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Reviews
In the Hands of the Gods (2007)
In search of Maradona
Five English teenagers from diverse backgrounds hatch a plan to travel from New York City to Buenos Aires to meet their hero, Diego Maradona. All are masters of "freestyle football" an extreme form of keepie-uppie. The plan is to finance the road trip by busking, staging impromptu street exhibitions in the cities of North and South America. There's some amazing skill on display here - notably juggling with various fruits and vegetables in a market in Guatemala City (I think). But rather than the football, the film focuses on the lads' motivations, and the growing tensions that threaten to derail their efforts as they edge closer to their goal. A rather strange documentary, but engrossing.
3:10 to Yuma (2007)
The return of the decent western
Russell Crowe is the leader of an outlaw gang. Christian Bale is an impoverished rancher who, desperate for money, is persuaded to escort Crowe to a prison train. On the way they encounter hostile Apache, vengeful railroad workers and, not least, the outlaw gang as they seek to rescue him. Crowe has a great presence, switching effortlessly between menacing and charming throughout the film.
It was good to see Peter Fonda back on the screen, too, playing a bounty hunter.
It's beautifully filmed, with a number of exciting set pieces.
Still, one thing puzzled me - why did Crowe's character make some of the decisions he did towards the end of the movie? I won't go into spoiler territory, but some of his moves seemed confusing and illogical.
Anyway...excellent as Crowe is, he is upstaged by psychotic gang member Ben Foster, one of the most frightening characters to appear in the movies since Trainspotting's Begbie.
All told, this is a western that's well worth seeing.
Run Fatboy Run (2007)
A typical British comedy. Yes, it's that bad.
Simon Pegg jilts his pregnant fiancée at the altar, but comes to regret it five years later when he meets the new man in his ex-girlfriend's life, a successful American hedge fund manager. Pegg, worried that the new man will supplant him in his five-year-old son's affections, plans to win his former girlfriend back by running the London Marathon. With a fortnight's training. And entirely predictable results.
Having enjoyed Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, I was really looking forward to this one. But sadly, it falls well short. It's difficult to muster much sympathy for Pegg's character, and Hank Azaria (voice of Moe the Bartender, Apu and Chief Wiggum in The Simpsons) is wasted as Pegg's rival. Dylan Moran is dull, too. Thandie Newton looks gorgeous, but that's not really enough.
I'm amazed that this has done so well at the British box office. But if I were you, I wouldn't bother.
Superbad (2007)
Very very funny
I took my teenage son to a preview; I squirmed with embarrassment for the first few minutes, but it turned out to be the funniest film either of us had seen since Borat. The plot is straightforward; three nerdy sex-obsessed schoolboys are on a mission to buy alcohol for a party. In that respect it's a dumb teen comedy like American Pie
but it's much better, and in a peculiar way, more moral. Warning: lots of swearing, lots of kn*b gags, and some very crude dialogue, none of which I could repeat here. The two lead characters (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera) are great. So are Bill Hader and Seth Rogen star of Knocked Up and the film's co-writer who play immature, out-of-control policemen. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, as the lead characters' geeky sidekick McLovin', is best of the lot.