We Have a Pope (***)

As the film begins, the cardinals gather to choose a successor to the late pontiff. Not me, many of them silently pray.

We may doubt the capabilities of our presidents and prime ministers to lead, but they themselves never seem to. But what of a pope, elected without a campaign? Could it be that the man chosen might find himself ill-prepared and not up to the job? This is the basis of this gently comedic film in which Michel Piccoli plays the temperamentally unsuitable compromise candidate, a frustrated actor with the role of his life, and stage fright.

The premise seems farcical, or satirical, but the approach taken here is otherwise. It may not be Vatican approved, but it’s not too likely to offend the faithful. Piccoli brings a dignity to his role as one befuddled by his unexpected fortune. Meanwhile, the Vatican is in limbo. What should the public be told? Might a therapist help? While the reluctant pontiff tries to recall his past, the nonbelieving psychologist (Nanni Moretti, also the film’s director) finds himself strangely at home among the holy men. This is a very slight film, but it’s a pleasant one.

IMDb link

viewed 5/10/12 7:00 pm at Ritz Bourse and reviewed 5/11/12

The Da Vinci Code (**1/2)

 Too much exposition and not enough character interplay make this adaptation of the Dan Brown mega-seller something of a disappointment, and the Catholic Church shouldn’t worry that many people will buy its far-fetched conspiracy theory.

Apparently there was a best-selling novel on which this movie is based, but I didn’t read it. For those similarly uninformed, it’s the tale of a Harvard scholar (Tom Hanks), and expert on symbols, who teams up with a Parisian police investigator (Audrey Tautou) to solve a murder linked, somehow, with the Catholic Church. So brainy is the scholar that he can see a mysterious writing left by the dead man and immediately discern that it must be an anagram, and can even more quickly solve it. But it’s just the first in a series of riddles that lead back to a mystery behind events of the church’s earliest days. There’s a ton of plot here, and, to her credit, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman manages to make most of it comprehensible in two and a half hours. I couldn’t have recounted the sequence of events after seeing the movie, but I more or less followed the action while it was going on. There’s a brief car chase, and some gunplay, but most of this “action” is Hanks or Tautou explaining the significance of this mysterious object or that historical detail. Some of this detail is real, but the conspiracy theory at the heart of the story seems ludicrously far-fetched, which made the story less compelling. Moreover, Hanks and Tautou are a couple of the most likeable actors anywhere, but their characters are both fairly flat here. This is the third collaboration of Goldsman with director Ron Howard, but whereas A Beautiful Mind and the underrated Cinderella Man were very character-driven movies, that aspect is surprisingly absent. Only Ian McKellen, as a scholarly acquaintance of Hanks’s Professor Langdon, adds a bit of levity to all the turgid exposition. (Paul Bettany, as an ultra-creepy, ultra-pious murderer for God, is also very effective.)

IMDb link

posted 8/19/13

Mission Impossible III (**3/4)

Employing acrobatics, stealth, and firepower, agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) aces three impossible missions and learns not to hide the truth from his new fiancée. Good for action fans.

This was a weird movie to see after the ultra-realistic Flight 93. Here, “IMF” [Impossible Mission Force] agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) concocts in an hour or two a series of break-and-enter missions that al-qaeda might have rejected as too complex. I guess the collective Islamofascist mind just can’t compete with good-old American know-how. Three such set pieces, and another sequence in which a barrage of artillery is unleashed against Hunt on a bridge, comprise the bulk of the action scenes, set on three continents. They’re pretty good, but not spectacular, and certainly not believable. At least two of them result in many dead bodies and explosions, though. The ever-versatile Philip Seymour Hoffman is the villain, who, as the movie begins, is threatening to kill Ethan and his beloved if he doesn’t get something called the Rabbit’s Foot. Also impressive is Laurence Fishburne as Hunt’s superior, who gets the best dialogue. (“I will bleed on the flag to make sure the stripes stay red.”) Directed by J.J. Abrams of Lost and Alias fame, this installment offers less character development than either of those TV series, but should satisfy action fans.

IMDb link

posted 8/20/13