carolynvargas

The problem with The Meg is that it takes itself seriously. Had the director planned a more tongue in cheek approach maybe the film would have fared much better. This is an unremarkable monster movie with cardboard characters and better-than-average special effects. Director Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) crafts a few impressive sequences- the one shown in the trailer with the little girl staring at the shark being the best but most of the film is a paint-by-numbers affair. The story is as disposable as the unromantic romance between Statham's Jonas and Li Bingbing's Suyin. (The Meg is loosely based on the first novel in a series by author Steve Alten. Not much of the book remains, however - the movie is an almost entirely separate entity.) Give it a one time watch at home.

Most World War II movies fall into one of two categories: heroic tales of glory and valor or biopics but Saving Private Ryan is neither. Instead, it's a condemnation of war wrapped in a tale of human courage and sacrifice. There's nothing especially complex about the structure of Saving Private Ryan. The film, which runs nearly three hours, is bookended by two major battle scenes. In between, smaller fights alternate with quiet, character-building moments that flesh out the soldiers, allowing them to escape the threat of stereotyping. Spielberg, along with writer Robert Rodat and the actors, ensures that everyone in the movie is developed into a multi-dimensional individual for whom we can grieve if and when they die. The action sequences are some of the best ever captured in any genre and the opening Omaha landing sequence which runs almost half an hour is a tour de force of filmmaking. This film is simply unmissable.

This version of Halloween tells the same story as its 30-year-old predecessor but plays with the time line. The prologue (initially set in the early '60s and now in the early '90s) has been expanded from about 10 minutes to 45 minutes, thereby providing us with more backstory. However, the meat of the tale - Halloween night in Haddonfield today - has been condensed by about one-third. This has the unfortunate side-effect of rendering the characters as poorly realized copies of their original selves. Worse still, Zombie abandons the tense, atmospheric tone of the original for something more plodding and savage. Halloween ('78) was characterized by suspense and terror; there are few, if any, scares to be found this time around.