60-second cinema

3 out of 10 A what-if, made-for-TV drama that somehow found itself on the big screen. Frankly, I was unimpressed. This wasn't so much storytelling as a statement of events. And implausible ones at that. Not one of the characters — if you can call them that — drew me into caring for them. The experiences of those with the most interesting stories went untapped. As the viewer, you were left emotionally detached from it all. Well, with the exception of 2 or 3 minutes toward the end, but by then it was too little, too late. Beyond the characters, other aspects of the movie let it down. The background to the whole dirty bomb thing was unexplored. Opportunities to depict interesting parallel timelines came and went, untaken. Even the twist at the end was weak and failed to add to the film. When compared to the trailer for World Trade Center , Right At Your Door paled badly. While it's a drama-doc rather than straight drama, WTC looks like it might actually be quite good (seriously

7 out of 10 It’s a B-movie. Get that firmly implanted in your brain jelly before going to see this and you won’t be disappointed. It is not serious . It doesn’t take itself seriously and is so much better for it. From the gratuitous lingering shots of bare breasts to the comical ways in which passengers meet their fates, it’s pure cheese. For that, I loved it. But not enough for it to get more than a popcorn 7 out of 10. Oh, and if you thought Samuel L. Jackson ’s “path of the righteous man” quote from Pulp Fiction was well delivered, he so tops it here. Cracked me up. I’ll let you watch the film and guess which line I’m on about, though — I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.

5 out of 10 Usually, when I notice exposition in a film, it’s because the script is so poor as to not support any natural plot development. In Spawn, however, the exposition is very much a part of the film’s origin. Coming from a comic book background, where frequent use of such explicit narrative is commonplace, its direct translation to the cinema screen is unusual, but not necessarily something to mark it down. Still, this didn’t rescue what was, for me, a pretty average movie. I thought it might be down to my lack of familiarity with the character, but then, V For Vendetta shone brightly in the same circumstances. Spawn was simply undistinguished.

8 out of 10 Having only caught brief, disorienting snatches of this film on telly before, it was a relief to finally see it from start to finish. And to find that it’s pretty good too, even if a little formulaic on the is-he-imagining-all-this side of things. All three leading actors — Willis , Stowe and Pitt — did pretty good turns, but it was especially good to see Willis doing something other than his Die Hard persona.