WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

US, 2016, 112 minutes, Colour.
Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thornton, Nicholas Braun, Stephen Peacocke, Sheila Vand, Josh Lucas, Cherry Jones.
Directed by Glenn Ficcara and John Requa.

The opening sequences of this film are pretty raucous, overseas reporters letting their hair down with alcohol and dancing at a club in Kabul, 2006. And then there are explosions, the journalist suddenly becoming sober, getting their phones, trying to make communications and file reports. The tone is captured by the title and its code, WTF… The film then goes back to New York City in 2003.

This film is based on a book by journalist Kim Baker, at the centre of this story, initially a reporter on domestic issues for a US television network, dissatisfied with her life as she finds that the treadmill at the gym keeps moving back, something like her life, so when volunteers are requested for Afghanistan, she signs up. She is in a relationship and assures her boyfriend that she will be back in three months. She stays in Afghanistan for three years.

Actually, the film gets more interesting as it goes along. as we share Kim’s experience, the shock of arriving in Kabul, the headdress requirements in this Muslim country, the crowded streets and busyness, hard accommodation, drinking bouts with the other journalists and consequent hangovers, the film help us helping us to learn what it is like to be a foreign correspondent, and the pressures.

The surprising thing is that Kim Baker is played by Tina Fey, best known for her comic performances, impersonations. While there are some traces of this, it is much more of a serious rule for her. Australian Margot Robbie appears as another successful foreign correspondent as does Martin Freeman, a Scot, who is attracted to Kim.

Out she goes to be embedded with the troops, finding that she gets more and more of a high as she experiences the dangers, even running out to photograph during gunfire, experiencing some disapproval from the Marine General, Billy Bob Thornton, but able to help him with information about the exploding of wells in a village, the women themselves doing it to get some socialising opportunities by going to the well and defying the men. He interviews a local politician, Alfred Molina, who blends politics with sleaziness and can be blackmailed for information by showing him footage of his drinking and dancing outside a club.

The seriousness of Afghanistan and its cultural traditions is embodied in one of the security guards appointed for Kim, Fahim, Christopher Abbott. Previously a doctor, he now has to accompany her, guiding Kim through some responsibilities, warning her, diagnosing her addiction for highs in action. He is engaged and there is a colourful sequence showing the wedding.

The American public is very interested in Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but interest wanes and the network is not putting many of Kim’s reports to air. On a return visit, she challenges the new boss, Cherry Jones, and is determined back in Kabus to get a scoop to reinforce her status and reputation. She does get an opportunity when Martin Freeman is abducted and she is able to help negotiate his release.

By the end of the film, we have experienced the three year journey of Kim Baker, her discovery of Afghanistan and the complexities of the power plays and of the dangers, her insights into the culture and religion of the country, her greater self-realisation – and this also has an effect on the audience, an entertainment, but, in fact, a strong learning experience.

1. An experience of Afghanistan? The background, Afghanistan’s history, occupation, wars? Post 9/11?

2. Location photography, in Afghanistan, in Morocco, in New Mexico? The recreation of carpal? Rooms, streets, clubs? The Afghan countryside, the villagers, the mountains and valleys? The musical score?

3. The title, the code? WTF…?

4. Based on a true story, Kim Baker, who work in the television company, research, domestic issues? Going to Afghanistan, volunteering? The change, her addiction to action and highs, her work, learning, relationships, dangers, the effect of the experience, writing the book, her return?

5. Introduction in 2006, bombs going off, the raucous drinking and dancing at the club, the world of the journalists and reporters, getting their phones, their press work?

6. Flashbacks to 2003-2006? The reporters in Afghanistan, the network sending Kim? At the gym, a comment about the machine going backwards? Her boyfriend, the meeting in passing at the airport? Skyping? Her plan to return to New York, the offer of the interview? The Skype talk and seeing the outline of the woman? Breaking the relationship?

7. Her arrival in Kabul, Nick and Fahim as the bodyguards, Kim not wearing the scarf and her being insulted, the car, the drive, the accommodation, her first experiences? The meeting with Tanya, her reputation? In action on the front line? Settling in, the room? The variety of types? The men, Tall Brian?

