Movie Review: Captain America - The Winter Soldier

This second instalment in the Captain America franchise and the Marvel universe is, in short, a 'kick-arse' movie. It is so action-packed that at times it borders on sensory overload, and you wonder if, in their desire to please, the creators have perhaps tried a little too hard.

The plot is complex, in the "who can you truly trust?" genre. The Captain is having trouble integrating into modern times and embracing modern values. He makes a new friend, who turns out to be 'The Falcon'. His somewhat unlikely working partner is Natasha Romanoff, 'The Black Widow', whom he does not initially trust. They rescue some hostages from a SHIELD ship that has been taken over by pirates, and Romanoff downloads some Shield data onto a flash drive, which then plays a key role in the remainder of the plot.

The Captain challenges Nick Fury, head of Shield, about openness and honesty, and Fury reveals a secret project called 'Insight', which is building three airbone massive troop carriers with impressive firepower and the capacity to wipe out threats before they occur. the Captain is not impressed, and after their discussion Fury requests his associate, Alexander Pierce, to request the world security council (of which he is secretary) to delay the initiation of the project.

Shortly afterwards, thre is a spectacular car chase and assassination attempt on the life of Nick Fury, head of Shield. He barely escapes with his life and winds up in the Captain's apartment, telling him "to trust no-one". He is promptly shot by an unknown assailant, who we presume is the 'Winter Soldier'. Fury is transported to hospital, where he dies (the doctor in me was wondering, does he?).

After Pierce comsiders that the Captain is being evasive about why Fury was in his apartment, Rogers becomes a wanted man on the run. He goes underground with Romanoff to try to find out from whence the evil stems. In shades of the new movie 'Transendence', they discover that a mad (and evil) German scientist has embedded his consciousness into some remarkably old computer equipment in a bunker and has developed an algorithm that identifies people who will be a threat before they a actually become a threat. His goal (and that of Hydra, the many-headed serpent embedded within Shield) is that humanity will at last give up its freedom to avoid living in fear (Project Insight).

The Captain and Romanoff manage to avoid become barbeque by-products when missiles predictably strike the bunker, and when Rogers comes face to face with the Winter Soldier, he realises that this is his best friend Bucky, who was presumed to have died in the 1940s, but has also survived in an enhanced form courtesy of the mad scientist.

In the central part of the movie Rogers also has a poignant reunion with his now-aged former 'best girl' Peggy, who is still alive in a nursing home.

The Captain and Romanofff enlist the help of The Falcon, and work with a small band of trustworthy allies to try to save the day. My medic's gut feeling is proved correct when Fury emerges alive from the shadows.

Now unhindered by Fury, Pierce presses ahead with the initiation of Project Insight, and our small band of intrepid heroes must board each troop carrier in time to replace one of the data chips with an inert one which sever the connection with orbiting satellites and prevent millions of hapless people from being exterminated.

We are treated to some superbly choreographed chase scenes and fight scenes, in a variety of locations, including in the air, and it all comes down to the final chip and a 'Wild West' style showdown between the Captain and the Winter Soldier. The chip nearly falls to Earth at least twice, but somewhat miraculously Rogers manages to avoid being smashed to smithereens and replaces the final chip as the Earth-bound controllers are about to fire on their 20 million unsuspecting targets. The Winter Soldier, now trapped under a girder, is rescued by Rogers, who reminds him of the brotherly bond between them. Both survive the troop carrier crashing out of the skies.

The Captain's demand, prior to the final assault, of both Hydra and Shield being dissolved, "as something is rotten in the state of Denmark", is duly met, and new career paths are needed all-round. Fury stays officially dead, but continues his work behind the scenes, Romanoff feels a need to invent a new cover (but has won the respect and trust of Rogers), and The Captain and The Falcon make it their next mission to find the Winter Soldier.

In the now traditional 'teasers' at the end, we see one of the remaining offshoots of Hydra with an advanced weapon, which has at its core the eerie blue glow of the Frost Giants (first intalment of 'Thor'), and twin mutants kept in separate rooms with very different powers, who appear to be intended as future challenges for our protagonists.

More poignantly, we see a glimpse of the incognito Winter Soldier at the Smithsonian reading about Captain America's best friend, Bucky.

This really was a terrific movie, much better than I expected, and because of the pace and intensity you would probably need to watch it at least a couple of times to pick up all the finer points.

Highly recommended!

I am totally "over" the 'Spiderman' franchise, as there can be too much of a good thing, but I look forward to both a new 'X-Men' movie, which goes back to their roots, and forthcoming next installment of 'The Avengers'. Also look out for a fabulous documentary which was on TV recently about the origins of the relatively new Marvel Studios and their vision of the Marvel universe.

Movie Review: Gravity (3D)

This is an amazing movie and an absolutely vivid experience in 3D. I have no idea how the movie makers so convincingly created the impression of the actors being in outer space floating above the Earth (the movie was filmed at Shepparton Studios in England). The special effects are incredible, including several space walks, debris hurtling around the Earth, the space shuttle Endeavour, the International Space Station, a Chinese space station, a Soyuz capsule and its Chinese equivalent.

It is even more remarkable for the whole story being carried by only two actors (George Clooney and Sandra Bullock) and for a time the disembodied voice of Mission Control (Ed Harris - a neat tribute to his previous roles). Clooney plays a convincing role as jocular seasoned astronaut Matt Kowalski acting as mentor to nervous newbie Dr Ryan Stone.

This is a disaster movie, but a very personalised one. There is the customary large-scale destruction, with debris resulting from the Russians accidentally shooting their own satellite creating havoc and tearing at high speed through the space shuttle, the ISSS and the Chinese station and many other satellites, blacking out communication with Mission Control.

In the opening scene, Kowlaski, Stone and one other astronaut are outside the space shuttle conducting some repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope. Initially it seems that the debris will miss them, but due to a chain reaction it is suddenly heading their way. The three astronauts do not have time to get back inside the shuttle and end up floating in space. Stone is suitably panicked by the situation and starts hyperventilating and uttering lots of disconsolate grunts. Kowalski has a jet pack and manages to rescue her and clip them together, but their other colleagues are not so lucky. Ever calm, he hatches a plan to travel across a large expanse of space to the ISSS, from whence they will take a Soyuz capsule back to Earth. During their journey he manages to engage with Stone on a personal level and finds out that she tragically lost her only child, a daughter, at the age of four. As they approach the ISSS, it is clear that the station is deserted, with one Soyuz gone and the other is damaged, with the parachute deployed. Kowalski determines that it is still serviceable enough to hitch a ride across to the Chinese space station Tiangong, from whence they can take the Soyuz-equivalent capsule back to Earth.

By the time they near the ISSS, all of Stone's oxygen is gone apart from the air in her suit. By a combination of circumstances, they overshoot the station and are about to drift off into space. Miraculously Stone's foot is caught by the strands of the parachute. However, the pull of Kowalski's weight being tethered to her causes the grip to loosen. Kowalski can see that her only chance of survival lies with him unclipping their connection, and with a remark about breaking the spacewalking record, he lets go. Stone is distraught and insists that she will come and get him.

Drowsy from the lack of oxygen, Stone barely manages to get inside the ISSS. She recompresses the airlock, takes off her spacesuit and floats blissfully in a foetal position for what seems like an eternity. A journey through the station to Soyuz results in further disaster as a loose panel sparks when slammed shut but she does not realise this as she floats past. She tries to raise Kowalski and applies the same positive psychology techniques that he earlier used on her. Before too long the fire has taken hold and spread, and Stone once again barely manages to get into Soyuz and as a last-minute thought takes the fire extinguisher with her. At the time it seemed to be a bit of a strange thing to do, as surely there would be one inside the capsule, but like Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, this device has a future role to play for good or for ill.

Stone gets ready to propel the capsule off towards the Chinese station but the parachute anchors are holding tight. She sets off on another spacewalk to unscrew them just as the debris arrives on its second orbit, effectively destroying the ISSS as she struggles to set the restraining wires free. Having succeeded, she gets away from the mayhem only to discover that she is drifting in space with no fuel left.

Desperately trying to make communication with anyone, she issues a 'Mayday'. To her surprise, she picks up an earthbound signal which is coupled with interference. It is a language she does not understand (an Inuit from Greenland) and there is a dog and a baby in the background. Stone talks about realising that today is the day she is going to die, and turns down the lights and turns off the oxygen pressurisation dial in the capsule and lies back in her seat.

