Grimsby

Sacha Baron Cohen has taken a more restrained direction with his latest movie, Grimsby. Although it's not his first fully integrated fiction film, that was in 2012 with The Dictator, it is one where he hasn't gone over the top with his main character. That's not to say, however, that this film is filled with all the gross jokes you'd come to expect from his comedy. Combine these with an experienced action director like Louis Leterrier and you get a pretty enjoyable action-comedy.

Nobby (Baron Cohen) is living a happy life in the north of England. The only thing missing is his younger brother Sebastian (Mark Strong) who was adopted without him when they were younger. Sebastian is now a spy working for MI6 and Nobby finally gets a chance to reunite with him when he hears that Sebastian will be attending a charity event. Sebastian is actually at the event to prevent an assassination attempt on Rhonda George (Penélope Cruz), the head of a global health charity. Nobby manages to mess it up for him (and give Daniel Radcliffe AIDS in the process) and soon they are both on the run with MI6 believing Sebastian to be a rogue agent. The only way to clear his name is to find who was behind the attempt in the first place.

Grimsby is a pretty funny movie, I should say that right of the bat. But then again the jokes are the typical Sacha Baron Cohen "I'm going to shock you into laughing" jokes. They usually involve an extreme sexual gag, like Nobby having to suck a toxin from Sebastian's testicles. Some of these jokes come back in various forms throughout the film in more extreme instances than the last. Not all of them are as low-brow as these. There is a joke later about how guns remove guilt from the act of killing. That's a pretty complex joke once you think about it.

I do think Grimsby might be in need of some structural reshuffling. There was a missed opportunity in giving the audience some serious misdirection in the type of film they are watching. I think if they had have started on one of Sebastian's action missions and then reveal that it's actually a comedy. That's what I would have done anyway. The direction all up is fantastic. Louis Leterrier, who has previously worked on The Transporter series of films, brings his experience in action movies and melds it perfectly with Cohen's comedic sensibilities. The action sequences don't take up too much of the film, but they are snappy and well done when they do show.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Nobby is quite a fun character to watch. He really does mean well and he just wants to help his brother but he can't help from screwing up. A fun detail I realised was that his sideburns are mismatched in length, which is one of those small things Cohen does with his characters. Mark Strong has probably missed his chance to play James Bond (a shame if you ask me), but he does a great job playing him here. He has some rather subtle emotional moments after his flashbacks to when he and Nobby were younger that he carries quite nicely. Cohen's wife Isla Fisher is quite good as Sebastian's ally in MI6 and Rebel Wilson plays the same old character, this time just from the north of England. Although she's the main villain, Penélope Cruz hardly gets enough time to show off any of her acting skills.

While it may not be as punchy as Borat and Brüno, Grimsby is a pretty funny comedy of two worlds clashing together. Sometimes it can be a bit culturally homogenous and not all the references will be gotten, but watching Sacha Baron Cohen come up against a proper actor like Mark Strong makes it a pretty fun watch.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Matthew Vaughn has achieved critical and commercial accolades in recent years for his entertaining adaptations of cult comics and graphic novels. His previous efforts, X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass, are smart, often employ good humour, build upon pop-culture knowledge and contain good action buoyed by heavy CGI use. The violence used in Vaughn's films is prominent, and his approach is extra-ordinary, so much so that it's brutality can clearly be considered an integral part of his style. This is perhaps the main feature that will separate Kingsman from it's contemporaries in the soon-to-be crowded spy-comedy sub-genre.

In recent years adaptations of comics like Kingsman: The Secret Service have become commonplace, mind-numbingly so. There are the success stories and cult hits like Men In Black, Road to Perdition, Kick-Ass, Sin City, Scott Pilgrim, 300, but more often are the forgotten and ill-conceived such as The Losers, 30 Days of Night, Wanted, Surrogates, Red, The Rundown. But Kingsman will be remembered for some time. It's smart, sweary, violent, and loyally devoted to modernising and stylising classic spy films, particularly Bond, of course, with a an eye for comedy and reference. Vaughn has stated that he was influenced by the manner Indiana Jones was made for modern audiences and hoped to achieve a similar effect.

Gary "Eggsy" Unwin is a young cocky troublemaker living with his Mum and her gangster boyfriend in a poor flat complex in London. After getting into trouble with the police, he uses a code and phone number imprinted on his medallion, the only memento from his father who died mysteriously when Eggsy was a toddler, to bail himself out. Doing so Eggsy unintentionally summons Harry Hart, a.k.a Galahad, a smartly dressed man who declares himself to be a tailor and informs Eggsy that his father saved his life. Hart then recruits Eggsy into the Kingsman program, a modern day melding of the Knights of the Round Table with the flair and resources of Ian Fleming's famous espionage firm. Meanwhile, an eccentric billionaire communications mogul and his assistant (sporting sword-like leg prostethics) begin to kidnap prominent scientists and world leaders while simultaneously unveiling a new free mobile and network, which draws the attention of the Kingsman.

