Archive for November 9th, 2015

Madagascar

Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath

Starring: Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett-Smith & Sasha Baron Cohen

In the tradition of Shrek and Shark Tale, Madagascar is a fun filled animated romp about city pampered zoo animals who land up being shipped to the wild. The penguins that are the cause of practically every commotion in the film hatch a plan to leave the New York Central Park zoo in search of Antarctica. Marty, the zebra, with a superb voiceover by Chris Rock, sees the penguins escape route and soon entertains his own ideas of exploring the world outside, namely, the bright lights of Manhattan.

Despite protests from his friends: Alex the furry but confused lion (Ben Stiller), Gloria, the no-nonsense Hippo (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and Melmon the Hypochondriac giraffe (David Schwimmer), Marty escapes and is soon pounding the New York pavements.

As the film caption states, soon there’s a zoo loose, as Marty’s friends leave the zoo to go looking for him. The game is up when all the escaped animals, including the mischievous penguins are caught in a hilarious scene at Grand Central Station. Thinking that they will be restored to their places at the zoo, there is shock when the animals awake in separate containers, sailing on a ship bound for Africa.

The meddling psychotic penguins, in a military style operation, soon take charge of the ship, causing major disruptions as they change direction for Antarctica. The penguins’ no excuses, but results takeover attempt soon lands the furry foursome overboard. They are washed ashore on the Island paradise of Madagascar.

Like most of us, city slickers, the thought of being left in a wild, untamed environment, with no modern luxuries is truly terrifying. So these animals are out of their depth, when they have to start fending for themselves. Their salvation comes, when they meet the Lemurs, the party loving, tree-hugging rodents headed by the outrageously camp King Lemur, voiced by Sasha Baron Cohen, alias Ali G. What ensues is an hilarious story of how Marty and his friends adapt to their exotic environment, while befriending the Lemurs, and dealing with Alex’s emerging inner self as a carnivorous lion, who soon sees Lemurs and company turning into juicy steaks.

The film’s great moments came from the penguins, whose covert actions propel the story line forward at every turn, from the great zoo escape to hijacking the ship to Antarctica. I think we should take a leaf out of their book – for when all else fails, the penguin philosophy is simply to smile and wave boys, smile and wave!

Madagascar is a highly recommended as a thoroughly entertaining animated film, whose humour and sophisticated story line will appeal to the young, the old and the emerging millennials.

BAD EDUCATION

Directed by: Pedro Almodovar

Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Fele Martinez, Daniel Giminez Cacho, Raul Garcia Forneiro, Nacho Perez

Pedro Almodovar’s Bad Education is a film noir inspired meditation on love, sex, drugs and identities. It is the story of two men in Spain, Enrique( Fele Martinez), a film director, and Ignacio (the gorgeous rising Spanish star Gael Garcia Bernal), an aspiring actor and writer, who meet again in the 1980s, 20 years after they attended a Catholic school together as children in the 1960s. As childhood friends and emerging lovers they were separated by an abusive and jealous priest, and Enrique is sent away to another school.

Twenty years on, Ignacio appears at Enrique’s door, now a successful film director and presents him with a story, entitled the Visit. Ignacio urges Enrique to make this story into a film, with him as the main star. After reading the Visit, Enrique realizes that the story tells of their boyhood romance and subsequent abuse and separation at the hands of the Catholic priest.

However, if there was a straightforward storyline, it would not be an Almodovar film, for nothing is straight forward, not to mention any straight characters. I am not going to reveal more than that the film takes on many interesting twists and turns when Enrique embarks on an investigation into Ignacio, and several secrets are revealed, not to mention drag tendencies, drugs, blackmail and even murder!

Almodovar’s casual almost indifferent treatment of drugs, gay sex and sexual identities as part of everyday life marks him as a distinctly European and Spanish director, who fortunately has never gone mainstream, falling prey to the prudish restrictions of Hollywood. For all these aspects are naturally part of a storyline which weaves truth and fantasy, reality and desire into a film noir story of hidden identities, literary ambitions and unrequited love, magnetically sustained by Bernal and Martinez ‘s strong central performances.

