Scots director Danny Boyle’s (TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE, MILLIONS) foray into the sci-fi genre continues after his largely successful apocalyptic 28 DAYS LATER.  This time on, the sun needs to be saved.  The sun is being destroyed from the inside. The only hope for mankind is the team of astronauts sent to detonate a massive, highly energetic bomb, able to destroy this strange matter inside the sun and restore its natural state.  Problem arises when the ship receives signals from a similar failed mission sent 7 years ago.  So they detour before igniting the sun with the nuclear bomb.

The fifth instalment that also traces Harry Potter’s fifth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the most dismal and bleak of all the author J.R. Rowling’s films so far.  But that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Harry Potter and the boys are maturing into their teens.  Having to deal with growing up issues as the opposite sex, death, betrayal and passing examinations, Potter has to deal with the responsibility as well.  This takes the form of assembling forces against the evil forces.  In THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, the fun and games are over.  The fight has begun.

At the film’s start, Reverend Frank (Robin Williams) explains to a couple that marriage is like kissing a frozen flagpole.  Looks like fun, but once the tongue is on the frozen pole, you are stuck!  The analogy applies too, to the new Robin Williams vehicle LICENSE TO WED.  Apart from a few laugh-out loud over the top jokes, LICENSE TO WED soon gets mired down into predictable romantic comedy territory unable to get unstuck.

The script of YOU KILL ME is unlikely material from the pens of writing pair, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (the second CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS) but more suited to the filmmaking style of very black murder films, John Dahl (THE LAST SEDUCTION, RED ROCK WEST, KILL ME AGAIN).  The plot concerns an alcoholic hit man.  Frank Falenczyk (Ben Kingsley) cannot kill effectively and his superior, Roman Krzeminski (Philip Baker Hall) sends him from Buffalo to San Francisco to attend AA meetings.  But YOU KILL ME is a love story between Frank and Laurel (Tea Leoni) with the Pollack mafia in the background.

In an episode of the reality TV series ON THE LOT, which features upcoming filmmakers competing in weekly elimination competitions with the ultimate prize of a million dollar development deal at DREAMWORKS, guest judge director, Michael Bay (THE ROCK, ARMAGEDDON, BAD BOYS, PEARL HARBOR, THE ISLAND) emphasized style and the need to always pull the camera back while filming.

His comments are well put into action in the latest summer Hollywood blockbuster, the eager-awaited TRANSFORMERS based on the old TV series.  There are lots to be observed in the background of each scene, be it flying debris, explosions or some neat trick.  Style is foremost in almost every segment.  Although the film may not make sense at times, TRANSFORMERS contains much (and I mean much) to please the eye.