April 2008 Thumbnails

by Tony Medley

Flawless (10/10): There are so many terrible and mediocre films made today that when I sit through a film and slowly come to the conclusion that I’m seeing something special, something well-written (Edward A. Anderson), well-acted, and well-directed (Michael Radford), I start to get a tingling going up my spine. Those tingles started after thirty minutes of this exceptional thriller in which Michael Caine and Demi Moore (in award-caliber performances) get involved in a complicated diamond heist. Radford has a unique ability to use silence and pace to create tension. Forgive me, but this film is close to flawless.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day (9/10): This dual-Cinderella story about how goodness can triumph in the hard world of 1939 London is, very simply, movie-making at its zenith by director Bharat Nalluri. Oscar®-caliber performances by the delicious Amy Adams (whose character’s name is Delysia) and the marvelous Frances McDormand, are abetted by the innovative cinematography of John de Borman.

Married Life (8/10): From the very start, with Doris Day singing “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” this is a captivating Hitchcockian thriller about a man, Chris Cooper, who wants to murder his wife, Patricia Clarkson, because he doesn’t want to hurt her feelings when he leaves her for Rachel McAdams. With that humorous premise and a voice over narration by Cooper’s best friend, Pierce Brosnan, this is far from a comedy. There are some amusing lines and situations, but the story is deadly serious.

The Bank Job (6/10): Despite some graphic violence, if you can hang in for the shamefully slow first half of this based-on-true-story of a 1971 London bank heist, the last 40 minutes is rewarding.

Charlie Bartlett (6/10): Its glorification of teenaged sexual promiscuity notwithstanding, this is a meaningless, forgettable film that can fill an hour and a half of your time relatively enjoyably if you aren’t interested in challenging your mind over anything more complex than how much is 2 + 2.

21 (6/10): The Hollywoodization of a true story changes what could have been gripping drama into derivative mundanity with too many plot holes to count.

The Other Boleyn Girl (5/10): With Eric Bana playing Henry VIII as a tall, women-whipped wimp, and Scarlett Johansson’s Mary Boleyn (who was the “other Boleyn girl,” of the title) taking a back seat to Natalie Portman’s Anne, this bodice-heaving soaper will disappoint readers of Philippa Gregory’s brilliant novel of the same name. If you haven’t read the book, though, it’s an entertaining, eye-filling excursion to Renaissance England.

Drillbit Taylor (5/10): This derivative high school-bully film has so many unrealistic setups that it is hard to sit back and enjoy the always-charming Owen Wilson’s talent and young Troy Gentile’s ability to consistently deliver the laugh line, as well as Alex Frost’s exceptional performance as the bully.

The Grand (3/10): A ludicrous attempt at improvisational comedy with absurd characters that squanders the talents of sitcom kings Gabe Kaplan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, and Ray Romano.

Penelope (3/10): First time director Mark Palansky has taken a first time movie script by Leslie Caveny that tells a modern fable with a good moral and stretched it out so that 90 minutes seems more like 900. Christina Ricci is intended to be so horrific-looking that suitors jump out the window to escape. Instead she’s just a beautiful woman with a pig’s nose, which renders the premise silly.

Sex and Death 101 (1/10): Answers the question, “What do those dopes in beer commercials do when not drinking beer?” They laugh their socks off at movies like this.