Movies & More

Thu., Nov. 11, 2010

Finally, a French film worth seeing

I like to joke about how much I hate French cinema. It's not true. I don't hate French films any more than any other kind of cinema. I just hate the pretentiousness of those who think that anything au francaise is automatically art.

Of course, I prefer certain kinds of French films more than others. And one that I can't wait to see opens Friday at the Magic Lantern. "Mesrine: Killer Instinct," which stars Vincent Cassel, is an award-winning film about a sociopathic French gangster.

It's been referred to as the French "Scarface."

Damn. Now that's a French movie worth seeing. And the best thing? It's only the first half of a two-film collection.

Below: The trailer for "Mesrine: Killer Instinct."

Posted Nov. 11, 2010, 12:43 p.m.

By Dan Webster

Dan Webster has filled a number of positions at The Spokesman-Review from 1981 to 2009. He started as a sportswriter, was a sports desk copy chief at the Spokane Chronicle for two years, served as assistant features editor and, beginning in 1984, worked at several jobs at once: books editor, columnist, film reviewer and award-winning features writer. In 2003, he created one of the newspaper's first blogs, "Movies & More." He continues to write for The Spokesman-Review's Web site, Spokane7.com, and he both reviews movies for Spokane Public Radio and serves as co-host of the radio station's popular movie-discussion show "Movies 101."