Thrill gone from new Kidman-Penn drama
· Director Sydney Pollack's _The Interpreter_ is an almost entirely defanged political thriller. At moments it evokes memories of Pollock's previous success in the genre, the Robert Redford-Faye Dunaway classic _Three Days of the Condor_, its James Newton Howard score conjures memories of _The Fugitive_ and its Secret Service subject matter is reminiscent of _In the Line of Fire_. But while _The Interpreter_ is a handsome, well-made production, Pollack seems to have borrowed these films' plot elements and atmosphere while somehow leaving the thrill on the assembly line.
Godard stumbles with pretentious, incoherent 'Musique'
· The French language has a phrase, 'un navet', that is best translated as a theatrical flop or B-list film. The latest film from director Jean-Luc Godard (_À Bout de Soufflé_, _Le Petit Soldat_), _Notre Musique_ ('Our Music'), epitomizes this particular morsel of French vocabulary.