Critical Week: Heaving bosoms

These three women (Kristin Scott Thomas, Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci) are the object of Robert Pattinson's affections in Bel Ami, which was screened to the press this past week ahead of its release in March. Lucky guy (or girls, depending on your perspective). Although we're not allowed to say what we thought of the film before its world premiere. The only other big movie this week was The Darkest Hour, a visually inventive alien invasion thriller from the minds of Chris Gorak and Timur Bekmambetov, although the script is a bit of a muddle, as is the 3D.

More interesting were the offbeat Largo Winch movies The Heir Apparent and The Burma Conspiracy, which I caught up with ahead of the second film's UK DVD release. Both are snappy globe-hopping adventure thrillers packed with terrific plot twists, a sexy hero (Tomer Sisley) and A-list female costars (including Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Stone). On the other hand, the British adventure thriller Mercenaries never overcomes its small budget, while the biggest star it can muster is Billy Zane. But the best of them all is the Austrian drama Breathing, a subtle and moving film about a young guy trying to come to terms with his own past actions.

This coming week we have a preview of Titanic in 3D, another acclaimed Austrian drama Michael, and another micro-budget thriller X: Night of Vengeance. I'm also revisiting The Muppets on Sunday morning - yay!