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Paul Gross is hardly gunless, Brendan Fraser meets some furry vengeance and Coca Cola stands accused

Volkmar Richter
Apr 19th, 2010

There are lots of guns in Gunless, angry animals in Furry Vengeance, a strange family trek in New Zealand and union lawyers taking on Coca Cola in Columbia. They lead the list this week, unless you're a Freddy Krueger fan.

NOTE: The following is incomplete because I'm travelling and wrote this days ago. Two films, for instance, are without ratings because I haven't seen them yet.

GUNLESS: I love westerns and I like championing Canadian films. I wish I could be more enthusiastic about this one. It’s even a local product, filmed in Osoyoos, with a scene at Fort Langley, and co-produced by Vancouver’s Brightlight Pictures. Like some other films from that company it’s presented well, is quite entertaining but doesn’t quite work. Its stab at making fun of both Canadians and Americans is too shallow.

Earth Day Lingers and Jennifer Lopez, an Oscar-winning Mystery from Argentina and a Sad Local Computer Tale Arrive

Volkmar Richter
Apr 19th, 2010

Argentina's Ricardo Darin stars in The Secrets in Their Eyes

Environmental films are prominent this week, but so is Argentina's surprise Academy Award winner, Jennifer Lopez watching the baby clock and two Chinese tales, neither taking place in China. And then there's a locally produced computer tale.

NOTE: I’m travelling this week and next. You’ll find some of the information below is incomplete. 

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES: Now at last we can see why this film from Argentina won the Academy Award for best foreign language film. The story is compelling, the acting is superb and the presentation is first-rate.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will please mystery fans; for comic book fans there's major buzz about Kick-Ass

Volkmar Richter
Apr 16th, 2010

Do you have much time left after hockey these days? The movies have some ideas for you: one of the best mystery adaptations ever, a comic book hero who's not really super and a slam bam dust up at a funeral. Please notice also the two festivals of films about the environment.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO: Prepare to be amazed. This long and complex novel from Sweden has been turned into an absolutely engrossing movie. The 2 ½ hours glide by and even with the subtitles you hardly notice the time. You’re so wrapped up in the twists and turns and the revelations in this good old-style mystery in modern form. There’s even a dangerous spot midway when the story seems to turn upside down. No harm done; the film stays right on course. It’s very close to the best-selling book, a person who’s read it tells me, adding with much delight that the “girl”, Salander, the punkish computer hacker, is portrayed perfectly.

 

Steve Carell and Tina Fey have a date night, Vancouver and Ireland join into a shine of rainbows and Beethoven is found, all at the movies

Volkmar Richter
Apr 9th, 2010

Steve Carell and Tina Fey have a big night on the town. Elsewhere some favorites from the Vancouver International Film Festival are back, including a young boy in Ireland with growing pains and a super-competitive Beethoven. And finally, Tinseltown brings in three little-known titles with hardly any fanfare. 

Miley Cyrus, clashing titans and a bunch of plastic toys are new in theatres

Volkmar Richter
Apr 1st, 2010

The Greek myths are back on the big screen as Sam Worthington battles Zeus and Hades, the original Olympians. Also new for you this week, there’s World War II, young love or adventure in a toybox.

A Different Ben Stiller, a Rockin’ Neil Young and How to Train a Dragon Are New in Theatres, But Don’t Forget Mother

Volkmar Richter
Mar 26th, 2010

It’s an unusual week. Four films each rate four stars. If that’s not enough, look below them for an erotic mystery set in Toronto and a time travel lark filmed in B.C.     

The Runaways, Repo Men and The Bounty Hunter Arrive in Theatres. Better to Take a Mid-August Lunch Instead

Volkmar Richter
Mar 19th, 2010


An almost-forgotten all-girl rock band storms back in The Runaways, thanks to Kristen Stewart's recess from the Twilight films. A bickering ex-couple in The Bounty Hunter and a bloody pair of Repo Men feature in the other big titles. Let me suggest, though, Mid-August Lunch for a more relaxed and generous view of humanity.


THE RUNAWAYS: This is a pretty good film about the pioneering all-girl rock band - as far as it goes, which isn’t far enough. Where it succeeds is in showing how these California teens broke into the boys’ world of rock and roll and the toll it took on them. They got caught up in something they couldn’t handle because they were still far from grown up. Kristen Stewart, between Twilight films, is tough as the leader, Joan Jett, and Dakota Fanning is damaged and vulnerable as the original lead singer, Cherie Curie, who wrote the book this is based on.

Matt Damon In Iraq, Robert Pattinson in New York and a Feisty Teen in England Top the New Movies This Week

Volkmar Richter
Mar 12th, 2010

Films about the Iraq war have won awards but not big audiences. Now with a new one starring Matt Damon just arrived, there are three in theatres, each with a different angle on the war. There’s competition, though, from a pack of movies about teens, young love and families in turmoil.

New Films from Tim Burton, Roman Polanski, and a Couple of New Talents from Quebec Arrive in Town

Volkmar Richter
Mar 5th, 2010

Alice is grown up and back in Wonderland

Now that the Olympics are over, you may have more time for the movies. You're going to need lots of it to see the new ones now playing. There are eight of them and they include some very good ones.
 

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: You won’t recognize this new Alice. She’s now 13 years older and something of a feminist icon. She starts by rejecting an upper-class twit’s marriage proposal and ends as a world-trade visionary. (Yes. Check it out). In between she makes a return visit to “Underland” eventually picking up sword and armor to battle a dragon (actually the Jabberwock, imported from a poem and not previously found down this rabbit hole).Tim Burton’s vision of life down there is darker than we’re used to. The first point of entry is all grey like a graveyard and the unremarkable 3D also adds a dim shading to much of the film. Some of the characters, notably Tweedledum and Tweedledee, are creepy. And the story reaches for Narnia or Lord of the Rings adventure, thereby all but losing both the satire and sense of wonder and, at times, the momentum.  

Casualties of War, Mexican Drug Dealers and Rampaging Zombies and a Religious Film for Teens are New in Theatres

Volkmar Richter
Feb 25th, 2010

War’s other collateral damage brings out Woody Harrelson’s acting chops. He’s even nominated for an Academy Award. Bruce Willis teams up with Kevin Smith in a cop story and some George A. Romero almost-zombies are brought back to life. They’re your top new movie choices this week.

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