Crisp Criticism - "The Hundred-Foot Journey", "A Most Wanted Man", "And So It Goes", "The Expendables 3", "The Maid's Room"

by

Julien Faddoul

The Hundred-Foot Journey

An Indian family clashes with a proprietress of a celebrated French restaurant after they open their own nearby eatery.

Another piece of manipulative creamy soup from Hallstrom with characters that are more stale than usual.

d – Lasse Hallstrom

w – Steven Knight   (Based on the Book by Richard C. Morais)

ph – Linus Sandgren

pd – David Gropman

m – A.R. Rahman

ed – Andrew Mondshein

cos – Pierre-Yves Gayraud

p – Juliet Blake, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey

Cast: Helen Mirran, Om Puri, Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon, Amit Shah, Farzana Dua Elahe

A Most Wanted Man **

A Chechen Muslim illegally immigrates to Hamburg, where he gets caught in the international war on terror.

An inevitable meeting of director and novelist, this spy thriller exudes the deliberate pacing and withdrawn characters typical of both, anchored by a strong performance form its star (whose last film it was). It suffers from its need to achieve cosmic significance.

d – Anton Corbijn

w – Andrew Bovell   (Based on the Novel by John le Carre)

ph – Benoit Delhomme

pd – Sebastian T. Krawinkel

m – Herbert Gronemeyer

ed – Claire Simpson

cos – Yesim Zolan

p – Andrea Calderwood, Simon Cornwell, Stephen Cornwell, Gail Egan, Malte Grunert

Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Derya Alabora, Daniel Brühl, Nina Hoss, Herbert Grönemeyer, Martin Wuttke

And So It Goes

A self-absorbed realtor enlists the help of his neighbor when he's suddenly left in charge of the granddaughter he never knew existed.

Painfully unfunny generic “comedy” made up of parts of other movies. A sad current state of affairs for its stars and its director.

d – Rob Reiner

w – Mark Andrus

ph – Reed Morano

pd – Ethan Tobman

m – Marc Shaiman

ed – Dorian Harris

cos – Leah Katznelson, Ellen Mironjnick

p – Mark Damon, Alan Greisman, Rob Reiner

Cast: Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Sterling Jerins, Annie Parisse, Rob Reiner, Yaya DaCosta

The Expendables 3

Barney augments his team with new blood for a personal battle.
Tired and pompous; complete waste of time.

d – Patrick Hughes

w – Sylvester Stallone, Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt   (Based on the Characters by Dave Callaham)

ph – Peter Menzies Jr.

pd – Daniel T. Dorrance

m – Brian Tyler

ed – Sean Albertson, Paul Harb

cos – Lizz Wolf

p – Avi Lerner, Danny Lerner, Kevin King Templeton, John Thompson, Les Weldon

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Kelsey Grammer, Glen Powell, Antonio Banderas, Victor Ortiz

The Maid’s Room

An immigrant takes the job of a live-in maid for a privileged New York family.

A film that is so much more labored that it ever needed to be, covering material that can be found more affecting elsewhere.

wd – Michael Walker

ph – Scott Miller

pd – Amy Williams

m – Arturo Rodriquez

ed – Michael Taylor

cos – Brenda Abbandandolo

p – Dolly Hall

Cast: Paula Garcés, Annabella Sciorra, Bill Camp, Philip Ettinger