To Rome With Love (Woody Allen) has multiple storylines, so when one plot line sags, another picks things up. Allen plays a failed opera director who tries to make his daughter’s fiancé’s dad (Fabio Armiliato) a star, though he can’t sing outside the shower. In another weak storyline, a just-married guy gets a surprise visit from a happy hooker (Penélope Cruz) meanwhile, a nebbish (Roberto Benigni) becomes famous for no reason. In the best segment, an architecture student (Jesse Eisenberg) and his girlfriend welcome a house guest (Ellen Page) with home-wrecker written all over her, or so says the student’s imaginary friend (Alec Baldwin). These actors play it straight and let the comedy work for them. Betcha Page becomes the next Allen muse. Rome is gorgeous, but you still have to juggle Woody the creep with Woody the endearing schlep. One moment you’re howling at his fear of flying and the next rolling your eyes at a woman being sexually liberated by a thief wielding a handgun. Some subtitles 102 min.
Rating: NNN (SGC)
Opens Jul 6 at Grande – Yonge, Queensway, Varsity. See here for times.
Katy Perry: Part of Me (Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz) chronicles a year in the life of pop star Perry as she embarks on her first world-wide concert tour and tries to keep her marriage to comic Russell Brand alive. Copious concert footage shows her hard work and the candy-coloured, fairy tale universe she or her marketers have constructed, but we never get a clue about why she relates to this faux fantasy or what it’s feeding in her fans. An interview with Brand would have added edge to the earnest proceedings. Statements from Perry herself (“Follow your dreams!”) and her sycophantic handlers are so clichéd, they seem culled from a Christopher Guest mockumentary. And even though the singer’s stylist/hair guy is around, there’s no mention of how the retro Bettie Page look contributed to her image. 97 min.
Rating: NN (GS)
Opens Jul 5 at 401 & Morningside, Carlton Cinema, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Empire Theatres at Empress Walk, Grande – Steeles, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Promenade, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale. See here for times.
Peter Gabriel Secret World Live is a screening of a restored and remastered concert film filmed in Modena Italy during Gabriel’s 1993 world tour in support of his disc Us. 102 min.
Jul 11 at Scotiabank. See here for times.
Savages (Oliver Stone) tracks the fortunes of two pot growers who take on Mexican drug lords. Screened after press time – see review. 130 min.
Opens Jul 6 at 401 & Morningside, Carlton Cinema, Coliseum Mississauga, Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Courtney Park 16, Eglinton Town Centre, Grande – Steeles, Grande – Yonge, Queensway, Rainbow Market Square, Rainbow Woodbine, SilverCity Fairview, SilverCity Yonge, SilverCity Yorkdale. See here for times.
Wimbledon Live in 3D: Men’s Finals gives you the feeling of being centre court at the climactic tennis game. 240 min.
Opens Jul 8 at Coliseum Scarborough, Colossus, Grande – Yonge, Queensway, SilverCity Mississauga. See here for times.
