The Imitation Game

The cinema listings haven’t fallen kindly for the 2015 Oscar contenders with The Imitation Game getting shafted in the schedule thanks to overplayed dross like Taken 3 and Into the Woods.  I managed to catch it on the last weekend of its run and thank the gods that I did.

The Imitation Game is based on a true story and in keeping with tradition I did no prior research into the events prior to seeing the film.  In a shock twist to normal proceedings Alan Turing was such an interesting individual I confess I did look him up when I got home.

PLOT:  During WW2 Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) and his team of mathematicians work together to invent a machine capable of cracking the encrypted messages of the Nazis.  END PLOT

The events at Bletchley Park are told through flashbacks and despite knowing that Alan Turing would be successful in his task The Imitation Game is a genuinely stressful film.  Who would have guessed that watching small wheels turn on a big machine would create so much tension?  Despite the code cracking excitement The Imitation Game is very much a character driven film and I became invested enough in the story to be absolutely devastated at how Turing's life turned out. 

Benedict Cumberbatch is excellent as Alan Turing and my worry that I wouldn’t be able to see beyond Sherlock Holmes was unnecessary.  Turing was a conflicted and complex character but Cumberbatch brought his story to life with what appeared to be minimal effort.  This performance hasn’t done Cumberbatch's career any harm whatsoever.

Although The Imitation Game is Cumberbatch’s film he is supported by Kiera Knightley, Mark Strong and Charles Dance who all put in impressive performances.  Knightley deserves her supporting actress nod and although I very much doubt she will win it keeps her status as one of the top young British actresses intact. 

The Imitation Game clocks in at just under two hours but the story is so rich it was a shame that the film didn't last longer.  It might have been interesting to see what happened to the rest of Turing's team after the war ended but I suppose that wasn't really what the film was about.

 

The Imitation Game is an effective thriller with a surprising amount of heart.  It will undoubtedly be overlooked in the acting categories but this should not take away from the fact that it is a very well made and thoroughly enjoyable film.  It gets 8/10 and will be a welcome addition to my dvd collection.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Summer season is here and that can only mean one thing - yet another unnecessary Pirates of the Caribbean film.

I hold the first POTC in high regard as it is a really fun swashbuckler. It’s okay that the inevitable sequel followed but by the third over-long, bloated and self satisfied sequel came I was more than done with this franchise. The theme in Hollywood at the minute is the reboot and POTC has jumped on this bandwagon and dropped the “gangs-all-here-itis” disease that it has suffered from since the first instalment, got rid of the deadwood and come back with its latest offering Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

PLOT: Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) knows where the Fountain of Youth is and gets tricked onto Blackbeard’s (Ian McShane) ship by ex-girlfriend Angelica (Penelope Cruz) and forced to lead them to the fountain. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) chases them down posing as a King’s Privateer hell bent on getting revenge on Blackbeard for the loss of his leg and for stealing the Black Pearl, a ship in which Barbossa has himself stolen from Jack Sparrow on several occasions. There is an unrequited love story even blander than the Will/Elizabeth saga. There are mermaids who don’t get enough screen time. The badass and underused Spanish show up to renounce Pagan Fountains. I like to think that the mermaid drowned the cleric. Proceedings have a sense of deja vu about them. I still despise Johnny Depp. END PLOT

POTC recycles plots to almost criminal levels of self-plagiarism - swap Aztec gold with Fountain of Youth, the Royal Navy with Spanish Armada and Will/Elizabeth with Philip/Serena and we have a new movie. As with the third instalment this film is far too long and filled with too many Johnny Depp scenes.

The entire London section should have been cut as it added nothing to the film. There were quicker ways to get the film started and any time spent in Tortuga is always welcome fun.

There is a fine line between homage and rehash and the battle in the blacksmiths was very much an unwelcome rehash.

Johnny Depp once again has far too much screen time as Jack Sparrow. In Curse of the Black Pearl he is not the lead character - he is supporting cast and the film works so much better with lesser amounts of Sparrows own drunken brand of comic relief.

Every time Johnny Depp rocks up with his latest quirky character I roll out my “if all his performances are quirky and original then none of them are” phrase. I don't get the hype over Johnny Depp.

Depp portrayed Jack as a drunken cockney idiot whereas Geoffrey Rush is clearly enjoying himself playing a full on pirate complete with appropriate levels of RRRRR. I love the character of Barbossa as much as I dislike Jack.

