Capsules for movie No. 33-37

Movie No. 33: "Flight of the Red Balloon": This is one of those "what am I missing?" films. Proclaimed by many to be a masterpiece, forgive me, but I just don't see it. The film is fine from scene to scene, but there is not much cohesiveness, other than perhaps a thematic focus on the harriedness of modern life. And that would be fine, except that the film flits about this way and that, much like its main character, a busy mother played by Juliette Binoche, and the titular red balloon. And perhaps that is the point, but I still don't see that making it great. B

Movie No. 34: "Burn after Reading": This send up of spy films is an entertaining enough flick, but it is still a minor Coen brothers work. An easy way to tell? A Coen brothers film starring George Clooney, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich and Richard Jenkins should not be able to be completely stolen in just two scenes by J.K. Simmons. But this one is. That's not to say it doesn't have its merits. Its twisting of spy movie staples into its own "unintelligence" story is often quite clever, and the film does have laughs, especially Simmons' two scenes. In other words, it's no "Ladykillers," but it doesn't rise to the consistently inspired heights of the pair's best comedies either. B

Movie No. 35: "Tropic Thunder": Robert Downey Jr. is an acting genius. It's unfortunate the word can't be used to describe much else about this comedy. That's too bad because you can see something pretty special lurking there, if Ben Stiller and his co-writers had sharpened their knives and their focus a little more. Stiller, Downey Jr. and Jack Black play a trio of movie stars (the washed up action star, a five-time Oscar winner who has undergone a skin pigment procedure to play a black character and the star of a bunch of fart comedies, respectively) unsuccessfully trying to shoot a war movie when they get caught up in a real-life battle with a drug cartel. Downey's Kirk Lazarus is the best part about the film, showing an ability to be sharply focused and completely in character even during the film's broadest scenes. Stiller, who admittedly is less grating than he often has been in recent years, and Black don't fare quite as well. Neither is awful, but their performances, like the film's jokes, only work sporadically. It also probably could have used more precise editing. Even some of the movie's funnier scenes tend to drift on for too long, destroying the comic momentum (most notably one involving Tom Cruise as an evil mogul). Special mention does go to Jay Baruchel, though, who barely gets mentioned as being in the film but whose straight man actually gets more laughs than most of the film's stars. C+

Movie No. 36: "21": A rather indifferent telling of an interesting story, "21" is the tale of a group of MIT students who, working with their professor, employ a card-counting system to win loads of money at Vegas casinos, drawing the attention of an old-school Vegas enforcer. The montage-heavy style does little to make the film more interesting, but it doesn't detract enough to keep it from being watchable. Just competant enough to not be bad. C

Movie No. 37: "Quantum of Solace": The first scene in "Casino Royale" set the tone for the entire movie. It was bloody, jarring, dark and in a couple of minutes successfully rebooted a decades-old character. In a word, it was brilliant. Unfortunately, the first scene in Quantum of Solace also sets the tone. This time, Bond is in the middle of a car chase. Exciting start, right? Well, it might have been had it not been so haphazardly shot and edited as to make it almost impossible to tell which car was which. Instead of exciting, it is simply dizzying, distancing and confusing. Such is the case with "Monster's Ball" director Marc Forster's crack at the Bond franchise. Most of the film, at least the action scenes, seem to have been scripted or designed by someone who had just watched the Bourne trilogy back-to-back-to-back without understanding why those films worked. And things don't get better when Forster tries to add artistic flourishes, such as intercutting one action sequence with a scene from an opera going on in the background. The film also seems as though it wants to say something about what vengeance does to you, but it never really is able to rise to the occasion. Thankfully, however, the cast is back. Daniel Craig is still great in this role, combining a rough-hewn swagger with fierce determination. Also thankfully returning are Judi Dench and Giancarlo Giannini. Thanks to them, the non-action scenes are actually something of a joy to watch, a reminder of how good "Casino Royale" was. Here's hoping that the next Bond film is more like that film than this one. C

Four more to go, sometime later this week.