A Serious Man

A snowy night in a European town and an introduction to a dybbuk is how the movie begins.  You are then plunged into the sorry life of Larry Gopnik, who is a physicist struggling for tenure while in the middle of  divorce proceedings. There are quirky scenarios typical of a Coen brothers film like that of Larry dealing with a Chinese student who could be bribing him. Throw in a few more interesting fringe characters like Larry's brother who is writing a "probability map of the universe" and you have a regular Coen brother offering. And there in lies the problem; it is just regular!

Rating: * *

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Sin City: A Dame to Kill for

The original Sin City was a brilliant film that stunningly brought to life the neo-noir graphic novel series of the same name by Frank Miller. So when the follow up was released by the same directorial duo the assumption was that it would continue in the same vein. The film in many ways does do that by reappraising most of the original cast. Miller has thrown in a few stories from Vol 2 and tried to mesh them in a similar fashion as in its predecessor. In other ways the handling of story lines is poor and almost as if the hope was the CGI would be distracting enough to make up for it.

Rating: * +

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Beasts of No Nation

A film meant to be a powerful telling of the wars in Africa and how it is ravaging the youth there. A time meant for the children to be educated instead is spent learning how to become a killing machine. Throw in Idris Alba to play the lead role of a commandant of a guerrilla, one expects a dark and gripping tale. However the story of young Abu who is throw apart from his family by war into the hands of the guerrillas only leaves you mildly interested in the events that unfold in the movie in spite of the message being important and one that everyone should pay heed to.

Rating: * +

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