8. Nick, Tanya’s attraction, the deal with Kim about relationships? Nick, bodybuilding, New Zealand – but in reality from Canada? Fahim, the gentleman, proper, engaged in preparing for marriage?

9. The experience of being embedded with the troops, the men themselves, the general, Marines, her interview with the young soldier, his comment about the game not being loaded, the transfer, his losing his legs? Kim learning from this mistake? And her need to go at the end to visit his farm, see him with his artificial limbs, meet his wife, make some kind of appeasement?

10. Going out in Kabul, the drinking, the hangovers, waiting for interviews, Fahim waking her, interviews, reports, everybody watching the reports on American television?

11. Kim and her dealings with the general, his attitudes towards journalists? Insistence on the Marines? Tough behaviour? The reaction to Kim getting out of vehicles, photographing, risking everything?

12. Kim, the expedition, the issue of the well and the explosion, and meeting the women, her return to the general, explanation that the women destroyed the well, going to get the water was one way of meeting and asserting themselves against the men? The general congratulating Kim?

13. Ali Mousssad Sadiq, his personality, his role in Afghanistan, about to be elected, his personality, lascivious towards Kim, her being wary? The elections, his official position, his office, with the bed, his coming to the club, dancing and drinking, Kim using the film footage as blackmail? His supplying the information about Iain and his abduction?

14. Iain, a Scot, his work, style, man about town, relationships, going out, drinking, Kim at the wrong door, no scarf, being rescued by Iain? The attraction, the relationship – a one-off, the change?

15. Tanya, going up country, the rendezvous, the American cover and surveillance, the group pulling guns, the drones dropping the bombs, Tanya filming everything, her reputation?

16. Kim going to New York, meeting Gerry, Gerry female, explaining the loss of interest by viewers about Afghanistan? Tanya in the office and her promotion? Professional rivalry? Kim going to Glasgow to meet Iain?

17. Iain, the irony of his not meeting Kim, his going to the rendezvous, his being abducted, imprisoned, the negotiations for his return, Kim and her intervention, the rescue and the effect?

18. Fahim, his wedding, the ceremonial? His helping Kim? His story of the addicts and their high – and her listening to the story, later acknowledging the truth as she returned home? Her gratitude towards him – and the emotional restrictions, just touching his fingers?

19. Her decision, to return home, her new job, on air? The year passing, the interview with Iain about his book?

20. The film immersing the audience in the Afghan experience, helping audiences to appreciate the realities, the pressures, the cultural differences?

BASTILLE DAY

UK, 2016, 92 minutes, Colour.
Idris Elba, Richard Madden, Kelly Reilly, Jose Garcia.
Directed by James Watkins.

If you are after a brief and brisk, old-fashioned (even new-fashioned) action show with some substance, a conspiracy theory, then why not Bastille Day. It runs for only 92 minutes and doesn’t waste much time at all.

It is a drama of terrorism in Paris, bombs in the streets, the searching of mosques, rabble-roused protesters in the streets of Paris on Bastille Day, urged on by messages on social media. It was actually produced before the real terrorist events of 2015 in the city of Paris and the plot is quite different from those events, a situation where extreme nationalists seem to be the villains but, in fact, the target is more mundane, greed. Muslims are being set up by authorities, bomb-making equipment planted in mosques, faked scenes of police bashing an innocent bystander which are put on Youtube.

For those who know Paris, the opening is at Montmartre, a nude woman walking new down the steps in front of the basilica, an ingenious ploy for a pickpocket to go about his profession amongst the distracted and/or leering onlookers.

But the attention is really on the pickpocket, played by Richard Madden, a vagrant American who quickly learns that he needs to check what he has stolen or it can lead to dire consequences, even deaths.

In the meantime, we are introduced to Briar, a CIA agent who is tough, tends to work alone, subordination not being one of his virtues. As might be expected, he will win the day – not without some struggles, fights, moments of defeat and frustration, but relentlessly using his wits and his fists and guns to right all the wrongs. He is played very effectively by Idris Elba, television’s Luther who also appeared as Nelson Mandela in The Long Walk to Freedom. (There been many rumours that he could be in line to be the next James Bond – and this film is more than a calling card!).

