THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Comedy, adventure

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Tom Wilkinson: a well known author

Jude Law: the author as a younger man

F. Murray Abraham: Mr. Moustafa, the hotel owner

Ralph Fiennes: Monsieur Gustave, the hotel concierge

Tony Revolori: Zero, the hotel lobby boy

Saoirse Ronan: pastry chef Agatha

Tilda Swinton: the very wealthy Madame D

Adrien Brody: her son Dmitri

Edward Norton: Inspector Henckels

Willem Dafoe:  Dmitri’s pal J. G. Jopling

Harvey Keitel: prisoner Ludwig

Bill Murray: Monsieur Ivan

Owen Wilson: Monsieur Chuck

REVIEW

Once more Ralph’s Rule of Redundancy applies:

“Any film where one person takes on more than two key positions has a major shortcoming: the absence of independent critical judgement that results in something less than it might have been.” In this case Wes Anderson is Writer, Director and Producer and the film suffers from it.

Depending upon what you find funny, this story of a concierge and a lobby boy could be hilarious (as was the case with two ladies in the audience who laughed at almost everything) to one provoking the odd smile. For me, it was the latter.

But it is not a easy story to follow as there are all kinds of twists and turns. The effort to keep things sorted out was just too much for me.

CLASSIFICATION

 for language, some sexual content and violence.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

• Modern CPR methods for non-medical personnel came out in the 1960’s, some 30 years after these events took place.
• When viewed from the front, the strap of Zero’s bag is diagonally across his chest but seen from the side it hangs down vertically.

P.S.

The painting substituted for the Boy with Apple is in really poor taste and has no business in a comedy of this sort. Having to rely on a crotch-grabbing image to get a laugh is a sign of desperation.

THE LUNCHBOX

Some dialogue in Hindi with English subtitles 

F.Y.I.

In India for over 100 years hot lunches prepared at home or at a local restaurant are delivered to the employee’s workplace by a dabbawala, a person who also returns the empty lunchbox (called a dabba) at the end of the day. There are roughly 5,0000 dabbawala just in Mumbai who deliver an estimated 200,000 lunchboxes a month. They pride themselves on their punctuality and near-perfect record of delivery: a Harvard University study concluded that only one in a million lunchboxes goes to the wrong person.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Nimrat Kaur: housewife Ila

Nakul Vaid: her husband Rajiv

Ifran Khan: Saajan, a claims clerk near retirement

Nawazuddin Siddiqui: Shaikh, his imminent replacement

REVIEW

This charming film about two people who meet by chance and establish a relationship is not your usual romantic comedy movie. For starters, the actors are not that well know and both leads give gentle, believable, unhurried  performances. And there is no wham-bam-thank-you-mam moments. So un-Hollywood. So refreshing.

CLASSIFICATION

PG for thematic material and smoking.

ENEMY

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Jake Gyllenhaal: Adam Bell, history professor

Mélanie Laurent: his girlfiiend Mary

Jake Gyllenhaal: Anthony Clair, bit-part actor

Sarah Gadon: his pregnant wife Helen

REVIEW

This is a strange movie: after a totally incomprehensible beginning with spiders and sexy ladies, a depressing glum fellow with a very active sex life (if you know what I mean) sees his double in a rented DVD,  tracks him down and confronts him. And then out of the blue, gets accused of doing things with his double’s wife.

But it’s the ending that is completely baffling. Come to think of it,  so is the rest of the movie.

I should have walked out which would have resulted in a more accurate rating but I hung in hoping I could make sense out of it. What a waste of time.

CLASSIFICATION

 for some strong sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

• This is one of my classic nitpicks: when the person on the end of the line (Mary) hangs up, the telephone caller (Adam) hears a dial tone. In reality the dial tone is only heard after picking up the phone before dialling. That’s why it’s called a dial tone.
• Several times Adam wakes up suddenly and each time the bedside clock show it to be 3:19 so either he set the alarm for this ungodly hour or these separate instances were shot within minutes of each other. Your call.

MUPPETS MOST WANTED

Musical comedy adventure

PRINCIPAL CAST or VOICE MEMBERS

Steve Whitmire: Kermit the Frog and Rizzo the Rat

Eric Jacobson: Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal and Sam the Eagle

Dave Goelz: the Great Gonzo and others

Matt Vogel: Constantine and others

Ricky Gervais: Constantine’s sidekick Dominic Badguy

Ty Burrell: Jean Pierre Napoleaon, a French Interpol inspector

Tina Fey: Nadya, a Russian GULAG officer

REVIEW

Pretty good. That in a nutshell is how I feel about this latest sequel. The gags and one-liners are few and only provoke a smile rather than merriment and at almost two hours, it is too long. The children around me were fidgeting (when was the last time that happened during a Muppets movie) and not once was there a real outbreak of laughter.

All the while there are cameo performances by artists such as Tony Bennett, Sean Diddy Combs, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Salma Hayek, Ray Liotta, Stanley Tucci and others who add little if anything to the endeavour.

CLASSIFICATION

for some mild action.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

The Interpol Inspector’s tie clip moves from one scene to another.

THE WIND RISES

 Animated historical drama

PRINCIPAL VOICE MEMBERS

Zach Callison: young Jirô Horikoshi

Stanley Tucci: Italian airplane designer Giovanni Caproni

Joseph Gordon-Levitt: the older Jirô

Emily Blunt: young artist Naoko Satomi

John Krasinski: Jirô’s colleague and best friend Honjô

REVIEW

The film is based on the life of the young man who became the chief engineer at Mitsubishi  and designed many of the Japanese fighter planes used in World War II. It covers the period from the 1920’s to the 1940’s and leaves unsaid the impact his finest creation (the A6M, better known as the Japanese Navy’s Zero) had on the world.

This is animation for adults as children would have no interest in the story line as there are no cuddly animals or catchy musical numbers. And it’s drawn in the old fashioned way, not something generated by a computer.

Sufficient time is given to develop most characters although we are never provided any insight as to why Jirô’s sister is so grumpy. However it does run on a bit too long at two hours and six minutes. Some editing could have been done without great loss.

CLASSIFICATION

 for some disturbing images and smoking.

THE MONUMENTS MEN

 Historical drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

George Clooney: Harvard museum curator Frank Stokes

Matt Damon: art restorer James Granger

Bill Murray: architect Richard Campbell

John Goodman: sculptor Walter Garfield

Jean Dujardin: French art dealer Jean-Claude Clermont

Bob Galaban: theatrical producer Preston Savitz

Hugh Bonneville: painting teacher Donald Jefferies

Cate Blanchett: French art expert Claire Simone

REVIEW

Probably the greatest treasure hunt in history, the film tells the story of a little-know unit during World War II. With great attention to detail (except for a few exceptions noted below) it captures the look and feel of wartime Europe.

Although there is a lot of switching back and forth between the teams it’s not too difficult to follow their efforts to find the stolen art treasures. The acting is uniformly good (as you would expect from this A-list of actors) and the odd amusing moment is a welcome relief.

CLASSIFICATION

 for violence, mature themes, smoking.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

• The architectural model in the movie is not the Fuhrer Museum; it is the Volkshalle another of Hitler’s grand monumental projects to be constructed after the war.
• Claire has James over for dinner and the bottle of wine is three quarters full yet she says “we’re out of wind, would you like a cognac?”
• Walter receives a 45 rpm record which he then plays; trouble is, this format of records was not available until 1949, four years after these events took place.

P.S.

The Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program was established by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. Known as the Monuments Men the group of 345 men and women (not 7 men) from 13 countries (not 3) were tasked with the job of protecting cultural treasures as best they could.

2013 TOP TEN & OTHERS

Based on a true story with strong performances from all the cast it is riveting. You might be able to avert your eyes from the horrific scenes of cruelty but you will not be able to block out the sounds of agony. It is agonizing to watch as the camera lingers for what seems forever and all you want is for it to end.

This true story of the immature, infantile King of Denmark and his young bride provides an insight into the romance and intrigue in the Danish court during the Age of Enlightenment. 

Loosely based on the FBI investigation this is one terrific movie. Perhaps a tad too long at 2 hours and 18 minutes it is fast-paced, riveting and wholly entertaining.

Based on actual events that took place in 2009, the film is riveting. The tension begins to build almost from the get-go and never really subsides until the end.caption

Based on the true story of Ron Woodroof’s fight against the system, it has its gritty side that may shock some people despite its R classification warning.

The story of a fearless princess wanting to find her sister, the one with magical power, is replete with musical numbers. In fact, the first half hour or so plays like a Broadway musical with the story being told in lyrical form. From that point the spoken word dominates and we get to see the loving relationship between sisters.

This one warrants seeing it in 3D to truly experience the sensation of being out in space. The images are nothing short of spectacular. But that is not the only thing going for it: the acting by Sandra Bullock is probably the best she has ever done. She is on screen probably 95% of the time and does a really superb job.

This overview of the historical struggle for civil rights in the United States is based on a true story of one man who saw it from a different perspective. There are several notable performances but Oprah is definitely the standout and may well wind up with an Oscar nomination.

Former United States Secretary of Labor Robert Reich presents the latest in documentaries about the widening economic gap in the USA. With state of art graphs he explores the role this plays in the deterioration of the nation’s economic health. 

Unlike most movies of this genre, this one is about young love and grown-up romance. The differences make for an interesting study in human psychology. That is but one of the unusual aspects of this movie: it shuns most of the clichés associated with romantic comedies and so it comes across as more real and closer to the truth than the usual run-of-the-mill sort. How refreshing. 

Several things sets this one apart from the others:

• It is shot in black and white
• None of the cast are high profile well-known actors 

It is a terrific story about one someone wanting to see things through with dialogue and situations that are believable, characters that ring true and the interpersonal dynamics bang on.

Based on the true story of Philomena (pronounced phil-ah-me-nah) and the problems she had with the Catholic church. You have to smile at Philomena’s simplistic view of the world which is poles apart from that of Martin who is a socially awkward worldly sophisticate.

Getting a first-hand look at what transpired when production of the film version of the popular Mary Poppins novel first began is insightful. As expected, Emma Thompson is terrific with Tom Hanks and Colin Farrell putting in their usual splendid effort.

This fact based movie chronicles the decade long hunt for Osama bin Laden following the destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers in 2001. Unlike most Hollywood productions, this one is matter-of-fact without the usual over-the-top embellishment. Consequently some will find the true-to-life “enhanced interrogation techniques” (torture by any other name) of bin Laden’s nephew repugnant and will have to avert their eyes.

     BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENTS

Loud movies loaded with copious CGI will certainly appeal to those whose literary choice is a comic book. For the rest of us it is an assault: not just to our ears but to our intelligence as though we expect nothing more of a movie than a series of hand-to-hand combat scenes that quickly become tedious all to the strains of the overbearing thumping score.

Several times I was tempted to walk out because like a lot of discriminating viewers I am not comfortable viewing hours of debauchery depicted on screen. And I certainly do not like having to listen to dialogue you would expect from a member of the Hells Angles bike gang not from stockbrokers. It has been reported that the f-word is used 506 times in the film; frankly, it seems like twice that many.