Review: Gemma Bovery (2014)

* * *
Director: Anne Fontaine
Starring: Gemma Arterton

If you look hard enough, I'm sure you could come up with a more unique, more specific cinematic niche than the one that Gemma Arterton seems to be developing as the star of modern day takes on literary classics via adaptations of graphic novels by Posy Simmonds, but I can't think of one. Granted, that currently only makes for two films (Tamara Drewe is the other one), but still. Gemma Bovery finds Arterton living out the broad strokes of the story of Emma Bovary, much to the consternation of her well-meaning neighbor who wants to stop her from making the same mistakes as her literary counterpart. As told by Anne Fontaine, it makes for a film that's a little bit drama and a little bit comedy, one that can skip from being sensual to being farcical without missing a beat.

Netflix Recommends... Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)

* * 1/2
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton

This recommendation apparently stems from my interest in Pan's Labyrinth, Hanna and previous Netflix Recommends entry Jack Reacher. I can kinda see a faint connection between Pan's and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters insofar as both are fantasy films, though the former is a masterpiece that transcends genre while the latter is a reasonably entertaining steampunk reimagining of a fairy tale that revels in genre trappings, but I'm not really sure about the connection with the other two, besides the fact that all three films have scenes of action and violence. At any rate, I called Netflix's bluff and watched Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters expecting little but actually kind of liking it in all its ridiculousness. Had I looked into it beforehand and known that it comes from the writer/director of the dumb/awesome Nazi zombie movie Dead Snow, and is produced by Will Farrell and Adam McKay, I might have been more prepared for how generally enjoyable it is (aside: after Farrell's name popped up in the credits, my first thought every time Jeremy Renner showed up on screen was, "That damn Hansel, he's so hot right now!"). Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is ridiculous. But it knows that it's ridiculous and doesn't waste time trying to convince you otherwise, instead just getting to the business at hand and delivering on the promise of its title. Witches do, indeed, get hunted in this film and get killed (along with some other baddies) in grand fashion - though the story's real villain is ultimately diabetes.

Netflix Recommends... Runner Runner (2013)

* 1/2
Director: Brad Furman
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton

I've mentioned before that whatever algorithm Netflix uses to create its recommendations is basically incomprehensible. A while ago Netflix "recommended" The Canyons for me, even though its best guess for how I would rate it was 1.5 stars. This time Netflix recommended Runner Runner despite assuming that I would rate it 1.5 stars (good guess!). Now, I learned a lesson with The Canyons, but I was intrigued by the fact that Netflix was recommending Runner Runner to me based on my having watched Orange is the New Black. What on earth, I wondered, could a gambling thriller headlined by Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck have in common with a comedy/drama series set in a women's prison? I won't leave you in suspense: nothing. There is absolutely nothing that Runner Runner and Orange is the New Black have in common, unless you count the fact that every once in a while characters in each speak a little bit of Spanish.

Review: Byzantium (2013)

* * 1/2
Director: Neil Jordan
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Gemma Arterton

Neil Jordan's Byzantium is an odd duck of a film. In its first half it's a sleepily gothic romance, and then in the second it roars to life as a pseudo-feminist story about women seizing power denied to them by male dominated institutions. I liked the second half better, though the first half isn't bad, merely rather slow. A melancholy vampire story that manages to be both brutally and beautifully horrific (the image of a waterfall of blood is at once ridiculous and sublime), Byzantium is fairly transfixing once it gathers some steam and realizes which of its two female protagonists is the more interesting one.