‘Papillon’ remake, ‘A-X-L,’ ‘Madeline’ among top bets
Glenn Close could get Oscar nom for ‘The Wife’ role
There’s a bevy of best bets hitting theaters this week.
I had doubts, but “Papillon” is a solid remake. The harrowing true tale finds two cons — one slight; the other strong — subjected to bludgeoning bouts of cruelty in a deplorable French Guiana prison. It’s far more brutal and gory than its superior, PG-rated 1973 predecessor. And while Michael Noer’s intense redo lacks the charismatic onetwo punch that Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman delivered as the odd couple in chains, it still tells a powerful survival story. Charlie Hunnam does a good job as an unfairly convicted murderer and Rami Malek is even better as a forger.
For more family-friendly fare, scoot on over to “A-XL.” Filmmaker Oliver Daly expands on his futuristic boy-and-his-dog short. The four-legged critter in question is a robo-dog that the military created and now wants back. As the human and animal bond, its creators come a callin’.
Need some raunchy laughs? Potty-mouthed puppets and a cranky Melissa McCarthy might suffice in “The Happytime Murders.” As you might recall, promos using the word “sesame” rankled “Sesame Street” bigwigs so much they threw a lawsuit at the R-rated comedy from Brian Henson, son of Jim Henson. It didn’t stick. McCarthy plays a put-upon detective who teams up with her former puppet partner to investigate the murder of his brother, the victim of a serial killer.
If you want to see drama play out between a wife and husband, catch “The Wife.” The best reason to see it is Glenn Close’s impeccable performance as the spouse of a Nobel Peace Prize winner (played by Jonathan Pryce). It’s an Oscar-worthy turn.
Rose Byrne fans will want to check out her strong performance as the worn-down girlfriend of a music lover (Chris O’Dowd), who obsesses over a hasbeen rocker (Ethan Hawke) in the good not great “Juliet, Naked.” Nick Hornby wrote the screenplay and while it flounders near the end, the performances keep it steady with the real standout being Hawke. He needs an Oscar one day.
“Madeline’s Madeline” also deserves love and a standing ovation for its originality and moxie. It’s an outright knockout from writer/director Josephine Decker as she explores the hazards of out-of-control artistic ambitions. Helena Howard owns the screen playing a troubled young woman tangling with her off-kilter mother (Miranda July) and the leader of an acting workshop (Molly Parker). It’s a bold drama that never takes shortcuts or the easy way out. A must-see.
A most intriguing and mature animated adventure is “The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl.” Masaaki Yuasa and a crack team of animators use various styles to illustrate this quirky odyssey about The Girl With Black Hair and her friends as they go out in Kyoto for an eventful night or partying. It’s surreal and trippy.
And fresh off a Bay Area premiere at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival comes “Memoir of War,” featuring Melanie Thierry’s commanding performance of author Marguerite Duras, who is living in Paris during World War II and trying to find out the status of her husband whose being held prisoner in a Nazi camp.