13 November 2026
HOW TO ROB A BANK ***1/2
There are many blockbusters vying for success on the screens, but most of them are regurgitations of bombastic action franchises, produced just to make money for the Hollywood studios. Who cares about the masses who flock to them, drawn by the drummed-up hype, curiosity or sheer habit? It’s the profits that count.
This one, however, is a rarity – in its excitement value, plus its original concept and its serious, very contemporary moral message. Fun, emotion and depth – what more would we want from a super action film?
You’ve got a high-energy, innovative script, terrific music, and perfectly-cast actors such as the veteran John C. Reilly, a bleached-blond Nicholas Hoult (“Juror #2”) and a laid-back Zoë Kravitz. All are directed by stuntman-turned-filmmaker David Leitch, he of such doozies as “Bullet Train” and “The Fall Guy”.
This is as cool as you can get, much like “The Italian Job” or “Baby Driver”. Don’t miss it if you’re looking for quality fun!
15/18 (A Place To Heal) *** (vo French)
This is not an easy film. Held tightly together by Cedric Kahn, the well-known French director who last brought us the outstanding courtroom drama, “Le Procès Goldman”, it is centred on a psychiatric ward for adolescents in a clinic somewhere in suburban France where a group of youngsters, their parents and the nursing staff bounce very authentically off each other.
The youngsters, a dozen of them between fifteen and eighteen years old, are troubled in their heads by one thing or another. The parents, poor things, are troubled to varying degrees by the state of their offspring. The staff, male and female, are competent and sincere but worked completely off their feet and troubled by that fact. The film is lively to say the least and the viewer won’t be nodding off. The youngsters scream, cry, fight, dance, hate and love each other and the world, and create a general mayhem that is sometimes hard to follow. On the darker side, there are serious attempts at suicide, plenty of head-banging schizophrenia on display, and some illicit, underage sex.
Not an easy film as I say, but a very good one and well worth seeing, particularly for anyone in the psychiatric-care profession. Not for those too tender.
(by BJ)
EBENEZER **
This classic Christmas story, based on Charles Dickens’ 1843 “A Christmas Carol”, has been told countless times on stage and screen, starting as early as a six-minute silent version from 1901! And such stars as Albert Finney, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart and Bill Murray have represented Scrooge in a variety of ways, with even the Muppets surrounding Michael Caine in a wonderfully comic version.
This latest adaptation has Johnny Depp playing Scrooge as best as he can under the misguided direction of a certain Ti West, a specialist in horror films. This moving tale, with its grand moral twist, has been turned into a gruesome movie that would definitely displease the great Dickens, and has been judged too disturbing for children under twelve.
What a waste of Depp’s talents! He should have picked the whimsical Tim Burton to tenderise the mood, as they did together in such memorable works as “Edward Scissorhands” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
IL FAUT BRÛLER MAMAN * (vo French)
Albert Dupontel is famous for making darkly-comic, outrageous but also deeply-felt, intellectual films, such as “Adieu Les Cons”. This one is once again over-the-top and outrageous, but unfortunately without his usual dark humour or emotional depth.
Set in a ‘huis clos’, it’s about a family of one brother (played by Dupontel himself) and two sisters who come together for their mother’s funeral at the brother’s funeral home. An employee of the funeral home, who is supposed to be on strike (what else is new in France?!) becomes the fourth character in this foolish tirade on family ties and class distinctions. Dommage.
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.
For more stories like this on Switzerland follow us on Facebook and X.
Leave a Reply