PAGE 2
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
I enjoyed Marigold Hotel, or to give it it’s full name, the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I wouldn’t call it hilarious, as some of the pundits do, but it is full of gentle British self-deprecating humour and picks up really well on various culture clashes between the British way of life and the Indian. As you might expect from such a stellar British cast, all the characters were well portrayed. They meshed together well, carried along by a fairly predictable plot. Not that it mattered that it was predictable: it was one of those stories where you know what is going to happen to virtually everyone five minutes into the film, but it doesn’t matter in the slightest. I recommend Marigold Hotel to anyone who’d like to while away a whimsical, humorous hour or two. I don’t think it’s suitable for younger viewers not because of inappropriate content, but simply because I don’t think they’d be able to follow what is going on, and probably wouldn’t pick up on much of the character-driven humour.
Hugo
There’s been a lot of hype about Hugo recently, and when we went to see Tintin a while back, we saw a trailer for it and Small Boy expressed a wish to see it. Truth to tell, the trailer looked interesting, so this weekend along we went, armed with our 3D glasses, to see it. Did it live up to the hype? Yes, it did, though not in quite the way I expected. I had formed the impression from trailers and blurb that it would be a roller-coaster 3D adventure, with lots of excitement and action scenes. But no, it was anything but. The pace is quite slow, with a gradual build-up based as much on character as on plot. Some of the children in the cinema obviously got bored. Others (including Small Boy) were rapt. My other half said she enjoyed it more than Tintin... and so did I. I won’t spoil the plot by telling you what happens. But if you go, prepare yourself for a slow unravelling of several mysteries, some delightful character acting from a host of well-known actors, and a gentle strain of humour throughout. It’s beautifully done, and I suspect will become a minor classic in the years to come.
Arthur Christmas
It’s the silly season, so we trundled off to see the latest silly season film. I had read that it wasn’t bad, with absolutely nothing in it likely to offend, and the 3D antics being rather better drawn than similar recent films. It wasn’t bad. It had a few stand-out moments and, true to the billing, was as innocuous as... as... whatever a film can be as innocuous as. The characters were nicely drawn and the action suitably riveting. I only had one complaint with it, and that was (especially at the start) the director relied on some titles onscreen to say when and where the action was taking place. Well, given the young nature of the audience I don’t think this was very sensible. "What does it say, dad?" was all I got for the first ten minutes, and I could hear similar whisperings elsewhere. But overall, if you have a young child or a very young mindset, you can’t go far wrong with Arthur Christmas. Will it turn into an ‘old favourite’ and be trundled out in Christmasses to come? Hmm. I don’t think so, although I’d be hard pressed to give you my reasons for saying so.
Tintin and the Adventure of the Unicorn
We took Small Boy to see Tintin at the weekend, and despite earlier promised not to fork out on 3D presentations, we saw it in 3D, mainly because I’d read somewhere or other that this film made good use of that medium. I don’t actually remember much about Tintin, although it must have been around in papers, comic strips and later cartoons when I was younger. Maybe I just wasn’t interested. I don’t remember now. So the characters rang bells when they turned up, but I didn’t remember them before the film started. Enough reminiscing. What you want to know is whether it’s any good. The answer is yes, it’s worth seeing if you have a Small Boy or a female equivalent... although a child younger than about six might have trouble following the plot. There’s lots of action, mystery, humour, and the characterisations are good. My only negative thought about the whole experience is that when Captain Haddock hits the screen, he’s pretty much permanently drunk, clearly an alcoholic, and only seems to be able to function if he has half a bottle of whisky inside him. What sort of a message does that send out to the Small Children watching? That gripe aside, it’s worth watching - and yes, Spielberg does make better use of the 3D medium than most if not all other 3D films I’ve seen up till now. It’s good fun, and I recommend it.
