mp65steady

I can't believe this piece of junk is getting such high grades here. I've liked Jason Statham a lot as a sidekick in The Italian Job and especially as the hero in The Transporter (No. 2 even more than No. 1) and as a baddie in Cellular, which helped the B-movie to a rousing comeback in the last year. But although the premise was promising, "Crank" stank in a big way: The action was directed poorly and is absolutely no fun to look at, the dialogues and situations didn't have one ounce of wit, and the characters were so unsympathetic that I wished everyone was dead MUCH sooner - including Statham. Everything in the movie is so hopeless that you do not even have to point to Amy Smart, who gives a terribly misguided performance in a role for which she must have had her brains removed (or disabled) temporarily. And please don't bother to convince me that much of it should be considered ironic - moronic is much closer to it. What a waste!

I had the pleasure and privilege of seeing Mike Figgis' original cut at the Munich Filmfestival, and liked it a lot. To be honest, I had liked the version that came out in 1993, although I had heard rumors of re-shoots and Figgis not having final cut - and although there were some ridiculous scenes in it. Figgis' version is more believable, albeit darker, but that does make sense, since it is about a manic depressive. Richard Gere is pretty impressive, and it is one of the few times that he's still good when he's doing his free-wheeling high-wire act. But the saddest part about "Mr. Jones" not being recognized for its great moments is the understated performance of Lena Olin, who is almost as good as in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988) and in the second season of "Alias".

There's one thing about "Mr. Jones" that's better than the movie itself: the story behind the film. Figgis has incredible stories to tell about the production of the movie and we can only hope that one day he'll share them with us in detail in a book, because it says a lot about Hollywood and its inability to cope with non-mainstream themes.

In a rather disappointing fortnight, „Quand J'étais Chanteur" was the nicest discovery at the Cannes film festival: a simple story, beautifully told and acted. A middle-aged, overweight and worn-out ballroom singer (Gérard Depardieu, in his best role since "Cyrano de Bergerac" in 1990) falls in love with a tormented woman half his age. And although both know that more than a brief affair is almost impossible, there's is a chemistry between them that has become rare in movies. The unknown director Xavier Giannoli displays a phenomenal sense for atmosphere and is clever enough not to spell everything out. You might actually feel that you can breathe more freely during this movie - and certainly afterwards. Merveilleux!