Hays Reporting

            Oh my God.  This is a terrible movie! The story is of a young girl named Helen helping in a police reenactment of another girl who has gone missing.  Helen is so dissatisfied with her life that she begins to wish she was the missing girl.  She begins spending time with the girl’s parents and boyfriend.  The story could have been quite interesting, but poor directing led to long silent pauses and little action. 

            This is about the time I fell asleep.  If I can’t even stay awake for a movie it’s not worth seeing.  The acting was dull, the plot was poorly conveyed, and none of the characters were relatable. I would not recommend this to anyone unless they are diagnosed with insomnia. I rate Helen a half star. 

            Bigga Than Ben is an excellent satire focusing on common nationality stereotypes.  This film makes fun of how we perceive events and how they may actually be.  Two Russian immigrants travel to Great Britain to avoid the Russian army and find it more difficult to survive than anticipated.  Steeped in sarcastic humor, you can’t help but laugh along as the story continues.

            The two immigrants work very hard at doing nothing to make money.  They carry grocery bags for shoppers, they steal from stores, and they attempt bank fraud.  The two best friends struggle to maintain their relationship, as life grows continually harder.  This movie easily deserves five stars. 

            Faintheart is a lighthearted comedy following a middle-aged man facing up to reality to win his wife back.  His passion in life is re-enacting battles with his merry band of friends the Bloody Broadswords.  Unfortunately he lets the Broadswords consume his life and his wife and son have finally had enough.  Realizing his mistake Richard sets himself the task of winning them back, though it may mean giving up what he holds dear. 

            Faintheart is a simple, but entertaining movie that I enjoyed.  Richard inspires sympathy despite his boneheaded ideas.  The comic relief is both amusing and endearing.  Faintheart deserves four stars.  

            Trans-Siberia is an action-packed film about American tourists turned accidental drug smugglers.  A recovering alcoholic is traveling with her Bible thumping husband to tour Russia after a missionary trip.  They meet an exciting young couple along the way that turns out to be more exciting than bargained for.  The plot quickly thickens with attempted rape, murder, and kidnap.

            Trans-Siberia is a captivating film that relies on suspense and adrenaline to make the movie interesting.  You are on the edge of your seat as you watch a stolen train hurtle our heroes towards sure torture and death.  This film has a good storyline and believable acting.  I would rate Trans-Siberia four stars. 

            Kay is a short film focusing on a poor young girl with unsavory parents who take little interest in raising her.  She spends the movie wandering about as she pleases and even making friends with a dangerous homeless man.  You question her motives for nursing such a relationship and can be left with the conclusion of loneliness.  This is a truly sad movie as she longs for some connection with another person.

            Despite the emotional storyline, I found this movie to be in bad taste.  There were scenes bordering on soft-core porn, which I found offensive.  I assume only a small audience would accept this movie due to its obscenity.  Kay merits only two stars in my opinion. 

            Wall-e is a classic Pixar animation film starring the lone robot living on Earth in the future.  Where are all the humans?  They’re all getting fat and lazy in space!  Wall-e follows another robot named Eve to the human spaceship to help bring life back to Earth.  This is a cute movie with lovable characters and an excellent moral.

            Wall-e playfully warns against lethargy by showing our future as fat self-absorbed masses.  The movie is short on words since the lead characters are robots, but the animation does an excellent job at portraying the emotions felt by Wall-e and Eve.  You can’t help but laugh along with Wall-e’s antics as he brings life back to Earth.  This movie deserves 3 and 1/2 stars. 

            Keira Knightly and Sienna Miller star in Edge of Love, which is set during World War II.  Keira plays an independent woman making her living as a singer when she runs into Dylan, her first love, in a pub.  The old flame is quickly rekindled until Dylan’s wife shows up around the same time as a handsome young soldier.  A tale of adultery and violence quickly ensues as these new love interests are introduced in the plot.

            Edge of Love was a disappointment, to put it lightly.  Keira’s unexpected singing debut was unimpressive and too focused on throughout the movie.  Considering love was a major focus of the film, I was never convinced of any such emotion between the characters.  They all seemed to be pretending with each other.  I half expected this to turn into a lesbian love story, which would have at least added some excitement to the story.  I rate Edge of Love two and a half stars.

            A Complete History of My Sexual Failures is a humorous documentary following Chris on his journey to discover why he is such a failure in relationships.  He has a lot of difficulty getting interviews with any of his ex-girlfriends.  Some even threaten him with restraining orders if he attempts to contact them!  He attempts S&M, Viagra, and therapy to solve his problems, but none seem to help.  All of his exploits are amusing and he adopts an endearing persona when he interviews the girlfriend who meant the most to him.

            Sexual Failures is comical and Chris is surprisingly open about his problems; both sexual and emotional.  Your interest is immediately piqued when his ex-girlfriends react with such revulsion to Chris.  You can’t help but laugh as Chris runs about acting like a jackass and wondering why everybody dumps him.  This is a very funny movie for a mature audience.  I rate A Complete History of My Sexual Failures 3 and 1/2 stars. 

A scorned lover named Roy manipulates Alexandria, a young girl, into helping in his suicide attempt, as she grows attached to the man as a father figure. Even with the underlying theme being so depressing, the friendship forged between the two characters keeps the audience entertained. Roy weaves an exciting story to distract Alexandria from what he is asking her to do. This is a refreshing change to the movies displayed in the Festival so far.
The intermittent stories in the movie are so ultimately different in genre that it reveals a truly intriguing contrast. The use of colors helps point out the drastic change between the stories. Bright, eye-catching colors identify the fantasy part of the movie and add to the exciting atmosphere created by the story within the story. The Fall easily deserves a five star rating.

Sleep Dealers is an interesting film focusing on future technology and how it will affect society. The plot follows a young man struggling to support his family after he inadvertently caused his father’s death. The technology plays a fascinating part in the movie with frighteningly feasible possibilities for civilization. People connect with each other through computer systems, which is easy to believe considering how much we rely on technology today for communication.
The movie also weaved a love story into the piece, which makes it easier to identify with the characters. Interesting concepts force the audience to think the movie through, but still enjoy the film with the lighter subject matter of love. Sleep Dealers deserves three stars.