12 Rounds
Renny Harlin’s latest action movie is an absolute knockout. John Cena is terrific as a police officer who accidently kills the girlfriend of a criminal mastermind, during a high paced foot chase. After escaping from prison, the criminal returns to make John’s life hell. He kidnaps John’s fiancée, and then sets John 12 near impossible Herculean tasks to complete, in order to save his fiancée’s life. Renny Harlin directs with amazing gusto and tempo. The action never lets up, and the photography and editing is slick and sleek. All of the action takes place in that fabulous American city of New Orleans.
Sunshine Cleaning
This is an ‘all woman’ production, written by Megan Holley and directed by Christine Jeffs. Amy Adams stars as a working class single parent, who is struggling to make ends meet as a maid and house cleaner. Then, through the connections of her police officer boyfriend, she is introduced to the lucrative profession of cleaning up crime scenes. All the messy stuff after a murder or suicide, and other distasteful situations. Together, with her anti-social sister, sharply played by Emily Blunt, the sisters make a go of this new career. Yet, the movie is not all about crime scenes and blood and gore. It is a low keyed drama that shows the struggles of obtaining a piece of the American Dream.
Angels & Demons
This is a film sequel or prequel to Dan Brown’s best selling book ‘The Da Vinci Code’. I guess it all depends on which order you read the books. In this movie adaptation, directed by Ron Howard, Tom Hanks reprises his role of Robert Langdon, an expert in religious symbolism. This time around Tom has to follow a series of ‘signs’, embedded in the art and architecture of Renaissance Rome, which will lead him to an assassin who is systematically killing four kidnapped Cardinals. They had assembled in Rome for a Vatican Conclave to elect a new Pope. In many ways this movie is superior to ‘The Da Vinci Code’. The plot is more interesting, and there is plenty of action and tension. The hostility of the Vatican towards the movie project meant that all of the interiors, exteriors, and even St. Peter’s Cathedral itself, had to be recreated on sound stages. These sets, along with the costumes and other production values, are simply amazing. They are a work of art in themselves.
The Hessen Affair
Apparently based on real events, this movie is partially set in Germany at the end of the Second World War. When Princess Sophie von Hessen has to evacuate the Castle Kronberg, appropriated as a ‘country club’ for the victorious American Army, she doesn’t leave until she has walled up in a secret chamber the German Crown Jewels. Some officers, hearing rumors of this cache, start tearing the castle apart looking for Sophie’s treasure trove. But, like all of these schemes, it quickly falls asunder due to the deceit and mistrust of all those involved. Directed by Paul Breuls, this movie will have most appeal to ‘movie buffs’, for it is made in a superb facsimile of the 1940s’ ‘Film-Noir’ style, albeit in color. Giving his usual impersonation of a young Marlon Brando, Billy Zane is really quite good as the ringleader of the operation, while Lyne Renee makes a fantastic ‘1940s’ Femme Fatale.
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
This movie is a real oddity. It has been made from a long lost original screenplay written by Tennessee Williams, perhaps sometime in the 1950s or 1960s, during his Hollywood period. The reason why it has taken so long to come to the screen is that the screenplay is not all that good. The script is full of Tennessee’s well known themes, such as sexual desire, insanity and drug addiction, but, the screenplay is nowhere in the same league as some of the better screen adaptations of his stage plays, such as ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ (1951), ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ (1958), or ‘Sweet Bird of Youth’ (1962). Actually, it would be rather nice to see new re-makes of all of Tennessee Williams’ stage plays, as the original movie adaptations suffered under the prudish censorship of mid 20th Century America. In ‘Teardrops’, a typical Tennessee oversexed heroine lusts after a young and handsome stud. When he rebuffs her sexual advances she accuses him of stealing a valuable diamond earring. Plenty of emotional agitation then follows. This is another movie which is definitely only for ‘movie buffs’, or anybody else keen to see a recently retrieved minor work, from one of America’s greatest writers.
Flammen & Citronen
Set in Nazi occupied Copenhagen during the final days of World War II, this terrific Danish film tells the real life story of two Danish heroes. Flammen & Citronen were the code names for a pair of Danish espionage agents, who had the task of assassinating highly placed Nazi officials and prominent Danish collaborators. Director Ole Christian Madsen creates a memorable evocation of a war torn Denmark, and his movie develops into a suspenseful espionage story. Eventually, Flammen & Citronen find themselves in a situation where they no longer know whom they can trust. Loyalties continually change as the War approaches its crescendo. Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen present fine interpretations of these two brave spies, while Stine Stengade makes a beautiful and sexy counter espionage agent.
