Can't please everyone

In a perfect example of the old adage that you can't please everyone, my new copy of movie mag Empire (with an excellent 3-D Superman cover!) has a review of one movie and one DVD release, both of which I saw ages ago and both starring one of the best actors around, Daniel Auteil. Empire loves 36 (which was still 36 Quai des Orfevres when Mel and I saw it last year the the Festival) and they thought Cache (Hidden) was also a daringly different and amazing thriller and gave both French flicks many a star in their ratings. Scotland on Sunday also loved 36:

"Based on true events, 36 is a steely thriller that combines the hardboiled attitude of LA Confidential with an elaborate tale of righteous anger and revenge that could have been penned by Alexandre Dumas or Victor Hugo."

Oh dear. Oh deary, deary me. I thought both stunk like a skunk pie with a side serving of armpit souffle. And please don't insult one of my favourite writers, Dumas, by comparing 36 to him, because 36 is an awful, hackneyed, lazy, predictable piece of crap which I suspect is getting more kudos than it deserves because it has two of the best French actors (or best actors full stop) Gerard Depardieu and Daniel Auteil but actually came across to me as the sort of glossy but insubstantial pap you'd expect from mainstream Hollywood. I also strongly suspect that had this been a Hollywood productions most reviewers would be saying similar things to myself, but because it is French it gets more leeway because they want it to be good (so did I - mel and I went to see it knowing almost nothing about it, but since it had Gerard and Daniel in it we were happy to go in blind, which made the disappontment worse).

And Hidden wasn't daring, it was just deadly dull, pointless, boring, aimless, directionless, passionless and worst of all Juliette Binoche didn't take her clothes off. Actually it looked to me to be the sort of European film that comedy shows pastiche because it was so up its own arse. I do appreciate someone trying to do something clever and new with a thriller, as say Chris Nolan did with Memento, but this isn't clever (but I think it believes it is). Still, as with all reviews it is down to taste and I've raved about good books and films and found folk who agreed but also folk who disagreed. At least that makes life more interesting. How boring would it be if we all agreed??? Still, they are bad films :-). And Mel hated them both too, so it ain't just me.