Potiche

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An unappreciated trophy housewife (Catherine Deneuve), in the 1970s, has an opportunity to take over her husband’s company, and manages to turn the business around in three weeks, leading to her own and other women’s self-empowerment.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard, Judith Godreche, Jeremie Renier

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It’s French-style camp, but the humor doesn’t land.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Deneuve's attitude about her husband cheating is kind of charming.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The photographs of how beautiful both Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu were in their youth, should make anyone on the wrong side of thirty-five cry— because whether we want it or not, this is the direction we’re all headed in.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Most Happily Dysfunctional Marriage ever portrayed on screen.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Sorry, I can’t focus on acting when there’s too much collagen in the lips. Is she pouting? Is she exasperated? Is that a smile? No I think it's a pout. But does she mean to pout? Or is it simply the only expression her mouth is capable of?... Oh, who cares.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: There is a ton of blurriness, especially in the first ten minutes. In some ways it helps to make the film feel old— as if the film had been left in someone’s wine cellar since the 1970s. In other ways, the blurriness helps the director seem like he needs to find a cinematographer who knows how to pull focus.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The story, relationships, and character motivations make virtually no logical sense, but Catherine Deneuve’s character is quite fun, and possibly the only reason to see this movie.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Potiche Trailer

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Biutiful

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A black-market-goods ringleader (Javier Bardem), who also has the ability to talk to the dead, finds out that he's dying of cancer, and has to figure out what to do about his 2 kids, who he doesn't want to leave to his crazy, bipolar, slut of an ex-wife.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernandez, Cheikh Ndiaye, Diaryatou Daff, Taisheng Cheng, Luo Jin

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. As I left the theater, I heard everyone saying the same thing, "That movie was very long!" And then there was that guy who said, "I feel like I just got punched in the gut."

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The main actress decided it would be an enjoyable character trait for us if she made herself a snorter when she laughs...

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: ...And when she cries. Which between her manic states and her depressive states, ends up being most of the time she talks. It gets pretty gross. Then again, it's one of the least gross things in the film.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It's up for the Best Foreign Film Oscar. And after all my bashing of it, you're probably starting to wonder why. Well, despite being incredibly long and bleak, it's actually a very beautiful film that examines sides of life, death, and the guys selling illegal merchandise in the streets, that you may not have given much deep thought to before.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Javier Bardem is also up for an Oscar for his performance. It's a good performance because he's Javier Bardem, but he wouldn't have gotten the nomination for this if he weren't Javier Bardem. Maricel Alvarez (the snorter), is also pretty amazing, especially when you consider that she has tears in her eyes for almost every scene. But her character is pretty despicable.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu chooses interesting and unpredictable views from where to depict the actors' emotions. But it's also his fault that the majority of the audience left complaining about the length of the film , instead of the emotional impact it had on them. (2 1/2 hours + previews = sitting on your ass for almost 3 hours-- this is why directors need to study math in school.)

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Right when things start to get really bad, everything gets worse.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Biutiful Trailer

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The Illusionist

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A failing Parisian Illusionist travels to Scotland to find work and accidentally picks up a poor young stowaway, who turns out to be something of a gold-digger, which forces our aging Illusionist to find increasingly more degrading ways to make money in order to buy her things.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: It's animated and the sparse words spoken in the piece are deliberately incomprehensible, even to people who think they understand French and English.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's highly artistic and aimed at the thinking crowd.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Sure, if you like to laugh at things you have to think about first.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The ending is pretty depressing... But also goes without saying. I mean, what was he thinking would happen?!

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It's nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Too bad it's up against the very best film of the year, Toy Story 3.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I can honestly say that there isn't any.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The animation of the scenery is beautiful. It makes you want to go to Edinburgh. Speaking of which, if any of you wants to go there, I have a friend who's producing a series of one-man/one-woman shows at the Edinburgh Theater Festival, and she's still looking for some acts for this year, so if you have a completed piece, let me know in the comments section.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It's based on an unproduced script written by the late French actor and icon, Jacques Tati. While alive, Tati was one of France's most famous movie stars. In fact, he still is, despite having passed almost 30 years ago. My point is that this is not a man who had any trouble getting a movie made if he wanted to, so if this script remained unproduced there's probably a reason for that. I'm just sayin'.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Illusionist Trailer

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Another Year

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An old married couple (Jim Broadbent & Ruth Sheen) deals with all the tragically desperate single people around them.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Oliver Maltman, Peter Wight, David Bradley, Martin Savage, Karina Fernandez, Michele Austin, Phil Davis, Imelda Staunton

