Picturenose

Vengeance is mine!

Of the many adaptations of legendary graphic novel author Alan Moore, James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta (2005) is one that I think he would approve of. I say ‘think’, because he famously eschews the advances of the movie industry, and neither licenses nor watches any of the Hollywood adaptations of his art, preferring to let the graphic artists take the credit and the cash. He certainly wouldn’t like how the scriptwriters have changed the mission of the central character, V (Hugo Weaving), from anarchy to a much more screen-friendly freedom, but he’d probably enjoy how the style of the film captures the essence and feel of the original graphic novel series. Of course, I can’t and won’t speak for him, as he has already publicly denounced the screenplay, by Andy and Larry Wachowski, as ‘crap’ - I think he’s probably wrong.

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Bone shaker
A bona fide horror flick, The Skeleton Key is the suspenseful tale of young Caroline Ellis (Kate Hudson), a hospice carer who, disillusioned with the easy-come-easy-go attitude at the New Orleans hospital where she’s been working, lands a job at a fading mansion an hour up the road. There, she meets the cranky Violet Devereaux (Gena Rowlands) and her paralysed, dying husband Ben (John Hurt). Despite Violet’s reservations about our gal, the couple’s lawyer, Luke (Peter Sarsgaard) is on hand to help convince the matriarch that her prospective employee is more than just a city slicker. However, in the best tradition of Southern gothic, the house holds secrets - and some doors were meant never to be opened, even if you do have a skeleton key…

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So long, Doctor Jones…

You’re all expecting a rave, aren’t you? Shades of ‘your reviewer arrived flushed and breathless, gentle reader, after thrilling once more to the exploits of Indiana Jones in the latest action-packed installment, and couldn’t wait to share his joy with world’. Sorry, but think again, and prepare yourself for a rude awakening. The magic is over, and all we’re left with, in chapter four, is an historical artefact of bygone glories.

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