Holitao

Danny Boyle's tautly imagined `28 Days Later' is an ambitious zombie film more plausible than supernatural, more hysterical than scary, and more raw than gory. Although the film is being marketed as a horror film, it bares truer resemblance to thrillers like `Outbreak,' based on the terrifying non-fiction, `Crisis in the Hotzone.' Unlike George Romero's genre-defining visions of `Night, Dawn and Day of the (Living) Dead' trilogy, D. Boyle's zombies are not dead but rather terminally enraged. Clearly the makers were inspired more by `Crisis in the Hotzone,' especially the way Ebola virus spread, and applied it in a zombie film. (In the final stages of Ebola infection, contaminated blood pours out from every orifices of victims' bodies while causing them to thrash violently and infect others through eyes, mouth, open wound and some even through air.)

Wonderfully transparent Cillian Murphy plays Jim, a bicycle messenger who fell into coma just before the outbreak, wakes up to find all of London empty and left to discover the terrible fate of humanity. Embracing the limited budget and digital video, D. Boyle champions inspired collaboration from his talented cast and cameraman, Anthony Dod Mantle. Christopher Eccleston's insane Major Henry West and Brendan Gleeson's tenderly father Frank are excellent, and DV photography helps shape the film's creepy mood as well as freer application of digital visual effects. John Murphy's aggressive score highlights film's implicit violence and psychological turmoil occurring throughout the film. While `28 Days Later' is not as scary as G. Romero's Dead Trilogy, D. Boyle succeeds in breathing fresh life to the living-dead genre. This one rates 8/10.

Artist Matthew Barney's `Cremater 3' is a frustrating anti-cinematic experience. Without having a prior knowledge of the series, this 3 hour-plus film appears repetitive, contrived and cryptic. To be fair, there seems to be an incredible design and depth to the material but the director Matthew Barney is more interested in visual and performance artistry than a film concept. Art expressed properly in any form is balanced in craft and vision, and Matthew Barney is limited in film language to properly execute his big ideas. Even though there are some visually striking images appearing in the film, the grand Masonic vision for `Cremaster 3' does not shine strong enough to matter or even care. This one rates 4/10

Even with all the muscle and rage, potentially explosive `Hulk' is an unsatisfying action film experience. At first, it seemed like an odd choice for a character sensitive director like Ang Lee but considering his genre-breaking resume, the producers were hoping to breath art into action. As it turns out, Ang Lee's ambitions efforts based on the popular DC Comic book series are often masterfully executed, yet fails to bring toughness and excitement critical to this genre. Nick Nolte's tyranny and Jennifer Connelly's aching stare are effective as the tormented father and compassionate girlfriend, Betty Ross, respectively. Eric Bana's Bruce Banner and Sam Elliot's military man Ross are serviceable but too often get eclipsed by their counter parts. Danny Elfman, a veteran scorer of blockbuster movies, provides the film with energy often lacking in the film.

`Hulk' aims to remain faithful to the original material and to connect emotionally but come at a price of tensions either being subdued or indirect, critical for an action arena where the experience is more visceral than emotional. Making a good action film that rock is as difficult as a good art film that transcend. Still, it is welcoming to see Hollywood trying to do something different and this one rates 7/10.