Roschdy Zem

CHICAGO – Excluding its rather unnecessary epilogue, Fred Cavayé’s latest thriller, “Point Blank,” clocks in around one hour and fifteen minutes. It’s a fast paced film, but it oddly never feels rushed. All of the set-pieces and dramatic revelations are present and executed to perfection. What’s lacking here is the extra padding so often found in bloated Hollywood blockbusters.

CHICAGO – In our latest French thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 10 admit-two run-of-engagement movie passes up for grabs to the film “Point Blank” from French director Fred Cavayé!

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Fred Cavaye follows his international hit “Anything For Her” (remade here as the Russell Crowe vehicle “The Next Three Days”) with another sure-to-be-remade action thriller yet again about an unlucky man going to whatever ends required to save the love of his life. With crackerjack pacing and a driven, no-frills script that brings the whole thing to a lean close in under 80 minutes (sans credits), “Point Blank” is an adrenalin-driven shot to the arthouse scene. It may be ultimately too inconsequential and a bit too manipulative to be considered great, but it’s still pretty damn enjoyable.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Rachid Bouchareb’s “Outside the Law” paints a vivid family portrait of a trio of brothers at the forefront of a violent, impassioned time in France as the country was trying to stop a revolution in Algeria and dealing with the violence that brought to their home country. With a story that spans decades, “Outside the Law” is sometimes a bit too episodic and stuffed with history to register emotionally but the three central performances carry the piece overall.