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THE MATADOR If someone were to greet James Bond by stating, "You look good," the answer would doubtless be something on the order of "Why, thank you" or "That's true." But here, the reply is bitter and blunt: "I look like a Bangkok hooker on a Sunday morning after the Navy's left town." OK, so it's not actually Agent 007 who utters this sharp retort, but coming from Pierce Brosnan, cast as another character who's been given a "licence to kill," it's the next best thing. Brosnan stars as Julian Noble, a career assassin whose life exists on a never-ending loop of getting drunk, getting laid and getting his target. Burning out at a rapid clip, he opens up to a businessman (Greg Kinnear) he meets in a bar in Mexico City, thereby jumpstarting an unusual relationship. Brosnan is performing his own high-wire act here, daring us not to like his sleazy, vulgar, insensitive, immoral character. As a human being, Julian's not much, but as a movie character, he's a keeper. Rating: ***
MATCH POINT An upwardly mobile tennis instructor (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) in London woos a rich woman (Emily Mortimer) but finds himself lusting after an American actress (Scarlett Johansson). Writer-director Woody Allen may have caught a showing of Fatal Attraction before embarking on his screenplay, but more likely, he was inspired by classics of film and literature (most notably Crime and Punishment). Given his reference points, this finds him in a contemplative mood, examining the tug-of-war between love and lust and allowing his protagonist plenty of opportunities to mull over the degree to which blind luck shapes our lives. The film is exceedingly well-written and exquisitely performed (Johansson stands out in her best performance to date), yet for all its dissimilarities to past Allen films, it still ends up playing like a remake of Crimes and Misdemeanors: Allen could have offered more surprises and still retained his thematic stance. But for the most part, Match Point delivers on its premise, and it's gratifying to see Woody back in the game. Rating: ***
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS When did one of cinema's most accomplished actresses turn into one of its most boring? Except for her atypical (and smashing) performance in Iris, Judi Dench has been delivering the exact same performance dating back to 1997 -- that of the frosty, tart-tongued Englishwoman who's clearly smarter than everyone else in the room. She's at it again in this predictable piffle about a wealthy widow who finances vaudeville revues staged with naked young women. The shows prove to be a raging success, but then World War II comes along to rain on everyone's parade. Daffy humor makes way for maudlin drama (complete with requisite wartime speeches), but except for the sight of co-star Bob Hoskins in his own one-man rendition of The Full Monty, there's nothing here to indicate that director Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things) is doing anything but coasting. The blue-hairs will dig it, though. Rating: **
MUNICH Steven Spielberg's Munich is largely a fictionalization of the events that transpired after that tragic day at the 1972 Olympics in Germany, when a group of Palestinian terrorists slaughtered the Israeli athletes they were holding as hostages. The movie reveals that the Israeli government sent a select band of assassins to eliminate everyone who was responsible for the massacre. But these characters aren't positioned as Israel's version of The Untouchables, with clear-cut visions of right and wrong. Instead, as they carry out each hit on their eye-for-an-eye agenda, each man reacts differently to the consequences of their actions. Is this brand of retribution just? Or are they in effect embracing the same ideology that drives the terrorists? Spielberg's muddying of the moral waters has drawn plenty of heat, but it's to his credit as a filmmaker of consequence that he asks the hard questions and doesn't flinch from any unsettling truths that might emerge. Rating: ***
NANNY MCPHEE Reminiscent of the black comedies routinely made by Danny De Vito (most notably his delightful Matilda), Nanny McPhee finds director Kirk Jones and scripter-star Emma Thompson (adapting Christianna Brand's "Nurse Matilda" books) similarly employing menacing situations, questionable comic material and oversized, often grotesque characters in an unorthodox attempt to arrive at a sentimental conclusion. Thompson, delivering a sharp performance under pounds of facial latex, plays the title character, a snaggletooth, wart-sprouting nursemaid who mysteriously shows up to help a widower (Colin Firth) contend with his seven monstrous children. Most of the screen time is spent on the kids, which is a shame, since Thompson's character is by far the most interesting one on view. Nanny McPhee should play well with the small fry, though adults may be more bothered by the clumsy shifts in tone. Rating: **1/2