Suddenly the hatch opens and in climbs Kowlaski. In good humour, he says it is "quite a story" as to how he managed to be there. He immediately turns on the lights and the oxygen and pulls out a bottle of vodka from under the dashboard, having previously indicated that he knows where the Russians hide it, and takes a swig after offering it to Stone, who declines. Stone is agitated, as she explains that she is out of options as the fuel tanks are empty. Kowalski jovially retorts that there are always options, and the landing thrusters can still be used to propel them towards the Chinese station Tiangong from whence they can travel home as the Chinese capsule is exactly the same as Soyuz. Stone has been concerned about flying the capsule as she always crashed it in the simulator.

Equally suddenly, Kowalski is gone and Stone sits up with a jolt. She thanks Kowlaski for the insight and decides to go home. She asks him to remember her to her daughter. With the lights and oxygen restored, Stone determines how to separate the landing module from the other components of Soyuz and engage the thrusters. This successfully done, she heads off towards the Chinese station. As she nears the station, she has another moment of insight, dons her spacesuit and exits with the fire extinguisher. In scenes reminiscent of the Wild West, she tumbles and turns through space using the extinguisher as her jet pack. Once again she nearly overshoots, but manages to grab onto a railing at the last possible moment.

Once inside she heads for the Soyuz equivalent just as the storm of debris arrives again. This time all the lettering is in Chinese so there is an excruciating game of "eenie meenie miney moe" as Stone works how to disengage the capsule and head home. She is accompanied by a fiery band of debris from the now-destroyed space station heading alongside towards Earth.

Somewhat miraculously, the capsule lands in a lake not far from shore. When Stone opens the door, the capsule starts to flood and sink to the bottom. She eventually manages to swim out, but the weight of her spacesuit prevents her from rising to the surface. She discards it and swims upward towards the light and surfaces. In an echo of her foetal position on the ISSS, she floats blissfully on the surface and drifts towards the shore. Stone drags herself out of the water and grabs a handful of the red earth, savouring the feeling of being back on terra firma. Like a newborn foal, she struggles to rise to her feet, the effects of having been weightless for an extended period evident, and then triumphally succeeds. The film ends with the camera behind Stone, who is facing the wilderness in the knowledge that a rescue mission is on the way.

Sandra Bullock's extraordinary performance carries this film. It is unusual for a film to feature only two actors and even more unusual for the weight of the film to fall on only one actor. Apart from Clooney's brief cameo as a hallucination and the foreign language triumvirate of man, dog and child, Bullock's character is entirely alone in space.

At the start of the film, we are reminded that space is a completely inhospitable environment, where not only can no-one hear you scream, but unaided survival is impossible.

This is a classic story of salvation and survival against the odds. In the first act we discover the unsure and tortured rookie who finds a kindly mentor only to lose him again in tragic circumstances. He sacrifices himself and implores her to live. In the second act she finds her courage as a sole survivor in a truly remarkable way, but then seems out of options and decides to die in a controlled and dignified way ("pray for me"). At the start of the third act, after a delirious deus ex machina moment, she realises that she wants to live and finds the courage and the means to achieve this. It is a story worthy of any saga or heroic poem.

For a single actor to achieve in a convincing way such a depth of characterisation and range of emotion in terrifying circumstances where the odds are never good is nothing short of remarkable. Both terror and tension are palpable for much of the film, and it is all plausable enough for the willing suspension of disbelief. I did find Bullock's fearful grunts and vocalisations a bit wearing, but perhaps it was felt necessary to have some sound to interject into the silence. At other times the music score is quite powerful.

I would not be surprised if this film is the recipient of a number of Academy Award nominations. Does Bullock deserve an Oscar - yes, absolutely!

(P.S. A nice touch from the Australian perspective that astronaut Andrew (“Andy”) Thomas was an advisor to the project.)

Verdict: Highly recommended!

Movie Review: The Last Stand

"The Age" reviewer gave this movie three stars and said it was the only genuinely funny movie that Arnold Schwarzenegger had ever made, so that was good enough to give it a go.

Although a fan of the movies that Arnie made as part of the Terminator franchise, I haven't seen many of his other movies. This one marks his return to the silver screen following his term as "The Gubernator" (Governor of California).

This film is a action adventure in the tradition of the "Spaghetti Western", but it isn't afraid to laugh at itself and pay homage to the "bigger than Ben Hur" tradition of Hollywood blockbusters where good takes on evil. In this example small town values of honesty, integrity and caring for each other come up against an amoral drug lord with seemingly limitless resources. The "little people" manage to do what the FBI is unable to do.

Schwarzenegger plays a middle-aged small town sheriff who left an illustrious career in LA behind him after losing a lot of colleagues in a shoot-out. He is kind, patient, dedicated, thorough and professional, and provides a good role model for his two young deputies (male and female) and his Hispanic senior deputy.

After the drug lord masterminds an improbable escape from custody, he drives south from Las Vegas in a hotted up car with a traitorous female FBI agent as a "hostage". There are some pretty crazy road trip and car chase scenes in which law enforcement comes off a distinct second-best. However, things change when the roadshow arrives in Somerton County. Although the young male deputy who was dreaming of a more exciting future sadly perishes, others are drafted, including an eccentric local who conveniently owns a firearms museum. After a firefight in the main street and an even crazier car chase in a corn field, in a scene reminiscent of "High Noon" Arnie and the drug lord meet on a newly constructed bridge that he needs to cross in order to escape into Mexico. Fisticuffs follow but Arnie prevails and brings the handcuffed fugitive back into town and hands him over to the Feds.

There are some nice touches which could be interpreted as tributes to Arnie's past career as a cyborg - he twice pulls a nasty sharp object out of his leg and keeps going and on the bridge, in response to the ever-escalating offer of a bribe, says "my honour is not for sale". He is also willing to acknowledge the impact of advancing years.

All key members of the supporting cast put in a solid performance. The bad guys all seem slightly unhinged, the Feds are predictable, and the small town heroes look out for each other and come across as genuine. There is plenty of humour along the way and despite the odds (and resources) being well and truly stacked against them, the viewer is willing the good guys to win.

This is an enjoyable and entertaining movie (but definitely not one for the squeamish). Schwarzenegger puts in a fine performance as someone who cares and is willing to fight for what he believes in. He shows a certain humanity and vulnerability, and perhaps his experiences in politics and the unravelling of his personal life have made him a better man with a greater ability to connect with "the little people". Perhaps there will be more good work to come.

Movie Reviews: "Life of Pi" (3D) and "How to Train your Dragon"

Life of Pi (3D)

I was initially reluctant to go and see this movie directed by Ang Lee ("Who wants to watch two hours of a tiger in a boat?") but went along as friends were keen. Particularly in 3D, the cinematography is stunning, as are the special effects (including a very realistic and progressively emaciated Bengal Tiger). Apparently filmed in a wave tank in Taiwan, the water ranged from being whipped up into a fearful storm strong enough to sink a cargo ship through glassy still reflecting the sky and the stars to clear and luminescent at night. As well as the tiger, a zebra, hyena and orangutan end up on the boat, and we see fish, sharks, dolphins, jelly fish and a massive whale in the water. Some scenes dissolve into the kind of fantasy that you would expect to see with hallucinations.

Filmed in India, Taiwan and Montreal, the film maps the journey of Pi as a child and then a teenager in India and his family's fateful trip (with their zoo animals) to a new life in Canada. The cargo ship strikes 'the perfect storm' above the Mariana Trench and sinks. Pi ends up in a lifeboat and drifts across the Pacific for over 270 days until he washes up on a beach in Mexico.

At times it is a deeply spiritual journey, with the young Pi exploring three religions simultaneously - his birthright Hindu, Christianity and Islam. At two pivotal points in the story, Pi sees God in the storm, and in the second entreats the tiger to do the same. The young man who plays the shipwrecked Pi does an outstanding job in a very challenging (and wet) role.

Until almost the end of the movie, I was viewing it as a bit of an improbable fantasy, but one for which I had enabled my "willing suspension of disbelief".

I found the conclusion to the movie quite jarring. Japanese investigators come to interview Pi, the only survivor of the sinking of the cargo ship, whilst he is recovering in hospital in Mexico. They consider his story about the tiger and other animals and the carnivorous island complete with Meerkats in the middle of the Pacific quite improbable and ask him for the true story. He then tells a far more brutish tale, of being in the lifeboat with a gentle Buddhist and his mother and the evil cook (a gorgeous cameo by Gerard Depardieu). The Buddist dies and then his mother is murdered by the cook and Pi then kills the cook. The author listening to Pi's story in Montreal says "so the zebra was your mother, the orangutan was the Buddist, the cook was the hyena and you were the tiger?". Perhaps it was the Director's (and novelist's intention), but I was left wondering which version of the story to believe. Pi asks the author which story he prefers, and of course he says the one with the tiger.

