1 A comedy/fantasy about a ghost who tries to sabotage her former boyfriend's current relationship with a psychic. I hate it when that happens. Stars Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) in her first feature film after swearing off TV, with a fairly strong supporting cast including Paul Rudd, Jason Biggs, Stephen Root, and Lake Bell (Surface); but it was written and directed by Jeff Lowell, whose latest credit is the so-lame high school clique comedy John Tucker Must Die. The original title(s), How I Met My New Boyfriend's Dead Fiancee or: Ghost Bitch, tells you a lot more about the movie than the new one.More »
Jumper
Feb. 14 My favorite novel (by Stephen Gould) follows teenager Davey Rice as he struggles with how to use his ability to teleport. The film stars Hayden Christensen, who also snagged the lead in William Gibson's Neuromancer, due out next year, so maybe his wretched performance in the Star Wars prequels was a fluke. More promisingly Jumper is directed by Doug Liman, who elevated the high-body-count spy actioner (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) building on the promise he showed in early indie films like the delirious drug romp Go; the screenplay is by David Goyer (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight). The story has been changed, and a new Jumper (Griffin, played by Jamie Bell) has been added; it may be a good film but it will be different from the book.More »
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Feb. 14 Based on a series of children's books by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black in which a three siblings find a field guide to faeries. Two of the children are twins, and in the film they're both be played by Freddie Highmore, a gifted actor most recently seen in the precious August Rush and as the title character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but still best remembered from Finding Neverland. The visuals from Spiderwick are lush and evocative, suggesting it might be able to convey that most elusive element, a child's sense of wonder. The supporting cast includes stars like Seth Rogen, Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Nick Nolte, Andrew McCarthy, and (inevitably) Martin Short. Mark Waters (Just Like Heaven) directed.More »
Imagination
Feb. 26 After a limited run last year, Eric and Jeffrey Leiser's Imagination now gets broader release. It's about twin girls (Nikki and Jessi Haddad), one blind and the other autistic, who sink deeper into shared visions as their real lives become progressively more painful. The lyrical blend of live action and animation, attempting to move beyond the rectangle of flat film presentation, also plays the removal of the twins from conventional reality for its unsettling aspects. Variety called it "stylistically pretentious and narratively impenetrable"; Film Journal says it "well evokes the trauma, abandonment fears and magical reality of childhood." This is one of those films where either you dive into it, or you don't get it.More »
Penelope
Feb. 29 Filmed two years ago and first seen at the Toronto Film Festival back in Sept. 2006, Penelope is also getting its delayed US release this month. Less a fantasy than a fairy tale, Penelope revolves around a young heiress (Christina Ricci) who's under a curse that can only be lifted when she finds true love. Shades of Shrek? Perhaps, but Ricci is worth seeing in practically anything, and the rest of the cast is just as compelling: James McAvoy (Atonement), Catherine O'Hara (Best In Show), Reese Witherspoon (Rendition), Peter Dinklage, and Richard E. Grant all co-star, along with random finds like Burn Gorman (pre-Torchwood). Hopefully first-time director Mark Palansky has been itching to break free from his mentor (Michael Bay).More »
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