The Children of Huang Shi

If you traveled the road to China in The Painted Veil and found the trip worthwhile then you might want to book a ticket to The Children of Huang Shi. Be forewarned, Children of Huang Shi never eclipses Painted Veil for drama and all around filmmaking, however like Veil it's a period piece set in China. At the onset of the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930 an inexperienced British reporter (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) finds himself surreptitiously photographing portions of the Nanking Massacre when he's captured and sentenced to die.
One of the problems, and the film's faults are problematic, of Children of Huang Shi lies in its exposition and plot twists. Characters will speak dialogue that's little better than a narration track explaining the events going on around us. Natch Meyers isn't going to get his head cut off in the first reel because he's the lead. When Yun-Fat Chow saves his life it's the biggest deus ex machina since Greek plays. Yet in a similar face off later in the film Chow doesn't engage the enemy.
Meyers finds refuge at an orphanage at the bequest of a fellow expatriate Radha Mitchell who administers medical treatment throughout the war torn landscape. She enters the story at different points and indeed picks up the pace but therein lies another of the film's quirks. Everyone else looks period, while Meyers and Mitchell look modern. One look at his spiky hair and you'd think he stepped out of Bend It Like Beckham.
There's no epic sweep, just the march from scene to scene. Each orphan death, each crisis is preceded by a wave of premonition that gives the whole affair a small screen consciousness. The ending is poignant and uplifting. The story is based on a true story with the usual character compositions and time jumbling.

Phat Farm

In the last month no less than three films have used fat people and their obesity as the brunt of comment. Make it four if you count the big bone bear in Kung Fu Panda. Stuff like this is only as offensive as you want to make it, yet one wishes that Hollywood could see beyond such stereotypical humor (yeah right).
In Get Smart Maxwell Smart dances with a huge lady to comic effect. Although she displays grace in her movement the momentum reminds one of the hippos dancing in Fantasia. Less complementary is James McAvoy's boss in Wanted. As seen by the film she's a pig, berating her underlings and scarfing down junk food. You want to hate her so vile is her temperament.
In WALL-E humans are blobs kept alive as corpulent vessels by their computer gods. The humans think they are in charge, but really they are the computer's bitches. One of the things that influenced the Pixar film's view of future flab was the fact that bodies engaged in perpetual space travel would lose bone mass. Of course the reality is that space vehicles spin to produce an artificial gravity that prevents similar bone loss, at least in the short run.
All the characters mentioned above are heavier than the title character in Run, Fat Boy Run, which had a bloke (Simon Pegg) concerned about his weight when in reality he had under a 40-inch waist.

Wanted

Scientists tell us there are parallel universes where life is the same with minor changes in the event stream. In other words Wanted is a film that exists in such a parallel universe where Sam Peckinpah was never born and the Matrix was never made. The coolness factor Russian director Timur Bekmambetov brought to Nightwatch and Daywatch does not translate in the pulpy and violent Wanted. Nightwatch and Daywatch were huge hits overseas and only attracted a nominal audience in America. Both films were truncated by Fox Searchlight from their longer Russian versions, Now Universal's got Bekmambetov but with very little meat on the bone of the story, his flashy style seems like nothing more than pizazz on top of a warmed over pizza.
Throw in perfunctory appearances by James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman and there's just enough interest to get you through the film but certainly not enough to make you remember it once you've started home. As far as the viewing experience, Bekmambetov gets the sense of parody that was missing in films like Shoot 'Em Up. There are curving bullets, a restorative bath, action on top of a train. Lots of CGI violence. By the time wrap is called, it has become a bit too much. There is an automatic weapon the barrel of which can be adjusted at an angle. This amazing gun was also used in Southland Tales and is part of the arsenal of the Israeli army. It's a moment in the film where the possible meets the impossible.
Remember a Jackie Chan film where he rode a motorcycle onto the top of a moving train. That was a real stunt. None of the stunts in Wanted are real and they feel that way. At least I got a kick out of Freeman saying in his inimitable voice "Kill all the motherfuckers."

WALL-E

WALL-E is an acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth Class. Sure it's a new Pixar film, which means different things to different people, but be assured there's a thread of humanity running through WALL-E that surpasses some cute cartoon robots falling in love.
Jetting through Houston last month WALL-E director Andrew Stanton told a round table of film columnists that while the film does contain an ecological message (remember the brilliant Happy Feet?) the original concept has been in development for over a decade. "I'm not that psyched that this film has become prophetic," said Stanton with his tongue firmly in cheek. WALL-E starts with about 45 minutes of no dialogue. While silent sequences are common in serious films, like the beginning of There Will Be Blood or the island sequence in Cast Away, for an animated film primarily aimed at kids it's more of a risk. It's not hard to see adult audiences embracing this future tale of cyber love.
Additionally the filmmakers hired noted cinematographer Roger Deakins and six-time Oscar winner for special effects Dennis Muren as visual consultants. The result are CGI shots that push the boundary of merging Pixar style CGI and live action. In particular look for shots that mirror the perspective of wide angle lenses. Fans of Star Wars will immediately recognize the man behind the voice (sounds, not words) of WALL-E since Ben Burtt was also the sound designer who created the blips and beeps of C-3PO.