The action takes place over little more than 24 hours, the CIA agent working very quickly, endorsed by his boss, Kelly Reilly, but disapproved of by her associate. It is not long before he picks up the pickpocket who is forced to be a collaborator in the search for the villains and for a woman who had been commissioned to place a bomb in an office as a first strike warning but who changed her mind when the cleaners came into the office. As we might guess, the pickpocket steals the bag which contains the bomb and throws it on a rubbish heap with explosive consequences.

Elba and Madden make an interesting odd couple, touches of banter although Briar is prone to deadly seriousness. As the villains are gradually revealed, the CIA finally decides to give information to the French authorities. The pickpocket finds that his profession can be particularly useful in crises.

The move towards the finale seems to indicate that Briar, the pickpocket and the girl do not have a chance at all. … And there is quite some action in the streets as well as in the French National Bank – Briar is one of those one-man bands that saves the day despite all odds. An effective finale in the basement of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

In fact, a good action show with better-drawn characters than might be expected and some substance to the plot – and the various plots.

1. The title, France, history, the Revolution? The 21st century and terror?

2. The Paris settings, Montmartre, CIA officers and interrogation rooms? The French government? The shops, the bars? The migrant housing? The atmosphere of Paris in the 21st century? In the light of the realities of terrorism in Paris? The musical score?

3. Michael, his introduction, the nude woman at Montmartre, his picking the pockets, his haul, going to the fence and the payoff? The Metro and his leaving the girl behind? The later interrogation and identifying him?

4. The introduction of the conspiracy, the agent, the bomb, sweet-talking Zoe, the plan, going to the office, empty, to plant the bomb, the arrival of the cleaners, Zoe upset, sitting and contemplating, to throw the bomb in the river? The bag being stolen, her anxiety, her search? Michael, taking the bag, taking the phone, the bag with the rubbish, the explosion and the deaths?

5. The introduction to Briar, Karen as his boss, his working style, loner, insubordination, the disapproval of the assistant director? His background?

6. Michael, his apartment, the information on television, collecting his money belt, to leave? Briar, the photo, tracking Michael down, his identity? Karen and her not giving the information to the French? Not letting the French know about CIA surveillance? Briar and his chasing Michael, the roofs of Paris, getting him to the secret interrogation room, the interrogation, the police squad at the door, the fights, Michael cutting free and his escape, the police and the pursuit, Briar saving him with the car?

7. The fence taking the jewels, his later giving information, his hiding Michael, his being beaten?

8. The French chief, the press conference, reassuring people, Bastille Day, heightened security, the police force, his advisors? The conspiracy, in the offices of the Nationalists? The anti-Muslim activity? The reaction of the public? The video of the police beating the man? On social media? The
initial warning explosion? The use of the social media, the masked leader of the protest, the anti-governments tension, anti-the banks?

9. Briar, the contacts, Karen deciding to meet the chief, not giving information? The contrast with later, the meeting with him on the roof, his shooting her?

10. The plan to find Zoe, her fleeing, her minder being hanged? The tattoo, the clue? The group, pursuing Briar and Michael?

11. The talk, the banter, Michael forced to help, proclaiming his innocence, the deals with Briar? Contact at the address, following the man with blond hair, the photos, the bar, Michael and his setting up the fight, pickpocketing the wallet? Getting Zoe?

12. Zoe, her reaction, response to the danger, regrets, working with Michael and Briar?

13. The police group, the conspiracy, the fights, pursuing the car, the information, contact with the chief?

14. Bastille Day, the public protests in the streets, against the bank? The conspiracy group and their strategy, the memory stick and the robbing of the money? Greed and no higher motivation?

15. Karen arranging the pickup for the three, the van arriving, Zoe recognising one of the guards, Briar noticing the tattoo? Attacking the guards in the back of the van, getting out?

16. Briar, the one-man band, infiltration of the bank, his skills, fighting, the shootouts?

17. The police chief, his advisor, things going wrong, his disclaimer?

18. Michael and Zoe, getting out of the van, joining the protest, the police barrier, charging the barrier, the rallying cries, bursting into the bank?