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's tragically long and desperately tragic, but the acting is so mesmerizing, that it's almost worth enduring.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Isn't "desperate" a quality that's always funny?-- I mean, when it's another person's desperation.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Okay, you're right, desperation is tragically depressing regardless of whose it is.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This film may actually contain this year's Best Performance by a man or a woman. But Leslie Manville will probably get screwed out of her deserved Academy Award because Natalie Portman's got all the hype. My advice, go for Supporting and win!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: A series of well executed subtle and not-so-subtle shared looks and glances tell stories more complex than any words ever could.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: In making movies like Happy-Go-Lucky and Topsy-Turvy, Mike Leigh has tried to fool us into thinking that he makes upbeat spirited movies, only to lure us back into his original world of movies with the word "Bleak" in the title. Thankfully, he puts hyphens in the titles of his upbeat movies, and not in the titles of his downbeat ones, so in the future, we'll have to pay closer attention to that, if we don't want to find ourselves in a 2hr 20mn exploration of desperately tragic loneliness.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The dialogue is well written and perfectly executed by the actors, but the ending doesn't give you a lot of hope for these tragically desperate characters... which I guess is the point, since after all, it's not called "A Pivotal Year," it's just Another Year.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: The Brits are known for having bad teeth, but some of the teeth in this film are distressing enough to be showcased in some kind of bizarre human museum, like Ripley's Believe It or Not. Even the normal-looking teeth are shown filled with scraps of food for entire scenes at a time.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Another Year Trailer

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Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A man (Romain Duris) is hired to break up couples by seducing the woman.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier, Francois Damiens, Helena Noguerra, Andrew Lincoln, Jacques Frantz, Amandine Dewasmes, Jean-Yves Lafesse, Jen-Marie Paris

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This romantic-comedy is France's entry into the Failure to Launch category. Meaning, it's impossible in every way, from the ridiculous premise about a non-existent job, to the cheesy romantic dialogue, that even the most passionate of French women would never fall for. But there's something about it that still manages to charm the pants off of you.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If dialogue like, "You've awakened me, I feel alive again... But it's too late for me. You, you deserve better than what I can give," doesn't get you laughing, then try to imagine it being said at the end of a first date.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but the fake crying the actors do will make you cringe.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Cutest use of spelling in a title (see original language title). You see, in French, the word for a swindler is "arnaqueur," which is pronounced the same way the French title of this movie would be pronounced if it were a real word. But what they did, instead of spelling it correctly, was to combine the word swindle (arnac) with the word for heart (coeur)-- get it?! He's a heart swindler!!!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Romain Duris is currently one of the biggest stars in France. I've always enjoyed his movies, but I've never understood why France picked him. He's always reminded me of my first love, who I never found particularly attractive. In this movie, he is regularly referred to as extremely pulchritudinous, and he acts like he knows he's gifted with good-looks. I tried to just go with it, but in the end, the only line that rang true to me was when a bartender asked how a guy like him could end up with a girl like Vanessa Paradis, who in real life is married to Johnny Depp, and is absolutely his equal in the looks department, despite a gap the size of a tooth in between her two front teeth.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Very Hollywood.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Apparently the original writer, Laurent Zeitoun, got the idea for this story when one of his cousins was gonna marry a jackass, and he joked that they should hire an actor to step in and break them up. While I agree that that is a great way to come up with an original screenplay idea, it's still a terrible idea for a screenplay.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: Tonally, this movie is reminiscent of the Audrey Tatou vehicle Priceless (hors de prix). I thought that movie was okay with a few good jokes, but ultimately pretty silly, but other people who saw it and mentioned it to me over the years almost unanimously enjoyed it more than they had expected they would. Because the response to that film turned out so positively, I expect this little French goof to have a similar effect on people.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/heartbreaker-larnacoeur/10026691/trailers

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White Wedding

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A groom (Kenneth Nkosi) and his best man (Rapulana Seiphemo) try to make it from Johannesburg to Cape Town, to be on time for the wedding, but everything seems to be going wrong.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Kenneth Nkosi, Rapulana Seiphemo, Jodie Whittaker, Zandile Msutwana, Sylvia Mngxekeza, Mbulelo Grootboom, Marcel Van Heerden, Grant Swanby

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's cute for a South African rom-com, but Americans would have done it better. And they have.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: What it lacks in laugh out loud comedy, it makes up for in charm.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: What's sad about it, is learning that there are still groups of people who mourn the loss of apartheid openly and without shame.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It was South Africa's submission for this year's Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Feature category. I can see why they lost.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I watched Rapulana Seiphemo play a bad ass gangster, earlier this year, in Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema, so it was fun to watch him in a comedy role. The rest of the acting is decent, but some of their accents make them sound like they are having a hard time speaking English.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Aside from one nice transition where everyone is washing their faces, Jann Turner's directing is completely banal.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: This is the aspect that I'm talking about, when I say that Americans would've done it better. From Forces of Nature, to Leap Year, to the upcoming Due Date, to the John Hughes film that started it all, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Americans have made this movie a million times, but with stronger comedy and more moving emotional parts. Then again, there's something to be said for the cultural differences that a South African sensibility brings to the party.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/white-wedding/1430268/trailers

