Cinema Roundup June 3rd

Movie of the Week - The Measure of a Man

Movie of the Week – The Measure of a Man

The Measure of a Man is a gripping French drama that follows a recently unemployed fifty-something as he struggles to reintegrate himself into a workforce he no longer recognises. Anyone unfortunate enough to have spent time out of work will identify with the anger-inducing bureaucracy on display here. Vincent Lindon gives one of the year’s best performances as a man attempting to hold himself together against the odds. Excellent stuff.

The Nice Guys

Writer-director Shane Black is back to what he does best – a buddy action comedy – with The Nice Guys, which teams Russell Crowe’s thug for hire with Ryan Gosling’s bungling detective in ’70s Los Angeles as they investigate the disappearance of a porn star. The gags come hard and fast in one of the most enjoyable mainstream movies you’ll see this summer.

Me Before You

At first glance, Me Before You seems like a standard rom-com, with Emilia Clarke as a young woman who falls for the quadriplegic in her care, but the film dares to look at the issue of assisted suicide in a mature fashion. It doesn’t quite pull off its ambitions, but it’s a commendable and ballsy attempt to broach a subject many still find taboo.

Race

Race is the latest by the numbers biopic, this time of African-American athlete Jesse Owens, who famously won four gold medals at the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics. It’s well paced and never dull, but the movie is problematic in how it ignores Owens’ own version of events for one more palatable to white people.

The Godfather: Part II

The Lighthouse continues its De Niro / Pacino season with a double bill of the second and third installments of the Godfather trilogy. The former is the highlight of the series, the latter the nadir.

By Eric Hillis of themoviewaffler.com