Kingsman is a shockingly violent film, containing extended set pieces resplendent with glassing, gun violence, bone-breaking and limb dismemberment, and in the first 10 minutes even a head-to-toe dissection. Funnily enough, and in contrast to recent bouts of extreme violence in unexpected films such as The Interview, Kingsman is largely bloodless. Obviously this is likely a combination of the wider production trend of adding CGI blood effects during post-production (see The Expendables series) and used to appeal to censors for a more commericially viable rating, but this appears in contrast to the unrestrained take on language used by Eggsy and Galahad. Though the language fits more into the films broader commentary on gentlemently dignity and behaviour that is the source of much of the comedy. In either case, the action is well-staged, Colin Firth and the stunt team of Kingsman really steal the show from Taron Edgerton's Eggsy. Firth performs much of his own stunts, though often he and the camera go beyond their usual capabilities. Firth morphs first into a CGI rendering of himself and then into one of his stunt doubles and back, whereas the camera performs zooms and digital edits that do help the flow and dynamism of the fights, particularly the pub and church fights. The use of POV shots during gunfights, Gazelle's prosthetic sword-legs and the trippy and artful method of eradicating Valentine's henchmen army in a single fell swoop also add oodles of flair to the well-choreographed action.

For all its flash and folly, Kingsman is ultimately as much of a homage to the spy films of old as Austin Powers is. Numerous direct and indirect references to the Bond and Bourne films as well as the influence of both plain on the film's style, with Jackson and Firth are the main offenders through their near constant references and mentions, though slightly more subtle aspects like the interior design of Valentine's secret base being similar to the one in You Only Live Twice, or the scope Valentine's attack being as grand as in Moonraker. At the risk of spoiling the final act, Kingsman's villainous plan fits in appropriately with contemporary society. Instead of a simple threat of terror and attack, Valentine's plan is to aggressively combat climate change by forcibly culling the population through the use of a signal emanating from his company's mobile phone that forces the aggression centre of a persons brain into overdrive. It's a brilliant tactic and affect as the film depicts mass carnage in a 28 Days Later-style effect, and the combination of mobile technology and environmental awareness really cements the time period.. Unfortunately, the Kingsman have little reason to stop it aside from a lot of people dying, and there's very little debate. It's also during these scenes it becomss clear that Kingsman has problems with it's female characters. Earlier in the film, Eggsy's Mum, Roxy and the assassin Gazelle are all strong, yet underwritten characters, but during the finale a shift occurs with the former two. Eggsy's Mum has a few shots dedicated to her and her baby in an attempt to personalise the plight of Valentine's rage-inducing attack and Roxy's role in the finale is reduced to riding a balloon into the upper atmosphere, where Mark Strong's Merlin activates a missile on her behalf from her rig that's attached to the balloon, then she promptly parachutes back to Earth and rings Eggsy's Mum. During that time Eggsy, who is not a member of the Kingsman fights an army of henchmen, Gazelle and Valentine and ultimately saves the world. Seeing Eggsy's heroic actions intercut woth Roxy standing in one spot and talking on a phone emphasises the creeping feeling that these two female roles were after-thoughts shot after principal photography ended. It's really very grating to see two of the main female voices in this film written into these corners, especially when Roxy has a great set-up. But the most baffling and repugnant treatment is saved for the immediate aftermath of Valentine's defeat, which is played for comedy, but makes the Moonraker "I think he's attempting re-entry, sir!" moment look regal by comparison.

Smart, funny, and inventive with it's action and violence, Kingsman moves well beyond it's basic existence as Alex Rider: Stormbreaker meets Kick-Ass. It has plenty of flaws, but has enough fun and flair to impress.

The Imitation Game

"Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine."

Alan Turing was a remarkable man that made a huge difference to the world, but was persecuted nevertheless. His work in breaking the German Enigma code had a profound impact on the outcome of World War II, yet he encountered extreme prejudice for being a homosexual. Now his story has been transformed into a film in Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game.

At the height of World War II, Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), a mathematician and avid crossword enthusiast joins a team of cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park to decipher the German Enigma code, a encoding system that is used on every German message, but which changes daily. Turing immediately gets off on the wrong foot with both his superior, Commander Denniston (Charles Dance) and his colleagues, particularly Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode).

Whilst they begin originally by attempting to decipher each day's settings by hand, Turing soon designs a machine to calculate the settings quickly and automatically, taking inspiration from a similar Polish machine. Turing fails to get support from either Denniston or his co-workers, but after he sends a letter to Churchill, the project is soon moved forward, with Turing in charge. He develops a crossword designed to find potential candidates for the project, and it is through this that Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) joins the project. The team continue to develop the machine, with the time pressures of a devastating war looming over them, all the while, Turing is hiding the fact that he is a homosexual, which was illegal at the time.

