At The Movies III – April 2010
Movies – Films
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Forget it -
Why Not?
Blanc comme Neige (vo French) **1/2 A happy and successful man living in the south of France, with a thriving car dealership and a gorgeous wife, has a crooked partner and two ne’er-do-well brothers on his back. Inevitably, things begin to unravel badly as he gets in deeper with a Nordic mafia that was involved with the partner. Excellent acting by François Cluzet and Olivier Gourmet saves this taut crime story with some holes in its scenario.
Remember Me ** Looks like Robert Pattinson produced this film to further enhance his brooding aura that has teeny boppers crying for more since the Twilight franchise. A sullen young man who resents his tycoon father (Pierce Brosnan) and misses his deceased brother falls in love with a cop’s daughter who also has a dark death in her past. But their happiness is jeopardized by a momentous happening, which actually makes the film. Powerful ending!
Chicas (vo French) ** The fine playwright (Art, The God of Carnage) Yasmina Reza has written and directed her first film and it’s moving and effective. About a mother and three sisters, it feels autobiographical, with the bitter theater actress probably her own character. Introspective and revealing.
The Bounty Hunter ** Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler have a great time bugging each other while trying to forget they were ever married (but oh, they look so good together). She’s on a police wanted list and he’s the bounty hunter. Good laughs if you’re not expecting much.
Valentine’s Day ** This is a light pastiche of several lives around Valentine’s Day and the hopes and disappointments that all the related hype entails. The fun comes from the multitude of stars in cameo roles, but Demi’s boy, Ashton Kutcher, is the most charming and convincing.
Greenberg ** Ben Stiller’s gone serious. He’s a depressive New Yorker who comes to stay at his brother’s California home and ends up with a younger, similarly lost girl. Curious, meandering, but what’s the point?
La Danse (vo French) ** This lengthy documentary observes the Paris Opera Ballet, its choreographers, classes and performances. It’s for those who love dance – the daunting and intricate sculpting of the body in movement. But it could have been cut by a quarter and given more character through the dancers rather than repetitive shots of corridors and exterior scenes.
At Your Own Risk
Sherlock Holmes *1/2 Just love Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Snatch), but why has he turned scholarly Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his sidekick Watson (Jude Law) into violent action heroes?! All the explosions and noise wipe out any semblance of a plot.
L’Arnacoeur (vo French) *1/2 A supposedly seductive conman falls for his victim in Monte Carlo. Vanessa Paradis is adorable, but would you fall for the guy (Romain Duris)?
L’Immortel (vo French) *1/2 A mafia-type rivalry in Marseilles (based on a true story) is heightened by the always “sympathique” Jean Reno, but the excruciatingly violent scenes are outrageous. A Goodfellows wannabee.
Nenette (vo French) *1/2 Orangutans are such fun to watch, but more than an hour and a half of old Nenette, mostly immobile, is a bit much. One can watch similar things on the nature channels.
Law-Abiding Citizen * More blood and gore, in minute detail, in the genre of the Silence of the Lambs or Seven. This may give impressionable adolescents cause to act likewise. Shame on Gerard Butler (he’s everywhere these days), who produced this and plays the devious protagonist.
North (vo Norwegian) * Boy, do you know you’re north – icy, slow, pale, frigid emotions. A chain-smoking, drinking, depressed ski-lift operator goes farther north to connect with a neglected son…..
Couples Retreat - Juvenile, light garbage. Save your money!
Neptune Ingwersen
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