Mini Reviews
Goodbye, First Love (out Apr 5) is a delightful French film from director Mia Hanson Love (Father Of My Children) that follows two teenagers experiencing "love" for the first time. It beautifully captures their innocence and their immaturity as they grapple with feelings they are only just discovering. Grade: A-.
American Pie: Reunion (out Apr 5) is filled with the same politically-incorrect, cringe-worthy humour that we’ve come to expect (like it or not) from the American Pie franchise. There are enough laughs to satisfy in this reunion-themed sequel but the screenplay needed work as a whole. Some subplots work well whilst others feel flat. Grade: B-.
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits (out now) is dull stuff. It's an animated clay-mation flick about a hopeless pirate who is trying to eclipse his rivals and win the annual award for Pirate Of The Year. The story is always struggling and it lacks the spark of previous Aardman films such as Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit. Grade: C+.
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen (out Apr 5) centres on a fisheries expert in the UK who finds himself drawn into the world of a wealthy sheik with plans to introduce salmon to a river in the Yemen highlands. I tried to buy in but the absurdity of the story and the lunacy of Kristin Scott Thomas' character kept pushing me away. Grade: C+.
Mirror Mirror (out now) takes the famous fairy tale of Snow White and tries to (1) tell it from the perspective of the evil queen, and (2) turn it into a comedy. It has its moments but why did Snow White have to be such a boring character? She sucks the life out of the story. On a positive note, the costumes from the late Eiko Ishioka are beautiful. Grade: B-.
Wrath Of The Titans (out Mar 29) isn't great... but it's surprisingly better than the original film from two years ago. The film is at its most entertaining when the characters give up on the dull dialogue and simply let the action do the talking. Director Jonathan Liebesman deserves credit for the well choreographed fight sequences that make good use of both sound and visual effects. Grade: B-.
The Lorax (out Mar 29) is the fourth feature film to have come from a Dr Seuss book. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is my favourite and is well worth a look. I realise this novel has been extremely well read. But the simplicity of this story left me scratching my head. There are only a few laughs and the characters aren’t that exciting. I much preferred Kung Fu Panda will all its action and fighting. Grade: C+.
Le Havre (out Mar 29) is a sweet French drama centring on a guy with a sick wife who befriends a young illegal immigrant and helps him flee the country. If you believe in the saying that “good things happen to good people” then you’ll enjoy this. A lovely drama. Grade: A-.
A Dangerous Method (out Mar 29) is heavy-going. All three characters are trying to outsmart each other through the power of intelligent, persuasive argument but many parts went over my head. It also felt like we’d only seen part of the story. I’d have preferred to have seen the sequel – to discover why Carl Jung became such a brilliant psychiatrist. Grade: B.
The Raid (out now) is repetitive, repetitive, repetitive but in contains some well choreographed action, action, action. There's not much of story and it can be summed up as a massive fight between police and a gang in an apartment complex. Fans of the genre will love it though. Grade: B+.
The Hunger Games (out Mar 22) is good, not great. I love the concept and thought the first half of the movie was wonderful. Once the games get started though, it's not as interesting. The storyline is rushed and the violence is disappointing downplayed. Does set up well for a sequel and hopefully they can build this into a successful franchise. It has serious potential. Grade: B+.
