Ben King/Pathé Distribution
MOVIE REVIEW
The Three Musketeers: Milady (2023)
In “The Three Musketeers: Milady” there’s a very early shot of Eva Green in chains, a standard of excellence it regrettably never achieves again. This follows an extensive recap of the complex plot of “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” which only came out in May. That movie was a better success than this one, in that it was about the merry gang of musketeers, Athos (Vincent Cassel), Aramis (Romain Duris) and Porthos (Pio Marmaï), becoming the best of friends with new recruit D’Artagnan (François Civil) through various complicated intrigues requiring their combined fighting skills. But those adventures are a bath-time book compared to this movie, which contains so many disparate elements our fab four barely have any screen time together. This is a mistake as great as the treatment of Milady (Ms. Green), who here is more weepy damsel in distress than world-class spy.
Continue reading “Commend Me to Satan” »
Pathé Films
MOVIE REVIEW
The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2023)
The swashbuckling appeal of four Frenchmen fighting with swords or guns against various dastardly villains has stood up to plenty of adaptations, with the most recent English-language one back in 2011. That was kind of a mess – if you need Mads Mikkelsen to demonstrate his villainy by tying a busty blonde to the front of a C.G.I. flying sailing ship, you are almost certainly trying too hard – but it was also a comedic romp. Director Martin Bourboulon has a background in comedy, but with “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” he decided to get as serious as a gun stuck in your face. With this movie France has made a blockbuster adaptation for itself and doesn’t care whether audiences elsewhere will like it. Of course, this story is as close to a guaranteed smash hit as you can get, but they do it justice.
Continue reading “Hazardous Adventures” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Dark Shadows (2012)
Peter Mountain/Warner Brothers Pictures
One might imagine that a partnership between Tim Burton and vampires would yield compelling results. Mr. Burton’s appeal derives from his distinct imagination and the way he combines dark themes and youthful exuberance into genre movies. Films such as “Alice in Wonderland,” “Big Fish” and “Ed Wood,” illustrate Mr. Burton’s signature brand of aestheticism and complexity. Good or bad, few would describe Mr. Burton as conventional. But his newest film, “Dark Shadows,” never establishes any sort of originality. Flat characters, predictable plotting and boring action sequences make Mr. Burton’s latest an ordinary waste of two hours.
Continue reading “Learn to Leave the Past Alone” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Perfect Sense (2011)
2011 Sundance Film Festival
The sheer clarity of intent and scale of ambition in David Mackenzie's "Perfect Sense" is more than enough to obliterate the memory of his Hollywood misstep "Spread" as if it had never existed. Light years away from that film's glib delve into the lifestyles of adolescents whose world was too beautiful to care about, "Perfect Sense" is an icy fable about adults whose world has decided to shrug them off completely and start afresh.
Continue reading “Sense and Insensibility” »