Cinema Films (merlynsprankling)

The Enchanted April is quirky, full of humour, of misunderstandings, of instances of characters miscommunicating and misjudging one another's intentions. Yet it's also charming and sweet which candidly explores, albeit somewhat lightheartedly, the heartache four women are nursing caused by aging, marital neglect, and the like.

Based on the 1921 novel by Elizabeth von Armin, the film centers on Lottie Wilkins (Josie Lawrence), a shabby middle-class wife, blessed with a self-proclaimed magical ability to see into people. When her eyes catch a newspaper ad for a month in an Italian villa, she immediately thinks of her downtrodden neighbor Rose Arbuthnot (Miranda Richardson). To save money, two other eccentric femmes join this couple: the haughty widow Mrs. Fisher (Joan Plowright) and the alluring society lady, Caroline Dester (Polly Walker), who is the opposite of all the others.

When they wake up in their villa after a rainy nighttime arrival (Britain still seems to follow them like a cloud), they open their windows to a sunny spring morning on the Italian coast, the hills exploding in flowers and foliage, the Mediterranean waters a captivating azure catching the sun with white accents. It's a fairy tale awakening for them in every way. "It's this place," says Lawrence's newly recharged character.

Then the film slips into internal monologues to tell us about the transformations the characters are going through and they seem so unnecessary so much of the time, mostly because the observations are already so apparent to the eye.

And when the husbands arrive, the old romances are recharged and relationships rekindled with newfound respect and affection, if not for the commitment and compassion and generosity of Mike Newell's direction. It's not about escape or rebirth, it's about renewal and appreciation, with all the restraint we've come to expect in the oh-so-British manner of period movies, but behind that precious romanticism is a genuine commitment to this emotional renewal. This is an earnest movie about personality transformation, self-renewal and life lessons about female camaraderie.

Man on a Ledge is a crime thriller and it has no pretensions to be anything else. Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is released from prison to attend his father's funeral and at the graveside he escapes. Nick is in prison for the theft of the Monarch Diamond that was owned by David Englander (Ed Harris) and Nick believes Englander framed him for the theft.

Nick's plan to prove his innocence is, like all good movie plans, somewhat convulated and involves "schematics" and plastic explosives and a loyal brother with a feisty girl sidekick. It also involves Nick going out onto the ledge of a hotel in the middle of Manhattan and threatening to jump off. Part of the plan is to make sure there are enough TV cameras on Nick so he can shout his innocence from the rooftops, and point the finger at Englander as the thief.

The NYPD have to try and negotiate Nick off the ledge, because a body splattered on the pavement is not good PR for the city -- What would the tourists think? So Jack Dougherty (Ed Burns) is sent in. However Nick wants Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) and the reason for his choice becomes clearer as the film progresses.

While Nick stands on the ledge, his brother Joey (Jamie Bell) with his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez) are breaking into the building where the vault holding the Monarch Diamond is housed.

Man on the Ledge is a well paced film that sits comfortably in its genre. Each member of the cast knows why they are there and what is expected of them. So even if there are stereotypes galore, which includes everything from Harris' nasty, rich, real estate developer diamond owner, to the pretty matching underwear on display by Angie as she suits up for the daring final swing into the vault, there is a certain good humoured charm of the flick that retains the audience' interest.