Archive for August 25th, 2014

Cowboys & Aliens

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine, Abigail Spencer, Wyatt Russell

Originally published in August 2011

It’s like this. It’s always a one horse town, Absolution. If you love Westerns and Aliens films in the tradition of 3:10 to Yuma and all of Sergio Leone’s films like The Good, Bad and the Ugly, you will love Cowboys and Aliens, it’s a cross-genre mix without subtly and it has the star of the James Bond film franchise’s recent acquisition, Daniel Craig (Casino Royale) looking very out of place in a western. He has Harrison Ford (Star Wars) to assist him as the town sheriff. Harrison Ford, ex Solo is there to help against an awfully bizarre alien invasion in Arizona 1873. Together they battle the onslaught of an Alien invasions in outer far west.

There are lots of explosions, gunfights and alien invasions but it’s never without some form of retribution. Cowboys and Aliens is entertaining but hugely commercial film with loads of action sequences and lots of gunfights with hard-arsed cowboys and nefarious aliens that are clearly there to exploit the vulnerability of humans in an attempt  to control the Planet Earth even back in the 19th century in the outback of Arizona of all places.

See Cowboys and Aliens and don’t expect mental stimulation, but loads of popcorn fun. It’s a sleepy hit for the Northern Hemisphere summer season. Cowboys and Aliens also stars Paul Dano (There will be Blood), Sam Rockwell (Moon, Iron Man 2), Keith Carradine (Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle) and Abigail Spencer (Oz, The Great and Powerful).

This is a cross over Sci Fi Western in the tradition of Yul Brynner’s 1973 film Westworld.

Get Smart

Director: Peter Segal

Cast: Steve Carrell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Terry Crews, Terence Stamp

Review originally published in July 2008

After Anne Hathaway’s wonderful performances in Brokeback Mountain, The Devil Wears Prada and Becoming Jane, I was intrigued to discover her cast opposite comedian Steve Carrell (The 40Year Old Virgin) for the Spy adventure, Get Smart, a big screen adaptation of the 1960’s American comedy TV show.

Get Smart started off as quite an amusing film, more spoof than serious action, but what occurs is that the first half of the film, making excellent use of its initial stylish Moscow and Russian locations, fares better than the second half, set in a tired-seen-it-before downtown Los Angeles. With Mel Brooks famed for such classic comedies as To Be or Not to Be as an executive producer, I was expecting a comedy, however the joke in Get Smart starts running thin to such an extent that by the end of the film, it seems to be more on the audience who actually spent time and effort sitting through a two-hour movie, than on this half-hearted affair comprising of a mismatched pastiche of James Bond and Mission Impossible films, with scenes reminiscent of Octopussy and Entrapment combined with more high-octane car and plane chase sequences certainly suggestive of the Terminator movies.

Steve Carrell is a talented actor as noted in such independent films as Little Miss Sunshine, yet his particular style of comedy is confusing at times, sometimes serious, but capably funny. His lack of desire at playing the character completely straight or inanely goofy, gives the audience a mixed idea of Get Smart’s main protagonist Maxwell Smart, a desk-bound covert analyst who gets the opportunity to experience the long-anticipated thrills of dangerous espionage fieldwork.

Anne Hathaway, who makes the best of the material of this shallow spoof whose greatest flaw is not taking itself too seriously, seems almost lost as to how to play the super-efficient Agent 99, deadpan or with a comedic wit, leaving her floundering as the better half of a miscast screen couple. Either way she is left grappling for a more meaningful character, not to mention storyline, only to be left smirking on the sidelines, almost acknowledging herself that Get Smart falls short of the mark, which is clearly a waste for such a talented actress.

In the hands of a more astute director such as the brilliantly comic Blake Edwards, this film could have been a really witty sophisticated and stylish spy-drama in the vein of the classic Pink Panther movies, especially given the talents involved. Director, Peter Segal whose previous Adam Sandler movies, The Longest Yard and Anger Management, fails to pool the adequate acting resources and whilst there are too few genuinely hilarious moments in Get Smart, most notably the lavatory scene in the airplane and the sequences set in Russia, particularly Moscow, while the Hollywood finale leaves one wishing for a more substantial filmic experience.

Such great character actors like Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp are wasted in this poorly directed film, which could have been so much sharper than what it was aiming for. Get Smart saving grace is that it portrays Moscow as smarter than Hollywood, which inevitably is always worth a laugh.

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Director: Lasse Halstrom

Cast: Helen Mirren, Om Puri, Charlotte Le Bon, Manish Dayal, Clement Sibony, Amit Shar

Chocolat and The Cider House Rules Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom and scriptwriter Matthew Knight bring the charming and utterly delicious tale, The Hundred-Foot Journey based on the novel by Richard C. Morais to the big screen, a gorgeous film which traces the journey of an Indian family who move from Mumbai to London and then to the Continent.

The Kadam family after a near fatal accident on a French country road, the family headed by the incorrigible Papa played by Om Puri decide to set up roots in a small French town to start an Indian Restaurant and do what they do best – cook. The only problem is that a 100 feet away is a Michelin Star Nouvelle Cuisine restaurant headed by the strict and snobbish, Madame Mallory wonderfully played against type by Oscar Winner Helen Mirren (The Queen, The Madness of King George).

With a flourish the Maison Mumbai is opened in direct competition of this Michelin star restaurant which generates fierce culinary rivalry between the two establishments pointing to a much deeper prejudice about foreigners in Europe exemplified in the xenophobia displayed by Chef Jean-Pierre played by Clement Sibony (The Tourist). Inspired by his mother’s sea urchins, the young Hassan, an aspiring cook soon studies all the bibles of French cuisine and naturally is quite enchanted with the sous chef Maguerite played by French actress Charlotte Le Bon, hinting at a potential romance.

As the characters develop and the story unfolds, Madame Mallory soon entices the young chef Hassan played by Manish Dayal to come and work at the French Restaurant which with a liberal dash of exotic spices soon earns the Restaurant another Michelin star attracting all the Parisian culinary offers. Hassan travels to Paris where he works in a top Nouvelle Cuisine restaurant overlooking the Eiffel Tower creating exotic fusion combinations which soon earns him fame and respect. This is food porn on acid, with some luminous shots of many exotic dishes being prepared in sleek industrial Parisian kitchens, think Babette’s Feast for the 21^st century.

With the current trends of TV reality shows like Master Chef sweeping the Global, The Hundred-Foot Journey should definitely find a niche audience and points to a growing hybrid cinematic genre in the tradition of A Million Dollar Arm, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Slumdog Millionaire of Hollywood films with a distinctly Indian influence, adding an exotic tinge to the Western dramas.

With producers Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, The Hundred-Foot Journey is as delightful as it is sumptuous to watch with glowing cinematography provided by Swede Linus Sandgren (American Hustle) with a narrative beautifully accentuated by a superb on screen chemistry between Madame Mallory and Papa complimented by the developing romance between the young lovers Hassan and Marguerite.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is recommended viewing for foodies, chefs, romantics and lovers of genteel cinema. This is a gorgeous spicy cinematic dish, served with all the necessary garnish and flavour to make it palatable and appreciated.