First part of a two part show with special guest host NZ actor John Leigh reviewing Jersey Boys (or Joisey Boys) plus news and Michael Caine’s box office report.
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Sacha Baron Cohen is, in this reviewer’s opinion, the most gifted comic actor of his generation – a new Peter Sellers for those of us who remember who Peter Sellers was. A first-rate comedy technician, a virtuoso improvisor and virtually fearless, he has stolen films like Madagascar, Talladega Nights and Sweeney Todd from much bigger names. Why then am I left so cold by his most famous creations, Borat and now Austrian fashion reporter turned gay cultural icon Brüno?
At first I thought it must just be a question of taste. After all, a rather large group of people at the Embassy on Thursday whooped and hollered and gave Brüno a round of applause. The editor of this paper told me it was her favourite film of the year. Maybe it is just me, but I didn’t laugh once – at least not at loud.
I grew up under the high-heeled jackboot of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, when post-apocalyptic visions of futuristic fascist dictatorships seemed to turn up as regularly as London buses. Back then we all felt that the world was at risk from the insane plans of a mentally deficient, war-mongering, US president captured by the military-industrial complex. Of course, now things are completely different (ahem) but Children of Men still seems like the product of a bygone era.
20 years into a grey British future: the population is sterile and extinction of the human race is inevitable. Alcoholic public servant Clive Owen is persuaded by ex-girlfriend and freedom-fighter Julianne Moore to transport some precious cargo to the coast but her plan (and her team) is soon shredded by the forces of reaction and Owen is forced to go it alone. There are several absolutely jaw-dropping set-pieces and I wonder whether the people of Bexhill realised what sort of mess was going to be made of their quiet little seaside town. Never lend anything to a film crew!
Annotated and expanded version of this week’s Capital Times film review: L’enfer; Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; Stick It and American Hardcore.
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