Movie Review: 'Force Majeure' Piles on Dark Laughs For Vacation

The avalanche that started it all in "Force Majeure"

Force Majeure (2014, directed by Ruben Östlund. Sweden, in Swedish and English, color, 118 minutes) I saw "Force Majeure", Sweden's submission for the best foreign language film Oscar consideration, during a packed screening as part of the Philadelphia Film Festival this year. It was one of many sellouts during this year's fest and it's easy to see why.

Tomas, his wife, Ebba, and their two children take to the French Alps for a five-day vacation. The first day goes off without a hitch. Plenty of skiing on the beautifully photographed slopes, a hilarious photo opportunity on the mountain, and cranky kids. You know, it's vacation. Then on the second day, the family has lunch outside at the hotel's restaurant when a controlled avalanche happens, but it looks to get too close and everyone starts running, even Tomas. While Ebba protects the kids as a cloud of snow blankets the deck, Tomas grabs his glove and phone and runs like hell.

23rd Philadelphia Film Festival: Days 1-4

It's here! The 23rd Philadelphia Film Festival is finally underway, and with a good slate of films from all over the world.

The over 100 selections have already had people lining up outside the theaters with their badges and tickets eagerly waiting to see some of the critically acclaimed films that have already made the rounds at international film festivals, from "Birdman" to "Mommy" and foreign language film Oscar hopefuls in "Force Majeure" and "The Way He Looks".

With so much to see, the Philadelphia Film Society, which coordinates the festival, proudly touts that during the 11-day festival you will "see something you'll never forget". Whether these be films that are great or so bad that you'll never forget it, PFF has a line-up that will guarantee some hits and definitely some misses.

Seeing as this was my first time attending a real festival with a badge - last year I bought tickets for four films - I was ready to start binge watching with long days and tons of experiences. There's nothing like spending a day at the movies seeing three or more films in a day. I thought it would be extremely tiring, but it was pretty enjoyable, even when every film you see is foreign and you have to stay awake to read the subtitles.

As I was highly anticipating many films, I soon found that only three days of movie watching I was watching a whole bunch of new movies with tired, redundant stories that brought nothing new to cinema. (Scroll down to the bottom for ratings)