19. The conspiracy leader, his gun, wanting the memory stick, Michael and his getting away?

20. The criminal, the setup at Notre Dame, Michael, the basement, the sting? The arrest?

21. The couple, Michael’s future – CIA or not?

BAD NEIGHBOURS 2

US, 2016, 92 minutes, Colour.
Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne Zac Efron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dave Franco, Ike Barinholtz.
Directed by Nicholas Stoller.

Perhaps it’s the generation gap. But, younger audiences and reviewers are able to break through the raucous crudity of Bad Neighbours and this sequel, to enjoy this somewhat satiric (we hope) look at human nature. Older audiences and reviewers seem to get stuck on the raucous crudity and, at many moments, probably wish they were somewhere else.

The main characters from the original film are back. Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne used to live in a house next door to the building which was taken over by a frat group, completely self-absorbed in their own entertainment, alcohol, drugs and sex, music, with a high, high decibel impact, regardless of concern about the effect on the neighbours’ lives (and possibilities for sleep). Zac Efron was the leader of the pack but got something of a comeuppance at the end – this time he ends up with a vocation to be a wedding planner for gay marriages.

It is now a couple of years later. Rose is pregnant, she and Seth have put a deposit on a house, bigger and better, some distance away and are in process of selling the old house to an eager couple. They have neglected to understand escrow (which many of the audience will have neglected also). But it means that their house is open to scrutiny for another month, in case anything should happen.

Of course it does. And, the screenplay giving equal time to the group who moves in next door with all the attendant drugs, alcohol, sex, music, a sorority because sororities are not allowed to have parties on campus. Needless to say, the girls move in and get advice, naturally enough, from Zac Efron. Rose and Seth go through all the traumas they experienced before until… Zac is offended by the girls and changes sides. Conflict is on.

The potential buyers call by, Seth and his brother put on a show that there is a Jewish household next door, but it the covefr-up is sabotaged and the couple are desperate.

There is a solution for the girls – but Seth and Rose moved to their new house so screenwriters will have to be inventive as to how to provide them with Bad Bad Neighbours 3.

BIG NOTHING

UK, 2006, 86 minutes, Colour.
David Schwimmer, Simon Pegg, Alice Eve, Natasha Mc Elhone, Mimi Rogers, Jon Polito, Julian Glover.
Directed by Jean- Baptiste Andrea.

This is just a bit of fun, a short running time, not very demanding, some laughs – but more disbelief as everything (and more) goes wrong with what seemed to be a simple plan (they rarely are), blackmail and a quick collection of the money. But…

David Schwimmer is Charlie Wood, a PhD factoid and statistic utterer who is out of work and is employed (for about one call) at a Call Centre. The genial man at the next desk is Gus (Simon Pegg) who has a sob story about his going-blind daughter – and the need for ready money for an operation. So, the simple plan: blackmail a reverend who has been visiting illegal porn sites and pick up the money. A forceful young woman, formerly Miss Teen Oklahoma (Alice Eve) insists on joining the scam. What could be more simple?

When the potential victim pulls a gun on Gus, they are all on the first step to chaos. Except for Charlie and his wife (who is a local detective, Natascha Mc Elhone), nobody is really who they claim, so there are twists enough to keep us slightly surprised and macabrely amused. Mimi Rogers turns up briefly and gets an axe in her head – it’s the kind of film where she actually turns up again and dies again, so to speak. Jon Polito is an overweight diabetic FBI agent. And there are a couple of other intended and accidental deaths.

So, a black comedy that is passable and lightweight entertainment.

WORDPLAY

US, 2006, 94 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Patrick Creadon.

A film about crossword puzzles? Well, there have been several films about spelling bees focussing on children, so why not a film about words and puzzles for adults?

This is a fascinating documentary for crossword fans. We learn briefly the history of puzzles, especially from their beginnings in the early 20th century in the New York Times. The focus is on Will Shortz, the man responsible for the puzzles in the Times. While there are lots of interviews with puzzle setters and explanations of how they compose the puzzles, elaborate their clues and incorporate themes, we are treated to the enthusiastic musings (as well as seeing them in action) of several high profile personalities, including Bill Clinton, TV host Jon Stewart, documentarist Ken Burns, a baseball star and others.

