November 2010
7 posts
5 tags
The Next Three Days (2010) & Pour Elle (2008)...
The Next Three Days is a remake of Pour elle (aka Anything for Her),a French film released two years ago. I recently saw both movies in a 24-hour period and—surprise!—preferred the original.
In Mexico, people who prefer foreign products to those produced domestically are accused of malinchismo: however, I don’t automatically think every Hollywood film is...
3 tags
Skyline (2010) review
A firestorm of bad reviews perversely made me want to see Skyline, a curious amalgam of large-scale special effects and narrowly-focused, small-cast story (according to IMDB, the live-action shooting cost only $500,000, while the digital effects cost 20 times that). After viewing it, I can’t say I understand the virulence of the negative reaction to the movie: it’s kind of...
4 tags
Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec...
A charming French period adventure-comedy film based on a comic book series, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec comes from the Luc Besson film factory, with Besson himself (who has lately devoted much of his time to producing and writing) directing.
The trailers and an early sequence set in Egypt made me anticipate the intrepid title character would be a “female Indiana...
5 tags
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One...
Harry Potter and his fans have grown up together, from the first novel in 1997 and the first film in 2001. And it’s a good thing too, since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 is considerably different than the earliest Potter books and films, with their emphasis on adolescents, school work, sports, friendship, and food. Instead, our protagonists have left Hogwarts behind forever,...
3 tags
Unstoppable (2010) review
It’s a tribute to the skill of the filmmakers that Unstoppable is exciting and suspenseful: after all, it’s a foregone conclusion the train will stop, and “the worst disaster ever to hit the state of Pennsylvania” won’t occur. And it’s not just “the devil is in the details,” either—the last 20 minutes of Unstoppable is a genuinely riveting...
4 tags
Four Lions (2010) review
Four Lions is a black comedy about would-be suicide bombers. Inconceivable? Unpossible? Think again, Ralph. The first feature film from Christopher Morris—a specialist in UK television comedy programmes satirising the media, politics, and so on—Four Lions follows the misadventures of a band of jihadists in northern England. Funny, thought-provoking and dismaying at the same time,...
4 tags
Megamind (2010) review
Adequate entertainment, albeit on the bland side, Megamind did well enough at the box-office on its opening weekend, but it remains to be seen if it will find an audience. Rather too intense and dramatic for young children (lots of destruction, some attempted murder, romantic passion both good and bad), yet without the edge needed for an adult audience, Megamind is a pleasant way to pass an...
