Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast

New Releases 9/14/07

The Brave One (R)
Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Naveen Andrews
Directed by Neil Jordan
This is a vigilante movie, the kind Charles Bronson repeated over and over again. Only this time, the angry man who takes the law into his own hands is (gasp) a woman. We’re supposed to be shocked that a mild-mannered radio host could react this way after she and her boyfriend are attacked in Central Park and he is killed. But wait a minute. Isn’t that Clarice Starling under that shaggy haircut? Didn’t she make friends with Hannibal Lector and track down a serial killer? Well of course she did, no wonder she can be such a force of retribution.
3 pieces of vigilante toast.

Mr. Woodcock (NR)
Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Susan Sarandon
Directed by Craig Gillespie
John Farley has become a self-help guru by drawing on all the low self esteem he felt when his mean PE teacher humiliated him as a flabby teenager. Now he is a big success and returns home to find his mother dating his former nemesis. What can he do to take his revenge? The answer is pitifully unimaginative.
1 and 1/2 pieces of why did they even bother toast

Dragon Wars (PG-13)
Jason Behr, Amanda Brooks
Directed by: Hyung Rae Shim
The press notes tell us: “A beautiful young woman possesses the power to transform a legendary giant serpent into an almighty dragon who can only ascend into heaven with the woman’s ultimate sacrifice. But the forces of darkness are out to claim the young woman as their own and her reincarnated lover and his aged mentor stand in their way.”
Not available for preview

Silk (R)
Keira Knightley, Alfred Molina, Michael Pitt, Koji Yakusho, Sei Ashina
Directed by: Francoise Girard
If I told you this was the story of a 19th century French silk merchant who travels to Japan to bring back healthy worms to replace the sick and dying ones in his village, you would get the idea there is an interesting story here–well it sure didn’t make it to the screen. This is a dreary, plodding, snore of a film. Skip it.
1 piece of worm-filled toast

Lady Chatterley (NR)
Marina Hands, Hippolyte Girardot, Jean-Louis Coulloch, Helene Alexandridis, Helene Fillieres
Directed by: Pascale Ferran
Winner of 5 Cesar Awards (the French ‘Oscar’) including Best Picture and Best Director, the response from American audiences has been less enthusiastic, perhaps because the lyrical transcends the physical, and although full frontal nudity is displayed, the lack of “nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean,” lets audiences become aware of the film’s three hour length.

2 and 1/2 pieces of literary toast

NEW ON VIDEO/DVD

Away From Her (PG-13)
Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Wendy Crewson
Directed by: Sarah Polley
Box Office: $15,830,046
Married for almost 50 years, Grant and Fiona share a life of tenderness, sex and humor. But when she begins doing things like putting the frying pan away in the refrigerator, Alzheimer’s insidious footfalls quickly become louder and louder. Everyone involved strikes just the right note and you can’t help but wonder if the battle against ovarian cancer (and January death) of Charmion King, Pinsent’s real life wife of 44 years, didn’t influence everyone’s performances.
3 and 1/2 pieces of love you forever “come what may toast