RUDO AND CURSI

In Spanish with English subtitles
Original title: Rudo y Cursi
Sports drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Diego Luna: Beto nicknamed Rudo (rude, gruff, loutish) Verdusco, banana plantation foreman
Gael García Bernal: his younger half-brother Tato nicknamed Cursi (corny)
Dolores Heredia: their mother Elvira
Guillermo Francella: soccer scout Batuta (baton)
Jessica Mas: sexy TV weathergirl Maya

REVIEW
Nicely paced with some good performances (and one really bad one) this is the story of two half-brothers beng exposed to the big leagues in the big city. Not unexpectedly, they have to come to grips with many challenges, on the field and off.

Although their lives are centered around soccer, there is very little of the game actually shown on screen. Mostly it’s the reactions of the coach or the spectators. That gives you some idea where the emphasis is: it’s mainly about things off the field except for the inevitable “Big Game”, an essential component of every sports movie ever produced.

CLASSIFICATION
for pervasive language, sexual content and brief drug use.

UP

Animated cartoon

F.Y.I.
A snipe is any of the 20 bird species in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill and colourful plumage.

PRINCIPAL VOICES
Christopher Plummer: intrepid explorer Charles Muntz
Jeremy Leary: young Carl
Elie Docter: tomboy Ellie
Ed Asner: 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen
Jordan Nagai: 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer cub scout Russell
Bob Peterson: Dug the dog

REVIEW
It has it all: an original well-constructed story for adults that children will enjoy, spectacular CGI animation (Pixar’s best so far), lots of comical moments, great casting with the voices perfectly matched to their character and a wonderful score that fits beautifully with the action on the screen.

The attention to detail is nothing short of amazing: the stubble that appears on Carl's chin becomes more evident as the days go by, the movement of eyes, Carl’s eyeglasses sliding off his nose whenever he hits the door peering out of the peephole etc.

CLASSIFICATION
for some peril and action.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
When Ellie and Carl are painting their names on the mailbox, Carl inadvertently leaves a purple hand print of his left hand. However when he holds his hands up in a gesture of “oops” there is no evidence of paint on either hand.

P.S.
I saw the film in 3-D format which serves to enhance the sense of reality but the producers have not employed the usual gimmick of having things fly at you. How clever is that? Making use of movie technology to advance the story not to scare you to death.

GOMORRAH

In Italian, Chinese and French with English subtitles.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Salvatore Abruzzese: 13-year-old Toto, a grocery delivery boy
Marco Macor: 18-year-old Marco, an wannabe gangster
Ciro Petrone: his buddy Ciro
Salvatore Cantalupo: Pasquale, a dressmaker
Gianfelice Impartato: Don Ciro, the middleman
Toni Servillo: Franco, a businessman in waste disposal
Carmine Paternoster: his young aide Roberto

REVIEW
From what I’ve heard this is an excellent movie; trouble is, I don’t have the patience to sit through it. The pacing is almost real time: if it takes a kid 3 minutes to climb up a drainpipe, it gets 2 minutes and 30 seconds of screen time. And there are five story lines about various areas of control exercised by the Naples mafia. Consequently it is well over two hours long.

Because it is based on actual events it seems more like a documentary than some fictionalized version of crime in Italy showing how these organizations impact every aspect of life in the community. It is a very ambitious undertaking and could easily be made into two movies.

Viewers should be warned: it does not hold back any punches (literally) to the point some might find it disturbing. One thing though: the brutality is short, over and done with before you know it, just like in real life I guess.

CLASSIFICATION
for violence, language and nudity.

P.S.
Gomorrah was one of two cities destroyed by God by “brimstone and fire” (Sodom was the other one) and has become a metaphor for sin. Which is an apt title for the movie. However the title could also be a clever reference to the Naples-based criminal organization called Camorra. Your call.

LYMELIFE

Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Rory Culkin: 15 year-old Scott Bartlett
Jill Hennessy: his mother Brenda
Alec Baldwin: his father Mickey, a real estate developer
Emma Roberts: 16 year-old next-door neighbour Adrianna Bragg
Cynthia Nixon: her mother Melissa, a real estate agent
Timothy Hutton: her father Charlie
Kieran Culkin: Scott’s older brother Jimmy, a soldier home on leave

REVIEW
Good performances all around make this story about two very dysfunctional families seem plausible, although there are times it borders on being a little too much. However it is how the kids acquit themselves in this sitution that is of greater interest.

