Double review

Sure ... I'd expect French cinema to be pretentious, but I thought the recent proliferation of American musical movies would have improved the genre by now. But that isn't the case.

Here are two quick reviews of some recent viewings that brought little to the table.

1. "Across the Universe"



What previews made out to be a kind of good idea turned out to be exactly what you would have guessed: self-absorbed, self-important drivel. "Across the Universe" is nothing more than an artsy wanna be production stringing together unlikable characters through poorly arranged Beatles video segments.

These songs are not good reimaginings of the original Beatles greats; they're irritatingly annoying and totally boring. Lifeless songs, silly visuals, unbelievable characters and other loose creative holds make this one a waste.

Grade: D (for being boring and surprisingly unoriginal ..... and messing with a few great Beatles tunes)


2. "13 Tzameti"



Supposedly, the French-fried "13 Tzameti" was so good it deserved a bag of awards from many international film gatherings. And while I found most of the initial build-up to be fairly good, the remaining "execution" was laughable.

In short, a youngster ends up stealing and taking advantage of passage to a secret event he knows nothing about. Once on the scene, the dude quickly realizes he's in a very different world where he could either earn a lot of money or die a nasty death.

Sounds interesting, right? I agree with you; it's a great mysterious premise. The problem comes in the heavy-handed, sluggish and vacuous production. There is so much promise here, but it all falls apart. Before it's over, you'll likely find yourself accurately guessing how all the underdeveloped characters close it out.

Grade: D+ (great idea ..... bad follow through)