TOMB RAIDER: 3 STARS
The last time we saw archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft on the big screen she looked like Angelina Jolie and was seen dunking a bad guy into a pool of acid, dissolving him and saving the world in the process. A new film, simply titled 鈥淭omb Raider,鈥� takes us back. Back before the leather bodysuits and twin Heckler & Koch USP Match pistols, back to a time when Lara Croft was an emo twenty-one-year-old whose biggest adventure was navigating London鈥檚 busy streets as a bicycle courier. This time around she bears a striking resemblance to Swedish Oscar winner Alicia Vikander.
Although born and raised at the swanky Croft Manor, when we first meet Lara she is scraping by, studying MMA fighting, when she can afford the gym fees, and delivering food via bicycle. A fortune, courtesy of her late father Lord Richard Croft (Dominic West), awaits but for seven years she has steadfastly refused to sign for her inheritance, fearing that if she does she will have to accept that papa, who disappeared without a trace somewhere in the Sea of Japan, is truly dead and gone.
鈥淵our father is gone but you can pick up where he left off,鈥� says Croft family executive Ana Miller (Kristin Scott Thomas). 鈥淚t鈥檚 in your blood.鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 sorry I鈥檓 not that kind of Croft,鈥� replies Lara.
And yet, when she discovers a, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e watching this tape I must be dead鈥︹�� tape from dear old dad detailing his plan to find a remote Japanese island, home to a deadly ancient witch, the dutiful daughter sets off on a dangerous mission鈥攖o find the island and her father.
To do that she travels to Japan and recruits Lu Ren (Daniel Wu) who warns her of the danger ahead. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 right in the middle of the Devil鈥檚 Sea,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou may as well tie a rock to your leg and jump overboard.鈥�
Armed with nothing more than a backpack and one of her father鈥檚 notebooks the pair find the island only to be met by a suspicious character named Mathias Vogel (Walton Goggins). 鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 have come here,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 glad that you did.鈥�
鈥淭omb Raider鈥� contains lots of backstory, mumbo jumbo about global genocide, Queen Himiko Witch of Death and supernatural organization that controls much of the world, but this is Lara鈥檚 journey from bike courier to international woman of mystery. At the beginning of the film she is nothing like the polished Croft of the Jolie films. She鈥檚 scrappier, undisciplined. Her two greatest powers are loyalty to her father and fearlessness. And jumping. Lots of jumping. As played by Vikander, Croft never met a chasm she couldn鈥檛 leap across and that skill sure comes in handy.
Unlike Jolie鈥檚 iconic, stylized take on the character, Vikander plays her as self assured and independent but directionless. A young person trying to make her way in the world, thirsty for life experience. It鈥檚 a nice reinvention of the character, although a post credit scene suggests she is headed toward Jolie territory should there be a 鈥淭omb Raider 2: A Career in Ruins鈥� next year. Still, she鈥檚 a spirited female action hero in a male dominated field.
There are big action sequences, but as the stunts get bigger they don鈥檛 necessarily get better. Vikander, flying through the streets of London, cutting through traffic while being chased by her courier friends, is as exciting as any of the CGI exploits that come later.
鈥淭omb Raider鈥檚鈥� story and action are fairly generic but Vikander carries the day, reshaping a character we already thought we knew.
THE DEATH OF STALIN: 3 ½ STARS
The Daily Telegraph calls writer/director Armando Iannucci "the hardman of political satire." As the creator of sardonic films and TV shows like 鈥淚n the Loop鈥� and 鈥淰eep鈥� he鈥檚 a vitally caustic comic presence.
As the film begins it鈥檚 1953 and Joseph Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin), the second leader of the Soviet Union, is alive and well. Under his watch death squads are rounding up his enemies, executions are common and the mere mention of his name strikes fear into the hearts of the people. The Central Committee, surround him. There鈥檚 the scheming Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi), the pompous Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), Old Bolshevik Vyacheslav Molotov (Michael Palin) and secret police chief Lavrentiy Beria (Simon Russell Beale). When he suffers a stroke everything changes as his inner circle engage in a power struggle that will determine not only their futures but also the future of the Soviet Union.
