The Legend of Tarzan

Before I watched this movie, I had myself thinking that I had never seen a Tarzan movie. But then I remembered Disney's Tarzan and it's TV spinoff, the parody George of the Jungle, the comedy Jungle 2 Jungle and even listened to Baltimora's 1985 hit Tarzan Boy (here's a fun challenge, give that one a listen while you read this). But all of those had a fairly upbeat tone to them. How does the one hundred year old character hold up in this era of gritty reboots? Not as well as it should have.

In 1890, Belgian envoy Léon Rom (Christoph Waltz) has been sent to the Congo in an attempt to make some money for the bankrupt king. He comes across Chief Mbonga (Djimon Hounsou), who promises him a lot of diamonds in exchange for the jungle man Tarzan, who killed his son. In England, Tarzan is reformed as Lord Greystoke (Alexander Skårsgard) and has received an invitation to return to the Congo to tour for some publicity. He is initially hesitant to visit, but American spy George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson) convinces him to go after hearing rumours of slavery taking place. Tarzan's wife Jane (Margot Robbie) also tags along, but this ends up being a mistake after she is kidnapped by Rom. Of course Tarzan is there to the rescue.

Tarzan suffers from some pretty bland plot problems. After a really interesting hint at some politics and great introduction to Léon Rom, the film just kicks into regular action/adventure tropes that follows perfectly in line with, well, the legend of Tarzan. And while it's not the generic discovery of Tarzan, the return of Tarzan isn't much more interesting. Another thing I found very distracting was the behaviours of some of the animals. Everyone knows that gorillas don't swing from vines and I thought it was really stupid that Tarzan would learn this from them. I would be fine with him developing this technique on his own. There is a heavily proliferation of CGI animals at work here and while it's not as bad as The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we really don't need a cameo from a group of poorly rendered elephants.

The characterisation is at least good. Tarzan is introduced with a shot of disfigured knuckles, a remnant of running around on all fours and although Skårsgard's accent is a bit shaky, his diet of raw eggs and whiskey is something we should all aspire to (take that Rocky). Margot Robbie's Jane offers a lot more than a damsel who's nice to look at. She works well in a sticky situation and her relationship with the African tribes proves invaluable. While I said that Christoph Waltz had an intriguing intro, he ends up being a bit of a generic villain, a thing that he has become lately. Of course, Samuel L. Jackson is there to be the good sidekick as always.

While The Legend of Tarzan promised to give us a different look at the famous jungle man, it ends up being the same old story, with all the elements of his adventure we've come to expect. The only thing missing was his chimpanzee buddy Cheeta.

Paddington

Paddington Bear is the sort of loveable children's literary character that you thought would have had a dozen movies based on by now, but apart from a few animated series, there is virtually no adaptations based on the character. In a way I am sort of happy that there hasn't because the technology to put him in a live action movie hasn't existed until now.

Paddington (Ben Whishaw), although he doesn't have a name at the beginning, is a bear who lives in darkest Peru with his Uncle Pastuzo (Michael Gambon) and Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton). He is forced to leave for London after an earthquake destroys his home and is told that he should find the explorer who met his aunt and uncle. When he gets to London, he is discovered by the Brown family; Henry (Hugh Bonneville), Mary (Sally Hawkins), Judy (Madeline Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), who name him after the train station where they met him. Paddington comes to the attention of Millicent (Nicole Kidman), a taxidermist who thinks he would be a great addition to her collection.

This movie was a lot funnier than I expected it to be. The underlying joke throughout the whole film is that the people of London aren't at all surprised to see a talking bear amongst them is hilarious. They just acknowledge him as they go about their daily business. A lot of the humour comes from Paddington's misunderstandings of "civilised" culture; mistaking toothbrushes for ear cleaners or a fantastic joke about thinking he must have to hold a dog to ride the escalator after seeing a picture sign indicating that dogs must be held when you go on one. There is also a fantastic vintage expedition documentary about the explorer first encountering the bears as a prologue to the film.

There is some great comedy from the actors I least expected it from. I always imagine Hugh Bonneville as a stuffy master of a manor house, but as the risk averse Mr. Brown he sets up some of the funniest jokes of the film. There is also a brief shot of him riding a Triumph Bonneville, which I thought was a great little joke to put in. Sally Hawkins adds some great laughs as Mrs. Brown, but that's what I was expecting given her role in Blue Jasmine. Peter Capaldi is also hilarious although I find it extremely hard to watch him in a role where he isn't screaming obscenities at you, a la The Thick of It. Matt Lucas also has a great cameo and I wish he was in it more. The whole thing was brought down for me with the inclusion of Nicole Kidman's character. Not only was she unfunny, but her character just seemed out of place. I know we need something to happen in the film, but can't we just be content with funny misunderstandings.

Verdict: I'm not a fan of marmalade, but I do like this movie. It's a fun family film with great gags that everyone will love.

Filth

The works of Irvine Welsh have always tackled addiction in the most confronting ways. Filth is no different. It has all the hallmarks of an Irvine Welsh story; the snappy dialogue, the scathing commentary on Scottish life and the drugs. Oh, those drugs.

Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) is a Detective Sergeant in the Edinburgh with high aspirations. After the murder of a Japanese student, he is offered the position of Detective Inspector if he solves the crime. Meanwhile, he sabotages the efforts of his colleagues, who are also after the position, and makes the life of his Masonic brother, Bladesey (Eddie Marsan), hell.

Underneath all the madness, Filth is a pretty funny movie. Bruce is a horrible person, but he is also charming as hell and it's easily understandable how he gets away with things that he does. This is made more apparent by McAvoy's excellent portrayal of the character. McAvoy possesses the right amount of skill to play such a character. His chemistry with the rest of the cast, in particular Marsan, is electric. Never before has there been a more reprehensible corrupt police officer portrayed on film (Harvey Keitel is still playing catch up in my book). Much like how Daniel Craig played a likeable villain before he scored the role of James Bond, I see the same future for McAvoy.

The rest of the cast did a superb job, although they were all relegated to minor characters next to the powerhouse that is Bruce Robertson. Jamie Bell (of Billy Elliott fame) did a superb job of playing rookie cop Ray Lennox, Imogen Poots is fantastic as rival detective Amanda Drummond and stalwart of British cinema, Jim Broadbent is hilarious as Dr. Rossi, who I think was supposed to be Australian, but I'm not sure.

Verdict: All in all an entertaining journey into the messed up mind of a coke addicted cop who needs some serious help. Also has a great cameo with David Soul, who was the original Hutch in the Starsky and Hutch TV series.