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My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006) --> Giving new meaning to the adage "Hell has now fury like a woman scorned," Ivan Reitman (director) and Don Payne (writer) bring to the screen a new twist on the superhero genre. My Super Ex-Girlfriend is a light comedy starring Uma Thurman as G-Girl, a superhero who, because of her neediness, gets dumped by her boyfriend (played by Luke Wilson). When her jealousy gets the better of her she makes his life a living hell.

Any film starring Uma Thurman will be seen by this reviewer even if, like this film, it is nothing special. Thurman shines in any role she takes on and this is no exception. One observation of note, My Super Ex-Girlfriend is the first movie to portray mile high club sex without the use of an airplane.


Scott D. Brown

Slither (2006) --> A pointless black comedy horror film starring Nathan Fillion and Elizabeth Banks, Slither rips off other films of the genre an therefore doesn't really bring anything new to the screen. It will be a fun film for those who haven't seen anything by George Romero and the ilk, but for those who have it can become a tedious watch. Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series is much more fun than this.


Full Spectrun Staff

Flushed Away (2006) --> From the guys who brought you Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit comes an animated film starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Wnslet (their voices anyway). Flushed Away tells the story of Roddy, a pet rat flushed down the toilet of his upper class London, who discovers a new a happier life in the sewers under the city. At its heart, the film is an expression of love, and the importance of friends an family, with a lot of action thrown in. Aardman is slowly passing Disney and Dreamworks to almost rival Pixar for entertaining young and old in the field of animation.


Full Spectrum Staff

Se7en (1995) --> Se7en is David Fincher's second greatest film (Fight Club being his best). The film has all the signature darkness that Fincher is famous for (whether it is in the physical world or in the minds of the main characters). Invariably most indoor scenes need the characters to use flashlights and when they travel out of doors it is at night or in rotten weather. Even Det. Mill's (played by Brad Pitt) house isn't comfortable as the subway shakes the hell out of it every few minutes. David Fincher never lets his audience feel comfortable in their seats.

The story of Se7en is what sets it apart from so many other thriller/crime drama's of the last 50 years. It is sick enough to grab and hold you but not so fantastic enough to make it unbelievable. You can understand the twisted logic of the serial killer who murders his victims for their blatant and repeated disregard for one of the seven deadly sins. You can see how he can believe he is sent by God to teach humanity a lesson.

But it is the story's plot twists, two in particular, that shoot this film into the stratosphere joining Silence of the Lambs, Rear Window and a few others as the all -time greats of the genre. When you thought you were in for a straight forward plot where Mills and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) investigate seven murders and find enough clues to finally catch the bad guy, John Doe (the killer in question played brilliantly by Kevin Spacey) shows up at the police station covered in blood ready to turn himself in.

Now you quizzical juices are flowing trying to figure out what Fincher and writer Andrew Kevin Walker have in store for you. The climax, and the second plot twist I am speaking of, has Doe himself becoming a transgressor in one of the deadly sins (envy and the sixth broken in the film) making Mills the seventh (vengeance) if he follows though the behaviour Doe expects him attributes to him.

There are so many other reasons for the greatness of this film other than the plot. The performances of Freeman, Pitt and Spacey are masterful. You forget they are acting. Pitt has always been criticized for being a pretty boy who is more look than talent but with Se7en he makes those critics look stupid.

The relationship between the disillusioned Somerset and idealistic Mills is the force driving the story forward and when Mills is brought down off his pedestal (proving Somerset's view of humanity as correct) the fall is all the more devastating. Pitt shines most in this scene (where he executes Doe). His facial expressions, first of disbelief then of realization, then from murderous anger to hesitating anguish, are a talented display of acting prowess.

Fincher, with Se7en, transformed himself from a director of little merit, coming from a music video background and an unsuccessful attempt at continuing the greatness of the Alien franchise, to the only brilliant MTV export and one of the best young directors in Hollywood. Fight Club would cement this fact.


Scott D. Brown

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