Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/753405
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 NOVEMBER 2016 38 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (TBA) 10:30, 14:30, 17:45, 20:45 Trolls (U) 10:00, 12:10, 14:20, 16:30, 18:40 Inferno (12A) 21:00 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (12A) 10:00, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Doctor Strange (12A) 10:35, 13:40, 16:10, 18:40, 21:10 The Accountant (15) 12:45, 15:30, 18:10, 20:50 Keeping Up With The Joneses (12A) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar (12A) 13:00, 15:40, 18:15, 20:55 Extreme Weather (PG) 13:00, 19:30, 20:15 The Accountant (15) 13:00, 15:45, 18:25, 21:05, 23:45 The Light Between Oceans (12A) 13:05, 15:50, 18:35, 21:20, 23:15 Doctor Strange (12A) 13:10, 15:45, 18:20, 21:00, 23:30 Nocturnal Animals (15) 13:15, 15:50, 18:20, 20:55, 23:30 Inferno (12A) 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:05 The Girl on the Train (15) 14:00, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10, 23:05 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (TBA) 14:00, 15:00, 17:10, 18:05, 20:00, 21:00, 23:00 The Comedian's Guide to Sur- vival (15) 14:00, 18:15 A Street Cat Named Bob (12A) 14:05, 16:15, 18:30, 20:50 Trolls (U) 14:15, 16:25, 18:30, 20:35 Les Contes D'Hoffmann (PG) 15:00 The Clan (15) 16:00, 21:20 Keeping Up with the Joneses (12A) 20:50 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Accountant (15) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 Doctor Strange (12A) 10:45, 13:15, 16:00, 18:30, 21:10 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (TBA) 10:30, 13:15, 15:55, 18:35, 21:15 A Street Cat Named Bob (12A) 11:00, 14:00, 16:20, 18:35, 20:55 Trolls (U) 11:15, 14:00, 16:25, 18:30 Blood Father (15) 20:45 The Light Between Oceans (12A) 10:30, 13:10, 15:50, 18:35, 21:15 NEVER work with children or ani- mals, the old bit of theatre wisdom goes. The logic of it all is impecca- ble: both entities are unpredictable at best and unruly at worst, mak- ing them perfectly misaligned to the needs of the acting profession, in which rote repetition is key. But while the performers them- selves may be unpredictable, the economic benefits of them sitting still in front of a camera tends to be both predictable, and encourag- ing, to the people divvying up the accounts. To wit: films about kids will make film studios money, and films about animals are bound to do even better. And you know what will up that equation exponential- ly? A bestselling literary phenom- enon that incorporates childhood trauma and a cute cat… and which is a rags-to-riches tale to boot. In this case, director Roger Spot- tiswoode – who has directed an- imal-starring features not once, but twice, with Turner and Hooch (1989) and Midnight Sun (2004) – adapts the real-life story of James Bowen (Luke Treadaway), a not- so-successfully-recovering heroin addict who finds a new lease on life when the ginger cat 'Bob' enters in- to it. Having become an emotional wreck following the break-up of his parents – which in turn left him yoying between Australia and the UK – James eventually succumbs to homelessness and becomes es- tranged from his father Nigel (An- thony Head), which guarantees he has no safety blanket to fall on. He takes to busking to eke out a pathetic existence, which only leads him to relapse. When his support worker Val (Joanne Frog- gatt) champions his case against all odds and gets him a place on a rehabilitation program and a flat to stay in, it is a take-it-or-leave-it-of- fer… one whose pressures become increasingly more manageable once Bob steps through the council flat window and into James's life. Though he's reluctant to keep him on as a pet at first, the per- sistent Bob becomes a fixture in James's busking career, skyrocket- ing him to comparative financial security after the pair become a sought-after viral sensation on Covent Garden. But the emotional pressure of staying clean – coupled with a will-they-won't-they chance at romance with an eccentric bo- hemian neighbour, Belle (Ruta Gedmintas) – means that James has his (emotional) work cut out for him. Yes, of course it's a shamelessly mawkish piece of comedy-drama, but Spottiswoode directs it with care and grace, balancing the ge- neric beats of the story – Bowen's book is adapted by Tim John and Maria Nation – with a gritty por- trayal of London that reminds us why this story can inspirational: these are mean streets indeed. The brittle Treadaway is a perfect piece of casting for our beleaguered protagonist: a skinny and tatty lump of emotional need whose eyes just scream, "help me". The picture-perfect Gedmintas, on the other hand, is far less convincing: too polished for the harsh world of which she is supposedly a mas- ter, she veers too close to being a Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereo- type, parachuted into the film from somewhere else to give our hero purpose and direction. But though it remains entirely unchallenging throughout – save for some risky heartstring-pulling – A Streetcat Named Bob skates on the right side of schmaltz and offers a heartwarming pre-Christ- mas trip to cinema that should just about assuage the fallout of the dreary November weather we've been having. Ah, who am I kidding. You came here for the cat. And no… appear- ing as himself for the bulk of the film's duration, the original Bob does not disappoint. Crossed lines from the front line ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ CAT IN THE HAT ★ ★ ★ ★ CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF ★ ★ ★ WHAT'S THE CATCH? ★ ★ CAT-O-NINE-TAILS ★ CAT'S OUT OF THE BAG FILM By Teodor Reljic FILM: A STREET CAT NAMED BOB (12A) ★ ★ ★ Luke Treadaway and 'Bob' take you on a heartwarming journey of a recovering drug addict's redemptive arc, via cat Holiday schmaltz with a welcome side of grit Will they, won't they? Ruta Gedmintas and Treadaway