English Films now showing at Chamonix Cinema Vox
Playing at Chamonix's Cinema Vox from July 22 through August 10, are SEX IN THE CITY 2, KNIGHT AND DAY, SPLICE, TAMARA DREWE and WILD TARGET (aka: Petits meurtres à l'Anglaise) – check www.cinemavox-chamonix.com for evening showtimes.
All are invited on Monday July 26th to a “Champagne and High Heels Evening” in honour of Sex in the City 2, beginning at La Petite Kitchen at 19:30 where you can get a glass of champagne and your cinema ticket for 11E – followed by the film itself at 21:30. Cinema ticket only is 8E, tickets are on sale at Chamonix Cinema Vox.
SEX IN THE CITY 2
The lives of the four New York friends are still proving to be exasperating, so when they're offered a luxury vacation in Abu Dhabi, they take it.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Big (Chris Noth) are having problems within their new marriage because of divergent expectations; Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is fighting the aging process; Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is questioning her domestic abilities; and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is suffering long hours at work and a sexist boss.
The foursome's problems are recognisable real-life dramas (even as they're all wearing amazing outfits!) but it's when they head to Abu Dhabi that things range from uncomfortable to unbearable cultural stereotypes.
However, this second film is much better than the first in that it allows the quartet of ladies who lunch to grow and to change – and it feels much bigger and more cinematic. (15)
KNIGHT AND DAY
When commitment-phobe June (Cameron Diaz) meets uber-spy Roy Miller (Tom Cruise), she realizes after an onslaught of ditched planes, car chases, bombing raids, shoot outs, train fights and general mayhem, that he just may be the man of her dreams.
Cruise as Roy Miller is a rogue agent with superhuman abilities such as hopping between hurling cars, mowing down assailants with an Uzi, and crash landing jets. We're told that the CIA considers him ‘off the reservation' (and he does seem as though he's a genuine mad man).
This is a movie that's breathless from the beginning – there's no chance of boredom, even as there's also no chance of finesse. A star-based film full of chemistry and commotion. (12A)
SPLICE
Genetic engineers Elsa and Clive splice together materials from several animals — including a human being — to create a new creature, which matures at an increased rate. Elsa removes the female organism, “Dren,” to an isolated farm for study. While isolated, Dren's development, as well as Elsa's conflicting sense of scientific observation and her feeling of being a ‘parent' to Dren, become a problem.
Director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Cypher) is interested in scientific ethics, such as corporate sponsorship and demands for profitable pharmaceutical products, and he is also troubled by the relationship between a ‘monster' and the doctor, as in Frankenstein. Unlike Frankenstein, though, this doctor, Elsa, loves her subject like a mother with her daughter.
Even as the film is primarily a complex character drama, when the location shifts from antiseptic corporate lab to a dilapidated Gothic farm, the sci-fi turns to horror as the failings of the creators and the created lead to violent conflict. Even so, we the audience are as afraid of what will happen to the monster as we are of what the monster will do to other people. This is a grown-up science-fiction movie (with one exceptional ‘splatter' scene) with top range performances. (15)
TAMARA DREWE
A young newspaper columnist returns to her hometown in the English countryside, where her childhood home is being prepared for sale, and causes a stir with her flirtatious ways.
Tamara Drewe is based on Posy Simmonds' comic strip, which was inspired by Thomas Hardy's book Far from the Madding Crowd, ran in The Guardian from 2005-2007 before being collected into a graphic novel. And this was a pure graphic novel in the sense that the text, which gently satirizes the English middle class, was given equal footing with Simmonds' illustrations.
Director Stephen Frears' (The Queen, High Fidelity) film is fond and humorous, and an excellent showcase for Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, St Trinians 1 & 2), who brings poise to larger films and acting ability to smaller films such as this. (12A)
WILD TARGET (aka: Petits meurtres à l'Anglaise)
An aging hitman tries to retire but a beautiful thief may change his plans.
Victor (Bill Nighy) is sent out to kill an art thief, played by Emily Blunt. However, a blunder in this plan finds him protecting his own target, as well as a wannabe “apprentice” to him who has tagged-along, and sends them all into hiding. While in hiding, the trio form a dysfunctional bond.
Bill Nighy is always wonderful to watch, and it's humorous and sad that he still lives at home with his curmudgeonly mother. The cast in general are all very talented and charming in what is a very British remake of a French black comedy. (12A)