CLASSIFICATION
for language, some sexual content, violence and marijuana use.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
• Jimmy is too busy eating his piece of cake to even touch his Coke. Viewed from his left hand side the bottle is almost full; however the camera views from the right show quite a bit of it has gone.
• The setting of the movie is Long Island, New York. The ZIP code is 11561 not 89023 as shown on the real estate sign put up by Mickey. BTW the ZIP code 89023 is the bombing range of Nellis Air Force base.
• Charlie is watching the tv news coverage of the Iranian hostages. Throughout their captivity, the hostages were paraded in front of television cameras, often blindfolded or hooded. The problem is the movie is set in the fall of 1979 and the first showing of the hostages was not until 1980, months after Charlie’s viewing of it.
• Jimmy tells his brother he’s to be deployed to take part in the Falklands War. There would be another two and a half years before the outbreak of hostilities in April 1982. Furthermore the war was between the United Kingdom and Argentina; the United States military was not even involved.
• Adrianna takes a slug of wine and passes the bottle to Scott neck first. The shift in the camera’s point-of-view to over Scott’s shoulder shows him taking the bottle bottom first, not by the neck.
• Dressing for his confirmation Scott is helped by his mother who straightens his shirt collar on the right hand side, leaving the left hand side flipped up. With the change in camera angle the right hand side has reverted to the way it was before Brenda touched it.

P.S.
Rory and Kieran Culkin are real life brothers.

TYSON

Autobiography

F.Y.I.
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is a retired American professional boxer (5”11” tall) who was the undisputed heavyweight champion holding titles from the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Association and the International Boxing Federation.

Heavyweight is a weight class in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing associations, the W.B.C., the W.B.A. and the I.B.F.

REVIEW
The promotional material described him as “the baddest man on the planet.” No doubt that resulted a larger gate and more betting on the outcome; it was also very close to the truth. And the truth is what makes this documentary unlike most others. The frank, honest, unscripted, no-holds-barred revelations by the former champ.

Anyone who’s had a passing interest in professional boxing can remember some of his famous bouts whereas others probably heard of his more controversial activities and formed some opinion of him. It’s refreshing to hear his side of it

Viewing the archival footage of his fights clearly shows why he was the champion for so many years. Mike’s recall and analysis of these bouts is amazing but again he’s probably lived them in his mind for years. And well he should.

CLASSIFICATION
for language, including sexual references.

STAR TREK

Science fiction adventure

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Chris Hemsworth: Captain George Kirk of the U.S.S. Kelvin
Chris Pine: his son James Tiberius Kirk as an adult
Zoe Saldana: Cadet Nyota Uhura
Bruce Greenwood: Captain Christopher Pike, commander of the U.S.S. Enterprise
Zachary Quinto: the adult Spock, Pike’s second in command
Eric Bana: Captain Nero, commander of the renegade spaceship
Karl Urban: Leonard “Bones” McCoy, the Enterprise’s resident physician
John Cho: Hikaru Sulu, pilot of the Enterprise
Anton Yelchin: another crew member Pavel Chekov
Leonard Nimoy: the elder Spock
Simon Pegg: master technician Montgomery "Scotty" Scott

REVIEW
They have wisely played down the romantic love interest aspect and instead devoted most of the time to the on-going battle between the forces of good and evil. You will have to see the movie to find out which side wins out.

The special effects are nothing short of amazing thanks to some excellent CGI and the action is virtually non-stop. The acting is bang-on with a smattering of humour from time to time. Nothing outrageous, just the chuckle type of thing in keeping with the serious nature of their undertaking.

Although committed “Trekkers” can never get enough, others will find the running time of two hours plus a tad too long.

CLASSIFICATION

for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
James T. gets into a barroom fight and gets a cut on the eyebrow and just below his left eye. At first the wound is jagged but it soon becomes just a curve, sometimes disappearing completely only to reappear in later scenes.

THE POOL

Drama
In Hindi with English subtitles

F.Y.I.
Goa is one of the twenty-eight states in India. The city state capital is Panaji, a former Portuguese territory on the west coast of India. Panaji has a population of around 65,000.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Venkatesh Chavan: 18-year-old Venkatesh, a “hotel boy”
Jhangir Badshah: his 11-year-old buddy Jhangir
Nana Patekar: a wealthy property owner Nana
Ayesha Mohan: his teenage daughter Ayesha

REVIEW
For some time the movie seems to progress without any real sense of direction as Venkatesh and Jhangir do their thing. Gradually the story unfolds without great drama in a rather laidback manner.

The frequent use of a hand-held camera fits in with the “no big deal” approach, keeping things simple. It’s not likely to win any awards but this tale of one person’s dream of improving his station in life is rewarding on its own merit.

CLASSIFICATION


P.S.
This is the first time I’ve ever seen the character names to be their real names. How clever is that?