Out this week (07/08/09)

I wonder how long it's going to be until I get accused of rampart Francophilia. You see in spite of the onslaught of quality US offerings this week (don't scoff, there's a load of rubbish but Adam almost makes the grade), I'm going to recommend a French movie for the second week in a row. A French biopic at that. So this week, if you're visiting a cinema, the one to watch is Mesrine: Killer Instinct.



Adam

Coming a close second in todays race for FOTW is this American Indie. Essentially a girl meets boy romantic comedy, only with Hugh Dancy suffering from Asperger's Syndrome. Not half as crap as that sounds Dancy and love interest Rose Bryne are getting warm reviews for their sensitive performances.

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G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra

Remember all those Action Film cliches that seemed to have been dropped following the success of Team America? They're back in style in the kids toy to film adaptation. Watch as a bunch of "I know you", attractive actors fight another bunch of "I know you", attractive actors using ridiculous weapons and god-awful dialogue.

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Home

French (I know it's another one with a high score) satire about modern families, set in a house right next to a motorway. Interesting design elements, and the delicious Isabelle Huppert make this one to watch.

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Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

Blame the internet bloggers for this one. But not me, naturally. After going straight to DVD (probably straight to the bargain bins where it belongs) a number of British bloggers saw the trailer and began to write to the UK film mags about it. The enthusiasm for this modern day ED Wood picture grew until the studio gave it a cinematic release. People power at it's finest. Shudder.

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Mesrine: Killer Instinct

Vincent Cassel gives an award winning performance (Best Actor Cesar) in the first part of the Mesrine biopic. Mesrine was one of the most infamous criminals of the 20the century, active across the globe, with counts of robbery, kidnapping and murder he was known as the Man of a hundred faces and the French Public Enemy Number 1. But most of that happens in part 2, here we meet a young soldier who turns to crime following his discharge.

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Orphan

Beware young children with starey eyes. They are probably going to kill you even if you do adopt them. Don't try running or punishing them. You may as well just reward them for their bad behavious and just tell social services you can't cope.

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The Ugly Truth

The posters and trailers would have you believe that women only ever love with their brains and men only ever love with their penises. This is offensive to men and women. Also I just don't like romantic comedies.

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The Yes Men Fix the World

I've been in two minds whether to mention the Yes Men. Technically it's a documentary (I usually ignore them in the release breakdown) with Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno posing as industrialists in order to expose the hypocrisy behind big business on Hurrican Katrina, Bhopal and other extraordinary events. I choose to leave it in because whilst it is not as extreme as Bruno in the use of characterisation it does use the same technique.

By the way there was an excellent podcast on www.ifc.com this week about "Docsploitation" and the blurring of drama and documentary. I urge you to take a listen here.

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