At the Movies With Peter Travers: “From Paris With Love” and “Dear John”
There’s some bad news for all you who wanted to kill time at the multiplex this weekend before the Super Bowl: In this installment of *At the Movies*, Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers says it’s a bleak, bleak week for new films. You pretty much have two new flicks entering theaters this weekend, and they’re both pretty awful.
Let’s start with From Paris With Love, which is not a foreign film about romance in France as the title suggests. Instead, it’s an action flick starring John Travolta as a spy who assassinates people in increasingly bombastic ways. The title is a take on the James Bond film From Russia With Love, but From Paris misses the mark big time. Travolta is in his full zany Taking of Pelham 123 mode once again in this film by Pierre Morel, who in 2008 directed Liam Neeson in an action film called Taken, which Travers says is far superior to this film one.
But From Paris With Love is Die Hard compared to this week’s other new film, Dear John, starring the oldest daughter from Big Love (Amanda Seyfried) and the lead guy in G.I. Joe (Channing Tatum). Where to begin: Dear John is too saccharine, it exploits 9/11, it’s based on a book by the author of The Notebook. In short, this film is a “shitload of drool,” says Travers.
Instead of giving your hard-earned money to either of these movies, Travers recommends you check out a pair of Oscar-nominated films reentering cinemas this week, The Messenger and the Best Picture-nominated The Hurt Locker.
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