After this point (and afterwards) for me the visual wonder of the movie became clouded by questions. Was the floating island of mangroves with Meerkats and aquifers which were fresh water by day and acidic at night, killing the fish within, really carnivorous, consuming the last human inhabitant, or was it merely a hallucination? Do bananas float (yes, experimentally verified!) and could the orangutan have arrived at the lifeboat on a raft of bananas? Was the zebra who swam out under the water when Pi opened a door between compartments to try to save his family while the ship was sinking really a zebra or was this an avatar for Pi's mother? If this was so, why would he agree with the author that his mother was the orangutan? How did the four animals get out of their cages on the cargo decks to end up in the lifeboat? If it was a fake story, why did Pi get teary at the mention that the tiger, Richard Parker, did not turn around for a lingering last glance before disappearing into the Mexican jungle? If there was a tiger in the jungle, surely this would have come to the attention of the media at some point? If there was really no tiger on the lifeboat, did Pi actually construct a little raft to keep himself at some distance from the boat and then lose all his supplies due to environmental disturbances? What about the consequences of exposure and malnutrition? (Apart from matted hair and a few ribs showing he looked remarkably well after nine months at sea.) How did he end up in Canada? Was the Indian girl he married the one he left behind in India as a teenager?

If all these seeds of doubt had not been sown, I would have found the movie much more enjoyable. I did not feel that this self-destructive denouement added anything to the storyline and indeed detracted from all the good work that had gone before. Perhaps it is meant to be a sort of morality play contrasting survival against all the odds with the darkness that lurks within, where the protagonist must reflect on that age-old question, "what is truth?".

The music score is wonderful, weaving in elements of Indian musical traditions. The 3D presentation enhanced the lavish cinematography, but I am sure it would still have been very presentable in 2D. I did find it a bit tiresome wearing the glasses for that length of time and it was disappointing that there was only one Hoyts cinema in the whole of Melbourne showing the 2D version. (There is a $3 premium for 3D films and an extra $1 for the 3D glasses if you do not have them already.)

How to Train your Dragon 

This charming feel-good animated movie was just as enjoyable on a second viewing.

The basic premise involves a fearsome tribe of Vikings at war with dragons, the chief's nerdy son Hiccup who befriends an injured Night Fury dragon (and turns out to be somewhat of a 'dragon whisperer'), his friends including the fiesty Astrid, and a terrifying massive prehistoric dragon who is holding all the other dragons in thrall and forcing them to steal food from the Vikings in order to feed him. The youngsters and the dragons save the day, the large dragon is defeated and from thenceforth the Vikings and the dragons live happily ever after.

I haven't yet seen the two sequels that have been made, but look forward to doing so.

Movie Review: Lincoln

Directed by Steven Spielberg, this is an outstanding historical docu-drama with an outstanding cast and attention to detail. It comes highly recommended. It is also a story about how sometimes humanity can learn unpalatable lessons and right wrongs, even in a hesitant stepwise fashion. At that time there was uproar in Congress at even the mention that one day negroes and women might want to be given the right to vote!

Daniel Day Lewis is superb as America's most iconic President, and is ably supported by Sally Field as his wife Mary (Molly) and Tommy Lee Jones as Republican Thaddeus Stephens, a passionate supporter of the proposed Constitutional Amendment to end slavery. Lincoln's tall, stooped and gangly appearance, gait and fragile health make you wonder whether he was beset by Marfan's Syndrome.

There is an intensity of emotion and regard in the relationship between Lincoln and Molly, who is clearly depressed and low on self-esteem following the death of one of their sons. Despite the limited understanding of mental health issues at the time, after one fiery exchange regarding her preoccupation with her grief, Lincoln is compassionate and kind and acknowledges his own deep feelings of loss. Molly also gives an impressive speech "dressing down" Thaddeus Stephens at a reception at the White House following this emotional exchange. At the end of the film it is revealed that the love of Stephen's life is his negro housekeeper, and he takes the ratified Amendment home to show her.

The apparent authenticity of the settings, costumes and battlefield scenes is impressive. Many meetings are held in dark smoky rooms, and there is almost a feeling of historical imprint through the drab washed-out interior colours. John Williams has written a splendid film score, and the other music used (classical and otherwise) is entirely appropriate.

The political machinations are highly reminiscent of "The West Wing". Lincoln must find a way both to ensure passage of the Amendment and end the highly destructive and costly Civil War. He enlists the help of various trusty lieutenants, including a smokin' and drinkin' charistmatic James Spader. They use patronage effectively to buy votes amongst the Democrats (ironic that at this point in American history they were the conservatives) and closer to the vote Lincoln himself makes various house calls to try to persuade a number of Democrat congressmen to vote 'aye'.

Lincoln comes across as humble, thoughtful but passionate and a masterful persuader. He loves to tell allegorical stories in a laconic fashion, and reveals something of his humble beginnings and a difficult childhood with a harsh father. He is also a clever lawyer and gives a marvellous speech explaining the exigencies and uncertainties of proclamations affecting legal rights made in war time. Various newspaper reviewers have remarked on his speech to a couple of his young colleagues just before he sends a telegraph transmission to delay the arrival of the Confederate peace envoys in Washington until after the vote has taken place. In this he refers to a logical proposition of Euclid which says in essence that things that are equal are equal to each other, and this two thousand year old wisdom can equally be applied to human beings.

It is a tragedy that Lincoln was assassinated in just the first year of his second term, having gained both passage of the Amendment and the end of the Civil War. I loved the historical touch that the doctor who declares "the President is no more" uses an old-fashioned Pinard stethoscope to listen for his absent heartbeat (these days generally only used (rarely in Australia) to listen for foetal heartbeats).

It also struck me that, in the context of the current American debate about reforming gun laws, it is a lesson still unlearned that so many of its inspirational leaders have been cut down in their prime by a gun: Lincoln, John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King ... As Spanish philosopher George Santayana famously said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".

Debating passage of the Amendment caused Lincoln and those in Congress to examine their consciences and look at the ethics of right and wrong, and even in our time it is a powerful allegorical tale to remind us that there are still many wrongs to be righted and many injustices in the world where we can still do better. Even if you are not particularly interested in American history, it is what it has to say about humanity as a whole that makes it compelling viewing. Without vision and the passion to militate for change things which are equal would still not be regarded as equal to each other.

Movie Review: "The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey"

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (First of Three Parts) 
Director: Peter Jackson
Length: Approximately 3 hours

When I was sixteen I had a very bad bout of gastroenteritis (possibly as a result of leakage from the septic tank behind our house) and was laid up in bed for about two weeks. A family friend who took pity on my infirmity and sent a book home from work with my father for me to read. It was "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien. I was captivated by it and could not put it down.

After this introduction to Tolkien's fantasy world of hobbits, wizards, elves, dwarves and other creatures, I was "hooked" and went on to read every other published work that was available, including "The Hobbit" and "The Silmarillion".

I did enjoy the three LOTR movies - "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King". Three movies made sense as this rather large book is divided into three parts. However, when I heard that the relatively slim volume of "The Hobbit" was being made into three separate movies, I was somewhat incredulous. The reviews of the first Hobbit movie I have read and heard have been somewhat mixed, but the trailers on TV and the program on the making of this new movie were attractive and tipped the balance in favour of going to see it.

On balance, it did not disappoint, but parts of it are overly long. As the 'prequel' to LOTR, it was a little strange to see an older and more angular-faced Elijah Wood as Frodo, but Ian McKellar as Gandalf, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel and Hugo Weaving as Elrond have held off the ravages of age well. Martin Freeman was brilliant as Bilbo Baggins, a reluctant hero but a hero nevertheless. There are background scenes which are obviously CGI, but the remainder of it is New Zealand's breathtaking natural beauty. Be warned that there is a lot of violence, which at times seems somewhat gratuitous due to the drawn out nature of some segments.

The highlights must surely include the 'invasion' of Bilbo's house by the company of dwarves and Gandalf before setting off on their quest to reclaim their home within 'The Lonely Mountain'. (The ruthless decimation of the dwarves by the bad-boy fire-breathing Smaug the Dragon is depicted in the introduction.) They literally eat Bilbo "out of house and home" and then clean up spotlessly afterwards! There are several rather strange collective singing interludes, almost tempting you to wonder if you are watching a musical. After Bilbo decides to join them on the adventure, there are repetitive encounters with orcs (led by a particularly unpleasant large albino orc) and also with slow-witted mountain trolls, giants and goblins. During an interlude in Rivendell, Gandalf meets with Elrond, Galadriel and Saruman. The latter (somewhat unconvincingly) does not believe that there is sufficient evidence to believe that evil is again rising out of Mordor and does not support the quest by the dwarves, but they have anticipated the objections and already left town! Gandalf gives Bilbo one of those handy blades designed to glow blue when orcs are around, and telling him that the challenging thing is not taking a life, but knowing when not to take a life. This is a prescient remark relating to Bilbo's later encounter with Gollum. Gollum drops The Ring and Bilbo picks it up, and Gollum realises he has it and wants to kill Bilbo to take it back. Bilbo puts on the ring and whilst 'cloaked' has the opportunity to kill Gollum but decides not to and pushes past him instead.