Mixing together three different periods of Turing's life; his childhood, his work with Enigma, and the period after the war, Morten Tyldum's English debut attempts to summarise the importance of Turing's work in a two hour film. A feat which it manages exceptionally well, albeit whilst following the rules of a typical biopic. Although its attempts to draw importance out of linkages between the different eras of his life can sometimes feel a bit forced, The Imitation Game is strong in structure and incredibly thought-provoking in content. Alan Turing's life has been depicted before, including documentaries, television movies and even a musical, but this film will hopefully draw more attention to the man. The only complaint I have about it, is that his persecution and death are somewhat downplayed and simply presented in what I like to call 'wrap-up text' towards the end of the film. For the sake of an additional twenty minutes, the film could have been more successful in acknowledging the prejudiced state of the world at that time.

In by far his best performance yet, Benedict Cumberbatch is phenomenal as Turing. His ability to transform himself into this unusual man, likely to have been autistic, is quite astounding. He even brings a hint of charm to the role as he delivers insulting but hilarious remarks. He's the one that makes this a fantastic film. Starring next to him, Knightly is also very good as Joan and rarely can anyone fault the stern acting ability of Charles Dance. Goode rounds off the cast as the typically dashing Hugh, and whilst he seems to spent most of his screen time in the corner, shrugging at Turing's unusual decisions, Mark Strong is fine as MI6 Major General Menzies.

The Imitation Game follows the likes of The Kings Speech and Lincoln as one of the great biographical films of recent years. It's skillfully constructed by Tyldum and fantastically acted by Benedict Cumberbatch, who'll likely receive an Oscar nomination for his performance.

Before I Go to Sleep

I went into Rowan Joffé's second feature Before I Go to Sleep assuming that it would actually send me to sleep. The trailer presented me with what seemed like a melodramatic and most-likely uninteresting premise. However, I certainly didn't anticipate the twisting and over-the-top narrative, that would unfold before my eyes over the next ninety minutes.

Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman) is an amnesiac that wakes up every morning with no knowledge of anything much beyond her late twenties. Ben (Colin Firth), her husband, has to explain to her over-and-over again that she was involved in an 'accident' and that they have been happily married for years, with an upcoming anniversary that he is preparing a surprise for. Christine receives a call from Dr. Nasch (Mark Strong), a neurologist that she has apparently been receiving treatment from - behind Ben's back - and has asked her to record a video every evening before she goes to sleep, to remind her who she is, and anything that she has uncovered about herself and those around her during the day. Dr. Nasch hopes that this will eventually trigger Christine's memories and help her to discover the truth about her past.

Now obviously I can't say too much about the plot for fear of spoiling it, but I can say, that when it's all pieced together, it is utterly ridiculous. Not that a ridiculous plot can't be engaging, and for the most part this is, however, it's also frustrating in the extreme. The story never seems to get rolling before Christine loses her memory and she starts to backtrack, but unlike in similar movies, such as Memento - which this film seems to draw a lot of inspiration from - we aren't really provided with sufficient clues to start piecing it together. It's like an (even more) irritating version of Groundhog Day, but without the fun of Bill Murray. Instead, the audience trudges along, exploring every possible red-herring before getting smashed in the face with a ludicrous, yet somehow still clichéd denouement.

I must say, I've never been much of a fan of Nicole Kidman, but this is quite a superb performance from her. She perfectly conveys the isolation and frustration that engulfs Christine's life. Supporting her, there's Colin Firth, who is about as good as the script allows for his part - although, given the nature of the character, I can't help but feel that he's a slightly unusual casting choice - and there's Mark Strong, who is fairly decent as Dr. Nasch.

One of the more interesting elements of the film is its seemingly aggressive cinematography. The camera becomes a brooding, almost voyeuristic presence in Christine's life, with the closest comparison I can think of being the hotel in The Shining, personified through the camera. Then there's the sound design, which utilises sudden noises to work with the image in creating an unnerving experience for the audience.

I may have spent a whole paragraph rambling on about the ludicrous nature of the plot, but Before I go to Sleep still manages to remain quite an engaging experience. It has great acting from the leads, and the true look & feel of a psychological thriller. Unfortunately though, in this case, seeing is not believing.

Could Mark Strong be the next James Bond villain?

So in the coming months the next movie in the James Bond franchise goes into production. This is something that we here at That Other Movie Blog are very excited about. But when I saw this latest bit of news (although I could just be jumping to conclusions), I got even more excited.

