Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Movie reports

Two young New Zealand boys with vivid imaginations deal with the return of their previously incarcerated father in their own ways.  They try to bond with their down but not out dad with varying degrees of success. This little gem is one of the best films about childhood you'll ever see.  It captures the fleeting moments when you think your parents are invincible and it shows what it's like for a couple of kids to find out their remaining parent is far from perfect.  This film is sweet, enchanting, funny, and touching.  I can't recommend it highly enough. 

On a ski vacation while having lunch on an outdoor deck an avalanche rumbles toward the ski resort where a young couple and their two small children are staying.  When it looks like the avalanche is going to engulf the deck the father grabs his phone and ski goggles and runs away from his family, while his wife tries to protect the kids.  After everyone is found to be safe because the avalanche stops just short of the resort, the family has to deal with the fact their the father turned tail and ran.  The dad refuses to admit he did what he did and the wife refuses to let him off the hook for it.  They drag another couple into their drama and the kids deal with the situation in their own way too.  

I quite liked this bleakly funny black comedy from Sweden. It was a bit long and it contains a few too many needless shots of the mountains and the nearly empty resort, but by and large it works.  Watching the father squirm and twist his way out of taking responsibility for his cowardice is offputting but funny.  I recommend seeing this one now before it gets remade by an American film studio.

Ugh.  A drunken cop gets turned into a wolf so some blizzard shapeshifters can drink his blood and stay immortal.  It's all awful.  They want to be 'so bad we're actually good' but they miss by a mile.  Seriously, this one stinks. 

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