When you look at Barbossa and the things his character has achieved in the POTC saga it shows that we are following story of the wrong character:

The life and times of Hector Barbossa:
1) Successfully leads a mutiny on the Black Pearl
2) Locates a casket of Aztec gold and fritters it away on whores and booze in what one can assume is a right old laugh
3) On the discovery that he can no longer feel, taste or die he embarks on another epic journey to locate each piece of Aztec gold and return it to the casket from whence it came.
4) He died (we all have off days) but was also brought back to life again in time for the 3rd film. One can only assume the afterlife was a right old laugh complete with whorish ghouls and the devils ale.
5) I am sure he did something memorable in At Worlds End but I refuse to acknowledge the film exists
6) He loses the Black Pearl in an epic battle at sea with Blackbeard
7) Saws off his own leg with a sword.
8) Gets back onto dry land after the self amputation despite the life threatening amounts of blood loss
9) Wheedled his way into the Kings Court and is trusted enough by said King to captain a ship and find the Fountain of Youth
10) Is currently vacationing in Tortuga no doubt frittering away his time on whores and booze.

All of these events are explained by a single throwaway line in their respective films. Barbossa will no doubt turn up in Episode 5 with a new leg, shaved head and a Russian Bride who has a birth mark on her left foot shaped like a map to the Lost City of Atlantis and brush it off as an after effect of too much whoring and boozing. The real adventure in the POTC series takes place off screen.

POTC always picks up whenever Barbossa is on screen and when Barbossa and Jack had time together the film was noticeably lifted. The problem is these moments were often short and far apart.

Penelope Cruz was as feisty as ever. I absolutely loved the Spanish theme running through the film which even livened up the tired score. The Spanish Armada were underused and the revelation that they wanted to destroy the Fountain of Youth rather than use it for themselves seemed a bit strange as they failed to destroy the two chalices in their possession which were required to successfully avail of the fountains power. At least they weren’t as useless as the British Navy.

The fantasy creatures in this film were mermaids who were very creepy and not as shitty looking as the kraken.

Despite all the negatives I did enjoy this film and it annoys me to admit it as I really and truly wanted to hate it. There are some good set pieces and at times there were glimpses of genuine humour.

On Stranger Tides is leagues better than At Worlds End and is not a shabby way to start off the summer fluff season. It gets a 7/10. I still hate Johnny Depp.

Never Let Me Go

There are some movies that we, and by we I mean the other two thirds of The Nerdy Trio and not I, get really excited about yet the whole world doesn’t seem to care. After a persuasive trailer, two out of three members of said Trio having read the book and a group appreciation of Andrew Garfield off we set to the VIP lounge to watch Never Let Me Go.

PLOT: Set in the futuristic past where three friends Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightly) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) grow up in Hailsham a very British boarding school for genetically engineered students. This is unfortunately not as cool as Xavier’s School For Gifted Children as the only gifts the students of Hailsham have to offer is their organs. These children have been created to become living organ donors. There is a love triangle. There are organ donations. There is heartbreak. END PLOT

The plot of Never Let Me Go is quite clever in a repressed British sort of way. The science behind the living organ donors is never explained and the story focuses solely on our cast of three and this makes it all the more scary.

The cast do well with the standard love triangle fare and it is watchable but I loved the idea of them being living donors more.

The fact Kathy, Tommy and Ruth knew of and fully accepted that they would have to slowly and periodically donate their vital organs until they reach “completion” and yet never question this is an unsettling thought.

Never Let Me Go does not turn into The Island - there are no attempts to escape or to avoid their fate. Kathy and Tommy do apply to defer their donations for a few years as they are in love but there is never any suggestion that they want to grow old together and appear fully prepared to donate after their deferral period ends.

There are subtle hints throughout the movie that the students of Hailsham are the last of their kind with future donors being created and kept in a more factory/conveyor belt setting with none of the educational/triangle trimmings that our fictional Trio have enjoyed. The sinister undertones were rife throughout the film, especially during the "do the donors actually have souls" scene and it was these that I engaged with although I probably should have been more emotionally invested in the characters and their forbidden love.

Never Let Me Go is a very good film based on a book which I am positive is so much better. I cannot fault the performances of Mulligan, Knightly and Garfield all of whom show that the future of British cinema has nothing to fear however the idea and plot of Never Let Me Go outshone everything. It lingered long after the love triangle has expired.

Never Let Me Go gets 8/10 and I will now blow the dust of the novel I have purchased and not yet read.