Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/281887
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 23 MARCH 2014 THIS WEEK 34 St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Only God Forgives (18) 20:45 The Railway Man (15) 18:30 Met Opera Live in HD - Matibee - Borodin Prince Igor 14:00 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Need for Speed 3D (12A) 10:30, 14:00, 18:00, 20:50 Qlub Imwegggha (12A) 10:15 300: Rise of an Empire (15) 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 The LEGO Movie (U) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00 12 Years a Slave (15) 21:10 The Monuments Men (12A) 10:30, 13:30, 16:00, 18:25, 20:50 Non-Stop (12A) 10:30, 13:45, 16:10, 18:35, 21:00 Her (15) 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 The LEGO Movie (U) 14:00, 18:30, 22:55 Mr. Peabody & Sherman (U) 16:15, 20:45 Mr. Peabody & Sherman 3D (U) 14:05, 18:25, 23:00 The LEGO Movie 3D (U) 16:10, 20:50 The Monuments Men (12A) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10, 23:40 Endless Love (12A) 14:10, 16:25, 18:40, 21:05, 23:25 That Awkward Moment (15) 14:20, 16:30, 18:40, 21:00, 23:10 Need For Speed 3D (12A) 14:30, 18:10, 21:00, 23:50 The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug (12A) 14:25, 18:00, 21:10 Mandela-Long Walk to Freedom (12A) 14:30, 18:10, 21:05 Non-Stop (12A) 14:15, 16:30, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 The Counsellor (18) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 Captain Phillips (12A) 14:20, 18:00, 20:45, 23:30 Frozen (U) 14:00, 16:20, 18:35, 20:55, 23:10 Blue Jasmine (12A) 14:15, 16:25, 18:40, 20:55, 23:05 300: Rise of an Empire 3D (15) 14:15, 16:35, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 12 Years a Slave (15) 14:30, 18:05, 20:50, 23:30 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 300: Rise of an Empire 3D (15+) 10:45, 13:30, 15:50, 18:15, 20:55 Need for Speed 3D (12A) 10:30, 13:55, 18:00, 20:50 The Lego Movie (U) 10:35, 13:35, 15:55, 18:05 The Monuments Men (12A) 20:50 Non-Stop (12A) 10:35, 13:40, 16:05, 18:25, 21:10 Philomena (12A) 10:45, 13:45, 16:10, 18:20, 20:50 August: Osage County (15+) 10:50, 13:35, 16:05, 18:35, 21:05 American Hustle (15+) 10:35, 13:40, 18:05, 20:55 THE world of cinema has his- torically made it a point to drum into our heads that 'war is hell ' – all the while capitalising on its 'heartening' tendency to foment chief ly masculine camaraderie and provide some great action scenes, of course. Evolving from all-out propa- ganda films which came out dur- ing actual war time, more recent attempts to depict the war zone on screen have, to be fair, at least tried to take a more question- ing angle on things. Katheryn Bigelow's Oscar-courting output perhaps offers up the clearest ex- amples of this. Though strangely apolitical, her 2009 Best Picture winner Hurt Locker skimmed the jin- goistic fat off the standard war time narrative to zoom in on the psychological damage suffered by members of a bomb-disposal unit stationed in Iraq… the really daring move being that in doing so, Bigelow didn't shy away from showing that the job comes with its fair share of thrills – an adren- aline rush that's as addictive as it is dangerous. A similarly amoral engine powered Sam Mendes's Jar- head (2005), which depicted the Gulf War scene as one prima- rily dominated by boredom, its footmen progressively sidelined by technological developments. And though Bigelow's follow-up to Hurt Locker – the 2012 Osa- ma Bin Laden hunt-and-capture thriller Zero Dark Thirty – was deeply problematic on many lev- els, its gritty moral ambiguity at least left it open to debate. With the Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman-starring Railway Man, we're on arguably less shaky, more traditional territory. But this ton- ally uneven look at the long-term effects of war is, for better or for worse, a mish-mash with some curious moments. Based on a true account, the film introduces us to the seemingly unassuming retiree Eric Lomax (Firth), who appears to be little more than a train enthusiast lan- guishing in a sleepy seaside Eng- lish town, occasionally spending time with old friends, his closest being Finaly (Stellan Skarsgård). His dull routine is given a lease of life when he meets Patti (Kid- man). A chance encounter aboard a train blossoms into marriage, and the pair appear to be set for a life of