The idea of chaos in the halls of power, though set sixty-five years in the past, feels almost ripped from the headlines. With jet black humour 鈥淭he Death of Stalin鈥� supercharges the farcical elements of a very dark time in history. With the cast using their natural accents鈥攏o one here tries to sound Russian鈥攊t feels surreal, like Monty Python gone amok. There鈥檚 doublespeak, jealousy and sight gags galore as this band of yes-men bumble around in an attempt to seize the Kremlin in the days following their leader鈥檚 passing.
Iannucci avoids the danger of trivializing the very real-life tragedy of the story鈥攜ou hear gunshots off screen for much of the first half of the film鈥攂y not glorifying the villains. He takes a sharp knife to the reputations of Stalin, Khrushchev et al, portraying all of them as spoiled incompetents capable only of looking out for number one. In this historical context that approach works to show how absolute power corrupts absolutely.
鈥淭he Death of Stalin鈥� is an audacious reimagining of history. Strong comic performances are highlighted in a film that is both frightening and funny at the same time.
THE LEISURE SEEKER: 2 ½ STARS
Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren are household names with an astounding 400 television and film acting credits between them. Before their new film, 鈥淭he Leisure Seeker,鈥� they have appeared onscreen together only once in 1990鈥檚 鈥淏ethune: The Making of a Hero.鈥� Here they prove the chemistry that worked when the first Bush was president is still intact.
Their latest pairing sees them play old married couple former English professor John and Southern belle Ella Spencer who still playfully call one another, 鈥淢y love.鈥�
Their relationship is healthy but they are not. He has Alzheimer鈥檚 and she has cancer. As memories fade and the reliance on pills increases they embark on one last road trip, from Massachusetts to the heart of Old Town Key West and the Hemingway Home & Museum. Hitting the road in their 1975 Winnebago, dubbed the Leisure Seeker, they begin their final adventure. 鈥淭hey are just doing the thing they have done their entire lives,鈥� says daughter Jane (Janel Moloney). 鈥淪taying together.鈥�
Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Michael Zadoorian 鈥淭he Leisure Seeker鈥� is a so-so movie elevated by two endearing performances. Mirren emphasizes Ella鈥檚 warmth and strength, how she uses idle chatter to mask the uncertainty and frustration that churns inside her. Sutherland, as a man aware enough to know he wants to go out like Hemmingway when the time comes but getting foggier everyday, sensitively finds a balance between the glimpses of John鈥檚 former personality and his new diminished state. Both sparkle, and hand in engaging performances.
They glide through the spotty material finding humanity and the touching moments tucked away in this overly sentimental travelogue.
The moments that work really work. They handle the comedic passages expertly and real heft to exchanges like this:
鈥淲ho are you? My John is a young teacher. He鈥檚 charming. Very handsome. Educated,鈥� she says to him. 鈥淚 want him back. You stole him from me and I want you to give him back.鈥�
鈥淚f I could I would,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hatever is stolen from you is stolen from me too,鈥� he replies.
It is just a shame the rest of the film doesn鈥檛 work on that level.
7 DAYS IN ENTEBBE: 1 STAR
It鈥檚 hard to know how to classify 鈥�7 Days in Entebbe.鈥� It begins with an interpretive dance number but isn鈥檛 a musical. It鈥檚 about a daring real-life hostage rescue but it doesn鈥檛 contain enough combat to qualify as an action film. It鈥檚 about political ideology and yet so many points of view are on display it鈥檚 difficult to know what the film is trying to say. It鈥檚 a real life drama so slackly paced the drama evaporates into thin air.
Call it what you will. I call it a bad movie.
An international cast, including Daniel Brühl and Rosamund Pike as the German reactionaries and Eddie Marsan as Israeli Minister of Defense Shimon Peres, tell the story of what would become the Entebbe rescue operation.
