At the movies with Dan Slevin and Robyn Gallagher

THE French Film Festival is underway at the Embassy.
Despite the organiser’s generous offers of previews, my other commitments (performing The Immortals during the Fringe Festival) have restricted me to only one from the programme so far but it was a goody: The French Kissers is like the flipside of the recent smash-hit The Class (which was a significant hit here last year).
Instead of a dedicated teacher this film focuses on the sex-mad students in a multi-cultural inner city high school.
Beautifully observed, the obsessions and habits of teenage boys are perfectly portrayed. Was I ever like that? I’ll have to refuse to answer on the grounds that I may incriminate myself.

The New Zealand Film Commission is touting films like micro-budget UK thriller Shifty
as the future of low-budget filmmaking in this country and has brought writer-director Eran Creevy out to talk to locals about how they get things done.
After watching Shifty on DVD, I can see their point. It’s a well-made, dark drama about an Anglo-Pakistani drug dealer and the final 24 hours in his career – a run of bad luck means he either has to get out or he will be got out permanently.
The script balances the personal relationship stuff with some clever plotting and Creevy draws good performances from his cast – particularly the electrifying Riz Ahmed as the title character.
Having said all that, the film won’t be to everyone’s taste, but if you want to watch ignorant Poms swearing at each other for an hour and a half while drinking lager from very tall cans, this is the film for you.
Dan Slevin

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PERCY Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, tells the tale of Percy (Logan Lerman), a modern teenage boy who discovers that his dyslexia, ADHD and generally not fitting in, is the result of his dad being Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.
It turns out Percy’s mum had a brief relationship with ol’ Poseidon, making Percy a demigod, born with powers he doesn’t quite know how to handle.
While it would probably be a bit scary for very small children, the kids in the audience at my screening seemed to really enjoy it.
A comparison to Harry Potter is not out of the question – it’s based on a popular young adult book and director Chris Columbus also made the first two Potter films.
And, like Harry Potter, while it’s aimed at a young audience, it’s stylish and clever enough for older audiences to enjoy too. In fact, I’d happily recommend Percy Jackson as a date film.

Made by Pretty Woman director Garry Marshall, Valentine’s Day is an epic intertwining tale of one February 14th in Los Angeles.
The film centres around florist Reed (Ashton Kucher), but it never really spends much time on his story, as there are dozens of other characters to fit in the film, all with their own love story to tell.
The script seems determined to make full use of its star-stuffed cast, cramming in as many love stories as possible. The end result is a film that feels more like a compilation of scenes, not a feature film.
At times it is amusing and touching, but due to the oversized cast, the plot’s momentum keeps dropping with the constant diversions. Somewhere in there is one decent love story trying to get out.
Robyn Gallagher
(Robyn is a Wellington-based web editor and blogger.)