my week at the movies: ‘Vantage Point,’ ‘Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,’ ‘Flawless,’ ‘Married Life,’ ‘Snow Angels,’ ‘CJ7,’ ‘Paranoid Park’
The screening of Vantage Point [opens wide February 22] I was supposed to attend last week was cancelled at the last minute. I’d like to think that’s not a bad sign -- I’ll find out this week, when I’ll finally see it. But I was able to replace it with a screening of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day [opens limited March 7], which is an absolute delight. Anyone who thought they were maybe in love with Amy Adams after Enchanted will fall all the way: she’s adorable. And the rest of the cast -- which includes Frances McDorman as the title character, and Ciaran Hinds, and others -- are great too.
Flawless [opens limited March 28] is another British bank heist flick (like The Bank Job, which I saw last week). This one is set in the 1960s, and stars Demi Moore as an exec at a diamond company and Michael Caine as a janitor who works there who plot to steal what the company denies them as, you know, a mere woman and the guy who cleans the toilets. Go, them!
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In Married Life [opens limited March 7], Chris Cooper decides to kill his wife, Patricia Clarkson. It’s a black comedy, apparently. Also: it features Pierce Brosnan. So it’s all good, as far as I’m concerned.
I know everyone raves over indie filmmaker David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls) but I only really become a fan of his with last film, Undertow. Now he’s got Snow Angels [opens limited March 7], “a heartrending story about love lost and found in a small town in which a terrible event shakes the entire community and reveals the precarious nature of life.” Cheery. Awesome cast, though: Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, and Michael Angarano, who’s shaping up into one of the more interesting younger actors working today.
CJ7 [opens limited March 7] is from Stephen Chow, who made the hilarious Kung Fu Hustle, and this one is another slapstick comedy. Sounds like it has some science-fictional overtones, too: there’s some sort of “mysterious orb” that has “extraordinary powers.” Here’s hoping hilarity will ensue again.
Gus Van Sant has two (and possibly three) movies coming out in 2008. The first one is Paranoid Park [opens limited March 7] -- it’s another one of his alienated-youth flicks, which have been among my less-than-favorite of his works (I couldn’t stand Elephant, for one).
(Technorati tags: Vantage Point, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Flawless, Married Life, Snow Angels, CJ7, Paranoid Park)
comments
posted by Britcrit (February 19, 2008 7:29 PM)
Hey MaryAnn, when will you be posting a full review of Pettigrew? It's film I'm really looking forward to but I love to read nice reviews of films I am to see!
posted by MaryAnn (February 19, 2008 11:25 PM)
I never know for sure whether I'll write a long review or a short one. It depends on a ton of different factors, like how many other films I have to review around the same time, for one...