Sections which are overly long-winded include the encounters with the orcs, the eccentric Brown Wizard (played by Sylvester McCoy, a former "Dr Who") seeking the cause of the dying forest and its creatures, their time "in the hall of the Mountain King" when they are captured by goblins and the exchange of riddles between Bilbo and Gollum in the subterranean cavern.

Amazingly the whole company of twelve dwarves (who are a very ecclectic bunch) survive to the end of the first instalment. At the death they are rescued from the orcs and their very large and savage wolf-like creatures by the giant eagles summoned by Gandalf. Less than half the dwarves are developed characterisation-wise. Their leader, dwarf prince Thorin, is proud and headstrong and not that likeable, but by the end he seems to be mellowing and acknowledges he was wrong about Bilbo and shows gratitude that Bilbo saved Thorin's life by bravely facing down the orcs (until reinforcements arrived) while he was injured.

British Actor James Nesbitt plays one of the more amiable dwarves, and it was interesting to see Kiwi actor Dean O’Gorman, who plays Anders, Norse god made human, in the NZ fantasy series "Almighty Johnsons" (recently shown on Australian TV).

The well-crafted and at times suitably dramatic music is again by Howard Shore and at times we hear the 'leitmotives' from both the Shore and LOTR. The other production values are also as usual excellent. However, this film is unashamedly a self-indulgent vehicle for Director Peter Jackson. A movie critic told be recently that she does not go to see his movies "as he does not have an "edit" switch" and the movies are just too long

If you are a fan of Tolkien you will probably find enough to enjoy in this film and will look forward to finding out "what happens next". The film ends the company high on a mountain gazing at The Lonely Mountain in the distance whilst the dragon Smaug, buried under tonnes of dwarfish gold, awakes from a sixty-year slumber in response to the sound of a bird trying to crack a nut far above. A malevolent reptilian-looking eye peeks out from under the gold...

Kenneth Branagh's "Wallander" - Why I don't like it!

Readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of the Swedish dramatisations of the stories of Henning Mankell's fictional detective Kurt Wallander. The only one of the books I have read was the final one ("The Troubled Man" - reviewed earlier), which I found very disappointing.

Although I found the idea of making an English version of Wallander quite strange when the Swedish ones were so good, I decided to watch it and see what it was like. At first it seemed quite bizarre that the setting and props were all Swedish, but the characters were speaking with quite distinct English accents. It was also a bit unsettling that some of the characters and their relationships were quite different to the Swedish portrayals e.g., the prominent role of Wallander's father in the early episodes and the presentation of his daughter Linda, who was also a detective in the Swedish series and only became pregnant in the final book.

The stories are generally very tortured, 'noir' and depressing, athough at times the writers seem to try to infuse them with an element of hope. The crimes are often very violent and unsettling. Branagh's Wallander lacks conviction compared to the portrayal by Krister Henricksson. He is perpetually unshaven, often impetuously driving long distances alone through the bare and evocative southern Swedish countryside, and struggles to relate to colleagues, family or lovers in a meaningful way. There is something 'namby-pamby' about him - a certain timidity or blandness stemming from an apparent uncertainty about who he is other than a detective who is good at solving crimes. There is a sense that he wants to live in the world and be 'good with people' but is it that he doesn't know how or that he is simply incapable?

Wallander's colleagues seem stiff and unsure of how to deal with him, and they do not have the same range of idiosyncratic interest as their Swedish equivalents. It just all seems too anguished, and I am not drawn in and engaged - the plot just seems to go on for far too long.

Sadly SBS is running its repeats of the Swedish version in the early hours of the morning. However, several series are available on DVD at reasonable prices from places such as JB HiFi.

The spy who fell to earth - Movie review: Skyfall

I would have to say that it is many years since I have seen a James Bond film, and that the Austin Powers spoofs are far more memorable. I went to see this one with my brother, who has been following them more closely and feels that Daniel Craig is the most realistic Bond.

I suppose all these films are somewhat formulaic, but this one must represent a transitional phase and celebrates the 50th anniversary of Bond films.

The musical theme is reasonably attractive and sung in a "lazy lounge singer" mode by Adele.

The opening sequence is quite spectacular, involving Bond chasing a 'baddie' who has stolen a hard drive containing the names of undercover agents. The iconic Hagia Sophia is visible across the rooftops of Istanbul. A train-top wrestle results in Bond being shot during the tustle (on the orders of M) at the last possible opportunity prior to entering a tunnel and disappearing from view by a 'Foxy Lady' agent (who turns out to be Miss Moneypenny). Bond falls into the river below, and the villain disappears with the hard drive.

Just as an aside, there are two Swedish connections in this film. Firstly, Daniel Craig, with his impossibly blue eyes enhanced in this film, took the starring role of Mikael Blomkvist in the Hollywood remake of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". The second is that the opening villain (Patrice) is played by Ola Rapace, (former husband of Noomi Rapace, electrifying as Lisbeth Salander in the original Swedish version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) who played the tortured detective Stefan in the Swedish Wallander series.

Bond goes "missing in action", relying on hot women and cool drinks near a beach somewhere to get him through the day. He eventually returns to London after MI6 is bombed, presumably by the person in possession of the hard drive. After this debacle MI6 moves to Churchill's wartime bunker under London, and Bond goes through a series of tests designed to assess his fitness for service. Unbeknownst to him he fails every test, but M tells him he is fit for service. He is assigned a new quartermaster ("Q"), who is a geeky computer nerd. In a break from the tradition of lots of high-tech gadgets, Bond is simply given a gun (programmed to his hand-print) and a radio homing-beacon.

M is called to answer some hard questions about how the bungle of the loss of the hard drive could possibly have occurred. Dame Judi Dench as "M" is simply brilliant in this film. She is tough, decisive and uncompromising in her belief that there is still a job to be done and that she is not going to be forced into retirement until the job is finished. M rightly makes the point that the people they are dealing with "live in the shadows" and do not play by the normal rules.

Bond eventually catches up with the villain in Shanghai as he is carrying out an assassination and after the villain falls to his death without spilling the beans he catches the eye of a beautiful and exotic woman in the building opposite where the assassination has occurred.

Predictably Bond by coincidence meets up with this beautiful exotic woman in a casino in Macau and ends up sailing with her to an island to meet her puppet master, who is the real villain of the piece. However, he finds time to get up close and personal in the shower on the way to the island.

The villain, Raoul Silva (played by Javier Bardem) is a talkative and twisted former MI6 agent, who reminded me of the Joker in Batman, and was equally annoying. He talks at length about cornered rats eating each other. The woman is insouciantly killed by Silva, and then courtesy of the homing beacon, reinforcements arrive and Silva is captured and taken to London. Not surprisingly, after a chat with M, whom he blames for all his problems, but hardly remembers him, he escapes into the sewers of London. He is pursued by Bond, who has a couple of unpleasant close encounters with trains as a result. It turns out his real target is the Houses of Parliament, where M is appearing as a witness in front of an enquiry.

Bond manages to get there in the nick of time and spirit M away in an antique roadster (one of the earlier Bond cars). Her trusty assistant is left behind in the rush. Bond drives M to his family home, Skyfall, in the glacial landscape of the highlands of Scotland. In the dour bluestone building he encounters the Kincade, the gamekeeper, who informs him that as he was presumed dead, all the contents of the gun cupboard bar his father's ancient shotgun have recently been sold. However, with a bit of imagination and some handy dynamite they rig the property in preparation for the coming invasion. There is a priest's bolthole which leads to the outside and escape across the moors to the nearby chapel, and this proves to be useful later on.

When Silva and his cronies eventually arrive in style on foot and by helicopter, the weapons in Bond's car prove useful and all three stage a handy resistance. However M is injured, and Bond orders M and Kincade to escape to the chapel, where he will meet them. The gamekeeper is a perfect gentleman, and he is very protective of M, and for a moment I felt some hope that they would all get out of this alive and that the widowed M would find happiness with the gentlemanly gamekeeper, but this was not to be.

