Sometimes a franchise runs too long, becoming repetitive and joyless. That’s the feeling I had sitting through the nearly three hours of The Dark Knight Rises in which even the villain seemed depressed and, truth be told, only mildly interested in his goal to explode a nuclear device in New York.

Reinterpreting classic novels proves irresistible to filmmakers, and British director Michael Winterbottom has taken the bait with Trishna. This version of English novelist Thomas Hardy’s melodramatic Tess of the d’Urbervilles moves Hardy’s 1891 story to contemporary India where class and gender inequities rule and defeat the beautiful Trishna and the callous Jay.

With the many concert documentaries, there certainly is no desperate need for another—unless it’s Jonathan Demme’s Neil Young Journeys. Shot in May 2011, this refreshingly personal documentary visits Young’s home town Omemee, Ontario where Young, occasionally in the presence of his brother Bob, talks about his family and early years growing up there.

The Fourth Annual Classic French Film Festival continues Thursday, July 19th and through Sunday, July 29th at Webster University with eight different programs. Directors range from silent film pioneer Georges Méliès to New Wave’s Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette, Chris Marker and Henri-Georges Clouzot to Jean Renoir and Jean Vigo.

The Fourth Annual Classic French Film Festival begins Friday, July 13th and runs through Sunday, July 29th at Webster University. The eleven different programs include four newly restored feature films and one restored short; namely, Georges Méliès’ fabulous “A Trip to the Moon,” included in a special program devoted entirely to his silent films.

Rebooting the beloved, 50-year old Spider-Man story, director Mark Webb’s film champions this iconic superhero in The Amazing Spider-Man. It focuses, as it should, on the emotional core: the father who disappears, the devoted uncle murdered, scientific experiments gone wrong, and a determination, as well as the powers needed, to do good.

The 12th annual Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase continues through Thursday, July 12th with an array of choices at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre. Showcasing local talent, all the selections have St. Louis area writers, directors, editors and/or producers or the works have strong local ties. Compilations of short films appear in programs labeled: documentaries, thrillers, experimental, comedy and relationships.

The 12th annual Whitaker St. Louis Filmmakers Showcase begins Saturday, July 7th and runs through Thursday, July 12th. Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre hosts 16 programs with fiction and nonfiction feature-length works and compilations of shorter films. Showcasing local talent, all the selections have St. Louis area writers, directors, editors and/or producers or the works have strong local ties.