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Broken Embraces

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A blind screenwriter (Lluis Homar) looks back on the time when he used to be a film director, and how that all came to a tragic end.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Lluis Homar, Penelope Cruz, Blanca Portillo, Jose Luis Gomez, Tamar Novas, Ruben Ochandiano, Angela Molina, Lola Duenas, Carmen Machi, Kiti Manver, Chus Lampreave

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. For fans of Almadovar's films, like me, this one will likely be classified as not his best one.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: There is not as much of that brilliant, squirmy, dark humor that makes you feel like a terrible person for enjoying it, as in his other films.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: In true Almadovar style, the saddest part is when a dead person comes back to life.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This is one of those films that gets nominated a lot because with the combination of Pedro Almadovar and Penelope Cruz, people expect it to. By the same token, it doesn't win a lot, because it's not as good as people expect Almadovar and Cruz to be together.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: There's a reason why Almadovar has made Penelope Cruz part of his regular cast. And this time, she shows her breasts, too. But the true lead is Lluis Homar, who gives a beautifully understated portrayal of a blind man, as well as one who can see.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Because of the film within the film, there are many opportunities for the director to play with the look and graininess, differentiating when we're watching life versus film versus video. Almadovar uses each of these looks in obvious ways to show us that he knows what he's doing.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I'm still not sure that anyone cares to watch stories about the lives of filmmakers. They always come off self-indulgent, even when they're Spanish filmmakers. But the biggest problems this script has are that most of the twists are predictable, and the funny, weird, awkward scenes are few and far from hilarious.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/broken-embraces/28978/trailers

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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A Romanian college co-ed helps her roommate get an illegal abortion, and it ruins her life in more ways than she could have imagined.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The film brings up some interesting arenas and presents some interesting moral compromises, but the pay off leaves you hanging.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: One guy did. I wanted what he was having.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Maybe if you speak Romanian. I spent so much time reading subtitles, that I rarely got a chance to watch the drama being conveyed on the actresses' faces.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won the Palme d'Or in Cannes, so there was a big brouhaha when it didn't get nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Now that I've seen it, I can image that there were five other films in the world that deserved it more.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Very good. Very natural. And not knowing any of the actors helps it feel like it's really happening.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: A lot of long still shots of one character, with little or no coverage of the other characters in the room. That aspect of the directing was interesting, and mostly effective. The few moving shots, though, are hand held and dimly lit, so while the hand held camera is meant to create heightened action and suspense, the viewer's inability to see anything in those shots cancels out the effect.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: This is a classic case of a story starting before the beginning and ending before the end. In other words, in the opening sequences a lot of what happened is as extraneous as a third nipple. In contrast, when the movie ends you want to know more and see more, as there isn't much resolution. The middle of the film is quite good.

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The Band's Visit

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A small orchestra, made up of Egyptian police officers, gets lost in Israel on their way to a concert, and its members spend the night amongst small town Israelis, who don't quite know what to make of them.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: (Warning-- the answer to this question is not in English, so don't be alarmed if you can't read, spell or pronounce any of the words... In fact, why don't you just skip ahead.) Sasson Gabai, Saleh Bakri, Ronit Elkabetz, Khalifa Natour, Shlomi Avraham, Rubi Moskovitz.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. If you have a personal appreciation for independent film, you will enjoy the subtlety and nuance in this methodical and stylized film.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: A lot is said in the glances between the dialogue, and a lot of the English dialogue is said completely wrong. Between the two, the movie provides laughs of all sizes.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it does get very odd in parts.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It swept the Israeli Film Academy Awards, winning 8 of them, including all the big ones. It won Cannes' Un Certain Regard award, and the director has won every festival he has been to, around the world. In the US, it's nominated for a Spirit Award, for Best Foreign Film. But it was disqualified from the category at the Oscars for having too much English... Although I'm still not sure that jumbled mess qualifies as English.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: There are a lot of really interesting performances, in particular, Sasson Gabai, who represses his emotions beautifully in his effort to set a good example, as the leader of the band. Meanwhile, Saleh Bakri is sexy as the band's Casanova and upstart. And Ronit Elkabetz is charismatic, as the Israeli hostess who tries to seduce the band leader. Unfortunately, in parts, her performance felt like it was trying too hard.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Eran Kolirin creates highly stylized, picturesque stills from the opening shot through the end. His framing is particularly easy on the eyes. But at times he prioritizes style over substance, holding unnaturally long on a shot for the sole purpose of creating a still image. There is one time in particular, where stopping the actors' movement to hold on a framed image is so forced, that you leave the theater still wondering how he justified it to himself.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Very small. Sometimes charming. But it leaves you wishing it had given you just a little bit more.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: Most of the movie is in Israeli and Arabic, with a smattering of scenes in English, which also require (and have) subtitles.

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