Bond does a pretty good job of finishing off nearly all the baddies, but alas Silva has followed the torchlight across the moors and confronts M and Kincade in the chapel. Bond arrives and makes a comment about the last two rats left standing, and the villain meets his demise. Sadly, also does M.

In the graveyard of the chapel is a tombstone for Bond's parents as he was orphaned at an early age. They both bear the name "Bond", but wasn't that a code name?

Back in London, Bond is briefed by Gareth Mallory, the new M, a former politician who was initially trying to force M (Dench) to retire, but was also a soldier who had seen service, and played a handy role in the parliamentary siege and was wounded in the process. He is capably played by Ralph Fiennes, well-known for his role in Harry Potter (Lord Voldemort). Miss Moneypenny has decided to stick to a desk job (much to the relief of Bond) but there appears to be some "UST" (unresolved sexual tension) between them, so this is sure to play a part in future storylines.

This film has been promoted as "Bond getting back to basics", and there are strong performances from Craig and Dench, and I thought M's assistant was terrific. Ralph Fiennes (Mallory/new “M”), Naomie Harris (Moneypenny) and Albert Finney (Kincade, the gamekeeper) were also good supporting characters. It is a pity that the villain was so annoyingly 'over the top' as this detracted from the potential enjoyment. Violence and death are of course common bedfellows in Bond films, and it is ironic that in our desire for Bond to succeed we overlook the fact that he is a cold-blooded hired killer! It is a clever and visually spectacular movie, and Craig is convincing as a very human Bond seeking redemption through the thing that he does best. In a way it is also closure, as his family estate is pretty well destroyed by the end of the siege, and he simply says "I never liked the place"!

If you are a Bond fan you are likely to enjoy this one, but as an action adventure movie it probably occupies the middle ground - neither bad nor exceptionally good.

Through Twitter I was alerted to a really fabulous article on the ABC website by Jeff Sparrow on “Skyfall as a parable of reactionary generationalism” – well worth a read!
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4423982.html.

Hoyts lets down its audience!

Recently I was dismayed to discover that Hoyts Cinemas had gone back to the same alienating experiment which occurred several years ago of not publishing session times and requiring people to look them up online. Session times were not published in the newspaper on two successive weekends, merely a cheery note to look them up online, and as a result my plans were abandoned and Hoyts lost some business.

As there are a lot of people out there in the community who do not have smartphones or instant internet access or 24 hour ADSL and rely on the information published in the newspapers to make decisions about whether to go to the movies or not, I felt that this was a retrograde and unfair step on the part of Hoyts and wrote to them about this.

Their glib reply was that they see 'online' as the 'way of the future' and people are welcome to pick up a leaflet from the cinema with the session times or ring up the information hotline. Both of these are poor substitutes for being able to look at the session times across a number of films and cinemas 'at a glance' in your good old-fashioned newspaper.

Perhaps I was not the only one to complain, as Hoyts are now publishing session times in general every second day (and telling you to look online on the other day). I note that since Hoyts started this 'experiment', every other cinema chain (without exception) has been publishing session times daily, and I am sure they will pick up business from Hoyts as a result.

If you also have family and friends who are disadvantaged by this inconsiderate approach, then why not let Hoyts know? Only by militating for change will change occur.

Movie Review - Prometheus

This is Ridley Scott's 'prequel' to the "Alien" series. The title of the film is in itself a clever literary allusion as the film is both about the creation of humankind, the quest for scientific knowledge and unintended consequences – “fools rush in where angels fear to tread”!

(From Wikipedia) “Prometheus is a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure who in Greek mythology is credited with the creation of man from clay and the theft of fire for human use, an act that enabled progress and civilization. He is known for his intelligence, and as a champion of mankind. The punishment of Prometheus as a consequence of the theft is a major theme of his mythology. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced the Titan to eternal torment for his transgression. The immortal Prometheus was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, only to have it grow back to be eaten again the next day. In the Western classical tradition, Prometheus became a figure who represented human striving, particularly the quest for scientific knowledge, and the risk of overreaching or unintended consequences.”

The opening cinematography is absolutely stunning and would be worthy of any quality nature documentary. I had a hunch that it was my beloved Iceland (and the closing credits proved me correct), and we were treated to a spectacular vista of glaciers, glacial rivers, craggy mountain peaks, valleys, lakes and waterfalls. Visiting Iceland was one of the highlights of my life and I would certainly recommend having it on your "bucket list"!

(Note: Wikipedia is acknowledged as the source of some of the plot description.)

The introductory sequence itself is rather puzzling. A solitary hooded and robed figure strides to the edge of a waterfall, and reveals himself to be a powerfully muscled albino. A spacecraft hovers overhead and he opens a small container which is filled with a seething dark liquid. He consumes it, starts to convulse, his appearance changes and he literally starts to fall apart and topples into the waterfall just as a hovering spacecraft leaves. In the water his body appears to dissolve and his DNA rearrange itself and spontaneously develop into a new life form, the cells of which divide and multiply.

In the next scene we are introduced to two of the main protagonists - Drs Elizabeth Shaw (played by the luminous Noomi Rapace of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" fame) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), who are on an archeological dig on the Isle of Skye in 2089. They discover a wall painting that features a particular constellation that has independently been found depicted in a number of other locations around the world. They conclude that it is a guide map left behind by travellers (“the Engineers”) who want humanity to find them, the creators.

A deep space mission by the scientific vessel Prometheus to the distant moon LV-223 is funded by the Weyland Corporation. The human crew travels in stasis whilst the ship’s caretaker is an android named David (Michael Fassbender), who rather fancies himself as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, adopting Peter O’Toole’s hairstyle and accent. Since the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.22 light years away, it is not clear how the Prometheus manages to reach its mission objective in a mere four years. Upon arrival the motley crew (in common with all “Alien” movies some people are there “just for the money”) wakes up and the full details of the mission are revealed by a hologram of an ageing Peter Weyland. Mission director Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) tells the scientists that she is boss. Conveniently they find a series of built structures on the surface of the moon and land the ship and go to investigate.

Inside the first of the structures, they find numerous stone cylinders, a monolithic statue of a humanoid head, and the decapitated corpse of a large alien, thought to be an Engineer. They find other bodies and presume that “no-one is home” alive. At this point I became a little agitated, as their biohazard precautions were less than ideal and I would not want these people keeping me safe from alien contagion. David secretly takes a cylinder, while the remaining cylinders begin leaking dark liquid. This liquid looks and behaves in a similar way to the infamous black oil in the “X-Files”.

A rapidly approaching storm forces the crew’s hurried return to Prometheus with the decapitated head, leaving lost crew members Millburn (Rafe Spall) and Fifield (Sean Harris) stranded in the structure overnight at the same time there is a “bogey” detected moving around inside.

Back on board Prometheus, in a cunning piece of wizardry that contains a direct reference to the original ”Alien” movie, it turns out that the alien head is wearing a helmet, which when removed reveals a very life-like humanoid head almost identical to the alien in the opening segment. DNA is extracted and found to match that of humans, and when residual electrical activity is detected in the head it is “brought back to life” with interesting consequences. Meanwhile the malevolent David, who has clearly never heard of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics forbidding harm to humans (not to harm or by omission of action, allow to be harmed, a human being), investigates the cylinder and discovers a dark liquid. He then taints a drink with the substance and gives it to Holloway. Shortly after, Shaw and Holloway have sex. At this point, things are a bit confused. There is clearly a hidden agenda, but what is it and who are the bad guys? David is one of them, and he seems to be collaborating with Vickers and another unseen person.

Bad things happen to the two men trapped inside the structure. A snake-like creature kills Millburn, and sprays a corrosive fluid that melts Fifield's helmet, exposing him to the leaking dark liquid. In echoes of “Alien”, we once again see humans being unpleasantly intubated by alien life-forms, and have the sense that this is somehow linked to that storyline. The crew later returns to the structure and finds Millburn's corpse. David goes off on a frolic of his own, even severing the video transmission to Vickers, and separately discovers a control room containing a surviving Engineer in stasis, and a virtual star map highlighting Earth (the special effects are absolutely stunning in this segment, including a 3D hologram of the Earth which wistfully fades away when the projection abruptly shuts down). At this point we are really wondering about David’s hidden agenda and recalling the folly of corporation hacks who thought that they could subdue an Alien and bring it back to Earth.