The framework of the documentary, which gives it some dramatic interest and momentum, is the annual Crossword tournament held in Connecticut, presided over by Shortz. We are introduced to several of the past winners as well as the principal contenders for the contest which we watch. Special effect techniques help the audience to see clues and the answers as well as the progress participants make. It seems also to be an avid spectator sport, a bit like followers mesmerised by golf play.

It is well put together, keeps the interest – though if you are not a word person, who delights in both verbal intuition and precision, even the excitement of the fast-paced finals, will not persuade you. This is a treat for wordsmiths.

NEW POLICE STORY

Hong Kong 2004, 123 minutes, Colour.
Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse.
Directed by Benny Chan.

Though he seems ageless, Jackie Chan has been round for a long time. He was born in 1954. Some writers talk about his appearances in the Rush Hour films as well as Shanghai Noon and Knights as if he had never been in Hollywood before these huge box-office successes; but he was in The Big Brawl and the two Cannonball Run films in the early 1980s. There are, in fact, 96 acting credits in his CV.

In recent years, he has been popping back and forth between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. New Police Story is a pop back to Hong Kong and a reprisal of a series that began in 1985 with Police Story and its sequel in 1988.

Chan is a friendly screen presence, even when he has to be a depressed officer in the throes of alcoholic drowning of sorrows after a mission that he predicted would be achieved in three hours goes so badly wrong that he loses all his men. A young stranger persuades him to get going again and confront the gang who so brutally taunted him and destroyed his squad.

We see the massacre and find that the murderous bunch are skilled in computer games and organise their crimes and attacks on the police like the games, getting points for killing police. As Chan moves back into investigation, the gang decides to stage another robbery.

The robberies and the pursuits (in a toy shop, a bus careering through a market, a climax on top of the convention centre) provide plenty of opportunity for spectacular stunt work and fighting choreography.

The plot is melodramatic with romantic touches, especially a feel-good –do-good ending and the fact that the gang is made up of for-kicks criminals who don’t need the money but just the thrill and the personal affirmation. (Some pop psychology here!)

But action buzz is what Jackie Chan provides and an admiration for his nimble acrobatics – here aplenty.

IDLEWILD

US, 2006, 121 minutes, Colour.
Andre Benjamin, Big Boi/ Antwan A. Patton, Terrence Howard, Paula Patton, Cicely Tyson, Ben Vereen, Faizon Love, Macy Gray, Ving Rhames.
Directed by Bryan Barber.

If this film were a piece of architecture, it might be called a Folly. Idlewild is one big, lavish, over the top film.

The setting is the 1930s in a small town called Idlewild among the black citizens of the town. Though small, it has a big club where singers hope that they will be signed to record labels and go to Chicago for the big time, where gangsters control the entertainment and the liquor and rely on moonshine deals during Prohibition, where men gamble and their wives wring their hands, where the funeral parlour is not short of business.

Andre Benjamin and Antwan A. Patton portray childhood friends. He is a piano player and composer who works days in his father’s mortuary and cares for his alcoholic parent. The other is the town’s mover and shaker with the club, the liquor and his girls (and wife and several children at home). Into their lives comes a talented singer (Paula Patton) as well as the local ambitious hood (Terrence Howard). We know, more or less, what is going to happen.

However, it doesn’t all happen in a clear and comprehensible way. The audience has to work on it. While we look at the central characters and plot, it is probably better to sit back and absorb the music.

One of the difficulties is that the most lavish, even extravagant, production number, like an old 30s musical, takes place during the closing credits when patrons have a reflex response to get up and leave.

Clearly aimed at the African American audience, it does not travel well beyond its niche.

DRIVING LESSONS

UK, 2006, 98 minutes, Colour.
Rupert Grint, Laura Linney, Julie Walters, Tamsin Egerton, Jim Norton, Nicholas Farrell, Oliver Milburn.
Directed by Jeremy Brock.

