Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.

Well, actually, that's a lie. By the time you read this, I'll be in the early days of the SXSW Film Festival. I'll have coverage of a few films from SXSW coming up soon, as well as a few interviews I picked up at the festival. And somehow magically, I'm also covering Chicago's European Union Film Festival, which is taking place throughout the month of March at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and has, over the years, become the Chicago-area film festival I look forward to the most. But first, I still wanted to make sure you got the line on a few things that were opening up this week.

Enjoy…

MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY

My favorite film opening this week (one that has quite a few decent flicks to choose from) is the story of the titular failed British governess (played with full quirky glory by Frances McDormand) who can't get a job in proper society and through a bit a trickery ends up being the social secretary to rising young redheaded bombshell actress Delysia Lafosse (ENCHANTED's Amy Adams) in London, circa 1939. War is about to take over the lives of the country, but that doesn't stop high society from acting just as decadent as they please.

The dowdy Miss Pettigrew must keep all her young charge's boyfriends (including a dirt-poor piano player played by "Pushing Daisies'" Lee Pace, a club owner played by Mark Strong from STARDUST, and a young playboy played by Tom Payne) from bumping into each other, while giving Delysia life lessons on following her heart and not relying on rich men to make her happy and stable. McDormand is absolutely perfect as the overwhelmed, out-of-her-element Pettigrew, but it's Adams who steals every scene, primarily because she's partially undressed most of the time. Adams has never been sexier, clearly drawing influence from Marilyn Monroe, but creating a wholly unique persona that every straight (and a few not-so-straight) man in the audience will fall in love with.

The entire film takes place in about a 24-hour period, and things never stop moving. Additional supporting players Shirley Henderson and the always-reliable Ciaran Hinds as a disintegrating couple just add to the wonder that is MISS PETTIGREW. The film is loaded with great period music, expertly choreographed physical humor, rapid-fire dialogue and costumes so sparkly that you might have spots before your eyes after watching the film. Director Bharat Nalluri (whose last work was the exceptional HBO film TSUNAMI: THE AFTERMATH) has put together a masterful combination of giddy antics and emotionally solid themes about being yourself and loving someone who brings out your greatest passion. The film is colorful, joyous, and, above all, funny. MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY made me laugh the hardest so far in 2008, and I'm going to have to insist you check it out.

10,000 B.C.

We don't need a big number like 10,000 to explain the potential impact of this film about a primitive white tribal leader (Steven Straight of The Covenant) who unites and leads the other tribes of Africa in an attempt to free slaves taken by the more advanced Egyptians to build their pyramids. Let me pick a number like 50; I might even go as high as 60.

My numbers represent the number of years 10,000 B.C. could potentially set back cinematic race relations in this country with its tale of a white savior of the black people. To add insult to the mountains of injury this film inflicted upon me, another facet of the plot involves a prophecy featuring a blue-eyed child (who grows up to be the comically hot Camilla Belle, who is about as convincing as a prehistoric woman as Linda Harrison or Estella Warren in either version of PLANET OF THE APES.

But even forgetting the racial implications of this bloated, self-important joke of a film, its most glaring crime is that it's horribly boring. Weighted down with a useless narration by Omar Sharif (!), the movies tries to convince us that it's about something deep and spiritual with its lengthy discussions of the gods and spirits and demons and warriors. Bring on the saber tooth tigers, and shut the fuck up! I hate to sound like a Neanderthal moviegoer, but if you're going to load up your action film with so much talk, have it mean something and spend a little time on making the dialogue interesting.

Director Roland Emmerich (STARGATE; INDEPENDENCE DAY; the U.S. version of GODZILLA; THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW) manages to put together a few nice special effects sequences involving wooly mammoths, the aforementioned tigers and these strange predators that look like a cross between velociraptors and ostriches.