Holloway's ingestion of the dark liquid leads to an infection that rapidly ravages his body. He is rushed back to Prometheus, but Vickers refuses to let him aboard, and at his urging, burns him to death with a flamethrower. Later, a medical scan reveals that Shaw, despite having earlier revealed that she is unable to have children, is pregnant with an alien offspring. Shaw manages to escape from David and the fellow crew members that want to put her back into stasis (to ensure that the alien embryo is transported back to Earth – echoes of the “Alien” franchise again) and is just desperate to rid herself of the creature. There is an automated surgery table on the ship and she optimistically asks for a caesarean but it replies that it is only programmed for male anatomy and cannot comply. Whoever heard of such craziness – sending a robotic surgeon into deep space just to operate on males – I don’t think so! Thinking laterally, she orders it to perform the removal of a foreign body from her abdomen and has to undertake some pretty gutsy self-anaesthesia. Conveniently the machine has what looks exactly like a pair of birthing forceps to extract and subdue the squid-like creature. Shaw escapes and stumbles around for much of the rest of the movie clutching her stapled abdomen and in great pain. I have seen some women happily walking around the day after a caesarean but Shaw is really forced to ‘push to the max’ physically in order to survive.

Weyland (Guy Pearce) is revealed to have been in stasis aboard Prometheus pulling the strings, and explains to Shaw he wants to ask the Engineers to prevent his death from old age. As Weyland prepares to leave for the structure, Vickers calls him "Father". Before the party can leave, a mutated Fifield attacks the hangar bay and kills several crew members before being killed himself.

The Prometheus's captain, Janek (Idris Elba), speculates that the structure was part of an Engineer military base that lost control of a virulent biological weapon, the dark liquid. Janek also determines that the underground structure is in fact a spacecraft. The shape of the spacecraft is eerily similar to the one seen crashed in the opening scenes of the “Alien” movie, so various strands of the backstory have been woven together by this point.

Weyland and a team return to the structure and are foolhardy enough to awaken the sleeping Engineer. David, who has been studying Earth’s ancient languages during the long trip, speaks to the Engineer, who responds by decapitating him and killing Weyland and his team. Shaw just escapes the spacecraft as the Engineer prepares to fly away. Shaw warns Janek that the Engineer is planning to release the liquid on Earth and convinces him to stop the spacecraft via a suicide mission. Vickers and her lifeboat are ejected before Janek bravely collides the Prometheus with the Engineer's spacecraft. The Engineer's disabled spacecraft crashes onto the planet and rolls across the landscape, killing Vickers and finally dispelling that nagging doubt that Vickers was also an android.

Shaw goes to the lifeboat and finds her alien offspring, which is still alive and has grown to gigantic size. David's still-active head warns Shaw via radio that the Engineer survived the crash and is coming after her. The Engineer forces open the lifeboat's airlock and attacks Shaw. She releases her alien offspring onto the Engineer; it thrusts a tentacle down the Engineer's throat, subduing him.

Shaw feels that she needs to know why the Engineers would want to destroy the human race, which they had created. As there are more buried alien spacecraft which David believes that he can fly, she enters into a pact with him and recovers his head and body. In the dying moments of the film they launch another Engineer spacecraft as Shaw intends to reach the Engineers' homeworld in an attempt to understand why they wanted to destroy humanity. In the lifeboat, a large alien creature bursts out of the Engineer's chest. Guess what? It’s the same lifeform as in “Alien” except with pink gums and a very human looking set of choppers (teeth) rather than the metallic variety that we became so used to.

It is a good ensemble cast, with stand-out performances from Rapace, Fassbender and Theron. At times it is difficult to work out whether Shaw has an English or a Continental accent, and she has a tendency to mumble, detracting from the import of what she is saying. Fassbender is absolutely chilling as the soul-less and mercenary David, and Theron again impressively reprises the role of an ice-queen.

Although the plot does contain several predictable elements from the “Alien” franchise, it hangs together reasonably well and continues to surprise. Like Ripley and her android Bishop, Shaw and David are the sole survivors, leaving scope for a sequel if they do in fact make it to the Engineers’ homeworld.

The aforementioned scenery is stunning, as are the special effects. However, the underlying premise of the plot, that the Engineers would want to destroy humanity (a relatively primitive race) after having gone to all the trouble of creating them, remains perplexing. A friend of mine has it all worked out. He thinks it is all to do with intergalactic trade and there is a missing link with the “Alien vs Predator” franchise, in which the Aliens were bred for the Predators to hunt. Imagine the profits if you infect a whole planet and create a bottomless supply of Aliens! The whole deal may well have been brokered by the Ferengi, who are not unfamiliar with the Rules of Acquisition!

While it is not viscerally challenging in the same way as the raw horror of the original “Alien” movie or the sequel “Aliens”, there is sufficient unpredictability and murkiness of purpose to keep you guessing and at times on the edge of your seat. There is certainly a sense of the ‘puniness’ of humans in the overall scheme of things and it is in many respects a cautionary tale not “to mess with things you do not understand”. Both the humans and the imperturbable David (even when decapitated) are ill-prepared for what they actually encounter, and make the fatal mistake of assuming beneficence on the part of the creator Engineers. We see the whole craziness of what makes up human nature – love, folly, bravery, risk-taking, the quest for exploration and finding answers, betrayal, sacrifice and the will to survive.

Is it groundbreaking in the same way as “Alien”? No. Is it clever, complex and interesting? Yes. Does it raise more questions than it answers? Yes. Did I enjoy it anyway? Yes.

Sometimes watching a movie like this with some fairly significant unexplained portions of the plot is a bit like being a scientist in real life – we want to know all the answers but sometimes we just have to admit that nobody knows at the moment! The difference with a movie I suppose is whether it is a convincing enough package to engender a “willing suspension of disbelief”. This is one where you will have to decide for yourself!

Movie Review: TED

Last night I attended to a special preview screening of TED (www.tedisreal.com). I must say the eXtremescreen at the Hoyts Cinema was amazing, and the sound to boot! Purchasing tickets online was fairly painless (although there was a small handling fee) and instead of waiting in line there was an "Express" lane that allowed you to pick up your tickets immediately.

From the iTunes information for the TED app:"Creator Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) brings his boundary-pushing brand of humour to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of Ted. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish…and has refused to leave his side ever since."

This movie deservedly has an "MA" (15+) rating due to liberal use of bad language, sexual references and illicit drug usage. That said, it also has a 'touchy-feely' plot worthy of any 'chick flick'. Boy in dead-end job has been going out with stunning hot girl (Lori - Mila Kunis) for four years; boy is conflicted between his love for Lori and his love for Ted; boy is often 'sucked in' by Ted and his dubious lifestyle choices; Ted is forced to move out; Ted gets a job and a girlfriend; boy loses girl (who is being pursued by her rich boss); creepy father and son Donny and Robert (Giovanni Ribisi and Aedin Mincks) bear-nap Ted; boy loses Ted, boy and girl rescue a mortally injured Ted; boy gets girl back and together they (unsuccessfully) try to save Ted; girl wishes Ted back to life; boy proposes to girl and they all live happily ever after.

The key cast members do a very good job, and there are delightful cameo appearances by the original Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) and Norah Jones as well as Tom Skerritt. Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek fame) as narrator breaks out of his gentlemanly mould and delivers the sometimes blue script with aplomb. The CGI is pretty amazing, and at times you find yourself forgetting that the bear is digitally created. As with Family Guy, there are sci-fi and popular culture references and social commentary (including being "gay-friendly"), and some fairly perverse outcomes - the worse that Ted behaves at work the more he gets promoted!

If you don't like bad language, sex and drugs, this is not a movie for you. However, if you are broad-minded, you are likely to appreciate the humour and feel the occasional tug on your heart-strings as the plot plays itself out. The horror sub-plot is truly creepy (Ted loses an ear and then gets torn in half) and generates a marvellous car chase worthy of any action-adventure movie.

I could have done with less of the bad language etcetera, but it was funny and I did enjoy it. If you take it for what it is - a bit of an 'over the top' reflection on boys behaving badly, redemption through true love and for Donny and Robert (as the Rolling Stones famously sang) "you can't always get what you want", you might just find it an entertaining interlude.

Movie Review: The Avengers

The Avengers: http://marvel.com/avengers_movie/

If ever there was a popular culture movie that delivers shock and awe in a sensory smorgasbord which at times almost overwhelms the observer, then this is it. Any number of cliches could apply - "bigger than Ben Hur", "more epic than Gone with the Wind" (both perhaps not films that would be overly familiar to 'Generation Y'!) or perhaps (in a tribute to one of the key characters) even "more malevolent than Lord Valdemort" ("Harry Potter").

I almost did not get to see this movie. What started out to be an innocent plan for a birthday treat culminated in arriving in a shopping centre carpark that was at the time fairly reminiscent of scenes from "Mad Max", and a hasty retreat was beaten once it was clear that there was absolutely no parking to be had.