Norwegian Wood
My other half bought the dvd of Norwegian Wood for some enormous sum of money, because she remembered reading the book years ago and being impressed by it. We warned each other that it wouldn’t be a jolly film (I hadn’t read the book or seen the film but I knew that much), and we were both right. It’s a good film but I wasn’t as impressed with it as I thought at one stage I was going to be. It’s dark. There are lots of brooding silences and meaningful stares. I am ashamed to say I couldn’t tell all the characters apart at one time. I wasn’t sure I liked the main character, although I did like the girls he took up with. The sex scenes were fairly ordinary by today’s internet-riddled standards. Despite all these negative comments, I still think it’s worthwhile watching, if only to see how the story is crafted. Some of the dialogue is very good too, with lots of subtext which occasionally breaks out into live conversation. Recommend it? Just about, but try to find a cheaper copy than my wife did.
Captain America
I don’t quite understand why the reviews for Captain America aren’t better than they are. I thought it was pretty good. I thought it captured not only the spirit of the 1940s when most of it is staged, but also the spirit of the original comics. The build-up to Steve Rogers transforming into Captain America was well done, and the action scenes once he’d been transformed were fine. The plot was as credible as any other superhero plot. Perhaps the characters weren’t as well fleshed out as in, say, the Spiderman movies, but they weren’t bad. The ending clearly set up the possibility of a sequel. I, for one, hope there will be one. If you get the chance to see Captain America, I’d recommend going, despite what some of the reviewers say (and come to think of it, the reviewers are giving four out of five to Horrible Bosses... well, you can imagine what I think of that).
Horrible Bosses
If you get the chance to see this film - don’t. It’s crass, crude, unfunny and has no credible plot. I would have left half way through, except my other half had taken the opportunity to go to sleep.
X-Men: First Class
I didn’t think I was going to particularly enjoy this film, as I’ve never been too keen on prequels. But I was pleasantly surprised. All the young mutants are played well, and there’s just enough interaction between the characters to keep the interest. The plot is reasonable too - doesn’t try to cram too much in, and mixes in some actual footage of news coverage of the Cuba crisis. I recommend it for anyone who likes Marvel characters brought to life onscreen. Probably my only major gripe is that Magneto’s evil mentor a) seemed older thirty years ago than he does at the "present time" of the film and b) he turns out to be a pretty powerful mutant in his own right, but gives absolutely no sign of it in the early parts of the film.
Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides
I confess I was underwhelmed by On Stranger Tides. Oh, there was plenty of swashbuckly action, lots of splendid special effects and, mercifully, a plot which didn’t try to cram too much in. But there was a lot of exposition and as the film progressed I found myself becoming more remote from it, rather than becoming drawn in. I began to see it as a lot of talk explaining what was going to happen, and then it happened, and then a lot of talk about what had just happened plus a bit about what was coming next. I began to see Captain Jack Sparrow almost as a cartoon character, dancing unscathed through adventure after adventure. I began to see everything as rather one-dimensional and a little self-indulgent. It had its moments. The mermaids are brilliant, and there is one part of the film where two pirate jump side by side onto a bed with a skeleton between them, with the skeleton holding a map. No matter. Even if you don’t watch it at the cinema you’ll be bound to see it on dvd sometime, so I won’t spoil it for you. Not great. Not awful. ‘Oi’ll give it five,’ as they used to say in those far-off days of Juke Box Jury.
Thor
I went with no1 son and my wife to see Thor in 3D at our local cinema. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. On the one hand, Thor was one of the comic-book heroes from my boyhood so I was looking forward to seeing him smashing his way across the screen. On the other hand, other films dealing with the interactions between gods and mankind haven’t worked very well so I was wondering just how that was going to be handled. I needn’t have worried. We all enjoyed the film, which had just enough character development and plot to keep cynics at bay, and enough special effects to satisfy even the younger generation, without going over the top and making the gods seem like cartoon characters. It even had moments of genuine humour thrown in. Go and see it, if you’ve got the chance. I think you’ll find it’s better than you might be led to expect.