To recap movie this week, you have a bunch of choices this weekend in film-going. If you live in New York, you especially have options (look for some of the travelling repertory collections to hopefully hit your town too).
First off there’s Ben Stiller’s Vietnam films/Hollywood spoof, “Tropic Thunder.” If you missed our review, we were surprised how much we liked it, but that of course is relative. We figured it’d be useless, but it was surprisingly funny with strong, left-field suprising performances by Jack Black (who we mostly don’t like) and solid supporting roles by Jay Baruchel, Steven Coogan, Nick Nolte and Danny R. McBride. We can’t say we cared much for Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr.’s minstrel routine was funny at times, but it felt a little safe and reigned in. We gave it an average grade, but the consensus over at Rotten Tomatoes is pretty positive with an 82% freshness rating so far.
Despite a horrendous voice-over (which some think it was purposeful), we really enjoyed Woody Allen’s return to comedic form in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” his funniest and on-the-mark film since 1999’s “Sweet and Lowdown” (“Match Point” was great, but not a comedy). Rebecca Hall was a beautiful revelation, the sparks and chemistry that flew between Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz remind you why they’re a couple and Scarlett Johansson did a fine job of playing Scarjo: hot, blonde, a little vapid, but still endearing enough to pass. It was a lot tamer sexually then many had hoped, but who cares. Those disappointed are mostly looking for something to write about in the blogosphere. We gave the winning and lively film high marks and Rotten Tomatoes is giving it a strong 81% grade too.
‘Henry Poole’ was abysmal (31% Rotten Tomatoes rating) and nothing else looks worth spending money on, unless you’re a fanboy and you’re going to see that silly looking Star Wars animated film “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” (a dismal 23% rating) or the third-rate 3-D animation flick, “Fly Me To The Moon” (a pathetic 13% rating).
If you live in New York, you must catch some of two excellent retrospectives in our great city. Number one on your list should be Film Forum’s remarkable French Crime Wave collection that’s running for five weeks from August 8- September 11. Many of the films are obvious and you’ve probably seen if you’re a cineaste, but still so many noir crime classics from the master, Jean-Pierre Meville, Jules Dassin, Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, René Clément, Jacques Becker, Robert Bresson, and Henri-Georges Clouzot are films you shouldn’t pass up if you’ve never seen them. There’s also a few lesser films not available on DVD that are worth the trip too. We saw Alain Corneau’s 1979 amorality tale, “Série Noire” of a three-time loser’s petty crime spree that snowballs into chilling desperation last week and it was a nice, lesser-travelled treat which was pretty damn funny too. Patrick Dewaere was tops. We recommend Bresson’s “Pickpocket,” Clément’s “Purple Noon” (the original “The Talented Mr. Ripley”) with the inimitable crime-wave icon Alain Delon, all the Melville films (he’s the master here without question) and Louie Malle’s amazing debut, “Elevator To The Gallows” with the hauntingly beautiful Jeanne Moreau. Note though: one key Melville film missing is our fave, “Le Samourai” with French crime mainstay Delon, of course.
Lastly, you’ve got about a week left to catch the Elliott Gould retrospective at Brooklyn’s BAM called, “Elliott Gould: Star For An Uptight Age.” At this point, we hope to god you’re familiar with his excellent body of oeuvre, much of it coming from his ’70s films and work with Paul Mazursky, Robert Altman and Alan Arkin. We’re going to catch a very-rare screening of his one and only collaboration with Ingmar Bergman, “The Touch” on Thursday. If you live in New York/Brooklyn and there’s tickets available, we advise you snatch them up toute suite. It’s also another unseen gem not available on DVD.
