It didn't quite sink without trace, but this blockbuster version of the classic monster movie didn't make the splash its makers expected in the multiplexes, and its impact is further diminished on the small screen, due to its unremittingly dark visual style, meandering plot and self-indulgent length. There's just not enough tension to sustain over two hours of giant lizard-chasing, and doesn't the monster bear far too close a resemblance to Steven Spielberg's Tyrannosaurus Rex?
Washington Square (PG)
Agnieska Holland's version of Henry James's novel is more faithful to the original than was William Wyler's icily brilliant The Heiress, but the juxtapositions are forced, the pacing uneasy and the visual sensibility veers wildly and unconvincingly between the mundane and the operatic. Holland seems not to have the confidence or visual skills to create a convincing structure for what is essentially a late 20th-century feminist interpretation of the story, although Jennifer Jason Leigh does turn in a more restrained performance than usual.
Mad City (15)
Costa Gavras's satirical thriller - a sort of amalgam of Network and Dog Day Afternoon - attempts to highlight the dangers of exploitative "live" news television channels, but merely ends up uttering floppy pieties. It isn't all the director's fault - the movie sinks under the weight of its two heavyweight stars, John Travolta (the hostage-taker)and Dustin Hoffman (the hack) - who both deliver performances of predictable cheesiness.
Lost In Space (PG)
Like most good sci-fi ideas, the original TV series Lost In Space took an old tale and relocated it in the (then) distant future of 1997, when a pioneering space family, the Robinsons (ho, ho) are blown off course to the furthest ends of the universe. This new version is a surprisingly smart and very stylish re-working of the old series, helped by astute casting, ingenious effects and a helter skelter plot. The closing credits brashly proclaim "to be continued", although mediocre box office results put that in some doubt.
Eve's Bayou (15)
Set amidst the picturesque Louisiana swamps in 1962, Kasi Lemmons's beautifully made but over-extended debut takes place over the course of a year in the life of the troubled middle-class Batiste family, headed by 10-year-old Eve's (Jurnee Smollett) philandering father Louis (Samuel L Jackson). At times the film's lushness threatens to become mere prettiness, but there's a cinematic intelligence at work here which subtly shifts focus at unexpected moments.
Blues Brothers 2000 (12)
It took John Landis 18 years to come up with a sequel to his 1980 comedy hit, and you have to wonder why he bothered. With John Belushi long gone to that all-night party in the sky, John Goodman dons the black suit, hat and shades to partner Dan Aykroyd for an unoriginal reprise of a not particularly original movie. Dated, lazy and boring, it serves merely to mark another step in the decline of Landis.
