House of Saddam
This is a mini series, consisting of 4 one hour parts, made for American television by Home Box Office, and, it is well worth watching. The Rise and Fall of Dictator Saddam Hussein is presented in a revealing and surprisingly sympathetic light. Ok, the man was a ‘nut case’, but, he had his reasons, and, as we all know, America has always had its reasons to keep things ‘active’ in the Middle East. What is fascinating about the series is Saddam’s private life, which comes across like something out of a melodramatic soap opera. Yigal Naor is terrific, and believable, in his excellent portrayal of Saddam.
Arn Tempelriddaren
Coming from Sweden, this is a pretty good movie, but, it is also pretty convoluted. See if you can follow all of this: Set in the middle of the 12th Century, Arn and Knut, the pretender to the Swedish throne, are childhood friends. When their country is invaded Knut goes into hiding, and Arn finishes up in a monastery, training as a Knight Templar. Years later Arn returns to his village, where he falls in love with a beautiful maiden. They have an illegitimate child. For their sin, the girl is incarcerated in a convent, and Arn is sent off to the Holy Lands, to fight the dreaded Muslims. There, he befriends the Muslims’ leader, and Arn is reluctant to do battle with him. Meanwhile, Knut returns to Sweden to claim his throne, but, he doesn’t do anything much about Arn’s girlfriend, who is still locked up in the convent. A final decisive battle takes place in the Holy Lands, and Arn is relieved of his commission. The movie then comes to an abrupt ending. However, I am sure an ‘Arn 2’ will be in the making. Arn’s long trek back to Sweden, and his future dealings with King Knut, are obviously not going to be pleasant. For an ‘action’ movie there isn’t all that much action. The movie is more like an Ingmar Bergman treatise on religion, but, it will keep your attention!
Crank 2
This movie is available under a couple of names. You can also look for it as ‘Crank High Voltage’ or ‘The Brazilian Job’. When producers and distributors start mucking around with the DVD release title of a movie I always become suspicious, and wonder what is wrong with the movie. This time my suspicions are very well grounded. ‘Crank 2’ is a boring rehash of ‘Crank’ (2006), which was a spectacular action movie that well deserved its success and popularity. ‘Crank 2’ is just more of the same. This time around Jason Statham has an hour or so to find his real heart, before his mechanical replacement heart burns out. Jason looks awfully knocked about by the end of the movie, and he expresses his feelings quite adequately in the last few frames of the film. Action fans will no doubt love the whole ghastly thing!
The Princess Romance
French screenwriter and director Catherine Breillat has built up quite a name for herself making controversial movies which explore female sexuality. In this re-release of one of her earlier movies, a plain school teacher is in love with a handsome male model, but, he won’t have sex with her. Preferring to tease her and keep her unsatisfied. In retaliation, she cruises Parisian bars looking for casual and indiscriminate sex. This particular movie explores the darker side of female sexuality. Eventually, the movie becomes involved with bondage, sado-masochist fantasies, and other forms of sexual behavior. A lot of the movie verges on the pornographic. It is best to keep it away from the kiddies. Watch it late at night in the privacy of your bedroom!
Obsessed
In 1987 Glen Close was to make one of her best screen appearances ever, in the thriller ‘Fatal Attraction’. Glen Close played an obsessed woman driven to extreme lengths when she discovers that Michael Douglas is not going to leave his wife for her. In this modified and updated re-make of the story, Ali Larter is equally as impressive in this showcase role, which allows any half way decent actress the opportunity to run through the full range of emotions. The movie is stylishly directed by Steve Shill, and Idris Elba is very hunky as the faithful husband. In what must be one of the worst cases of miss-casting to date, Beyonce Knowles is simply terrible as the wife. Beyonce is boring and irritating. Beyonce should really just stick to her singing career.
The Mud Boy
Based on real life events, this movie is set in Buenos Aires in 1912. A child molester is at large in the streets, and pretty soon he escalates his activities from molestation to child torture and child murder. However, a young boy, plagued by nightmares, starts to experience ‘visions’ of the crimes. The boy comes to the attention of the police, who don’t believe in his ‘visions’, and suspect that he has a relationship with the killer. The movie is an excellent example of contemporary South American ‘Magical-Realism’ film-making.
A Bunch of Amateurs
Burt Reynolds plays a fading movie star who accepts the role of King Lear in a Stratford stage production. Unfortunately, it is the wrong Stratford, and Burt ends up in a backwater English repertory company. Fully appreciating the movie requires some experience in amateur theatre. A world unto itself!