Things went more smoothly a couple of days later in the evening. (Memo to self: do not under any circumstances go anywhere near a large shopping centre on Saturday mornings!). Having seen "Thor" on an international flight last year provided some background to the current state of affairs for the two heirs to the throne of Asgaard, Home of the Gods, namely Thor and his adopted brother Loki, who is the chief protagonist, having more or less sold the rights to the enslavement of Earth to the highest bidder in the cause of his own aggrandisment.

For those who love Marvel Comics, many of your heroes come together over the course of the movie in a gathering of the clan, without which the Earth would fall to merciless and blood-thirsty alien invaders, who are visually not unlike the Orcs in "The Lord of the Rings". The plot is not that substantial, but takes up old and noble themes - the lust for power bringing about its own downfall, the indominable spirit of Earthlings, the fellowship of a small but courageous band uniting in an apparently hopeless fight and ultimately triumphing over adversity, and lastly, "he who dares, wins".

We see (as the main characters) Commander-in-Chief of S.H.E.I.L.D. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), The Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff, the Super Spy) (Scarlet Johansson), Captain America (Chris Evans), Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr), Dr Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Australia's own Chris Hemsworth) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) (who is initially brought under the influence of "the dark side" but is later freed to join in the fight) take on Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his allies. Along the way a gentle and loyal foot soldier (Agent Phil Coulson - Clark Gregg) loses his life with the effect of bringing this disparate band together and galvanising them into common action. In the final battle the cocky, arrogant and brilliant Iron Man discards his insouciance in order to take on the mission of destroying the aliens and saving Earth even though there is a almost no chance of survival.

There are epic (and loud) battles, and most of Manhattan seems to be destroyed in the process as well as some pretty amazing fights between the superheroes before they settle their differences. Thor, Iron Man and Captain America end up flattening a whole forest with a Tunguska-type blast before Iron Man asks "Are we done here?".

Despite the high drama and high stakes there are certainly other moments of humour. In one scene Thor and The Hulk take on a monster together and defeat it. When they have finished, The Hulk swats Thor to one side "just for the hell of it". At another point, The Hulk is battling with Loki, and after Loki's 'high faluting' claims of superiority ends up pounding him into the ground and uttering the exclamation "puny god!".

The aliens enter the atmosphere through a rift high in the sky. At first their flying scooters do not seem much of a threat, but then a terrifying flying monster blacks out the sky. It is part metal, part machine, part fish-like monster with sharp metal teeth (not unlike the creature in "Alien") and a jagged alligator-like tail that swishes menacingly from side to side. Together with its siblings it proves to be a formidable (but not indominable) foe.

The malevolent, power-drunk and merciless Loki seems hell bent on revenge against both Thor (whom he sees as having ursurped his entitlement to be the heir to Odin in Asgaard) and Thor's beloved Earth. (In the movie "Thor", he was exiled and 'fell to earth' as a mere mortal to learn the error of his ways and the meaning of true humility before being restored to his proper place in Asgaard.) Loki, with his silver tongue and powers of manipulation, was always a dangerous adversary, but here he appears to have morphed into a twisted embodiment of pure evil. Loki seems to send a chill up your spine in a strangely familiar way, and then you realise that he could easily be an older alter-ego of Tom Riddle, the precursor of 'He who shall not be named' in the "Harry Potter" books and films.

Directed by Joss Whedon of “Buffy: The Vampire Slayer”, “Angel” and “Firefly” fame, this movie has an excellent ensemble cast, spectacular special effects and the happy ending that we have come to expect from superhero movies. However, at the end there is a small cameo from one of the aliens on a rocky outcrop in space, where he smiles a crooked smile and states almost with relish that they now know that Earthlings are worthy adversaries who will fight to the death ...

Check your cynicism at the door, buckle up your seatbelts for the willing suspension of disbelief, and enjoy the ride!

Note:
For those of you interested in seeing more of Tom Hiddleston, who plays Loki, he can be seen as a curly blonde mop top Detective Martinsson in Kenneth Brannagh's adaptation of Henning Mankell's "Wallander" crime stories. This is currently screening on ABC1 and is also available on DVD. The Swedish locations are authentic but to me it is a bit bizzare that everyone is speaking in proper British accents! I do prefer the Swedish production (which is screened by SBS) but Brannagh does a good job in playing a troubled and dissolute Wallander who has not lost his magician's touch for solving crimes.

Mabo: The struggle for Australian indigenous land rights

ABC 1, Sunday 10 June 2012
Docu-drama "Mabo"
Website and video of this program: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/mabo/

Many Australians would be aware that the word "Mabo" is synonymous with the landmark 1992 decision of the High Court which paved the way for recognition of indigenous land rights (often referred to as "the Mabo decision").

However, relatively few people would be aware of the back-story of Eddie (Koiki) Mabo and his wife Bonita and their family, and how their courage and the strength of their relationship allowed them to sustain them in their commitment to a long and taxing cause.

Eddie comes across as a loveable larrikin who believed in himself and the equality of indigenous Australians long before it was either fashionable or legally required. He is exiled as a troublemaker from his home, Murray Island in the Torres Strait, and it is decades before the island Council allows him to return; not even when his father is dying. He has an enquiring mind, and is not afraid to try to expand his mind and his knowledge despite his limited formal schooling. In one memorable scene he is depicted reading the dictionary.

In many flashbacks and references, the close relationship that he feels with his people and his land is depicted, and he forms a somewhat surprising (for the times) alliance with sympathetic white academics and lawyers who take up his cause and the cause of indigenous land rights. They must take on the inherent bigotry and prejudice of the times as well as the infamous Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Premier of Queensland, who tries to pass legislation retrospectively extinguishing native land rights. This legislation is ultimately struck down by the High Court as unconstitutional. Eddie himself comes out second-best in a bruising encounter with the Western legal system of evidence and cross-examination, but the High Court decides 6:1 that the concept of "terra nullius" (vacant land) should not apply where a close connection can be shown to the land by its indigenous traditional owners.

Tragically Eddie died five months before the High Court's decision was handed down, but Bonita and their children were able both to see his quest brought to fruition and to return Eddie to Murray Island as his final resting place.

The Australia depicted in the 1950s and 1960s was not that far removed from the segregation of the American 'Deep South' or the apartheid of white South Africa. Aboriginal Australians were regarded as 'second-class citizens' who were not allowed to vote, had few rights before the law and were subject to segregation in public settings. In one scene we are told that Aboriginals had to enter the cinema via a separate door and sit in a particular area, and in another Eddie is refused a drink when he goes to the pub with several white workmates. Eddie and Bonita and their young son are refused accommodation in a number of hotels simply for being 'black'.

While I was a medical student on a placement with another student in an Aboriginal Community Co-operative in country Victoria, we had our own taste of what it is like to be regarded with mistrust and suspicion in your own land. At one point the male manager launched a long diatribe about white people and, pointing his finger at us, suggested that "you blokes" (we) were responsible for all the ills befalling Aboriginal people. Since we were actually there to help them and to try to improve their health, it was hard to understand why we could not be taken on our merits but we "tarred with the same brush" as the colonial occupiers. It was also interesting that although some local people had left a bowl of beautiful fresh fruit and freshly baked healthy muffins, that when lunchtime came the Co-op members preferred to go into town for Maccas rather than eat the healthy food which had been provided for them. We got to know the women and participated in painting a large mural with them, and when we ran a health screening clinic, it was initially the women who we had built a rapport with who came, and then they spread the word that we were "OK" via the 'bush telegraph' and more people came (but still predominantly women). Aboriginal health outcomes still lag far behind those of non-indigenous Australians, but this experience taught us the importance of working with indigenous people and attempting to gain their trust and understand their culture.

Just in the past few days in the news there has been a discussion concerning a huge backlog of native title claims and the Federal Government's plans for reform in this area. Eddie Mabo has left an enormous legacy, but even twenty years later there is work to be done with reconciling hopes and desires with the ponderous reality of the legal system.

This dramatisation is definitely recommended viewing!

There is also a documentary available on ABC TV iView: "Mabo, Life of an Island Man":
http://www.abc.net.au/iview/?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=Corp_TV-iView|Mabo_AdWords_:abc%20tv%20mabo_e_g_19728495079_&gclid=CKvWv5TPz7ACFUlMpgod831TWw#/series/Mabo
and a series of videos from the"480: Mabo" series which was aired around the same time as the movie on ABC TV:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/mabo/videos/

Documentary: "Fighting for Life" (Learning to care for those in harm's way)

Last Sunday night an extraordinary documentary screened on the ABC, entitled "Fighting for Life". It was promoted as one of the most powerful anti-war documentaries ever made, and it presented the human cost of war in a moving and compassionate way.

