New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Edwin Davies: Yes, this was pretty much doomed in America since I doubt anyone involved ever gave the American market that much thought. This was made for an international audience first, and its performance in America was always going to be a distant afterthought. In terms of why it didn't do better, or at least fall in line with Atkinson's other film work, it's a sequel no one asked for to a film that hardly anyone remembers. In that context, the failure of the film in America is only logical, and the success of it abroad is simply staggering.

Pass the popcorn

Brett Beach: SPOILER I watched The American and enjoyed the slow pacing and divvying of the action scenes at the beginning end and precisely in the middle. The major problem I have with the lone assassin with a flaw storyline at this point in cinematic history is that a) the flaw is always falling in love with a beautiful woman and b) the assassin's boss is always the one who sets him up to be killed. I suppose this is akin to complaining about a slapstick comedy having too many pratfalls, but in a film where plot matters for little next to mood and tone, not having the same plot would have been a pleasant surprise. END

I also watched the Beverly Hills Cop trilogy (in case I decide to write on BHCII) and i found part III to be one of the worst experiences I have ever had watching a star-driven big-budget Hollywood film. John Landis directed like a man unsure of how exactly to juxtapose auto mechanics doing a Supremes singalong to them being machine gunned to death 30 seconds later. If there was supposed to be satire underneath it all, it was lost. Eddie Murphy was on autopilot, Judge Reinhold looked tired and sad, and the reprisal of Serge's cameo was one of the most awkward (and unnecessary) things I have seen committed to celluloid. The dregs.

Also, in brief, watched Vanilla Sky for the first time since 2001. Cameron Diaz's supporting role is still the best thing (she plays psychotic all dressed up as cute very well) but the Cruise-Cruz romance never works. Not that that hurts the film all that much, to be honest. This was to C. Crowe as Psycho was to G Van Sant and I am glad he got it out of his system. Grace is Gone with John Cusack - I focused on the fine performances (Alessandro Nivola and the girls who play Cusack's daughters) over the forced road movie nature of its premise.

Finally: Drive. Hard to capture in only a few words. I liked the non-violent meditative moments more than the graphic (but brief) violence. I loved watching Gosling and Mulligan smile at each other. Los Angeles has never looked more beautiful (not even in 500 Days of Summer). And Albert Brooks should get accolades for a transforming performance. He was fuckin scary!

Edwin Davies: I watched We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsey's (Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar) adaptation of Lionel Shriver's very popular novel. I hadn't read the book, so only knew the vaguest outline of the plot, but from what I've heard Ramsey captures the uncomfortable, disturbing feeling of the book brilliantly. The relationship between a mother (Tilda Swinton) and her son (Ezra Miller) who will grow up to commit a Columbine style massacre (that isn't a spoiler, since it's very obvious from early on what he has done) is played queasily well by both performers, and the film provides an interesting examination of the nature vs nurture debate, asking whether or not Kevin does the things he does because he is innately evil, or because of the bitterness and rage his mother displays towards him. My main problem with the film is that it starts out being abstract and impressionistic, jumping between different time periods and depicting the story in short, broken fragments in a way which is disorientating and exciting, then when it settles down in the second half it kind of feels a bit staid since all it is doing is retreading ground that had been strongly alluded to earlier on. It also doesn't help that Ezra Miller and the kid who plays young Kevin look so obviously evil that it skews the nature/nurture debate considerably. They're both good, but you wouldn't let either of them look after your plants for a weekend.

Continued:       1       2       3       4