Australian cinema has been on the down-low in North America for some time now (albeit, their film stars emigrate to Hollywood on the same order as Canada and the UK), but there has been some really solid stuff coming from down under lately, including Last Ride, Van Dieman’s Land and The Loved Ones. The Square, a stylish crime picture has been touring the festival circuit for some time, had its domestic bow way back in July 2008, is finally getting a limited release in the US in April and a handsomely cut trailer has popped up on Vimeo (and can be found tucked under the seat). The films star, David Roberts, is a dead ringer for David Strathairn!
THE SQUARE centers on an adulterous couple whose scheming leads to arson, blackmail and murder. Escaping the monotony of a loveless marriage, Raymond becomes entangled in an affair with the beautiful and troubled Carla. Ray’s moral limits are tested when Carla presents him with the proceeds of her controlling husband’s latest crime. This is their chance: Take the money and run. If only it were that simple…
(4.5/5)
Mikael Blomkvist (played with both gravity and ease by veteran Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist) is an investigative journalist just convicted for libel after an expose-gone-wrong. He’s mysteriously summoned to a northern village by Henrik Vanger, 82-year-old former CEO of the Vanger Corporation and patriarch of the sprawling Vanger family. Henrik has a 40-year-old mystery that he’d like Blomkvist to take one last stab at before Henrik succumbs to his advanced age – the murder of his grand-niece Harriet in 1966. Intrigued, Blomkvist agrees and begins working his way through cold evidence and long-dead leads. Meanwhile, brilliant but eccentric researcher Lisbeth Salander, who had been hired by Vanger to do a background check on Blomkvist before Vanger contacted him, finds herself drawn into the mystery as well – but not before she takes care of some business of her own.
(3.5/5)
Here’s the deal. The African American hair care business is a $60 billion dollar industry. We’re not talking shampoo, conditioner and hair spray either. We’re talking tons of Relaxer and perhaps an equal amount of hair; real human hair that has been cut from one woman to provide long, straight hair for another. And if you think it’s only the well to do who shell out upwards of $3,000 for hair weaves, you’d better prepare yourself because there are working women all over the US and Canada (as I’m sure there are in other places though the film focuses mainly on the US) walking around with hair that cost more than some cars. No joke.
