filmland / By Charlie Myers

Thrills! Spills! Apocalypse!

Gibson is solid, but the most interesting character in the story is Darius Jedburgh (wonderfully played by Ray Winstone), the guy who keeps people from connecting A to B. No surprises here but nicely accomplished. Rated R for strong bloody violence and language. 117m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek and Fortuna.

BROKEN EMBRACES:Broken Embraces is a wonderfully acted, intriguingly photographed and expertly directed complex narrative about love, possession and artistic impulses.

Directed by Pedro Almodovar, the story opens in 2008 with “Harry Caine” (Lluís Homar), a blind writer who adopted this name when he became blind and couldn’t make films anymore as Mateo Blanco. Then there’s his agent, Judit Garcia (Blanca Portillo), and her adult son Diego (Tamar Novas), who helps Harry with his writing.

The sudden appearance of “Rayo X” (Rubén Ochandiano), who wants Harry to write a screenplay, forces him to recall the past — particularly 1994, when Mateo directed a film starring Lena (Penelope Cruz in a fully realized performance). A former secretary, Lena is living with her millionaire former boss, Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), but wants to be an actress. When she is cast as the lead in Mateo’s film and they fall in love, jealousies and hidden motivations lead to tragedy in the past and revelations in the present, and we are once again reminded that films often outlive those who are involved with them. Invoking The Third Man, another complex narrative about love and betrayal, Almodovar tells his story without a single wasted shot.

When I saw this film at a Sunday matinee in Denver with some 100 people in attendance, there was deserved applause at the end. I can only hope the three people at the local screening (apart from me and my companion) enjoyed the film as well. Broken Embraces is what filmmaking should be. In Spanish with English subtitles. Rated R for sexual content, language and some drug material. 127 m. At the Minor.

WHEN IN ROME: I can only hope that people out there in our fair county are having a better time of it in the romance department than people in the lame romantic comedies released so far this year. As for the comedy aspect, that quality surely improved with the release of Apple’s iPad.

When in Rome pairs Gossip Girl‘s Kristen Bell with Josh Duhamel (TV’s Las Vegas) as the would-be romantic couple Beth and Nick. I started to hate it from the opening music, a bland pop song entitled “Kickin’ With You,” performed by Jason Mraz.

The formula points: Beth and Nick meet cute at her sister’s wedding in Rome when Beth can’t break the wedding vase. Barriers to their union arise when she takes coins from the fountain and the owners of the coins fall under her spell. One coin (a poker chip, actually) belongs to Nick, so his love can’t be real. She has to give the coins back to break the spell. Nick still loves her. But wait, she may have returned the wrong chip.

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