There is an argument, popular among those who like to argue such things, that Sofia Coppola is a better director than her dad, Francis Ford. It’s nonsense, of course: pops made Apocalypse Now, The Godfathers and The Conversation, while tots made Somewhere (out tomorrow, £12.93) — a vapid look at the vapid life of Hollywood celebrity and all the misery of five-star hotels, money and having nice trips to Italy.
Coppola Jr has made fantastic films — in particular the modern masterpiece of dislocation and regret, Lost in Translation — but Somewhere, her first in four years and the most disappointing of the bunch, just seems lazy, shot in Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont hotel, probably a stone's throw from her home. It is about a movie star, Johnny (Stephen Dorff), and the dislocation and regret… Yes, it is Lost in Translation, but without the charm, innocence and wit.
Somewhere and The American (out tomorrow, £9.97) have much in common, not least that they both feature Italy and are both achingly slow. Geography and velocity aside, though, Anton Corbijn’s follow-up to Control aces Coppola Jr’s hotel stay by at least nodding towards a plot.
George Clooney’s Jack is an assassin, over in Italy, probably a stone’s throw from Clooney’s Lake Como home, preparing himself for one last job. The kicker is, he falls in love. Slow, brooding, violent and starring plenty of beautifully framed shots of George being serious, The American is an old-fashioned slow-breather of a picture.
Megamind (out tomorrow, £9.97), meanwhile, is anything but that. Instead, it’s one of those cartoons not made by Pixar and therefore generally ignored on release, but set to build a reputation on DVD. Like last year’s How to Train Your Dragon. Starring the voices of Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller and Tina Fey, this is a conflicted-villain comedy in which Ferrell’s titular baddie needs a new hero to battle in Metro City once he’s offed Metro Man (Pitt). Above-average animation and, well, just look at that cast.
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The thing is, also available is The Killing: Complete Season One (out tomorrow, £38.99). It’s a Danish television programme that lots of people are talking about, and has just finished on the BBC. You may want to block-book a chunk of your life for this.