THE INTERNATIONAL. Clive Owen stars as a former Scotland Yard investigator who is now working for Interpol. He has teamed up with Naomi Watts, a district attorney with New York City. They are both somewhat obsessed with trying to get evidence against a Luxumbourg-based bank that is laundering money for organized crime, involved in arms deals, etc., etc. But it is a powerful bank whose tentacles are everywhere. And it appears the bank officers are willing to kill anyone who gets in their way. Back and forth - will the investigators get the evidence they need to make their case? This political thriller isn't a true action film, and some of the explanation of what's going on was lost on me, but it is fun in this day and age to have a bank be the villain. There is a climactic scene with terrific visuals in the Guggenheim Museum in New York that made the movie worth the price of the ticket for me.
WALTZ WITH BASHIR. The filmmaker in this animated movie is talking with a friend about the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon when he realizes that although he served in the army during that time, he has no memory of the war itself. So he travels around interviewing people who were with him, to see if he can recover his memories. Because it is animated, the movie can shows each person's perceptions of the war as he or she remembers it. In watching this movie, it may help to remember/know a little history of that time, which includes the assassination of a Lebanese leader, and a massacre of Palestinians in refugee camps. Animated, in that way of WAKING LIFE or POLAR EXPRESS. Sometimes it seems real, sometimes more dream-like. Very intense documentary - it would have been unwatchable (I think) if not animated. Nominated for Best Foreign Film (Japan won).
TAKEN. Action thriller starring Liam Neeson as a former CIA agent who has quit his job so he can be closer to his teeange daughter. He's divorced, and the daughter lives with her now-remarried mother and wealthy step-father. With all that money, she's a bit of a spoiled brat. Still, she doesn't deserve to be kidnapped, which is what happens when she goes to Paris for the summer. Dad goes into overdrive to bring his daughter home safely. Because of his background, he can do anything. This isn't a especially original movie for the action genre, but it's not horrible. If you don't want to commit to something deep, and don't care about whether it's believable or not, this is the movie for you, and it's only 90 minutes long.
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I liked the International, i'm all about Clive. Another thing I liked was that there was no 'hidden or implied' romantic longing between Clive and Naomi to clunk up the drives. They were both professional people, doing a job, and she had a full family life.
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