James Bond himself has touched down in Morocco where some of the shooting will be done. But more exciting is the fact that fellow actor Mark Strong is with him.

Strong is no stranger to playing villains in films, being bad guys in movies like Sherlock Holmes and Green Lantern. He has also played a spy in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Now more exciting is the fact that EON Productions have just reacquired the rights to the classic Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld (it's a lengthy story that you can get an insight into here). Throw in the fact that producers were looking for a classic Bond henchman makes me think that the next film will be very exciting.

Check out the photos below and tell us if you think Strong will make a good Blofeld.

Zero Dark Thirty

First off, this is not a propaganda movie for the US, glorifying their operation to kill Osama bin Laden. It does tell the story, but it also shows the pain felt by both sides and that it wasn't just some clean in and out operation.

The story picks up two years after 9/11, with a young CIA operative (Jessica Chastain) is witnessing her first interrogation of a detainee at the hands of her new colleague Dan (Jason Clarke). Her character, Maya, has just been transferred to the US embassy in Pakistan, tasked with finding information about top al-Qaeda personnel. The detainee that they are interrogating has links to Saudi terrorists. They soon trick him into divulging information about Abu Ahmed, an old acquaintance, who, through information they can piece together from other detainees, is the courier between bin Laden and Abu Farraj al-Libbi, a ranking officer within al-Qaeda.

Many years later, Maya is able to set up a meet with the detained Abu Farraj, only to find that he is hiding the existence of Ahmed, which Maya interprets as Ahmed being a person of extreme interest. Her senior officer at the embassy (Kyle Chandler), believes Maya should focusing on bringing in known terrorists and be trying to find out where the next global attack will be, so that they can protect the homeland.

Over the next couple of years a lot of things happen in Maya's life. She survives a bombing at the Islamabad Marriott Hotel, her friend Dan is reassigned to Washington and her friend and co-worker Jessica is killed in a botched attempt to try and bring in one of bin Laden's inner circle that she had been spearheading. Whilst trying to find any information on Abu Ahmed, Maya comes across an interview with a detainee who says that he personally buried the man they know as Ahmed, his real name being Habib Sayeed, all the way back in 2001. This seems to have defeated Maya, until a junior officer in her office finds information from the Moroccan intelligence community saying that that man that was buried was actually the brother of the courier. His name is Ibrihim Sayeed and they are able to trace his phone number with the help of Dan. Before Maya can go anywhere with this information, she is attacked coming out of her home by insurgents and subsequently sent back to Washington.

Once they find Sayeed, the operatives are able to trace him to a compound in Abbotabad in Pakistan. Through continued surveillance, Maya soon believes that bin Laden himself is residing within the compound. This belief is not shared by her seniors, who deliberate on the risk of sending in a team to take out the occupants. The CIA chief (James Gandolfini) soon decides that sending in a team to the compound would be beneficial, as whoever this mystery man is, it would be a good idea to take him out.

So Maya is sent to Afghanistan, where she is to oversee the mission to the compound. A SEAL team is put together and with the latest in stealth helicopter technology, they fly into Abbotabad to assault the compound. One of the helicopters loses power and crash lands within the walls of the compound. The team goes in and obliterates the three men who are in there, including Osama bin Laden, whose body they take with them. They also take any hard drives and intel that they can get their hands on. Once they are back at base, the team is welcomed with open arms by everyone, whilst Maya is left to contemplate what she is to do with her life now that her goal that she has been working on for a decade is completed.

Katheryn Bigelow has put together a movie that pulls no punches. Whilst it's hard to tell what actually happened in the events leading up to the operation at the end of the movie, most of the events revolve around real bombings and the detaining of real life individuals. The casting of the movie is amazing.  None of the actors have huge star power, so they are believable in the roles that they play. Jessica Chastain is brilliant as Maya and you can really see that following through with this mission means everything to her. Jennifer Ehle is great as Maya's friend Jessica who really wants to show her friend that she wants to do her best on this mission. Mark Strong plays Maya's boss in Washington and really wants to believe that bin Laden is in Pakistan.

I found the torture scenes at the beginning to be confronting, but that is how matters were handled and it is a brutal and honest truth. The water-boarding scenes, in particular, were pretty full on. The mission at the end is shown to be a far from clean mission, resulting in the loss of a state of the art helicopter and civilian casualties that should have been avoided.

The film opens with a black screen where we hear the various radio chatter that happen on 9/11, including one iconic 911 call from one of the towers. The film also has news footage from various attacks throughout the decade, as well as press conferences from both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. These give insight into the world that was happening around the events of the film.

Verdict: Spanning almost a decade, this film shows that the events leading up to the death of Osama bin Laden were not as easy as some might of thought. Although I was not a huge fan of The Hurt Locker, I think Katheryn Bigelow has done a much better job this time around.