1 August 2025.
THE NAKED GUN ***
If you’re looking for that rare laugh-a-minute comedy, this is it. Remember the old “Naked Gun” trilogy from 1988 to 1994, with Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley, or that 1980 classic spoof “Airplane” starring everyone from Lloyd Bridges, Nielsen, Peter Graves to Robert Stack? Those were the gold standard of satire comedy.
Well, this is their very worthy offspring. What’s brilliant is that they’ve brought in Liam Neeson, the acclaimed Irish actor of “Schindler’s List” and “Michael Collins”, who’s been busy doing the trashy “Taken” franchise in recent years. His craggy seriousness is just the right foil to the silliness of this delicious foolery!
A sensational parody of cop and film noir genres (written and directed by Akiva Schaffer), it starts with a wham bang bank heist that introduces Neeson in all his glory. It follows with gag after inventive gag – watch out for the coffee comebacks, the car scenes, the toilet problems….anything for a laugh!
Until Pamela Anderson walks in – ah, ultimate film noir, with a saxophonious soundtrack to boot. She’s quite a find in her complete, mature femininity, lovely wrinkles and all. And her jazz scatting is a moment to behold in all its wackiness. And there’s real chemistry between her and Neeson….
It’s an absolute hoot – foolishness supreme – you’ll be laughing long after you’ve left the movie, reliving various looney scenes.
SEX/DESIRE – OSLO STORIES *** (vo Norwegian)
Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud has created a trilogy about the openness and basic decency of his countrymen, making it also an homage to his hometown, Oslo. The films, titled “Sex/Desire”, “Love” and “Dreams” (which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival), will each be released one week apart, through August 13th.
Despite their catchy titles, they are actually introspective, almost philosophical mood films about fluid relationships and the human condition. Their common thread is that they are based in Oslo, a modern, easy-living Nordic city, the honesty and tolerance of its individuals, along with a haunting soundtrack. Each film has its own actors and storyline, basically conversation pieces that become more interesting and intense as the film delves deeper into the different characters’ psyches.
This one concerns a conversation between two chimney sweep colleagues, starting off with a dream that one of them has had the night before about David Bowie. The other tells his mate that he has just had a homosexual encounter with a random client, and that he told his wife about it since it was his first and only experience of the kind.
The rest is for you to discover how such revelations evolve in moral and emotional terms…
DRACULA – A LOVE TALE **
I’ve always been an admirer of French director Luc Besson. Early on, his innovative and varied style showed an innate talent. With such bold films as “Subway” in 1985, the grandiose “Le Grand Bleu” from 1988, to “Nikita” and “The Fifth Element” in the ‘90s, he shook up French cinema and went international. And then there was the shocking “Lucy” in 2014, with Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman – way ahead of its time.
Unfortunately, of late he has let his sentimentality take over his great talent, as in this latest version of Dracula, starring an over-acting Caleb Landry Jones (last seen in Besson’s 2023 “Dogman”) and Christoph Waltz. This dark Gothic tale of a lost love waiting 400 years to be reborn, with religious damnation, fierce battles and too many ghostly creatures, is a huge mishmash of genres that is somewhat embarrassing in its hyperbole.
Come on, Luc – you can get back in the groove if you remember that ‘less is more’….
THE BAD GUYS 2 *1/2
My mistake – I thought I was going to see the naughty twosome of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. But they are of the “Bad Boys” action franchise. This is an action animation from DreamWorks, having nothing to do with those fun human guys.
With a wolf as their leader (voiced by Sam Rockwell), the cartoon pulls us through some over-excited shenanigans of not much interest, probably not even for the kids.
Superb **** Very Good *** Good ** Mediocre * Miserable – no stars
By Neptune
Neptune Ravar Ingwersen reviews film extensively for publications in Switzerland. She views 4 to 8 films a week and her aim is to sort the wheat from the chaff for readers.
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