The best scenes are the two involving mammoth stampedes, but even those seem strikingly similar to what Peter Jackson did in both RETURN OF THE KING and KING KONG. The scale of the film once we get to Egypt (I assume it's Egypt; the film doesn't make that clear) is impressive. The images of the pyramids and other monuments under construction are pretty cool, but the sense of awe wears off quickly once people start to talk again.

But like most Emmerich films, the characters are more like sketches of human beings, the story is laughable and the emotions ring false at every turn. But he goes a step further into banality by setting his film (which he co-wrote) in the cradle of civilization and trivializing humankind's very existence. This film isn't just dull; it's insulting. I don't expect historical accuracy or good science from a Roland Emmerich movie, but at least he's managed to entertain me on a so-bad-it's-good level. But 10,000 B.C. doesn't even manage that.

THE BANK JOB

I'm a Jason Statham apologist, even though I don't think I should have to be. There's something about the little guy with the bald head and muscular build that I just find commanding on screen. He can hold together a B-movie action film like nobody's business and deliver one liners with as much authority as Arnold or Bruce or Sly (maybe even better than Sly).

He doesn't get too many opportunities to flex his acting muscle, which is why I was especially excited to see him in Roger Donaldson's THE BANK JOB, a top-notch, '70s-era heist film that bothers to develop an army of characters to such a degree that I actually cared about them. Go figure. Based on the infamous Lloyds Bank robbery of 1971, which, in addition to cash and jewels, netted its perpetrators some pretty scandalous photos of high-ranking government officials and even a member of the royal family. In addition to showing us the haphazard way the job was carried out by a group of smalltime crooks, the film extends its story to show us the levels of power that were involved in solving the crime and catching (in some cases killing) those that pulled it off.

Statham plays the leader of the criminal gang, who is tipped off by a former flame (Saffron Burrows) to a bank vault whose alarm is turned off temporarily. Leading a colorful team of specialists, Statham is fascinating to watch as he navigates between his team members in the first half of the film and later as a master negotiator who is trying to keep his part of the loot, while keeping the British secret police from killing him and his gang. Director Donaldson (THIRTEEN DAYS; THE RECRUIT; SPECIES; and a person favorite, NO WAY OUT) is absolutely in his element in a complex, layered story such as this.

He takes us through the twists and turns and dirty deals and nasty events, giving us a crackling great story with personality to spare. He even borrows heavily from the style of such films made in the 1970s, to add an extra level of winking authenticity to the proceedings. THE BANK JOB is a smart film about not-so-smart people doing incredibly dumb things with unfathomable results. Oh, you'll get a kick out of this one, I promise. Piece of advice if you do see it: I wouldn't recommend going to the bathroom during this movie, or you'll miss about six plot turns.

THE BAND'S VISIT

In a classic example of an odd story told so beautifully that it rises to the level of magical, THE BAND'S VISIT (which for a time was Israel's Best Foreign Language Oscar contender until the academy decided it had too much English in it) is a warm-hearted, slice-of-life piece about an Egyptian police orchestra that lands in Israel to play at the opening ceremony of a Arab Cultural Center.

When the straight-laced band members end up on the wrong bus and travel to a remote part of the country, they must rely on the kindness of strangers for a night before they get on the right bus for the ceremony the next day. Not much happens in the film but I don't mean to imply that the film isn't wildly entertaining. The rural Israelis give the band members food and lodging for the night, and what results is a series of conversations, moving moments, amusing episodes and even small-scale romance that pass the time and bring a bit of much-needed understanding to this small corner of the world.

There are no bad guys in the film, but that doesn't stop the story from having occasional moments of unease and tension. But the clear point of the film is to build bridges between people not destroy them. Staying away from most obvious avenues of sentimentality, THE BAND'S VISIT is more about getting to know the unfamiliar to alleviate fear and actual form the basis for friendships. The film's small and quiet nature is used to perfection, and the performances (especially those of Sasson Gabei as the band's leader and the lovely Ronit Elkabetz as the Israeli woman who encourages the town to take these men into their homes) are suitably understated.

In the end, neither people nor places have changed drastically, but it's fun to watch them get just a little better.

Capone