domestic bliss. That is, until Eric's wartime past returns to haunt him. We learn – in tandem with Patti, who gleans most of this from Finlay – that Eric was captured by the Japanese army in Singapore during World War II and along with his friends was tortured and forced to help build the Thai-Burma railway. As Eric's turmoil threatens to tear his marriage apart, he begins to see that the only way forward would be to face his torturers, be it for purposes of reconciliation… or revenge. The primary, gaping problem with Jonathan Teplitzky's film – adapted from Eric Lomax's own autobiography – is that at the face of it, it appears to be two distinct films tacked together down the middle, with the glue still smelly and glistening. The following comparison might make the film seem stranger than it really is, but here goes: to me it felt like an unwitting mash-up of The Act of Killing (2013) and perennial Brit- ish post-war romantic-repression drama Brief Encounter (1945). Viewers would be forgiven for assuming that the 'present day' narrative – detailing Eric and Patti 's courtship and marriage – takes place far earlier than the film's 1980s setting, so archetyp- ally ' buttoned-up' and British it is. This half of the film actually unspools quite nicely – a charm- ing, even heart-warming, roman- tic prologue that sees two decent, shy people gradually warming to each other. It's the other stuff that jars: in- the-trenches scenes that have to rely on Hollywood clichés to full develop due to time constraints, and a denouement that feels rushed because a key character (Hiroyuki Sanada's Takashi Nagase) likewise has little time to be f leshed out enough for us to care for him. It visibly struggles to make Lo- max's memoir film-friendly – shoe- horning a far more explicit f lavour of revenge than was evident in the source material – but despite its halting narrative and not entirely elegant mix of genres, the film still manages to portray the qui- etly simmering effects of war-time trauma, at least in its more finely crafted moments. The performances certainly help, though the casting was hardly shocking or against-type. Firth has made English repression into an art form, and here he gets to throw in a couple of more ingredients into the pot by virtue of Eric's trauma and latent aggression. But it's perhaps Kidman who should really be com- mended for her efforts: all traces of Hollywood glamour are gone, and she succeeds in being both mousey and likeable (without having to re- sort to a prosthetic nose this time – see: The Hours). Lomax's story has many angles – it's just a shame that, in opting to somehow address all of them, Teplitzky never quite succeeds in doing justice to any. Railway Man will be showing at St James Cavalier today at 18:30 and between March 26-31 at 20:45 FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic The long road to peace ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ RAV ★ ★ ★ ★ GRAIL ★ ★ ★ RAIL ★ ★ FRAIL ★ FAIL This week's picks DRAMA BLUE JASMINE After everything in her life falls to pieces, including her marriage to wealthy businessman Hal, elegant New York socialite Jasmine moves into her sister Ginger's modest apartment in San Francisco to try to pull herself back together again. Starring: Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin and Sally Hawkins. ANIMATION MR PEABOY AND SHERMAN Mr. Peabody, the most accomplished dog in the world, and his mischievous boy Sherman, use their time machine – the Wabac – to go on the most outrageous adventures known to man or dog. But when Sherman takes the Wabac out for a joyride to impress his friend Penny, they accidently rip a hole in the universe, wreaking havoc on the most important events in world history. Featuring the voices of: Ty Burrell and Max Charles. ACTION 300: THE RISE OF AN EMPIRE Based on Frank Miller's latest graphic novel Xerxes, this new chapter of the '300' saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield – on the sea – as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war. "300: Rise of an Empire" pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemesia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy. Starring: Sullivan Stapleton, Rodrigo Santoro and Eva Green.Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. THE RAILWAY MAN (15) ★ ★ ★ Brief encounter: Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth