Reviews

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

I love Queen (who doesn’t?), and a couple of hours in the company of their music is always going to have its pleasures. That said, this is the film equivalent of Brian May and Roger Taylor writing their own Wikipedia entries. C+

EMPIRE OF THE SUN

If there’s one man you can trust to turn a Japanese internment camp into a Dickensian theme park, it’s Steven Spielberg. B

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Sleuthy Friedkin thriller which is pepped in three important ways. Giving it a great sense of place, there’s its use of location filming and photography, slaloming in and out of the streets and skyscrapers of New York City. There’s an innovative runaway train-meets-car chase set piece which livens up the middle act. And finally, there’s an abrupt, spooky “where are they now?” coda set to spooky, industrial tones that has a satisfying, well, spookiness about it. It’s a good thing these assets were there to call on, because the thrillerish aspect of the film doesn’t amount to much more than a lot of people following a lot of other people around town till someone falls asleep or slips away or something. In a sleuthy manner of course. B+