Capture The Flag
We’re used to animated films coming from continental Europe
to be rather poor. Cheesily written, perhaps owing to poor translation, badly
animated due to diminished budgets and at their worst, almost unwatchable.
Capture The Flag is hardly up there with the best of Pixar, but it is of a
higher standing than most of the animated fare getting pushed from the smaller
studios into cinemas. The story of a young boy, his astronaut grandfather and a
girl heading off to the moon, Capture The Flag features some bright animation,
entertaining characters and some surprisingly original and interesting twists
and turns along moments of beauty. Some of the characterisations are still a
little broad, including the film’s antagonist who seems unrealistically hammy
even for a cartoon character, but Capture The Flag still has moments that
definitely make it worthwhile for curious kids.
Dirty Grandpa
Robert De Niro and Zac Efron star in this tasteless low-brow
comedy in which Efron’s recently-widowed grandfather shows his grandson how to
have a good time at Spring Break. If the
film has one saving grace it is that Robert De Niro clearly is trying hard for
a film that’s really not worth that effort. What we have is a film of crass and
offensive material given to an audience for whom they seem to have the lowest
amount of expectations when it comes to appreciating this film. Whilst the film
does try and offer up a message to get behind (seemingly reaching for the idea
that life should be fun and people should do what makes them happy) it gets
confused in the asinine behaviour of De Niro’s grandpa and whilst Efron’s Rob
Lowe-esque stuffed-shirt grandson is often in the wrong, you can’t help but
think that sometimes he has a point. As far as the film’s female characters go,
Zoe Deutsch’s character as Efron’s potential love interest is bland other than
simply being a hippie and Julianne Hough’s role as Efron’s demanding fiancée feels
almost misogynistic in its negativity whilst Aubrey Plaza occasionally gets
some decent moments as a raunchy college student but other moments her
character is given are just off-putting.
In the tidal wave of bad press this film has been given, I
don’t agree with the calls for Robert De Niro to retire. Instead, Bobby, call
up Martin Scorsese and see if he has anything good for you because these
current roles aren’t doing your career any good no matter how hard you try.
Spotlight
One of the big contenders for the Oscars this year,
Spotlight focuses on the story of a group of Boston Globe reporters who in 2001
broke the story of massive-scale historical instances of child molestation in
the Catholic Church. Much like Room (2015), Spotlight is definitely one of the
more stripped-back Oscar films of the year but its focus on actors and story
pays dividends. The screenplay by director Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer is
fraught with both a powerful message and a sense of the extent of such abuse
whilst never losing focus or becoming too convoluted whilst a brilliant
ensemble cast makes the film ever-engaging, especially with the likes of
Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Stanley Tucci always being signs of a great
lineup and Mark Ruffalo giving a standout performance as well. Spotlight is
definitely a powerful film and not one to be treaded into lightly, but it is
still a film that deserves to be seen and to be recognised. Also features John
Slattery and Liev Schriber. (pick of the
week)
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi
Arriving with somewhat less fanfare than one might expect
from a Michael Bay picture, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi is at
once both a somewhat refreshing departure from Bay’s norm and a sad
re-acquaintance with his familiar flaws. An account of the attack by Libyan
rebels on the US embassy in Benghazi and a nearby secret CIA base, 13 Hours
shows Michael Bay attempting to be a more mature film-maker. His almost trademark
reduction of women to a series of leering shots with a camera has been mostly
nullified and he reaches towards drama in portraying the soldiers’ plight.
Alas, Bay’s hideous relationship with editing rears its ugly head with the
chaotic cutting making even the simple plot hard to follow, especially as all
of our leads lack much in the way of distinguishing personalities or appearance
beyond bushy and rugged, including a distert inctly cast-against-type John
Krasinski who does at least prove that this film isn’t all that ill of a fit
for him.
Made to appeal to a particularly gung-ho and militaristic
set, the film does, in typical Bay fashion, forego character development for
explosions and Bay at least does showcase that he is a master of that form even
if the lack of character given to our antagonists beyond Libyan rebels who want
to attack Americans means that there’s a distinctly sour taste of xenophobia
running through much of the film. There are more hateful films than 13 Hours
and Bay is trying to be taken seriously, but he still has some way to go if
he’s looking to claim credibility.
The 33
Everyone who was aware of the 2010 efforts to liberate
thirty-three men trapped deep in a mine in the Chilean desert was probably
equally aware that somewhere down the line, a film based on the events was
inevitable. Well, the film has finally arrived. The 33 is a distinctly
televisual and choppy affair from Warner Brothers with there is some definite
charm and warmth in there. Given the film concerns the fates of thirty-three
men, the film would probably have been served best to focus on the characters
and it largely fails in that, deciding instead to focus on only a few. Central
to this Antonio Banderas and the fact that it is Banderas being his
magnificently charismatic self as always giving his all, and the story of the
men makes it easy for you to truly invest in the characters even if what
backstories we are given seem somewhat hackneyed and laboured whilst the
international casting is something of a mixed bag. As mentioned, Spanish
Antonio Banderas is likable but I doubt he passes the muster as Chilean. French
actress Juliette Binoche is convincing but much less so Irish actor Gabriel
Byrne whose role as the sobering voice of reality against idealistic young politician
Rodrigo Santoro is fairly unneccesary.
At its heart, The 33 is disposable. A fairly undemanding
watch of an event we all knew was going to get the big screen treatment.
It doesn’t subvert expectations or add
an original perspective, it’s just a get-what-you-pay-for account of a
well-publicised event in recent history. You’ll go in to see it, you’ll
probably get something out of it, you’ll leave the cinema and your life will
not be changed one bit.
Youth
Whilst his film The Great Beauty (2013) won over many
people, I felt slightly cold to director Paolo Sorrentino. For all of his extraordinary
eye for great visuals and a feel for beauty matched by few of his
contemporaries, his ponderous ways and artsy pretence seemed to grate with me.
Whilst they are still present in Youth, Sorrentino has thankfully managed to
present a more palatable film that’s still distinctly his own.
Michael Caine plays an elderly composer staying in a
luxurious but eccentric hotel (which, in combination with The Grand Budapest
Hotel (2014) and The Lobster (2015) is almost become a genre all its own) mulling
over whether he should conduct some of his compositions for a royal
performance. The plot is of secondary importance to the character interaction
and with some steady hands in the cast, there are some decent results. Harvey
Keitel is likable as Caine’s film director friend of many years and Paul Dano
puts in a commendable effort as a gifted but frustrated actor. On female roles
the film is less successful, especially with Rachel Weiz as Caine’s
daughter/manager whose emotional outbursts come off as irritating, which is
more of an issue of the writing. In smaller roles, Paloma Faith makes for a
rather pointless celebrity casting choice but Jane Fonda knocks it out of the
park in a cameo appearance late in the film. Straddling somewhere between
engaging and navel-gazing, Youth is perhaps a little too artsy for its own
good, but there is some quality material beneath the stylised exterior.
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