Made in 2006, the documentary covers the work of doctors, nurses and medics caring for injured soldiers on the front line in Iraq and the doctors-in-training at the Uniformed Services University, where they learn the specialised skills required for military medicine - "Learning to care for those in harm's way".

I was particularly struck by one line late in the film which stated that "tens of thousands" of service personnel had sustained war-related injuries. When this occurs in the context of a natural disaster, it is an international tragedy, and when we talk about "mass casualty incidents" in a Western country it is usually tens or at most hundreds of people. Here is the hidden cost of war - vast numbers of (often young) individuals who suffer horrible injuries that may affect them for the rest of their lives and face the daunting challenge of rehabilitation and building a new life quite different to what they had originally envisaged for themselves and their families. We see amazing courage, determination and resilience in survivors and the genuinely good people who care for them.

It suddenly dawns on you that the cost of war is not just the cost of the war machine but the ongoing costs that must be borne by individuals and society as a result of "service above self".

Even though as a doctor I have to confess to being somewhat inured to the the sight of blood and traumatic injuries, I did not feel that the documentary was either excessively gory or excessively voyeristic. It sensitively portrayed real life on the battlefield and its aftermath and could not have been made without the consent and support of the injured soldiers and their families.

I remember as a teenager watching a scene from the film "Doctor Zhivago" where two armies are marching to war and the invisible narrator comments that both sides were "praying to the same God for victory". It is poignant that in this film we see casualties from both sides being cared for by US Army medics.

Documentaries such as "Fighting for Life" remind us that there are no winners in war, and if only humankind could find a better way to solve its conflicts than resorting to guns and violence. The health professionals in the film are dedicated to caring for the fallen soldiers and to helping them rebuild their lives, but you can't help thinking that they harbour a wish that the need for military medicine might just become redundant ...

The documentary is highly recommended and is a fascinating insight into the "bigger picture" of the casualties of war.

The Last Samurai (Den Siste Samurai)

I recently caught the second half of “The Last Samurai”, starring Tom Cruise, on TV. I first saw this film (“Den Siste Samurai”) in early 2004 in Oslo, when I had not long arrived in Norway for a six-month stay as a medical student. This was the original English-language version with Norwegian sub-titles. However, at that stage I did not know very much Norwegian, and the not-infrequent verbal exchanges in Japanese were also sub-titled in Norwegian, so a certain amount of the storyline was ‘lost in translation’!

I remember being impressed with the film, despite not being a big Tom Cruise fan, and its themes of loyalty and honour and being true to oneself. The choreography of the martial arts scenes remains quite stunning.

It reminded me of another film which I love, “Dances with Wolves”, and caused me to reflect upon ‘why this is so?’.

Both carry the story of a ‘stranger in a strange land’, and the theme of redemption and enlightenment through becoming immersed in another culture which resonates with your soul more strongly than that which you were born into. Through a combination of adversity and necessity, the stranger integrates into a very foreign culture and begins to question why his own allegedly superior Western culture is hell-bent on destroying ‘the way of the warrior’.

This is a story which is in some way my own, and it is no surprise that I feel empathy for the key protagonists. The timing of my trip to Norway came at a very difficult time in terms of my personal and business situation, and I knew that by being away for an extended period I would become powerless to control the forces of darkness waiting in the shadows and it was highly likely that my worst fears of a disastrous outcome would come to pass. When I arrived it in Norway was cold and dark with a lot of snow on the ground. I got off to a rocky start accommodation-wise, and the silences and lack of cooperation from home were ominous. I felt torn and wished I could jump on a ‘plane and return home.

That all changed when I had a chance to take up cross-country skiing. I was living at Kringsjå, a student village on the edge of Oslo next to a large lake (Sognsvann) and the vast Nordmarka forest which extends into the hills around Oslo. Cross-country skiing was my salvation, and Nordmarka was my sanctuary, a place where a felt truly happy and free for the first time that I could remember. I started learning Norwegian, made some Norwegian friends, joined a Norwegian church choir (Gamle Aker Kirke Kor) and decided to embrace what it is to be Norwegian. I felt at home and at peace and as if I had finally found the place where I truly belonged. When the time came to leave I did not wish to return home to Australia and leave my new life, and there were plenty of signs that the storm clouds were gathering and that I was going to be dragged out of the Vortex into some sort of living hell. This feeling of impending doom proved to be uncannily correct.

Over the following years I began to wonder whether I had experienced a phenomenon often referred to as the ‘collective unconscious’. Ever since I was a child I had been fascinated by the Vikings and the midnight sun and Scandinavia was the one place in the world that I longed to visit, and a strong factor in my choice of university was whether I could learn Swedish there. After my late great-uncle died, I found a box of his photographic slides at my mother’s house, and amongst them were several slightly faded slides from his trip to Norway in the 1950s. I was told that the fjords of Norway were his favourite place, and I later learned that this feeling was shared by his niece, my late maternal aunt. Neither of my parents have been to Norway so I cannot say what they might have felt if they had also experienced Norway’s breathtaking beauty, but I hope that, like other members of the family, their genetic imprint would have caused them to experience the siren song of the land of the Vikings.

The King's Speech

What a fabulous movie! Outstanding and very convincing acting from Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush and an excellent supporting cast. Not without moments of nail-biting tension, when you desperately hoped thar the fledgling friendship would see its way through the crisis, and an interesting insight into the British history of the period Thorougly recommended and one cannot imagine how the winner of the Best Actress Oscar was in any way thought to be the equal of Colin Firth's inspirational performance.

Black Swan

Having been a ballet student in younger days, I was persuaded to go and see the movie "Black Swan", starring Natalie Portman. Although the ballet scenes were well done, the rest of the movie left me cold. Portman wears the same pained expression on her face for most of the time, except during one scene where she is persuaded to indulge in alcohol and drugs, and has a whiny little girl voice. In this visually dark and gothic horror story, the lines between fantasy and reality are so well blurred at times it is quite difficult to realise which is which. Nina (her character) is seriously disturbed and pyschologically manipulated by both the lecherous director of the ballet and her domineering mother, who gave up her career as a ballerina to bring up her daughter. The characters are very two dimensional, and it is impossible to warm to any of them. In her dancing, Nina never manages to show that spark of seductive passion that the director has called for to give life to the character of Odile, the Black Swan and daughter of the evil enchanter Von Robart, but she is certainly gripped by madness. In the final scenes, we realise that she has stabbed herself whilst fantasising that she is stabbing her key rival, and as the blood spreads across her abdomen through Odette's white tutu, we do not know whether she lives or dies; merely that she is calmly satisfied that her performance was 'perfect'. Portman is to be congratulated for bringing her dancing to such a high level, but whether the rest of her performance is worthy of an Oscar remains to be seen.

The Girl who kicked the Hornet's Nest

Within the past week I have finished my twelve-month Critical Care medical job in the country, passed my Viva exam, packed up and moved back to town, started a new part-time job as a university tutor and started catching up on my voluntary work as a Ski Patrol educator.

Last night I attended a charity screening of the film of the third book in the Stieg Larsson 'Millenium' trilogy - "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest". I haven't had time to read the book yet, but the film is definitely the best of the three. It certainly helps to have either seen the previous two ("The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", "The Girl Who Played with Fire") or read the books in order to have the background to the story, but it is probably not essential. Mostly shot under dark and gloomy skies during Autumn, there is plenty of intensity and pace, and the musical score often mirrors that of a horror movie. During a couple of key moments of climax it makes you jump in your seat. The plot is very clever, bringing all the loose ends together with some interesting twists and turns, and justice more or less prevails in the end, with some murky ethical choices aiding its arrival. I was able to recognise streetscapes from Gothenberg and Stockholm and from my own experiences could appreciate the brooding darkness of the apartment building porticos and stairwells. As always, the quixotic Salander does what she needs to in order to survive but remains a deeply flawed heroine, and it would not surprise me if she suffers from Asperger Syndrome. I could understand a reasonable amount of the Swedish, and the subtitles were fairly faithful to the script, but the occasional subtlety was glossed over. All the characters are very human, warts and all, and one of the great strengths of the trilogy is that the key roles are played by very ordinary looking actors, making it all the more believable. It is not your typical Hollywood 'beautiful people' undertaking. Although there is a Hollywood version of the first book in the offing, I cannot imagine that it will be as good as the Swedish version, just as was the case when the original Kurt Wallander Swedish crime series was remade with English actors - it just didn't work as they could not recreate the inherent sense of 'Swedishness' that comes from the combination of language, culture and stereotypical facial appearances. 'The Eagle' was another fine Scandinavian crime series, and it is a pity that the writers chose to end it after a limited number of episodes.