Logan Lerman (left), Luke Evans and Matthew Macfadyen have a blast in a script that’s not too sharp.
adventure
Pointed fun THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Paul W.S. Ander-
Weibo Ludwig and his family will provoke arguments.
dOCuMentarY
Wiebo rivets WIEbO’S WAR (David York). 94 minutes. Opens Friday (October 21) at the Royal. See Indie and Rep Film, page 89. Rating: NNNNN
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Wiebo’s War has all the ingredients of a great documentary. For starters, it transforms the story of someone we
dOMeStIC draMedY
Gallic gall
THE WOMEN ON THE 6TH FLOOR (Philippe Le Guay). 104 minutes. Subtitled. Opens Friday (October 21). For venues and times, see Movies, page 81. Rating: NN
Wonder why Dominique Strauss-Kahn gets away with his womanizing ways? Check out 60sset The Women On The 6th Floor. It flaunts French sexism at its deepest. Stockbroker JeanLouis Joubert (always effective
unneCeSSarY Sequel
Dead end
DOWN THE ROAD AgAIN (Donald Shebib). 84 minutes. Opens Friday (October 21). For venues and times, see Movies, page 81. Rating: N
Goin’ Down The Road, Donald Shebib’s drama about two Cape Breton buddies who strike out for Toronto only to be chewed up and spat out by the big bad city, is a seminal work of Canadian cinema. Down The Road Again, sadly, is not. Returning to the characters he created in 1970, Shebib has made a wheezy, flat and unnecessary follow-up that
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think we know. Wiebo Ludwig, a devout Christian, was convicted in 1999 of sabotaging gas wells belonging to big oil and gas corp Encana after his farm animals and then the women in his family started miscarrying. He’s a charismatic lead character, sharp and committed, not the nutty cult leader the media made him out to be. No question he’s obsessed and Fabrice Luchini, from Potiche), husband and father of two arrogant sons, lives in luxury on the first floor of a Paris apartment house. His maid shares cramped, almost squalid lodgings on the sixth floor with five other domestic servants. When she quits, she’s replaced by Maria (Natalia Verbeke), a new sixthfloor resident. Maria introduces JeanLouis to her floormates – he seems not to have noticed them previNatalia Verbeke is maid to order.
probably a little paranoid. But that works out well for filmmaker David York. Determined not to let the media – or the law – distort their motives and define the narrative for their political actions, the family began filming every encounter they had with the gas company and law authorities a few years into the process. York mines this treasure trove of footage with great skill. Terrorist or revolutionary? Wiebo’s SUSAN g. COLE War lets you decide. ously – an event that sets off a transformation in his perspective on life. Ah, the French. They’re so smart about class and so dumb about sex. As Jean-Louis starts falling for Maria, we’re supposed to cheer him on. I can actually live with the head of the household being hot for the maid – especially as she’s turning his values system upside down. But why make her half his age, especially when the other five women on the sixth floor are more his vintage? One of them is the very sexy Car men Maura, former Almodóvar muse, a love interest who would have been easier to accept. But then again, you know the SUSAN g.COLE French.
Bradley, whose Joey is seen here in tries in the clumsiest way imaginable clips from the original film. His absence to slap a happy ending on the first leaves a hole that Shebib can’t fill; the film’s downbeat story. whole movie hangs on McGrath’s Easygoing Pete (Douglas McGrath), slumped shoulders, and his blank, now a Vancouver letter carrier facing shrugging presence just retirement, learns that his old pal isn’t enough to drive it. Joey has died and entrusted him Kathleen Robertson with a mission to deliver a letter to brings some energy to the Joey’s ex, Betty (Jayne East role of Joey’s estranged wood) in Toronto, and daughter, but Shebib’s script then go on to Cape Breis only interested in her ton to scatter his symbolic function. Cayle ashes and open a Chernin, in her final perfinal letter. formance, gets even less The entire to do as Betty’s pal Selconcept is hobDouglas McGrath ina. bled by the shouldn’t have gone It’s all such a waste. 2003 death of down the road again. NORMAN WILNER actor Paul
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son). 110 minutes. Opens Friday (October 21). For venues and times, see Movies, page 81. Rating: NNN
There are pretentious movies like Drive that take a brain-dead genre out for a spin, attempting to get all high and arty about it. And then there’s The Three Musketeers, a stupid movie (in 3-D!) that owns its baser instincts, doesn’t try to be anything else and reminds us that there are still some modest pleasures to be had from it. Director Paul W.S. Anderson takes a blunt blade to Alexandre Dumas’s novel, tearing it to shreds and turning it into a B movie adventure with injections of Bond, Indiana Jones and
Pirates Of The Caribbean. The dialogue is so atrocious, it’s practically surreal, the plot (involving airborne battleships designed by Da Vinci) bloated and preposterous, and the Musketeers themselves (Luke Evans, Matthew Macfadyen and Ray Stevenson) far from memorable. But the supporting cast has a ball, including Milla Jovovich as the vixenish Milady, who proves a nimble acrobat even in a corset, and Orlando Bloom as the villainous Buckingham, who is just as concerned about beating King Louis (Freddie Fox) at fashion as he is about defeating him on the battlefield. The movie feels almost like a spoof with a few legitimately rousing action scenes and without the condescending tone. If only all silly movies were this RADHEYAN SIMONPILLAI sincere.
Rowan Atkinson smears on the lip shtick.
SpY SpOOf
Rowan ruined JOHNNY ENgLISH REbORN (Oliver Parker). 101 minutes. Opens Friday (October 21). For venues and times, see Movies, page 81. Rating: NN
Rowan Atkinson returns to his inexplicably popular slapstick spy spoof, a genre that Mike Myers sucked dry a decade ago. Following a failed mission, English heads to Tibet to seek the help of stereotypical Asians who train him to be a hero by dragging heavy objects with his junk. Soon he’s back in Britain and investigating an assassination plot along with a new recruit (Daniel Kalu uya) and his superior (Gillian Ander son). The clichéd spy-movie shenanigans should theoretically tap Atkinson’s genius for verbal (Black Adder) and
physical comedy (Mr. Bean) but never do. The comedian trots out stale oneliners and boring physical business like falling over an exercise ball, never eliciting more than a smile. At this point, Atkinson has the international success that allows him to make almost any project he wants, and without any creative resistance his career has devolved into late John Cleese levels of comedic laziness. To make matters worse, the supporting cast all play straight men to Atkinson’s semi-amusing antics. Uncovering the identity of a mysterious evil agent is simple if you know the Hollywood whodunit convention that the villain is always the most recognizable actor with the least to do. Perhaps this mindless family fluff isn’t worth getting bothered about, but a talent like Atkinson should be counted on for more than mediocre PHIL bROWN sequels.
= Critic’s Pick NNNNN = Top ten of the year NNNN = Honourable mention NNN = Entertaining NN = Mediocre N = Bomb