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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 17 APRIL 2016 36 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY EMBASSY CINEMAS The Huntsman Winter's War (3D) (12) 10:25, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 My Big Fat greek Wedding 2 (PG) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 The Divergent Series: Allegiant (12A) 21:05 The Jungle Book (3D) (PG) 13:45, 16:10, 18:30 Batman v Superman – Dawn Of Justice (12A) 10:30, 14:15, 17:45, 20:50 Hail Ceasar! (12A) 10:35, 13:45, 16:05, 18:30, 20:50 London Has Fallen (15) 10:00, 12:10, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 EDEN CINEMAS The Jungle Book (3D) (PG) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40 Teatro alla Scala (PG) 14:00, 16:10, 18:20, 20:30 The Divergent Series: Allegiant (12A) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15 London Has Fallen (15) 14:00, 16:10, 18:25, 20:45 Zootropolis (U) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 20:55 The President (15) 14:00, 18:30 How to Be Single (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05, 23:30 10 Cloverfield Lane (12) 14:05, 16:15, 18:35, 20:50, 23:10 The Choice (12A) 14:10, 16:30, 18:50, 21:15, 23:35 The Other Side of the Door (15) 14:10, 16:20, 18:40, 20:55 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (PG) 14:15, 16:30, 18:45, 21:05, 23:25 Chronic (15) 16:25, 20:55 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (12A) 14:10, 17:30, 21:00, 23:10 Hail, Caesar! (12A) 21:10 The Huntsman: Winter's War (12A) 14:30, 18:00, 21:00, 23:00 EMPIRE CINEMAS The Huntsman: Winter's War (12A) 11:00, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (12A) 10:55, 14:00, 17:55, 21:00 Zootropolis (U) 11:05, 13:40, 16:00, 18:20, 20:45 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (PG) 11:00, 13:30, 16:05, 18:10, 20:50 The Jungle Book (PG) 13:45, 16:00, 18:30 10 Cloverfield Lane (12) 11:10, 14:05, 16:30, 18:50, 21:05 The Secret in Their Eyes (15) 10:45, 20:50 London Has Fallen (15) 10:50, 13:30, 16:00, 18:15, 20:55 THE Coen Bros are something of a modern miracle. The writer- producer-director sibling duo of Joel and Ethan boast a unique portfolio that mixes money rak- ing arthouse successes: an oxy- moron that is certainly unique in the Hollywood system, espe- cially in this day and age when brand-recognition blockbusters are the order of the day. From somber awards-season hits like No Country for Old Men (2007) to screwball come- dies like Raising Arizona (1987) and Intolerable Cruelty (2003), and – perhaps most strikingly – absurdist postmodern indul- gences like The Big Lebowski (1998) and Burn After Reading (2008), the Coen Bros are cer- tainly versatile, but they're also very, very consistent. While their plots may occa- sionally seem meandering, the films are shot and performed in a way that's completely air- tight. Casting is done to perfec- tion – even the extras are care- fully selected grotesques – and the colour and mise-en-scene is pin-perfect. Their films always look beau- tiful – thanks, in large part, to their regular cinematographic collaborator Roger Deakins – but in a way that doesn't over- whelm the proceedings too much. They're also deeply interested in the aesthetics of film genres and the inner workings of the film industry – the latter of which interest is exploited most powerfully in one of their odd- est films, Barton Fink (1991). Their latest offering, a clever, zany exploration of 30s Hol- lywood, caters to both of these fetishes, and like 'Fink' plays with the idea of socialist ac- tivism within the Hollywood system. Unlike the surreal and somewhat gloomy 'Fink', how- ever, Hail, Caesar! proceeds with a light touch that doesn't however compromise its deeper satirical core. In Hollywood's 'Golden Age' of the 1930s, Hollywood 'fixer' Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) – a devout Christian mulling over retirement in favour of the air- line industry – finds himself in a bit of a fix when the star of his upcoming historical epic Hail Caesar, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped by a group of disgruntled socialist screenwriters. On a mission to raise aware- ness about their ideological mission while reporting back to Moscow, the group puts a €100,000 ransom on Whitlock's head, holding a scandalous se- cret from his past as ransom. Mannix races to quietly col- lect the ransom money without gossip columnists Thessaly and Thora Thacker (Tilda Swinton in a dual role) catching wind of it. All the while, Mannix has to keep the swirling studio cir- cus in check, with a bimbo star, Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenre- ich) potentially derailing a po- lite period drama and a starlet – DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Jo- hansson) with an inconvenient incoming pregnancy being a po- tential PR disaster. True to the form of a proper satire, nobody really comes out in a flattering light in Coen's send-up. Save for, oddly enough, Mannix himself, who despite being at the helm of what is clearly a strange and corrupt in- dustry displays a moral convic- tion that, while it may be borne of a degree of intellectual blind- ness, still holds him in good stead. But it's an industry that is in its twilight years, the Coens seem to suggest in this period piece. And while we know that Hollywood went on beyond the 30s, its business model has cer- tainly changed almost beyond recognition since then. Whitlock being captured by socialist screenwriters is clearly a prolonged joke – exacerbated all the more by them having re- al-life Marxist theorist Herbert Marcuse among their number – it also allows the Coens to pick at the industry's very heart. It's hard to argue, as the kidnap- pers' leader appears to suggest, that Hollywood is an adequate representation of capitalism at its worst. But the trajectory of at least one of the characters – I won't spoil it by saying who – suggests that the industry does actually help out "the little guy" from time to time. A spirited comedy about a by- gone age for Hollywood with a little something to tell us about how we live now. By Teodor Reljic The absurdist jumble of showbusiness ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ CAESAR ★ ★ ★ ★ AUGUSTUS ★ ★ ★ MARCUS AURELIUS ★ ★ TIBERIUS ★ CALIGULA FILM Baird essentials: George Clooney's befuddled Hollywood star Baird Whitlock is given a lesson in Marxist dialectic HAIL, CAESAR! (12A) ★ ★ ★ ★

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