While none would claim that we’re currently in the midst of a golden age for cinema, it’s rare that a week offers releases of such meagre quality as this one. Even filmmaking legend Woody Allen, a director whose appearance heralded one of the greatest eras of American cinema, cannot elevate the sorry platter I have to serve for you this week.
Irrational Man stars Joaquin Phoenix as a disillusioned college professor who begins a relationship with a student and finds purpose in life after overhearing a woman despair over losing custody of her children. This is Woody Allen’s 51st film as director, and while that list has its share of misses amongst the hits, with an aggregate rating of 38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, this apparently belongs firmly to the former.
Also on release is Vacation, an attempt to revive the National Lampoon’s franchise, replacing Chevy Chase (who makes an appearance) with his character’s son, played by Ed Helms (The Hangover, The Office). It looks unlikely to spawn sequels.
Five Flights Up is a drama concerning an elderly couple who are having trouble moving house. That’s the synopsis. Powerhouse leads Diane Keaton and Morgan Freeman fail to make it any more interesting.
Finally there’s Pixels, which is a comedy featuring the annihilation of planet Earth by characters from 1980s video games such as Q*Bert and Pacman. Sounds promising until you realise that humanity’s last hope is Adam Sandler. See this week’s review.
Over at Cinemateket, your choices are somewhat richer. A retrospective series on Peter Bogdanovich, known to younger audiences as the therapist’s therapist in The Sopranos, showcases his incredible career as a writer/director in the ‘70s with classics such as Targets, The Last Picture Show (Saturday the 15th at 12:30) and Paper Moon (Thursday the 13th at 21:45).
On Sunday at 14:15, Cinemateket’s Danish On A Sunday series is showing the second season of The Kingdom (Riget), Lars Von Trier’s surreal foray into television (with English subs). Tickets are 75-100 kroner plus an extra 40kr for a coffee and a pastry. For full listings see dfi.dk/Filmhuset.
