gcrokus

If you want a little foreign flavor added to your usual movie-going experience, consider seeing "Moscow Belgium|" in the near future. It is one of the best small films to come along so far this year.

The movie begins simply enough – a harried mother (Barbara Sarafian as Matty) backs into a truck in the supermarket parking lot. The owner of the truck (Jurgen Delnaet as Johnny) steps down. Fingerpointing and verbal abuse of course follows; only the eventual arrival of the police keeps the situation from becoming any uglier than it is.

Later that day we see Matty bathing; her daughter interrupts her to say there is a phone call from Johnny. Matty blows this off, and despite the continued advances of Johnny Matty remains stoically immune to his attentions.

We find that Matty's art-professor husband has moved out to carry on an affair with one of his students. Matty would like a normal life; her kids, her husband and her lack of funds frustrates her. And now there is this persistent guy whom she tells she doesn't need any more things in her life.

But we can see that Johnny will not be shaken off as easily as that. So the balance of the movie essentially prances about the central theme; should she accept Johnny in her life or have her husband come back into her life?

Barbara Sarafian is a wonderful actress, playing straight-faced to all – her colleague at work, her suitors and her children. She convincingly conveys Matty's worn-down attitude; and according to her (interview at buzzine.com/2009/01/christophe-van-rompaey-interview) "you suspect that there is a bomb inside of her".

And so I leave it to you to see how Matty handles all her concerns and decides which is the best course for what probably be the rest of her life. I don't think you will for a second be disappointed with the outcome.

Three stars.

Being neither a fan of conspiracy tales or particularly of the earlier novel "The Davinci Code", I was less than optimistic that I would become a big fan of this new effort by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks. So it was a bit of a surprise to find "Angels and Demons" is not a bad film at all. But it surely stretches credibility with its quasi- and at times pseudo-historic underpinnings. This is story-telling at warp speed; sometimes you want to have the film rewound for a few frames to verify what has been said by Tom Hanks' (as Roger Langdon).

Langdon's frenetic pace to prevent killings of high priests in the Vatican is the meat of the story(s). Thrown in to crank up the action a little further is the theft of antimatter, of course of much interest to all. And there are outward and internal tensions caused by the Swiss guard, Vatican figures gathered to select a new pope also have in- and external issues. And then of course there are…the Illuminati.

With all these characters embroiled in catching a serial killer (who focuses on highly-placed priests) working for who-knows-who, we have the makings of a pretty good thriller. And if you can decipher Langdon's rapid-fire explanations as to why the pursuit should be conducted his way, you are ahead of his law enforcement colleagues.

There are two exceptions, naturally. Langdon's physics-oriented partner – involved initially with the theft of antimatter she had a hand in developing (Ayelet Zurer as Vittoria Vetra)- quickly demonstrates a remarkable knowledge of Church history. Ewan Mc Gregor, who is acting essentially as the acting Pope, also understands seems to understand what is going on.

The fun is in listening to Langdon's rapid delivery of his analysis of the crime scenes and the criminal, and how and why it is all tied together. There are a number of so-called facts spouted that may or may not be true; but that is to be expected in both the novels of Dan Brown and the subsequent films.

The opening shots of the film are right on the money, conveying a real sense of the inner workings of a lab specializing in quantum physics. Credit this work to the director; Ron Howard does know how to make a film.

Three Stars.

Having never been a Trekkie, I approached the latest in the long line of films and television shows with no real love for the genre. I was hoping that at least the special effects might be good; they generally are nowadays. With a story of some interest and intriguing cinematography there's little wonder that is a box office hit.

What we have for a plot is an almost bewildering blending of the past, the present and the future, all stitched together in a satisfying manner. But unlike the concurrently running "Angels and Demons", this plot is actually believable, even though this is science fiction. The difference is the pacing and "Stat Trek" has no trace of conspiracy; the enemy is well defined right from the beginning.

What is definitely fun is that we meet the main characters of the film early on in their formative years; James Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and even Dr. McCoy all reveal something of themselves. We now know a little more of how they came to be the crew of the Enterprise.

The effects are quite remarkable, and any fan of space adventures will be satisfied with them. There is a plot point involving time travel that is the only blemish on the narrative; this seems to be like the use of magic in movies. Contrive a difficult situation and have characters saved by supernatural imposition. The artful dodge of movie making.

This is probably the smartest of the summer blockbusters.

Three stars.