Rating: 2.5 stars

The International asks the question: Can an otherwise unremarkable thriller be salvaged by one truly kick-ass scene? The answer is. . .almost.
For most of its 2 hour running time, The International, which features Clive Owen as an Interpol agent on the trail of a corrupt international bank and Naomi Watts as the D.A. who assists him, is a well-mannered, mildly intriguing, and highly derivative suspense movie. Unlike the ill-conceived Confessions of a Shopaholic, at least it has the advantage of being of the zeitgeist—who doesn’t hate banks these days?
Then, about two-thirds of the way through, director Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) stages one of the most spectacular gun fight sequences I’ve ever seen. It’s dazzling in how long it goes on, how entertaining it is, and mostly for its audacity of setting: The fight takes place at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, an iconic building that is known as much for its remarkable spiraled architecture as...

Rating: 3.5 stars

There is so much that is great about the French film I’ve Loved You So Long, I’m willing to overlook its flaws.
As the film begins, Lea (Elsa Zylberstein) is picking up her older sister Juliette (Kirsten Scott Thomas) from the airport. But there’s something stilted and tense about this reunion. Eventually, we find out that Juliette has just been released from prison (later, we find out what she was in for, but I won’t reveal it here) and that the sisters haven’t seen each other in 15 years.
These opening scenes are played beautifully. Lea tries not to smother, tries to avoid the wrong words, while Juliette stares out the window in a kind of mournful daze. She’s become hardened by jail, by the circumstances of her life. What remains unspoken between the two sisters—did Juliette really commit the crime she is accused of? and why did Lea wait so long to come visit Juliette in jail?—is more significant than what is said.
Once they get to Lea’s bourgeois-chic Parisian home (Lea is a university professor), Juliette meets Lea’s disapproving husband, her mute...

Rating: 1.5 stars

Paul Blart: Mall Cop would’ve made a nice digital short. The story of an out-of-shape, over zealous mall cop (Kevin James) who takes down a band of criminals, Die-Hard-style has a few laughs. It’s funny when Blart runs after the bad guys and falls over for no apparent reason. It’s funny when he acts like he’s been badly hurt, but it’s just a tiny scratch (which he promptly covers with a Hello Kitty band-aid). It’s really funny when he charges into the bank where the hostages are being held, but first dutifully weaves his way through the bank line barrier posts. And . . . that’s about it.
Instead, they tried to make a whole movie about this guy, figuring that the more pathetic Blart was, the funnier his heroism would be. Bad call.
The first 30 minutes of Paul Blart: Mall Cop are actually painful to sit through. They filled me with existential dread. I don’t think executive producer Adam Sandler and co. were going for existential dread when they created the movie, but maybe that’s where I’m wrong.
How much of a loser is Blart? His ex-wife...

Rating: 3.5 stars

Professional boxing has inspired many great movies. Pro wrestling? Not so much. Until now.
As The Wrestler opens to the strains of blaring ’80s heavy metal, we get a brief overview of the career of Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke). He was a pumped up pretty boy with flowing bleached blond locks, a signature move (the “Ram Slam,” where he balanced himself on the ropes and body slammed his opponent), an arch rival named The Ayatollah (remember, this was the ’80s), and legions of rabid fans.
Then, the music stops, and dryly across the screen it flashes, “20 Years Later.”
Today, Randy the Ram is a Rocky-style loser, a lovable middle-aged galoot working the semi-pro circuit, having traded in Madison Square Garden for half-empty high school gymnasiums. He’s living in a trailer park and he works at a grocery store during the week, but he lives for those weekend wrestling bouts. He still clings in vain to his Randy the Ram action figure, his Randy the Ram Nintendo game (he plays with a dutiful neighborhood boy who would much rather be playing a combat...