On July 27, 1976 an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe, Uganda. On the ground the Jewish passengers were singled out and held hostage. The hijackers, two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two Germans affiliated with the left-wing extremist group Revolutionary Cells, demanded a ransom of $5 million and the release of prisoners from Israeli jails. If their conditions weren鈥檛 met by the deadline of Sunday, July 5 the terrorists would start executing hostages one by one. In response the Israeli government ordered a daring counter-terrorist hostage rescue operation.
It鈥檚 sometimes difficult to find a new spin on an old story. The raid on Entebbe has been told many times on the big screen, on TV, on the stage and even in videogames. There鈥檚 probably something left to say but 鈥�7 Days in Entebbe鈥� doesn鈥檛 say it. It talks and talks and talks an endless stream of words, many right out of 鈥淩evolutionaries for Dummies.鈥� 鈥淚 want to throw bombs into the consciousness of the masses,鈥� intones terrorist Wilfried Böse (Daniel Brühl) when, realistically, we would have been better served if that bomb had been better thrown at the slack-jawed script. Every time the movie finds some momentum the story鈥檚 forward movement is stymied by speechifying.
Add to that dubious artistic choices and you鈥檙e left with a Mulligan Stew of political ideology with no strong point of view. In what maybe one of the silliest flourishes in a film this year, and the director cuts back-and-forth between a dance performance and the military operation. 鈥淚 fight so you could dance,鈥� says a commando to his ballerina girlfriend. It鈥檚 meant to illustrate the art of war brought to life I suppose but I鈥檓 sure Chuck Norris鈥攚ho starred in 鈥淒elta Force,鈥� one of the better movies inspired by Entebbe鈥攚ould approve.
鈥�7 Days in Entebbe鈥� takes a significant world event and reduces it to melodramatic pap and speechifying. And the dance. Don鈥檛 forget the dance.
LOVE, CECIL: 3 ½ STARS
Cecil Beaton, the subject of a new documentary called 鈥淟ove, Cecil,鈥� says he was determined not to be 鈥渏ust an ordinary, anonymous person.鈥� To that end he distinguished himself as a diarist, painter, interior designer and an Oscar鈥搘inning costume designer but it was as a photographer that he made his grandest statements.
Director Lisa Immordino Vreeland (related by marriage to fashionista Diana Vreeland) presents a portrait of a serial multi-tasker, a man 鈥渢ormented with ambition鈥� who wonders aloud if he might have been more successful had he focussed on one discipline over the others. Still, it is hard to imagine the restless spirit shown in the film as anything but creatively unsettled. His iconic portraits of everyone from Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe to Mick Jagger and Queen Elizabeth are world famous but equally impressive, perhaps more so are his wartime photographs, pictures that captured the horrors of the German Blitz. His startling photo of 3-year-old bombing victim Eileen Dunne, laying in a hospital, clutching a ragged teddy bear became famous in the day, is thought to have helped push America into the war and remains an indelibly powerful image seventy-five years later.
The doc also showcases Beaton鈥檚 unsettled private life. Controversial, outspoken and publicly vengeful, he was once also fired from American Vogue for inserting anti-Semitic phrases into an illustration; an act he admits was inexcusable. His romantic life is lightly touched on. Affairs with Garbo and various men never did led to lasting love, a fact that hints at the great sadness that lay just beneath his polished exterior.
In the 1920s Beaton was one of the Bright Young Things, a bohemian group of young aristocrats and artists who exemplified the excesses of Britain鈥檚 Jazz Age. He was an active member and documenter of their short lived heyday but the spirit of creativity that fuelled his exploits as a young man stayed with him until his death in 1980 at age seventy-six.
鈥淟ove, Cecil鈥� is a traditional talking head doc that features notables like David Bailey, designer Manolo Blahnik and artist David Hockney. It moves chronologically through the man鈥檚 life and there is none of the style Beaton brought to his own life on display in the filmmaking but narration by Rupert Everett, lifted directly from the photographer鈥檚 own diaries, brings intimacy to the proceedings.