Allegedly based on the actual experiences of writer-director, Jeremy Brock, when he worked as a chauffeur for distinguished actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft (Oscar for A Passage to India). One hopes that she was not as loose-mouthed as Julie Walters as this ageing star of TV soaps who is clinging on to edges of life and memories of her heyday!

This is a quirky comedy with Rupert Grint (best known as Ron Weasley, Harry Potter’s friend) as the nice but rather naïve adolescent whose mother is a pillar of the Church and whose father is a Vicar of the Church of England. Laura Linney, sporting a British accent, is the mother and Nicholas Farrell is the retiring but nice vicar. There is also a young curate in the background who looks for relevance of the church in the happy-clappy style.

While mother’s demands on her son set a serious tone, it is his odd escapades with the actress: camping out in the countryside, getting her to a recital in Edinburgh where she succumbs to nerves which provide more of the humour. Ultimately, he has to make decisions for himself.

A slight entertainment with a pleasantly awestruck Rupert Grint and a very eccentric Julie Walters.

BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICAN FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN

US, 2006, 84 minutes, Colour.
Sacha Baron Cohen,
Directed by Larry Charles.

Any of the work of Sacha Baron Cohen is an acquired taste. His Ali G was a hit on television, less so in the feature film, Ali G in Da House. He did a very good turn as the gay French racing driver in Talladega Nights. Now, he risks a lot in becoming Borat. Will audiences in the British tradition like it and find it funny? Despite any misgivings about tastes and targets, yes. Will audiences with in the American tradition of humour enjoy it? Since they are the targets and not all the jokes are tasteful, the answer is, probably not.

Baron Cohen’s persona this time is a television personality from Kazakhstan where life is the equivalent of an impoverished, illiterate community in the repressive fifties. This is a rather easy target and we can all laugh at the jokes at the expense of yokel equivalents (and, to that extent, the satire is funny while rather cruel). It should be noted that Borat is not afraid of bringing in (and frequently), scatological jokes (literally) and sex jokes. He relishes them. One has to remind oneself that everything human can be the subject of humour especially subjects that we are fastidious about.

Once Borat starts his tour of America, with outlandish behaviour that alarms the locals and with plenty of obtuse remarks and questions, it is really the equivalent of a candid camera program. Borat makes his way across the States, introducing himself in the subway and trying to kiss everyone, interrogating a feminist group, learning to drive and buying a car, finding out about American jokes and timing, talking to politicians, joining a gay pride march, smashing antiques in a store, learning etiquette (and dramatising how the best advice can still to awry), singing his national anthem at a rodeo to the tune of the Star Spangled banner, making friends with an escort, converted at a Pentecostal meeting etc etc until he tries to abduct Pamela Anderson, the object of his dreams.

There are some funny episodes at the expense of anti-Semitism.

This is one of those films that are funny, despite oneself wanting to be both in control and refined.

BARNYARD

US, 2006, 90 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Sam Elliot, Danny Glover, Andie Mc Dowell, Courtney Cox, Kevin James, Wanda Sykes, David Koechner.
Directed by Steve Odekerk.

Yet another animated film full of talking animals. Not that this one hasn’t got its merits, but it is rather ordinary in comparison with Open Season or Over the Hedge.

The setting is a simple farm with a great variety of birds and animals. One of the bulls, Ben, is in charge (and voiced with his authoritative drawl by Sam Elliot). His son, Otis (voice of Kevin James), is a carefree tearaway who needs to learn responsibility. When the vicious coyotes attack, Otis has to take charge and makes a mess of things. He has to learn heroism and confront the coyotes and unite the animals. Yes, he does. And a nice cow, Daisy (Courtney Cox infinitely sweeter than her Monica in Friends) gives birth to a lovely calf.

The barnyard animals are a spirited lot. As in Toy Story, as soon as the farmer isn’t looking, they go partying. Which doesn’t help their spirit of unity when the coyotes come. Other voices include Danny Glover as the horse, Andie Mc Dowell as the Hen and David Koechner as the malevolent coyote.

Director Steve Odekerk made Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

It’s OK but not startling.