“TOP FIVE” My rating: B
101 minutes | MPAA rating:R
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged "Top Five", Chris Rock, Gabrielle Union, Jerry Seinfeld, Rosario Dawson, Tracy Morgan, Whoopi Goldberg on December 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »
“TOP FIVE” My rating: B
101 minutes | MPAA rating:R
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Danny Boyle, James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel on April 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »
“TRANCE” My rating: C- (Opening wide on April 12)
101 minutes | MPAA rating: R
Danny Boyle is like that little girl with the curl. When’s he’s good (“Trainspotting,” “Shallow Grave,” “28 Days Later,” “`127 Hours”) he’s very good.
And when he screws up – as with “A Life Less Ordinary” and now “Trance” – he’s awful.
“Trance” is a crime thriller so overthought and overwrought that it no longer makes any sense.
It begins with London auction house underling Simon (James McAvoy) attempting to save a precious Goya painting from a gang of crooks who have taken over the premises. In the process he gets banged on the noggin and awakens with no memory of what he’s done with the painting.
This is particularly galling to Frank (Vincent Cassel), the creepily threatening chief robber. You see, Simon was in on the caper and was to have delivered the painting for a fat cut of the proceeds. And now we’re supposed to believe he forgot where he put the goods?
After yanking out all of Simon’s fingernails, Frank is forced to admit that this may be a genuine case of amnesia. He sends Simon to hypnotherapist Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson), hoping that she can unlock the secrets in her patients’ skull.