How best to summarise Resident Evil: Apocalypse? I won't try to be clever. The movie doesn't deserve that. It was shit, pure and simple. Horrible, awful, moronic, ugly, boring - shit.

I did enjoy the first Resident Evil. It was a cheap B-movie that stayed true to the game and served up a decent dose of zombie action - no pretentions, no expectations. I walked into Apocalypse hoping for nothing more, and was bitterly, bitterly disappointed. Lousily shot, amateurishly directed, awfully written, laughably acted, and those 'special' effects... Nemesis looked like a big guy in a very, very silly suit. With a rocket launcher. And a rash. It did stay true to the franchise - especially the acting was on par with the series - and some scenes were replicated from the games (one set-piece, ironically enough one of the better bits, was a shot-for-shot recreation of the Code: Veronica intro movie). The church, the school; these were like stages right out of Evils two and three. But staying true to the source material won't help if everything else is shit. And that's still all it was: shit. Don't see it. Spare yourself the agony. I squirmed in my seat so you won't have to.

As for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, I'm a bit torn. On some levels, I loved it; on others, I was a bit disappointed. It's obvious that this movie won't appeal to everyone, or even to most. It's definitely special interest. If you're a fan of the classic serials, of the Fleischer Superman cartoons, of King Kong, pulp fiction, and art deco robots, you'll at least be thrilled by parts of it. But the story isn't the best, there are major loopholes, some of the characters are a bit dull, and portions of it feel...cold, lifeless, bereft of the energy that made Raiders of the Lost Ark (which Sky Captain has been compared to) such an enduring classic. I'll ruminate on it and write more tomorrow, but for the moment: yes, it's worth seeing; no, it's not as great as it could, should, have been; but yes, Kerry Conran is a director to watch. And any big budget movie that dares to be different ought to be applauded.  ¶ 06:13