What I’ve been watching:

Biutiful
Javier Bardem is terrific in this film about a man with only a short time to live trying to put his life in order. He lives on the wrong side of the law: finding work for illegal aliens, while raising 2 children by himself. Though he tries to do good, things just don’t turn out the way he hopes. This is a sad film with great performances.

The Concert
When a fax comes to the Bolshoi Orchestra inviting them to play in Paris, it is picked up by Andrei, the former Maestro, now the janitor. Fired during the communist era, he is determined to gather the former orchestra members and to take them to Paris for this concert. What follows is a comedy of errors. This was a wonderful movie and had beautiful music.

Mesrine: Public Enemy #1
This is the 2nd part of Mesrine’s story and I liked it better than the first. This one spent more time developing the personality of Mesrine and less time on his crimes. Vincent Cassel is so natural in the film that you forget that he’s playing a part. I liked this film a lot.

Trial & Retribution, season 1
Voorheesville Library does not own this one but you can get it from another library in the system. It is yet another British mystery mini-series. This one resembles Law & Order in that you follow the crime from the police side to the courtroom side. The series is very well done with interesting characters and crimes. The gap between the trial lawyers who seem to live in a whole different plane from the rest of the world: the difference between the British and American judicial system is fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed this series.

Unknown
With this film and Taken Liam Neeson has become a really great action hero. In this one, when he wakes up in the hospital having been in a car crash, he finds that someone else has taken over his name, his wife and his life. He has to search to find out who he is with a little help from the crashed taxi driver. This was reminiscent of The Bourne Identity but it was very exciting!