Susan Hated Literature

Dir & Writ: Luc Besson

• Jamel Debbouze - André
• Rie Rasmussen - Angel-A

Don’t you just hate when a film you’ve been enjoying falls to pieces in the final third?
Angel-A starts off well. We meet André as he tries to talk his way out of debt, on a few occasions. None of his smooth talking seems to go down very well, so he thinks maybe the American embassy will offer some help. He is an American citizen after all. But no, they don’t, and suicide crosses his mind. Crosses it enough for him to stand on one of Paris’ many bridges and think about jumping.

As he is preparing to leap he notices a woman standing close by, and after a brief exchange of dialogue she jumps. He follows suit, not in an effort to kill himself, but because he wants to save her.

I really enjoyed the first half of this film, it has a nice, slightly comedic tone, and everything looks stunning. Black and white photography really can make everything look great. The plot wasn’t the best, but I enjoyed the interaction between André and Angela. Unfortunately it all goes to pot at the end. Overblown and underwritten. It is nothing but a mess as it tries far too hard to make some philosophical point about love and identity and loving oneself. It fails, instead veering off into melodrama.

That’s not to say I hated, I still enjoyed, but only a little. If I was being all stereotypical I would even say it is a typical French film; black and white, and a lot of talk about nothing.

IMDb | Movie reviews for greedy capitalist bastards | The Focus Clinic | SheWhoMust

Tags: 6 Stars, Angel-A, angels, French, good premise, Jamel Debbouze, Luc Besson, overblown, Rie Rasmussen, romance, sff, stylish, subtitled, underwritten, weak ending

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dir. Joel Schumacher
Writ: Andrew Lloyd Webber & Joel Schumacher, based on book by Gaston Leroux
Starring:

* Gerard Butler - The Phantom
* Emmy Rossum - Christine
* Patrick Wilson - Raoul

I had expected to enjoy this. But no, it was over long, over crap, and just plain boring.

There isn’t really a lot more to say, but I suppose you bothered to click on a link to take you here so I’d better type something for you to read.

There are two main flaws with this film.
First off it should have chopped some songs out. Seems as thought there was no editing at all, and everything is faithful to the stage show. (Maybe fans of that will enjoy this)
Second of all, the characters. Christine has none. She does nothing but react, and not even a lot of that.

So, all in all, give it a miss. It does pick up the pace a little towards the end, but by that stage no one really cares. Thank god for popcorn to keep you entertained is all I can say.

Total and utter BLEUCH!

Tags: 3 Stars, Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on book, Emmy Rossum, Gaston Leroux, Gerard Butler, Joel Schumacher, musical, overblown, overlong, Patrick Wilson, romance, The Phantom of the Opera

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