The most memorable scene in the film is the swimming pool scene, where after a night out clubbing, a suspicious, yet amorous Enrique invites Ignacio back to his opulent Madrid home for an early morning swim, with a view of seduction. The scene is done with such tantalizing style, covering the best parts of both actors undressing and diving into the pool, in which a lot can be said for a pair of white briefs.

Almodovar’s trademark use of primary colours, especially yellows, greens and reds in set and costume design, provides a vibrant backdrop to his zany characters in Bad Education while conveying a wonderful sense of Spain being a liberated country, filled with a bright sexual honesty and freedom.

A clever, well acted, stylish and coquettishly directed film, which will keep any gay audience riveted if not aroused. Highly recommended viewing for all Almodovar fans who are willing to add Bad Education to their retro Spanish film collection.

Bridge of Spies

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan, Jesse Plemons, Austin Stowell, Sebastian Koch, Will Rogers, Billy Magnussen, Eve Hewson

The opening shot of Bridge of Spies features a suspected spy painting a self portrait of himself in a dingy Brooklyn flat, symbolic of a reflective look at the characters involved in the Cold War and the complicity of the two superpowers whose distrust of each other ripened over four subsequent decades.

Oscar Winner Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Forest Gump) plays insurance lawyer turned defence attorney in the Steven Spielberg directed Cold War thriller, Bridge of Spies, which despite its length is an absorbing and fascinating film set amidst 1950’s paranoia, propaganda and old fashioned espionage.

With a script by the Coen brothers and Matt Charman, Bridge of Spies raises the profile of British actor Mark Rylance, Emmy nominated for his superb portrayal of Thomas Cromwell in the BBC series Wolf Hall, as suspected spy Rudolf Abel who is arrested in his Brooklyn apartment by American government agents for espionage.

Tom Hanks in one of his most likable performances to date since his brilliant turn in Captain Philips, plays James B. Donovan who at the request of his law firm is asked to give Abel a fair trial despite public opinion being considerably stacked against him. This is 1957 America, a country in the grip of McCarthyism and Cold War paranoia. The Russians are building a wall to divide Berlin in half and each super power is suspected of stockpiling a nuclear arsenal sufficient enough to repeat the horrors of Hiroshima, which ended World War II in 1945.

As the intricate narrative arc of Bridge of Spies unfolds, complete with period production design and gritty cinematography by Janusz Kaminski, it is apparent that Donovan realizes the potential of keeping Abel alive in case for whatever reason the Americans need to use him as a trade for one of their citizens that could potentially be captured behind enemy lines.

This prediction happens sooner than expected when an American pilot, sanctioned by the CIA, Francis Powers, played by Austin Stowell (Whiplash) is shot down and captured in Soviet territory and duly interrogated by the Russians about the spy plane he was flying. To add to the mix, as Berlin is being divided in half by the infamous wall, an American economics student Frederic Pryor played by Will Rogers is captured by the East Germans and who want to use him as a means for these two super powers to recognize the sovereignty of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) German Democratic Republic.

Oscar winning veteran director Spielberg (Schindler’s List, Munich and Saving Private Ryan) skilfully weaves a very complex espionage tale in which his two main leads Hanks and Rylance have sufficient screen time to paint a portrait of an unusual relationship between attorney and client surpassing the perceived notion of a lawyer defending a suspected spy.

This public conception of Abel’s guilt and Donovan’s sympathy towards his clients is brilliantly portrayed in an affecting scene on the New York subway where commuters all stare at Donovan with disdain after reading press coverage of the trial in the morning newspapers.

Bridge of Spies is an absorbing historical drama about the Cold War, yet at 141 minutes, the film could have been edited although Rylance and Hanks are terrific in their roles as Abel and Donovan. The supporting cast includes Amy Ryan, Alan Alda, Jesse Plemons and Sebastian Koch. Highly recommended viewing for those that relish a vintage spy drama, something which is rarely seen in this digital age.