Daniel Delume Movies

Elijah Wood steps into the role made iconic by Joe Spinell in this reboot of the 1980 horror film featuring an artistic style that takes you into the killer's POV. When a mannequin store owner (Wood) meets an attractive artist (Megan Duffy), his psychotic impulses are awakened and soon he starts a murderous rampage across L.A. Piranha 3D's screenwriting duo of Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur provide the script, with P2's Franck Khalfoun handling directing duties. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, Rovi

Director Christophe Barratier adapts author Louis Pergaud's novel set in the French countryside during World War II, which follows the escalating feud between two groups of youths from rival villages who seek to collect each other's buttons. The children of Longeverne have never liked their peers in the neighboring village of Velran, and as war rages throughout Europe, tensions among the youths spike. But rather than using bullets and guns to defeat their opponents, the children create an innovative new means of achieving victory: Upon capturing one of their adversaries, the conquerors claim the buttons right off of his clothes. At the end of the war, whichever team possesses the most buttons will be the undisputed winner. As a result, 13-year-old Longeverne leader Lebrac and his loyal young army wage a relentless campaign to claim every button from their enemies in Velran. Meanwhile, a pretty young Jewish girl named Violette arrives in Longeverne from the city. For Violette, hiding out with her enchanting aunt Simone is a matter of life or death. And the more time Violette spends in Longeverne, the closer she grows to Lebrac. Before long, it becomes apparent to Lebrac that there's much more at stake in this battle than the buttons on his rivals' jackets. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The true story of one of Europe's most infamous and charismatic criminals comes to a close in this drama based on the life and crimes of Jacques Mesrine. Picking up where L'Instinct de Mort left off, L'Ennemi Public No. 1 begins as Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) returns to France after an exile in Canada. Teaming up with gunman Michel Ardouin (Samuel Le Bihan), Mesrine masterminds a series of armed robberies, and while he's able to stay one step ahead of the law most of the time, eventually he finds himself back in prison, where he makes friends with the clever François (Mathieu Amalric). With François' help, Mesrine breaks out of prison and becomes something of a celebrity, penning an autobiography, hob-nobbing with the wealthy and trying to paint himself as a political radical with the help of leftist spokesman Charlie (Gérard Lanvin). Mesrine also renews his relationship with his girlfriend, Sylvia (Ludivine Sagnier), but he also turns his back on some of his old friends and underestimates the determination of the French police to stop him once and for all. L'Ennemi Public No. 1 (aka Public Enemy No. 1, Part 2) went into release in late 2008, while the wildly successful L'Instinct de Mort was still playing in French theaters. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This tough and gritty French-language crime drama represents the premier installment in a two-part series of features on the life and doings of notorious Gallic hood Jacques Mesrine (1936-79). Mesrine is played, in both installments, by actor Vincent Cassel (Sa Majeste Minor), who reportedly underwent massive weight gain and weight loss to convincingly portray the volatile Mesrine at various periods of his life. Director Jean-François Richet begins in 1979, with Mesrine's uncommonly violent death, whereby he and a beautiful young woman are suddenly (and fatally) ambushed by Parisian police not far from Mesrine's place of birth; Richet then flashes back to the Franco-Algerian War of the late 1950s and a brutal interrogation undergone by Mesrine. Following a military discharge, Mesrine returns to his parents' suburb of Clichy, where his dad has arranged a pathetic job for him in a lacemaking factory. Never one to take humiliation lying down, Jacques perceives burglary, larceny and racketeering as much-superior options and decides to pursue a life of crime via a "business partnership" with childhood buddy Paul (Gilles Lellouche), who works for mobster Guido (Gerard Depardieu). As the years pass, Jacques works his way up through the ranks of the underworld; via Paul, he also meets and falls hard for two women: Pigalle streetwalker Sarah (Florence Thomassin), and Sofia (Elena Anaya), a beautiful Spanish woman with whom he cohabitates after doing time in a French prison. Following a brief and unsuccessful attempt to "go straight," Jacques re-connects with Guido, then finds it necessary to escape from France to Canada with his new mistress Jeanne (Cecile de France). Unfortunately, another prison sentence is waiting for him there, replete with brutal solitary confinement, but the possibility of a daring escape beckons. Part two of the Mesrine saga, entitled Mesrine: L'Énnemi public no. 1 for French release, followed immediately after and picks up where this installment wraps. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Neither the youthful or the experienced have a monopoly on the joys or the follies of romance -- or at least that appears to be the message of Jean-Charles Tacchella's Les Gens Qui S'Aiment. Jean-Francois (Richard Berry) and Angie (Jacqueline Bisset) have known each other for 25 years and have been lovers on and off for most of that time. After two marriages (one ending in divorce, the other with her husband's death) and two children, the free-spirited Angie has returned to Jean-Francois, only to announce after a year of living together that she's leaving him to open a antique business in the United States. Jean-Francois regrets Angie's decision, but also knows her well enough to know there's little he can do to change her mind. Five years later, Jean-Francois has become friends with Angie's daughter Winnie (Julie Gayet), who now lives in Paris and has fallen in love with Laurent (Bruno Putzulu), a carefree artist who lives in a studio given to him by his father. However, after sleeping with Laurent, Winnie is convinced he can't be trusted and keeps him at a distance. Over the next few years, Laurent keeps running into Winnie, and Angie periodically arrives at Jean-Francois' doorstep only to leave again shortly after. Les Gens Qui S'Aiment was enthusiastically received in its' screening at the 1999 French-American Film Workshop at Avignon, France. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi