The Devil's Double

A fast paced action thriller, loosely based on the autobiographical experiences of Latif Yahia, a captain in the Iraqi army who was forced into service as the look alike, body double of Saddam Hussein’s evil, sadistic eldest son Uday Hussein.

Everything about this movie is captivating; the movie is gorgeously photographed and set in exotic locations with Malta standing in for 1980s Baghdad, the style of the film is sort of a middle east version of Scarface (1983), the story of two headstrong and determined people struggling for control over each other,  but what makes this movie even more captivating is the brilliant and central performance by actor Dominic Cooper, recently from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and An Education (2009) who plays the part of both Uday and his double with such natural nuance, that never during the film do you get the sense that it’s the same actor. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dominic is nominated for an Oscar for this role. This is the first stand out performance I have seen this year that was truly impressive. 

The story is similar to that of Gladiator (2001) in that it’s about an army captain who must deal with the jealous eldest son of the head of state, who is appalled by and doesn’t trust his own son’s behavior. Latif’s story is very compelling because he is a very decent, loyal and humble person who had plans to help his family and go into business with his father when he was forced, under threat of his family’s death, to become the brother of this psychotic maniac who had the power and money to indulge his every depraved and perverted craving with anyone he wanted, and did just that. Latif was a witness to unspeakable horrors while in the service of the Hussein clan’s inner circle, including brutal rapes and murders of innocent young girls, which affected him so much psychologically that he attempted to kill himself several times during his ordeal.

The movie is done in a gangster action suspense thriller style and attempts to touch on many of these true incidents that Latif witnessed. Uday was feared and hated by Iraqis even more than Saddam himself and there were many assassination attempts made on his life which Latif, as the body double, was on the receiving end of. In fact the term used for his job, ‘fiday’ means bullet catcher. According to Latif the violence in the film was toned down and we are not seeing even half of what actually happened. 

This movie is not for the squeamish but it’s well worth seeing for many reasons and it’s a story worth telling because it’s the first time we are seeing a major movie about the Iraqi ruling clan and by extension about the practices of many Arab ruler and their families. With many Arab dictators now under attack by their own people in violent revolutions, it makes this movie even more urgent and topical. The story is so powerful, has such a distinctive look, and is set in such a fascinating place and time, plus it has one of the best performances by an actor, that you will not be able to take your eyes off of it.

Latif has written several books about his experiences and is an outspoken critic of American policy in the Middle East which he blames for the deteriorating political stability in the Arab states.  For additional information about Latif’s experiences see his blog by clicking the link below.

http://latifyahia2006.blogspot.com/

Also watch BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge (2004) an excellent and moving documentary by Stephen Marshall from the Iraqi people's and some American soldier’s point of view, including an Iraqi rebel soldier who was tortured and shot after the uprising by Saddam Hussein’s regime but escaped with the help of American soldiers. Now after 13 years in exile he is returning for the first time to see if his family is still alive.

Iraq in Fragments (2007) by James Longley is a documentary that is completely from the POV of the Iraqi people. Filmed in four different parts of the country, it has some of the most beautiful and unforgettable images of Iraq and Baghdad ever filmed. 

JP

The Names of Love

A French romantic comedy of politics and an attraction of opposites romance between an ultra-conservative, repressed, middle aged ornithologist and a much younger but crazy, spontaneous, liberal minded, sexy, left wing activist, who uses her body to convert fascist right wing conservatives.

If this isn’t an original enough story for you it will definitely not be easy to find one more audacious than this but the movie works and I was pleasantly surprised by its charms.  I was actually in a bad mood for some reason when I was forced to see this movie over another, but by the end I was glad I did see it because I loved it and it completely won me over, putting me in a much better mode. Thank god for French romantic comedies.

Done in the style of the early Woody Allen films with characters talking to younger versions of themselves that only we the audience is meant to see, the movie starts by giving us the whole family history of the unlikely couple. It’s a lot to take in at first and becomes a little confusing if your not paying attention but don’t worry it’s well worth the effort.  It’s all done with so much humor and charm and the characters are all so eccentric and well-drawn that it’s fun and crazy at the same time. 

The actors portraying the couple are so well suited to their roles and are completely natural and believable even in the most hilarious situations. Arthur Martin (Jacques Gamblin) is a conservative, serious professional with no sense of humor when he meets a beautiful young woman Baya Benmahmoud (Sara Forestier) who is extremely judgmental and passionate about politics and helping people in order to change the world, but can’t keep a job because she’s so absent minded and unpredictable. He is attracted to her precisely because she is so completely foreign to his sensibilities and despite her overbearing and free spirited manner she manages to bring out a more open minded and playful side of him and he starts to enjoy life for the first time. 

The film’s obsession with names has to do with the fact that in society we are so concerned with our family origins but our names in many cases are no longer a reflection of who we are now or where we come from.  We therefore are treated to all kinds of awkward situations revolving around racial and cultural identity, immigration and family politics. But in a couple of memorable scenes that everyone can relate to, the couple starts to work together in inventive ways to harmonize and defuse a tense situation and the results are hysterical. It’s one of those moments of revelation that’s funny and moving at the same time where you go Ahaaaa! Bien sure! How romantic is that.

This movie has the same whimsical charm as movies like Amélie (2001), and Soul Kitchen (2009) and is a must see film well worth the effort of reading subtitles and I am looking forward to seeing it again. 

The actress Sara Forestier won the César award (French Oscar) for her portrayal of Baya in this film.

JP

Attack the Block

This is the kind of movie that looks like it’s going to be a joke and just wants to make fun of alien invasion movies with cheesy effects and bad dialogue but I was pleasantly surprised by this film, which turns out to be much better than expected and is rapidly gaining critical acclaim.

A UK Indie film produced by the same company that made Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007), this movie is actually one of those sleeper hits that comes out of nowhere like District 9 (2009) or Kick-Ass (2010) and surprises everyone with its humor, engaging storyline and character development. On top of that the film is full of action and very suspensefully paced and edited together with a great soundtrack. 

A mix of would be super-heroes, a street gang of young hoodlums who rob the locals and end up defending themselves and their housing estate tower block in South London, England from alien creatures that arrive one night looking for payback after the gang kills one of their much smaller females.

At the beginning of the movie you feel no sympathy for these obnoxious, hooded, misfit street kids who get their jollies mugging a woman at knife point, but by the end of the movie we the audience have completely changed our opinion. We get to discover their lives and their environment intimately while they battle a horde of furry black aliens that only they seem to be aware of.

The movie is mostly about the group of street kids and their relationships to each other and the tower block they live in which quickly gets overrun by creatures from outer space that are quite scary and unique looking with their black fur and glowing fangs. Expertly filmed and acted it will make you laugh and surprise you with its heart but never lets up the action and suspense.

Similar to Super 8 (2011), which is also about a group of kids doing battle with aliens and finding out about life in the process, but this time in an urban city setting. The kids use whatever they can find at hand and are forced to quickly improvise weapons as they go. They end up helping the very people that they were robbing at the beginning and regretting the decisions of their gang lifestyle.

I liked this movie because it blends several genres; Sci-fi, action adventure, suspense thriller, horror, urban gang, and comedy, and succeeds with flying colors. It’s funny, moving and exciting at the same time. With the chases and the death toll rising, the tension quickly builds and before you know it you are so much closer to the characters that you miss them when it’s over.

The style of the film is a mix of urban night time gang warfare, like The Warriors (1979), with a family or gang of kids defending their turf against aliens, like Signs (2002), The Host (2006) and Super 8 (2011). The results work pretty well with lots of humor coming from the unknown cast of local English street kids.

If you like this kind of movie also see the above mentioned excellent movies like The Host, Signs, District 9, Kick-Ass and Super 8.

JP

Life in a Day

A YouTube project produced by brothers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, who form the production company called Scott Free, the English directors behind such movies as Gladiator (2000), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Top Gun (1986), American Gangsters (2007), Thelma & Louise (1991), Unstoppable (2010) to name a few. 

Similar in concept to visual documentaries such as Baraka (1992) and the recent Babies (2010), this documentary follows people from all walks of life and from around the world in 192 countries on a single day in their lives. We see a collage of revealing short moments during a typical day in summer on July 24, 2010 including the daily routine of waking up, eating breakfast, going to work or play, until the time they finish their day at midnight. At the same time we get to hear people from different cultures talking about their loves, fears, and hopes.

The film footage was filmed by the actual people in the film and then sent in to the Director of the documentary, Kevin Macdonald who also directed movies like Touching the Void (2003), The Last King of Scotland (2006), State of Play (2009) and recently The Eagle (2011), to be compiled and edited into what we see on screen. The results are very candid and interesting glimpses into real people’s lives.

We glimpse moments with people in different stages of life from birth, childhood, working, courtship, wedding ceremonies, tragedies, eating habits, illnesses, old age and death. What is remarkable is how, no matter our background, age or location on the planet, we are all pretty much the same; doing the same things and feeling the same way about them. 

It reveals our similar fears, loves and hopes and as one girl said in a heartfelt monologue to her camera while in her car, even though nothing remarkable happened to her that day, ‘I want people to know that I am here, that I exist’.

Among the many spectacles, we get to see a young man from Korea traveling around the world on his bicycle who wants to see North and South Korea reunited. 

We see a man fainting while videotaping the birth of his baby. We see another person navigating street obstacles on his way through the city using the practice of Parkour; running, vaulting, jumping, rolling, and climbing over walls, subway turnstiles, fences, windows and other city environments.

We get to see a person from Kabul, Afghanistan showing us a more peaceful side of life in Kabul streets and markets away from the war footage.

People are asked to answer questions like ‘What do you love?’ What do you fear?’ and ‘What is in your pocket?’ One guy says the thing he loves most is his refrigerator because it’s cool, it sits in a corner and doesn’t talk back. Many times during this documentary I found myself laughing out loud at what people say and do. Unfortunately there are no labels on the screen to indicate where in the world we are, unless it’s mentioned by the people in the videos. But part of the fun is guessing.

Overall I found it quite enlightening and worth watching more than once. This could easily be a project that could be repeated every two or three years and the documentaries would definitely improve over time. If you like YouTube videos and these kinds of globe-trotting documentaries like I do, it’s worth seeing.

JP

Rango - The Lizard with no Name

Director Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp are back together again after working on the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This time it’s a fully computer animated feature film but this one is quite unusual and different from other computer animated films.

Visually this movie is much more gritty and realistic looking, both in the large variety of characters being portrayed and the environments. In fact it looks so realistic that it’s more like a live-action film except with characters that are all desert animals; lizards, chameleons, rattlesnakes, owls, armadillos, road runners, turtles, bats, rats but far from looking like cartoon characters, these animals all look very close to nature with quirky human traits.

The visual style is so strikingly real in all its intricate details that it will captivate you even when the story drags a little in places. Adding to the realism is the fact that eight-time Oscar nominated Cinematographer Roger Deakins was the visual consultant, so the lighting and photography is that much more immersive.

This movie is a western in the same style as the Sergio Leone ‘Man with No Name Trilogy’ spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood and follows all the classic western conventions. An outsider who is going through an identity crisis; trying to find who he is, finds himself quite suddenly abandoned on the side of a hostile desert road and is eventually pressed into service as the Sherriff of an abandoned, drought-ridden desert town called Dirt run by local varmints.

There are parallels to the Disney children’s story Brave Little Tailor (1938) here when the newcomer, a chameleon voiced by Johnny Depp, boasts of having killed 7 people with one bullet and then is made to confront the bad guys in a showdown in the middle of the town street at noon. By some fluke he gains the respect of the local citizenry when he accidentally kills a menacing hawk that preys on them.

This film can be enjoyed by adults but may be a little scary for younger children depending on how savvy they are. Children are definitely going to love the visuals and some of the visual gags but the film makers insist that children are much savvier than adults give them credit for. 

It’s definitely not a cartoony animated film and this could start a trend toward more serious and realistic looking animated films. I had the feeling while watching this movie that it was so unique and singularly striking visually, that it will probably become a cult classic of sorts.

This movie marks the first time that George Lucas’s company ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) has produced a full length animated film. The company has been at the forefront of the digital revolution that has taken the film industry by storm, pioneering computer generated effects for live action films since the beginning with movies like The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and the Jurassic Park trilogy (1993 – 2001) just to name a few, but until now has never ventured into full length animation.

Gore Verbinski had worked with ILM on the effects for all the Pirates of the Caribbean films and felt comfortable enough with their collaborative relationship to try something that had never been done before. The results are definitely brilliant.

By assembling the voice actors in a room and allowing them to interact with each other while playing out a scene, instead of the usual individual isolated recording of the voices, gives the movie a sense of spontaneity and awkwardness that makes it feel like you’re watching a live-action movie. Add to this the highly detailed characters and environments, plus the natural and realistic lighting and Rango becomes a visual experience you won’t soon forget.

I recommend you watch this movie on Blu-ray and an HDTV because the video quality is of the highest standard and really impresses with the stunning detail of the images in High Definition on a big screen.

JP

Submarine

Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts) is a teenager with a lot to deal with. His classmates think he's gay, his parents think he has mental issues, his father sometimes stays in bed for weeks and his mother has started going out to see an ex-boyfriend.

A UK and US co-production that takes place in a small sea-side town of Swansea, Wales, this is a quirky, dark comedy about adolescence, and the pitfalls of young love based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne.

What’s great about Submarine is definitely the actor's performances and the story. Although the characters are all a bit odd and have unusual personalities, the actor's portrayals really keep you hooked into the movie, especially the two main teenagers who are a lot of fun to watch.

Oliver wants to fit in but prefers to isolate himself from society. Only one thing will solve his problems. Being very analytical like his oddball father he decides to pursue a girl from his class, Jordana Bevan (Yasmin Paige), whose personality is not exactly sweet or sympathetic but is just anti-social enough for him to have a chance with, and therefore be accepted by his school mates as being normal and cool. 

He can’t seem to get up the nerve to approach her and fails several attempts, but Jordana, it turns out, is attracted to his nerdy shyness and aggressively pursues him. After many awkward moments they finally begin dating and he really begins to develop feelings for her. Unfortunately their short and unusual courtship is interrupted when Oliver must deal with his emotionally repressed parents who are on the brink of an infidelity. Horrified, Oliver takes it upon himself to intervene with hilarious results. Meanwhile, Jordana is having problems with her own parents and needs Olivier’s support. 

There is a whole subplot with the adults of the film that is very funny and beautifully portrayed by Noah Taylor from Shine (1996) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Sally Hawkins recently from Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) and Made in Dagenham (2010), and Paddy Considine recently from The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and Hot Fuzz (2007) comically balancing the film with the pitfalls of marriage equivalent to the teen story.

It’s all done with dry humor, emotional insight and great character studies. The movie feels very much like other quirky coming of age comedies like Lars and the Real Girl which is one of my favorites and a must see if you haven’t seen it yet.

If you liked quirky coming of age movies like Submarine try these other very good films in the same genre; Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Ben X (2007), 500 Days of Summer (2009) and It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010).

JP

Kung Fu Panda 2: Evolution of a hero's journey

Kung Fu Panda 2 is a worthy sequel to the first Kung Fu Panda (2008) and full of awesomeness from DreamWorks animation, the studio started by Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg who also brought us last year’s MegaMind (2010), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), Over the Hedge (2006), the Shrek movies, and the Madagascar movies. 

Last time we saw our big dreamer panda hero Po (voiced by Jack Black) and the Furious Five, he had just become the Dragon Warrior. Now Po’s next task is to achieve inner peace, but he is more confused and frustrated than ever because he wants to know things about his past without offending his loving father, who is a goose, and who doesn’t have the answers Po is looking for.

Meanwhile, there appears a new villain who threatens China’s peace with a new weapon that uses the power of gun powder. Previously only used in fireworks celebrations, it is now being used for more sinister and war like purposes by the proud Lord Shen (voiced by Gary Oldman) who wants to control all of China and destroy Kung Fu with his powerful new invention; cannons.

While the Furious Five, voiced by Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Jackie Chan (Monkey), Seth Rogen (Mantis), Lucy Liu (Viper), and David Cross (Crane), are trying to stop the devious Lord Shen’s forces, Po tries to discover where he came from and how he came to be the adoptive son of a goose. It seems the menacing Lord Shen himself has some of the answers Po is looking for but without inner peace Po will not be able to defeat him and only when he finds the truth about his past does he achieve inner peace.  The truth turns out to be quite a dark tale but it’s told in flashback with enough exciting action and humor that it pays off in the end. 

One of the things I liked about the first Kung Fu Panda was the brilliant color pallet and picturesque Chinese landscapes. This new movie delivers the same striking color schemes and stunning big vistas although in somewhat darker shades. The story too is a bit darker this time but still enjoyable for the whole family.

It is one of the most popular films in China where the government only allows 20 foreign films to be released per year because of strict censorship laws that only allow for movies with a positive message to be shown to its people. Kung Fu Panda 2 passed with flying colors being respectful of the Chinese culture while delivering a positive message about loyalty and how the truth can help us to realize our potential. Much like the current Arab revolution, once the truth about the Arab leaders was exposed to the world as ruthless, murdering dictators squandering the wealth of their countries, one person’s defiance and sacrifice inspired everyone to rise up against them no matter the odds.

With the Kung Fu Panda series DreamWorks has started to apply the lessons learned from Pixar’s animated films and made their stories more timeless without all the pop culture references that they were becoming known for, so that people can enjoy these films for years to come without becoming dated.

JP

Super 8

From director J.J. Abrams whose first feature film was Mission: Impossible III (2006) and was the producer and/or director of Cloverfield (2008), and the new Star Trek (2009) will be coming out with sequels to all these franchises starting this year with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) directed by Brad Bird, Star Trek 2: Into Darkness in 2013 and Cloverfield 2 in 2014. 

Being mentored by Steven Spielberg and being very much a Sci-fi fan boy himself, the nostalgic Sci-fi thriller Super 8 is an homage to both, especially the Spielberg Sci-fi movies of the 1970s like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) but there are also many elements that reminded me of The Iron Giant (1999) and the Korean monster film The Host (2007), making this an extremely fun and moving picture.

The human story is very carefully grounded in the excellent heartfelt performances of the whole cast and always remains the focus of the film. The extra-terrestrial part of the story never over-whelms the human story, and this is what Spielberg and Abrams are both so good at. 

Taking place in a small town in rural America, a group of teenagers are busily involved in making a Super 8 movie for a contest they want to enter.  Filming on location at a local train station one night they witness a derailment that was not an accident but part of a much bigger government conspiracy.  Something escapes from one of the freight cars but no one has seen it. Soon reports of strange events and people gone missing start to panic the town’s people, and our group of future filmmakers are now also involved in trying to solve the mystery of the derailment and why the military has arrived so quickly to conduct strange tests. It sounds a lot like E.T. except that this alien is not so friendly.

Abrams uses his signature style of filming here as he did in Star Trek where he loved to use lens flares, and he uses them in this picture also but he seems to restrict them only to scenes that signal when the alien is somewhere close by, giving those scenes an eerie feeling.

This movie is well worth seeing and is fun for the whole family. It has plenty of suspense and drama in equal parts and is paced very well so it’s never boring and has a very emotional and moving climax.

 J.J. Abrams is the new Spielberg of today’s generation and his films are always going to be something to look forward to. Don’t miss it.

JP

MicMacs

From French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, in the same signature visually immersive style as his previous films Delicatessen (1991), City of Lost Children (1995), Amélie (2001) and A Very Long Engagement (2004), comes another visually distinctive, retro nostalgic film; the humorous, charming revenge comedy MicMacs (2010).

Part circus, part Toy Story, part Buster Keaton, part Mission: Impossible, and part Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, it’s a magical and enchanting mishmash of ingredients which produces a wonderful soufflé of color and childlike comedy. 

Highly inventive and imaginative, the story is about Bazil (Dany Boon) whose life is changed irreparably in two separate incidents that leave him orphaned in one instance, and homeless and brain damaged in another, both due to products manufactured by large weapons corporations. When one day he discovers the headquarters of these two corporations across the street from each other in a neighborhood of Paris, he decides to exact revenge in the style that Amélie Poulain would have been proud of. 

The homeless, easy going, good natured Bazil is taken in one day by a group of very unique and colorful secondhand dealers who live in a junk yard cave, and with their help the fun begins. Each member of his new family of outsiders has a unique set of quirky talents and they all decide to work together on a plan to help Bazil in his quest for revenge by setting the two arms manufacturers, who caused his misfortune, against each other in a series of brilliantly funny stings.

The plan is a sort of mission impossible with retro household gadgets and circus act feats of daring. Using their imaginations to create inventive tools from old salvaged equipment they set about their task with Buster Keaton style determination and with hilarious results. This film also reminded me a bit of the Wes Anderson animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), about an underdog who also tries to outfox a group of big corporations using some very inventive techniques with comic results.

If you’re a fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s films you will not be disappointed. This movie is easily right up there with his best work since Amélie and Delicatessen. If you’re not familiar with this director’s work I recommend that you run out and rent these films asap. Your life is not complete if you have not seen these delightful movies. If you like the movies of Terry Gilliam or Tim Burton, with their distinctive visual worlds, and unique sense of childlike wonder, you will enjoy the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  He is the Terry Gilliam of France, the Tim Burton of Paris.

JP

Das Boot (The Boat)

“One of the best War movies ever made!” 

“Universally recognized as the best submarine movie of all time and one of the most heart-pounding thrillers ever filmed!”

“This film takes all of the drama and suspense inherent in a submarine-based story and delivers it in a near- perfect package, establishing Das Boot as not just a terrific adrenaline rush, but one of the best movies ever made.”

“It is unlike any other war film in that it confines the audience in a confined submarine where we digest the fear and panic of the human beings on screen. In short, "Das Boot" is a religious experience.”

These are just some of the movie critic’s comments written about Wolfgang Petersen’s epic 1981 German U-boat movie Das Boot, based on the 1973 novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim, and believe me the critics are not exaggerating.

I have seen this move about six or seven times and it’s just as gripping and suspenseful on every viewing. I’ve owned every version of this film that was ever put out because it is an essential classic; a must own and a must see if ever there was one, and one of the most historically accurate accounts of patrols in the Battle of the Atlantic.

It has often been imitated over the past 30 years by film makers and TV commercials and is still widely considered the benchmark for suspense and authentic, un-glamorized depictions of men at war and submarine warfare. What I like about the film besides its suspense and authentic look, is the clear message of the waste of war and the performances are absolutely without parallel. This movie puts you in the most harrowing situations alongside these young men and never lets you out. You can’t help but feel what they feel.

While the characters were fictionalized, all the events depicted are real events witnessed by the author of the book who spent time on German U-boats in World War II as a photographer and war correspondent. 

Although it’s a long movie you never notice the time go by as the story is so real and gripping with unbearable tension. Don’t be intimidated by the length or reputation or the subtitles, you will be rewarded with an unforgettable experience.

The music is haunting and the sound effects build the tension up to nail biting, teeth grinding levels, making Das Boot perfect for the home theater experience and now that a new restored version has been released on Blu-ray you can experience it as it was always intended on the big screen in High Definition.

Since Das Boot, director Wolfgang Petersen has directed such films as Troy (2004), The Perfect Storm (2000), Poseidon (2006), Air Force One (1997), In the Line of Fire (1993) and Outbreak (1995).

This film is definitely one of those films you must see before you die and in fact it is listed in the book by the same name; ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’. 

JP

Cars 2

Pixar has done it again. I cannot agree with the critics on this one. As far as I’m concerned Pixar’s record of not having made a single bad film yet is still unbroken. Many critics have said that they feel this is Pixar’s worst film yet and the first one that does not live up to its previous oeuvre of films but I disagree.

Yes I am a fan of Pixar’s work but this film simply does not deserve the bad press it’s getting. Yes it is a very different film from the first Cars movie and yes it does center more on the Tow Mater character but that does not make it a bad film. In fact this film is very exciting, fast moving and funny with a great message like all of the other Pixar films. And yes this move can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Cars 2 is a completely different movie from the first Cars. Where the first Cars was a story about a big city car coming to a small town somewhere on Route 66 USA, Cars 2 goes even further. It is more of a James Bond film that takes us all over the world. We travel to Tokyo, Japan, London, England and Italy.

It starts out with a very exciting James Bond action piece in the middle of the Ocean and from there it barely lets up. This film is more focused on Tow Mater, the hillbilly tow truck from the first movie, and how he is perceived by cars in other countries leading to some soul searching moments. Mater is invited to come along on a racing tour around the world and is mistaken for an international spy. There is a message about gasoline fuel vs. clean reusable fuel and how the oil companies are keeping us depended on fossil fuels.

Overall it’s a great fun ride with a moving message and gorgeous animation that Pixar does so well. All the Pixar hallmarks are there including little teaser cameos from previous Pixar films.

JP

Shah Rukh Khan the King of Bollywood arrives at Toronto City Hall

These pictures were taken by Marina and myself at City Hall where we waited for SRK to arrive with a huge crowd of admirers.

Shah Rukh Khan and the splendor of Bollywood

With the most incredible production values and exotic locations I have ever seen, not to mention the beauty of such actresses as Kajol, Rani Mukharjee and Preity Zinta, lavish musical numbers and hopelessly romantic storylines, I was hooked.

When it comes to the new Bollywood there are two names you need to know. Kajol and SRK, short for Shah Rukh Khan. These two stars are simply the most magical and charismatic onscreen pairing of the Hindi cinema or any cinema today. Their onscreen chemistry is legendary throughout the world. Watching them together in such films as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) will charm you and make you fall in love no matter what your age or background. Their films have so much heart and humor it is no wonder that they are the most celebrated onscreen couple of the Hindi film industry.

Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s classic film gems from Dilwale Dhlhania Le Jayenge (1995), which is the start of the ShahRukh era of Bollywood, to Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) are now some of Bollywood’s most beloved classics, but these films are virtually unknown to North American audiences. The production values, music and sheer visual splendor contained in many of these films alone is worth preserving and introducing to a brand new market that has never seen the likes of these beautiful films. But what really makes these films stand out in Bollywood is the emotional heart and the moral values contained in these universal stories that translate easily to any audience.  I have witnessed first-hand the power of these films on people who did not even understand the Hindi language or subtitles, but were moved by the story purely based on the visuals and the performances.

SRK will be among many Bollywood stars attending the International Indian Film Academy awards in Toronto this week to be held at the Rogers Center. He is up for an award for his latest film that was released in early 2010, My Name is Khan, which is about a Muslim American man living in San Francisco who travels across the USA to tell the President that he is not a terrorist. This major Bollywood event being held for the first time in North America should give Toronto and Canada much greater exposure to the delights of the Hindi cinema. I just hope that we, as many in Britain were, are open to the experience.

For anyone starting their Bollywood experience for the first time here is a list of must see films starring the King of Bollywood, one of its most endearing and charming actors anywhere, Shah Rukh Khan. Hopeless romantics at heart will not be disappointed.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge                               1995

Dil Se…                                                               1998

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai                                            1998

Mohabbatein                                                      2000

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham                                 2001

Devdas                                                               2002

Chalte Chalte                                                     2003

Kal Ho Naa Ho                                                    2003

Main Hoon Na                                                     2004

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna                                     2006

Chak De India!                                                    2007

Om Shanti Om                                                    2007

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi                                           2008

My Name is Khan                                                2010

There are of course many other great Bollywood films with heart worth seeing that do not star SRK, but I would start here for the best of Bollywood and compare the rest to them. You will be hard pressed to find anything as good. Movies I did find comparable and are very good are as follows:

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) Aamir Khan

Jab We Met (2007) with Kareena Kapoor & Shahid Kapoor

Tare Zameen Par (2007) with Aamir Khan

3 Idiots (2009) with Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor

But I’m hardly an expert and have not seen nearly as many Bollywood films as the average Hindi Bollywood fan who watches them on the Asian TV channels every week.

JP

X-Men: First Class

Directed by Matthew Vaughn who also directed the highly acclaimed film Kick-Ass (2010), one of my favorite films from last year, this X-Men film is extremely effective and satisfying as a set-up film for the X-Men trilogy of 2000 – 2006 and explains how the whole rivalry between Professor X and Magneto began. Although there is not as much action in this film as in previous X-Men films, this one keeps you hooked into the story because of the great characters portrayed by wonderful performances from Kevin Bacon, from Apollo 13 (1995), Michael Fassbender, recently from Inglourious Basterds (2009), James McAvoy, recently from Wanted (2008)and The Last King of Scotland (2006), Jennifer Lawrence, recently from Winter’s Bone (2010), and Nicholas Hoult, recently from About a Boy (2002)and Clash of the Titans (2010), and soon to be seen as Jack in Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) directed by Bryan Singer who also directed the first two X-Men films, X-Men and X2: X-Men United, and wrote and produced the current X-Men: First Class.

 ‘We must adapt to survive’, says one of the mutants in the new prequel to the X-men trilogy that shows the beginnings of young Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). It is a time before mutants were known to exist to humans and to each other. Mutants are mostly just hiding their freakish abilities from the conservative society of the 60s and just want to fit in. But one mutant, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), has harnessed his abilities and is convinced that he and other mutants like him are the next phase in human evolution and that they could never exist together with humans who, he believes, are on the brink of extinction much like the Neanderthals before them.

Neanderthals existed for thousands of years in Europe and Eurasia before early Homo sapiens known as Cro-Magnon man arrived. When that happened the days of Neanderthals were numbed although it took another roughly 50,000 years after the Cro-Magnon man’s arrival in Europe, but during that time period when Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon co-existed together, we can only imagine what contact between these two very different species of humans must have been like. 

X-Men: First Class tries to answer some of those questions with their own version of an evolutionary mutation that will try to out-compete and displace the current human population to extinction. Not all mutants agree with this aggressive point of view. Some believe that peaceful co-existence with humans is possible. The humans on the other hand who foresee their own marginalization will do anything to destroy all the mutants.

The young Charles Xavier and Magneto make an astonishing discovery in this film due to Xavier’s telepathic abilities and a new invention that amplifies his powers. They realize for the first time that they are not alone and that far more mutants exist all over the world than they ever imagined, all with unique powers. They start to recruit mutants and create a school to help them learn to harness their abilities. But the mutants are of two minds and split up into two camps. Those that want to speed up the inevitable and take revenge for how they have been made to feel as outsiders, ashamed of their abilities, and hasten their demise, and those that want to protect, help and work with the humans.

The humans are also split into two camps, Communist and Democratic societies are at war with each other but when it comes to mutants they are united in their fear. Some humans want to work with the mutants but most would rather just get rid of them if they could. But there is the dilemma. Mutants are superior in every way to humans and humans can only hope that mutants will be merciful. And so it was with Neanderthal. Although Neanderthal appears stronger physically and better able to withstand extreme climates, they were not as smart as the weaker early modern humans and eventually they were out competed to extinction. It was our brains that gave us the edge.

The X-Men franchise has an opportunity here to show what might have occurred in this critical evolutionary phase of human history. Competition between people goes on in our daily lives every day. We are always competing for jobs, wealth, opportunities, education, fame, and there are always people who lose out and fall by the way side. Mutants have far more powerful and advanced abilities but alone they are isolated freaks. Our natural instinct is to cheer for the underdog and in the beginning we cheer for the lonely, outsider mutant but soon the mutants group their talents in gangs and become arrogant and just want to use their abilities to destroy mankind. Then we cheer for the mutants who help humans and fight against the more aggressive mutants. 

What I liked about the previous X-Men films is that mutants who started out in one camp would end up by the end of the film in the opposite camp. For example a mutant starting out in the Xavier or pro-human camp would decide by the end of the film to change to the Magneto or anti-human camp and vice versa. A previously known bad mutant would by the end of the film decide to join the good mutant camp. This new prequel film continues this trend and we see how some mutants can change, through ideology, from one camp to another, either because they feel sympathy for humans or because they admire someone in the opposite camp.

This movie franchise has been extremely successful so far and all the movies in the franchise are great as far as I’m concerned, including the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie about the origins of a popular X-Men character called Wolverine. If you are unfamiliar with the X-Men franchise and want to see all the movies this is a good one to start with.

JP

Clash of the Titans: A hero's journey continues

At the end of the 2010 remake Clash of the Titans you have the feeling that a fully realized world has been created were many new stories can be told with memorable characters and beautiful realistic production design. 

Everything about this remake is an improvement on the 1981 original. The visual effects department of course has taken full advantage of the digital revolution that has taken place since 1981 and this is the perfect type of film to showcase those effects. The original was already an effects heavy film back in 1981 when it was released in the same week as Raiders of the Lost Ark. But this being a very low budget film Ray Harryhausen was hired to do his signature stop-motion animation old school style. This was the last film that Ray Harryhausen worked on using his once very popular stop-motion technique that made such films as 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) so popular.

Laurence Olivia, Harry Hamlin, Maggie Smith, Clair Bloom and Ursula Andress have been replaced by Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Sam Worthington and the late Pete Postlethwaite. The new film is faithful to the original but has a much more international feel with a cast and locations from around the world. Filming took place in Tenerife the Canary Islands, Malta, Italy, Wales, England and Ethiopia.

There are many memorable action sequences from the original that fan boy director Louis Leterrier, who also directed The Incredible Hulk (2008), wanted to retain for the new film but needed updating for a modern audience. Some of the best and well known of these new updated scenes are the God's temple on Mt. Olympus, the Scorpioch battle, Medusa’s cave temple battle and the awesome Kraken sequence. In between we get an array of other worldly and mythological creatures from Hades and the Hades effect, winged half-simian bat like flying harpies, Calibos the deformed king, the Stygian witches, Pegasus the flying horse, and the Djinn who are ancient sorcerers living in the desert. 

What I really liked about this new movie was the beautiful realistic depiction of mythical places like Mt. Olympus and the ancient city of Argos. The Greek city of Argos was beautifully rendered digitally as a massive complex of structures built into the side of a sea-side cliff that was filmed in a place called Los Gigantes, Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands using ancient structures filmed in Italy to make up the City. The God’s home on Mt. Olympus was rendered as a wide open round hall with the floor completely open and looking down on a satellite image of the earth from space complete with clouds and realistic topography.

There is a travelogue type sequence in the film depicting our heroes as they journey on the backs of the Scorpiochs across different landscapes on their way to find the Stygian witches and ultimately Medusa's cavernous temple. The photography in that sequence is breathtaking as we are treated to stunning vistas that were filmed in exotic locations all over the world and adds an epic feel to the journey.

Clash of the Titans is a classic tale of the hero’s journey. Perseus played by Sam Worthington, recently from Terminator Salvation (2009) and Avatar (2009), is born a demigod son of Zeus, half human half god, and must find a way to stop Hades from destroying the city of Argos and awakening the fearsome Kraken, a mythic sea creature that lives in an underwater sea cave. Along the way he obtains a loyal following of men, sorcerers and gods who help him fulfill his destiny. Perseus is tested with trials and given magical weapons before he finally confronts Hades and the enormous Kraken. 

The climactic Kraken sequence improves on the original in every way and does not disappoint. The original sequence was quaint but did not have the scale and realism of this new updated version. Now the Kraken sequence is truly awesome in scale and realism and excitingly filmed and edited. It shows not only the Kraken but also street level action in the city of Argos while Perseus is flying through both Kraken tentacles and Argos streets on his flying horse Pegasus.

Here’s hoping we get more films in this promising franchise. What? They’re already working on it?

Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to Clash of the Titans is now being filmed in Tenerife Spain as I write this. This is exciting news. Jonathan Liebesman, who also directed this year’s excellent Battle: Los Angeles, has replaced director Louis Leterrier, but the cast and crew from Clash of the Titans are mostly all back including Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, Sam Worthington as Perseus and Danny Huston as Poseidon. The new film is due for release on March 30, 2012.

The following is an official summary of the storyline from Warner Bros. Pictures

‘A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus-the demigod son of Zeus-is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity's lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. The triumvirate had overthrown their powerful father long ago, leaving him to rot in the gloomy abyss of Tartarus, a dungeon that lies deep within the cavernous underworld. Perseus cannot ignore his true calling when Hades, along with Zeus' godly son, Ares (Edgar Ramírez), switch loyalty and make a deal with Kronos to capture Zeus. The Titans' strength grows stronger as Zeus' remaining godly powers are siphoned, and hell is unleashed on earth... Written by Warner Bros. Pictures’  

JP