TheRetroCritic

With Lara Croft: Tomb Raider doing well at the box-office despite it failing to be the cinematic adaptation of the classic game people were waiting for, a sequel was nonetheless inevitable. New director, new adventure, new hope. Could this be the Tomb Raider film we were all waiting for? Sadly... far from it. Once again, the film misses the point of the game and replaces what should be an Indiana Jones -type of vibe with more of a Mission Impossible approach. Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft is paired with Gerard Butler's agent to uncover Pandora's Box thanks to a big, glowing... Dragonball. The film opens with Lara already on a mission and although there is something really messy and uninvolving about that opening scene, it's all worth it just to see her punch a shark in the face: by far the best and funniest moment in either film. The plot sees a competing douchebag, some evil scientist guy, following the trail of the orb and the Box while Lara attempts to retri

Based on the 1932 film, Boudu is also not unlike 80's Bette Midler/Richard Dreyfuss effort Down and Out in Beverly Hills which was also about a charming homeless man who is recued from certain death and given a room in a well-off couple's home. Interestingly Nolte played the Depardieu role in Three Fugitives (a US remake of Les Fugitifs ) and here Depardieu plays the Nolte role. I'm not sure what this all means but it FEELS significant somehow... (It's not) Boudu is directed by and stars French comedy veteran Gerard Jugnot and the film does feel like the kind of farce he would have done in the 80's, unfortunately the film was made in 2005 after about a million comedies were made with pretty much exactly the same story/structure/jokes. Better late than never? Not in this case. This is really the film's main flaw: it's about 20 years too late. And to be honest, even back then it would have been a bit naff. Acting-wise, everyone does their best but D