A watchable thriller, about two abused gangsters’ molls (Rachel Weisz and Susan Lynch) in Glasgow who join forces to save their own skins. It isn’t exactly Thelma & Louise, but it periodically recalls that picture, and arguably goes some distance beyond it in making virtually all its male characters apart from a likable dog named Pluto brutal scumbags who deserve everything they get. Writer and coproducer Simon Donald offers an efficient plot, and director Bill Eagles knows how to pace the actors and action while delivering it. With Tom Mannion, Maurice Roeves, and Iain Glen. 86 min. (JR) Read more
Another prowar movie to go with Saving Private Ryan (which it visibly imitates), safely set during World War IIspecifically at the battle of Stalingradthough it seems perfectly willing to make us feel better about killing Arabs in the present. (Maybe to show that it has its heart in the right place, it ends like Reds in a hospital.) Jude Law is a Soviet sharpshooter, English actors plays most of the other Russians (including Bob Hoskins, camping like crazy as Nikita Khrushchev), and Ed Harris is a Nazi sharpshooter. There’s never much risk of reality intrudingjust a lot of histrionic James Horner music (fortunately only semiaudible under the gunfire) and plenty of designer stubble on the soldiers’ faces. The director delivering these time-tested goods is Jean-Jacques Annaud, who with Alain Godard adapted William Craig’s book. The actorswho also include Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, and Ron Perlman outfitted with a jaw full of fillingsdo a pretty good job, though not good enough to sustain 133 minutes. (JR) Read more
