Z/Web

Author: Alan Janes & Martyn Burke (based on the book by George Orwell)

Director: John Stephenson

I’ve been anticipating this brand new adaptation of Orwell’s classic for months and couldn’t wait for Sunday’s premiere on TNT. Supposedly this movie cost $25 million to make — amazing for a cable channel like TNT, but well worth it. Using the same techniques as the Babe movies, this is a live action film with talking animals interacting with humans. Very, very well done. Certainly not for kids — this movie features graphic, realistic violence, and the animals are eerie they are so real. Probably traumatic for kids. It’s a sad story, really; your heart really goes out to the poor, suffering animals. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the book, but I saw little that seemed out of place. The ending’s rushed (it just suddenly ends on a hopeful note), and there were a couple places I thought the “cruelty to animals will come back to haunt you” message was heavy-handed, but overall, a treat and well worth your time. My favorite moment was when the narrator (the mama dog) is looking through the window of the house and seeing a pig and a human drinking whiskey. There was some water on the window glass and as the camera view shifted, the features of the human warped into pig and the features of the pig warped into human likeness. It was amazingly subtle — you had to blink, thinking you were seeing things — and one of the most effective uses of special effects I’ve seen since Forest Gump. TNT repeats the movie on Wednesday, Oct. 6, so catch it then if you missed it. They’ll probably repeat it more, too. (Why don’t the “big” networks repeat their shows? I’ve never understood that. I love having a choice of viewing times.)

Author: Andre Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, and Graeme Manson

Director: Vincenzo Natali

If you don’t like existential suffering, you may not appreciate this wonderful movie! It’s an independent science fiction film from Canada. The only “star” you might recognize is a very different-looking Nicole DeBoer (from the last season of TV’s Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — she’s Canadian, if you didn’t know). The plot is simple and claustrophobic: a motley group of individuals wake up to find themselves trapped inside a bizarre maze of square rooms. They are wearing prison uniforms and no one remembers how they got there. Each room has six exits — one door on each side (top, bottom, and four sides). But all lead only another, seemingly identical room. Some of the rooms are booby-trapped with fantastically horrible gadgets: slicing machines, acid-spraying devices, spikes, noise-activated knives, etc. During their explorations, they discover the Cube is 26 rooms wide by 26 rooms tall by 26 rooms deep: 17,576 rooms! With no food and water, it’s a race to get out of the maze before they’re too weak to move. It’s a high-pressure environment: we watch seemingly normal people become paranoid, angry, frustrated, and terrified as everything they try fails. The script is amazing, with some profound observations on the meaning of life as people theorize on the meaning of the Cube and who could have created it. The pre-ending is incredible (and subtle) — what happens seconds later is too Hollywood (but still fits the concept, though I would have preferred the earlier ending). All in all, a complex psychological drama with some impressive special effects, excellent acting, and a thought-provoking story. This is a movie you’ll want to watch several times.