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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 11 MAY 2014 THIS WEEK 34 St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 NT Live Presents King Lear 19:00 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (PG) 20:45 Met Live 2014 presents Cosi Fan Tutte 14:30 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Tarzan (PG) 10:20, 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:00 Amazing Spiderman 2 3D (PG) 10:20, 14:30, 18:00, 21:00 Simshar (12A) 10:15, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30, 20:55 The Other Woman (12A) 13:45, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 Rio 2 (U) 10:20, 16:15, 18:25 Noah (12A) 20:45 Pompeii (12A) 10:15, 13:40, 16:05, 18:25, 20:50 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Rio 2 (U) 14:00, 16:05, 18:25 Non-Stop (12A) 20:45, 23:10 Tarzan 3D (PG) 14:10, 16:20, 18:35, 20:50, 23:00 Divergent (12A) 14:30, 18:05, 20:55, 23:45 The Other Woman (12A) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:15, 23:40 Noah (12A) 14:30, 18:05, 20:55, 23:45 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 3D (PG) 14:20, 17:50, 20:50, 23:45 Pompeii 3D (12A) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:10, 23:25 Saul: The Journey to Damascus (PG) 14:25, 16:30, 18:40, 21:00, 23:00 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (12A) 14:20, 17:50, 20:45, 23:35 The Grand Budapest Hotel (12A) 14:10, 16:20, 18:35, 21:05, 23:20 Ride Along (12A) 14:15, 16:25, 18:40, 21:10, 23:20 Transcendence (12A) 14:30, 18:20, 21:05, 23:40 Sabotage (18) 14:00, 16:20, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (12A) 10:45, 21:45 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 3D (12A) 13:55, 18:05 Pompeii 3D (12A) 10:30, 13:45. 16:00. 18:15, 20:45 Sabotage (18) 10:35, 13:30, 15:50, 18:10, 20:50 The Book Thief (12A) 10:30, 14:00. 18:10, 20:55 Philomena (12A) 10:45, 13:35, 15:55, 18:05. 20:50 The Monuments Men (12A) 10:35, 13:30, 16:00, 18:25, 21:00 THE ability to fantasise is probably one of the few things that separates us – that's humans, in case you were wondering – from the animal king- dom. Now I'm no biologist or zoolo- gist, so I'm willing to concede that this may be a sweeping statement, and that in some recess of the animal psyche – in some exemplary species – there will reside an ability to dream up things which may go beyond mere survival instinct and self-preserva- tion. But generally speaking, daydream- ing appears to be exclusively the domain of humans, and we're prob- ably both richer and poorer for it: the imagination can be a great boon and lead to the creation of many won- derful things, but of course you all know how – in matters of the heart, in matters of both personal and pro- fessional ambition – it can skew and distract, how it can also encourage us to prop up hopes and expectations that inevitably end up being crushed and destroyed. Adapted from a short story by beloved American satirist James Thurber, Ben Stiller's film – in which he's also the titular star – hinges on this tension for both comedic and heart-warming effect, while also slightly overreaching its bounds in an attempt to eke out genuine poign- ancy out of the endeavour. Walter Mitty (Stiller) is a 'negative assets manager' at Life Magazine (essentially, this means he fiddles around with photo negatives before they go to print) and an incorrigible daydreamer: he spends a large chunk of his time picturing himself as a modern-day swashbuckling adven- turer, who also successfully courts the affections of his co-worker, the recently-divorced Cheryl (Kristen Wiig). Sadly, reality is both more humdrum and slightly more grim: Cheryl is friendly but doesn't ap- pear to reciprocate Walter's feelings entirely, and as we meet Walter, the head honchos at Life announce that the company is being bought out, with inevitable downsizing looming on the horizon. Walter is given one final chal- lenge before the print edition of the magazine folds: he is to process the final cover image, sent by the legen- dary but elusive photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn). But there's one small problem: the crucial nega- tive – which O'Connell refers to as "the quintessence of Life" – appears to be missing from the roll of nega- tives O'Connell sends to the Life of- fices. Pressured by obnoxious corpo- rate transitions manager Ted (Adam Scott, who appears trapped in "despi- cable d-bag" roles) to deliver the cov- er and using the remaining pictures in O'Connell's roll as clues, Walter – spurned to action against character – embarks on a journey to "distant lands" to find the lost image… finally making good on his fantasy life. Hybrid stories are always a gamble in Hollywood: as a rule, execs like to know exactly what kind of film they're getting well in advance, view- ing any ambiguity with hostility. Per- haps they fear the audience will react in the same way: dismissing anything that can't be summarised in a couple of pithy phrases. It's perhaps a given that a big name like Stiller would have some weight to throw around at the big studios, but he's still to be commended for taking on a film that nestles between both comedy and drama – not always comfortably or evenly, it must be said – and whose most extravagant flights of fancy are brief flashes that only take place in- side the protagonist's head. Executive-produced by that other genre-bending director Gore Verbin- ski (Pirates of the Caribbean, Rango, The Weather Man), Stiller's film is a mish-mash that sometimes feels joy- ous, sometimes messy. But it runs on enough consistent goodwill to keep you emotionally hooked into Walter's journey – you can't help but cheer him on, even if the meandering film – running just under two hours – could possibly have benefited with a more brutal hand at the cutting room. It helps that the individual fantasti- cal vignettes are executed well: each action sequence feels like it belongs to its blockbuster equivalent, so the audience is regaled to mini-films in their own right, littered across the film before the plot finally gets go- ing. It's a shame, then, that while Stiller clearly wants to make a film that's more than just a piece of throwaway escapism (in favour of it actually be- ing about escapism), the clutter that ensues distracts it away into inconse- quence. Again, a more evenly struc- tured script would have taken care of some of these problems, driving home the underlying theme: that daydreaming is both irresistible and universal, but that we need to grab life by the balls if we really want to be happy. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will be shown at St James Cavalier, Vallet- ta tonight and on May 21-25 at 20:45, and at 18:30 on May 13 FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic Is life but a dream? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ WITTY ★ ★ ★ ★ PRETTY ★ ★ ★ BITTY ★ ★ SUBCOMMITTEE ★ PITY This week's picks COMEDY THE GR AND BUDAPEST HOTEL The Grand Budapest Hotel recount s the adventures of Gustave H, a legendar y concierge at a famous European hotel bet ween the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The stor y involves the thef t and recover y of a priceless Renaissance painting and the bat tle for an enormous family for tune – all against the backdrop of a suddenly and dramatically changing Continent. Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jude Law, Owen Wilson and Tony Revolori. SCI-FI TR ANSCENDENCE Dr Will Caster is the foremost researcher in the field of Ar tificial Intelligence. His highly controversial experiment s have made him famous, but they have also made him the prime target of anti-technology ex tremist s who will do whatever it takes to stop him. However, in their at tempt to destroy Will, they inadver tently become the catalyst for him to succeed – to be a par ticipant in his own transcendence. Starring: Johnny Depp, Paul Bet tany, Rebecca Hall and Morgan Freeman. Sideways glance: Ben Stiller plays unrepentant daydreamer Walter Mitty in this genre-bending comedy-drama THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (PG) ★ ★ ★