The Big Sick, Valerian etc and Atomic Blonde

In the desert that is the cinema during the school holidays, an occasional oasis appears; take Juno as an example. This year it's The big sick. Although this is not comparable with the former, its is still an interesting diversion from the cartoons and blockbusters. Not as funny or witty as it could be, and given the plot, we see far too little of Zoe Kazan and too much of co-writer Kumail Nanjiani (no Diablo Cody unfortunately). But in a desert, anything is welcome.

Here is a case in point. I only went to see Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (to give it it's full pretentious title) because of the director. Oh Luc what have you done. When you follow a director sometimes you find a turkey. How can the creator of  Nikita, Leon, The Fifth Element and more recently Lucy come up with such a poor script. He was done no favours by the dreadful Dane DeHann in the title role. Maybe I should have watched it in 3D? Or then maybe I'm too old for this kind of thing.

All that was missing from this high action spy thriller was some wit. The James Bond franchise knew that a quip after a successful punch up was what was needed. In Atomic Blonde it is all too serious. The plot has been derided by some critics as hard to follow, but I didn't find that a problem. The action sequences work quite well and "towering" above all is the cool Charlize Theron. She is not required to put on the acting hat that gave her an Oscar for Monster, but has to reprise the stunts from the excellent 2 Days in the Valley, all of 21 years ago. Time has been kind. Actually she looks better now, especially given all the fabulous costume changes. David Leitch has directed with a relish and there is just about enough story to make this an enjoyable couple of hours.