Postmedia News
TOTAL RECALL
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The basic outline of Philip K. Dick鈥檚 story remains the same as the Arnold Schwarzenegger-Sharon Stone film from 1990, but 22 years later, the thematic emphasis has shifted from personal psychosis in the face of corporate control to wide-scale revolutionary opposition against a grand and greedy dictator looking to liquidate an entire population of off-Earth colonists. Colin Farrell plays the hero who begins the film as a factory assembly line worker, and finishes the film as a super-spy who saves the world. Yet, unlike the earlier film, director Len Wiseman erases the doubt of delusion at the end to affirm the hero鈥檚 version of events. It鈥檚 nowhere near the complex emotional puzzle as its predecessor, but thanks to Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Biel, there鈥檚 plenty of retinal candy to suck on in this Canadian-spun reel 鈥� even if the action scenes start to feel tedious.
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
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The grand-prize winner at this year鈥檚 Sundance Film Festival and a contender for a best picture nod, Beasts of the Southern Wild stands an excellent chance of scoring major hardware thanks to its appropriation of impoverished suffering. Set in the ashpit of America鈥檚 melting pot, New Orleans, this feature debut from Wesleyan grad Benh Zeitlin tells the story of a six-year-old living in squalor. Hushpuppy, played here by untrained amateur Quvenzhan茅 Wallis, lives in 鈥淭he Bathtub鈥� with her father Wink (baker-turned-actor Dwight Henry). When we first meet Hushpuppy and her daddy, they seem to be living an almost Eden-like existence 鈥� albeit in a pile of junk, surrounded by rusty debris. Hushpuppy wanders amid the twisted roots and washed-up garbage wearing her rubber boots and underpants, holding various creatures up to her ear, listening for their thumping heartbeat. It鈥檚 all obvious and earnest, and just a little precious, but it鈥檚 still effective and offers a glimpse of America鈥檚 lasting racial cleavage.
INTOUCHABLES
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One of the most successful films to come out of France in a long time, Intouchables is one of those universally appealing stories. Granted, you wouldn鈥檛 think a drama about a man in a wheelchair and his constant care attendant would be all that sexy, but thanks to Fran莽ois Cluzet and Omar Sy as the central odd couple, this poignant comedy unveils a little-seen side of the masculine psyche that is both nurturing and oddly threatening at the same time. The small twists allow the film to transcend clich茅, and the actors carry it home by embracing boyish irresponsibility as well as adult acceptance, ensuring the film has a full spectrum of emotion to feast on every second.
