Reviews:film&game
MOVIES
The Corpse Bride
76 minutes, PG, Southwind
★★★
The Corpse Bride is a claymation fail- added layers since then. The story takes
rvtale about Victor and Vic-
rytale about Victor and Victoria: two sweet, restrained young people pushed into marriage by their dour, pinched parents. The plan falls through when Victor accidentally marries a dead woman instead.
With the possible exception of Cillian Murphy, The Corpse Bride is the most gorgeous thing you'll see in the theatre this year. The Nightmare Before Christmas was no mean accomplishment.
no mean accomplishment,
place in a colorless, bloodless world that is as confining as Victoria's corsets. But it's also richly textured. The people and places have a cold, fleshy presence, like a dead fish. You could probably watch it with the sound off and still be fascinated. (Though I don't recommend trying this. The voice actors — including Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Ab Fab's Joanna Lumley — are excellent, and the script
There are a few musical numbers, but Corpse Bride is not really a musical. Danny Elfman always gives good score, but his work here is not on par with the dreamy, tenacious soundtrack of The Nightmare Before Christmas. When the denizens of the underworld prepare for a wedding, you may find yourself longing for the cackling energy of "Making Christmas".
but Tim Burton and his animators have is charming.)
My main complaint about the movie is that there is not more of it. But, despite the simplicity of the script and story, the film's 76 minutes are a rich 76 minutes.
- Kit Fluker
Flightplan
93 minutes , PG 13, Southwind
✩ ★ ✩ 1/2
How do you pull a disappearing act at 40,000 feet? That's what Kyle Pratt (Jodie Foster) wants to know in Flightplan, the second thriller to be set mostly inside an airplane in as many months (Wes Craven's Red Eye being the other). While Flightplan does create a real sense of paranoia as we watch Foster's character slowly unravel, the film's plot holes and third act ultimately drag down the rest.
As Kyle and her daughter are passengers aboard a new, mammoth airplane transporting the dead body of Kyle's husband, the daughter mysteriously disappears and we learn she was probably never even on the flight. What follows, for the first two-thirds of the movie, is watching Kyle slowly grow uneasy at the possibility that her daughter was never aboard the plane and is, in fact, dead. Meanwhile, she tries to convince the flight attendants, pilot (the ever-
graceful Sean Bean), and sympathetic air marshal (Peter Sarsgaard) that she's not crazy.
I was reminded of that Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner where he's a passenger on a plane and sees a monster ripping apart pieces of the wing whenever he looks out the window, only nobody believes him. The difference between that and Flight-plan is that we don't know if Kyle is crazy or not. The film suggests that she is. For instance, the opening scene is
Jayplay 09.29.05
her strolling on a Berlin street with the hallucination of her dead husband. The air marshal also raises a good point: if somebody is hiding her daughter on board a plane, what would anyone have to gain by kidnapping her? What makes Kyle so important?
Foster is impressive as her character goes a little more insane every second she can't find her daughter and does
a great job playing a protagonist we're not sure if we should be rooting for. And the always-great Peter Sarsgaard seems primed for leading-man status. Watch out for him in Sam Mendes' Jarhead during the upcoming holiday movie season. The set of this two-story plane with nooks, crannies and little rooms everywhere is impressive, and the hand-held camera work does a great job of creating
a sense of claustrophobia.
What brings Flightplan down are its plot holes and its final act. I cannot reveal them without giving away key plot details, but you could fly thorough them with a 747.
Jon Ralston
20
One Piece: Grand Battle Gamecube, PS2
The battle to become the Pirate King is a tough one. Good thing Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates are ready for battle.
☆ ☆
One Piece: Grand Battle's fighting style is run on simple mechanics. If you have every played Super Smash Brothers, then you should feel right at home. The fighting is funnier than anything else, so don't expect anything more than cutsie fights between opponents with some funny gags as well. The super moves are also fun to look at.
The Story Mode is lacking, to say the least. Even after beating the game with all of the Straw Hat Pirates, you don't get really any ending that gives you a sense of accomplishment. It's more of a "Is that it?" feeling.
While the fighting is decent (and I do like some games to use spectacular beat-down moves), there needs to be somewhat of a story behind it. This games just leaves you wanting more.
- Chris Moore