Film Clips: Tonight’s movie openings and more February 05 2010

OPENING FRIDAY

DEAR JOHN 2 stars (PG-13) Can John (Channing Tatum), a clean-cut Army special forces guy, and Savannah (Amanda Seyfried), an altruistic college student, sustain their romance through love letters, even after the dislocations of Sept. 11? Nicholas Sparks’ bestselling romance novels tend to become tame, overly chaste movies, but under Lasse Hallström’s logy direction, Dear John makes Nights in Rodanthe look like Antichrist. With 20/20 hindsight, the script would have jerked more tears had it followed one of the other roles, especially since Tatum’s acting suggests a less expressive, mush-mouthed Brendan Fraser. — Curt Holman

Link to review

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE (R ) Perhaps the most misleadingly titled film of the year, this shoot-em-up teams John Travolta’s bald, goateed spy with Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ straight-laced embassy employee as they attempt to avert a Parisian terrorist attack. Director Pierre Morel helmed such recent flashy action flicks as the parkour showcase District B13 and Liam Neeson’s hit Taken.

M. HULOT’S HOLIDAY (1953) 4 stars (NR) M. Hulot has impeccable manners for an agent of chaos. The creation and alter ego of beloved French director Jacques Tati, Hulot resembles a cross between an ostrich and a young Stephen Fry. Or perhaps a vintage New Yorker cartoon come to life, with angular elbows, oversized feet and an outthrust pipe perpetually intruding on other people. — Holman