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Movies & TV

Blu-Ray/DVD Reviews

Rating: NNNNN


Big-screen rating: Bare-bones but effective. NNNN (JH)

Big-screen rating: Good performances by Zellweger and Freeman. NNNN (JH)

une liaison pornographique

Big-screen rating: More wistful than raunchy, a lovely replay of Last Tango In Paris. NNN (CB)

wonderland

BIG-SCREEN RATING: The filmmaking gives more pleasure than the narrative. NNN (JH)

alfie

New releases

the girl next door (2000, Blackwatch), dir. Christine Fugate w/ Stacy Valentine. Documentarian Fugate spent years tracing the rise of Valentine, who left her Oklahoma home for L.A. to become a porn star. She’s a lonely woman who likes sex but detests her body, and makes constant visits to plastic surgeons for various tucks, enlargements and liposuction. If you ignore the unusual porn aspect of the story, Valentine resembles many women who are searching for love and are made to feel as if their bodies have betrayed them. NNNnurse betty (2000, USA), dir. Neil LaBute w/ Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman. When a woman (Zellweger) witnesses the murder of her husband by two hit men (Freeman and Chris Rock), she goes into a trance-like state, believing she’s the lover of her favourite soap opera character (Greg Kinnear). An odd offering from LaBute, who’s known for his scathing male-versus-female relationship dramas (In The Company Of Men, Your Friends And Neighbors). It’s a solid dramedy that works because Zellweger convinces us of Betty’s wacky condition. In the end, though, its feminist message isn’t all that original. NNN(1999, Alliance Atlantis), dir. Frédéric Fonteyne w/ Nathalie Baye, Sergi López. In this love story for adults, two strangers (Baye and López) who meet for weekly sex fall in love, but just like in real life, they’re too frightened and perhaps too smart to believe it will last. Ouch, it hurts — but in that wise, grown-up way that lets us believe we could make the same mistake and walk away with our dignity. NNNNN (1999, Alliance Atlantis), dir. Michael Winterbottom w/ Gina McKee, Molly Parker. Three South London sisters, McKee, Parker and Shirley Henderson, look for love and meaning in their scrape-by lives. Winterbottom (Jude, Welcome To Sarajevo) is a great actors’ director who loves to give his films a documentary look and feel. In this terrific ensemble film, the three female characters trace the edges of self-understanding but never penetrate the surface. They aren’t happy, know it and can’t quite grasp how to fix the problem. NNNNAlso this weekBedazzled

New Waterford Girl

The Watcher

DVD pick of the week(Paramount, 1966), dir. Lewis Gilbert w/ Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Denholm Elliott. Alfie’s now best remembered for its wry title song, but this was also the movie that made Michael Caine a star. He plays a lizardy cad who mistreats women, all the while declaiming his excuses straight to camera. That device feels dated now, but Gilbert’s withering view of male lust — like the later Carnal Knowledge — endures. The Paramount DVD is bare-bones, but Caine’s performance — and the original Sonny Rollins score — are worth the price. 113 minutes. NNNN

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