Night
Train to Lisbon: ****/*****, or 7/10
Adaptation
of the original novel of the same name by Pascal Mercier, chronicling
the life and times of a young Portuguese doctor named Amadeu de Prado
during the years of the oppressive Salazar regime. His political and
philosophical trials are recounted through his journals as read long
after his death by a Swiss professor played by Jeremy Irons. A timid
and dull man, Irons one day saves the life of a woman attempting to
commit suicide, who walks out on his life as sudden as she entered
it, leaving him the diary and a train ticket to the Portuguese
capital. Impulsively leaving his life behind, the professor takes his
chances and travels to Lisbon in order to explore this life so
different from his own. The vast dissimilarities in life style and
character of the boring old professor compared to the adventurous,
politically engaged young doctor are rather overstated to carry the
point across that freedom and personal convictions are wasted if one
does not make ample use of them during one's life, as Irons does not
but Amadeu did: though it led him to an early death, he did live a
wild and challenging life as the professor soon realizes when he
seeks out those that knew him personally. Now all in their old age,
his remaining family and friends enlighten the old man as to who
Amadeu really was and what he accomplished. Many a great character
actor is encountered as the movie progresses through the various view
points of Amadeu's inner circle, including Charlotte Rampling,
Christopher Lee, Bruno Ganz and Tom Courtenay. Interestingly enough
(and potentially insulting towards the people of Portugal), none of
them are Portuguese and nor is Jack Huston who plays the young
Amadeu. However, their contribution as highly capable actors to
informing us about the harsh and dangerous life of political
dissidents under the brutal rule of Salazar and his secret police
makes for a compelling glimpse of past Portuguese history, which
isn't a subject of movies as often as it deserves to be. The movie
also serves as a not so subtle tourist brochure to present day
Lisbon, with its beautiful sunlit cityscapes and its treasure trove
of historical architecture, ancient churches and appetizing dinner
establishments. And unlike in Amadeu's time, there's no sinister
right wing agents out to arrest you for disagreeing with the current
political powers-that-be. No wonder Irons' character eventually opts
to stay to escape his own dreary, disillusioned life in Switzerland,
which is only shown as grey and rainy during the course of the film.
Man
of Steel: ****/*****, or 7/10.
Under
the producing talents of Christopher Nolan, Superman undergoes the
same treatment to make him grittier – or more 'with the times' –
as his fellow DC veteran Batman underwent for Nolan's Dark Knight
trilogy. Director Zack Snyder has shown to be rather talented in
adapting the works of more ingenious men into big blockbuster movies,
e.g. 300 and Watchmen. As a result, Man of Steel
proves a slick, dark and modern look at the iconic comic book
character, the most 'super' of all superheroes. Nevertheless, the
movie still leaves something to be desired, as illustrated by the
fact the film works best during its quiet moments of comtemplation as
to how a near omnipotent alien life form walking amongst us humans
would live and act. Raised by human foster parents after his
biological ones got blown to smithereens along with his home planet
of Krypton, Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill beefed up considerably) has carefully learned not to show off
his awesome powers, as they would make him an outcast, a mutant
destined to be hated and feared by the society he means to protect
(if some of these thematic ingredients sound familiar, it's because
Hollywood has jumped on this bandwagon before in other superhero
franchises). Moving from one false identity to another in search of
inner peace, Clark soon finds the exact opposite when firstly a
sexually attractive female raporter named Lois Lane (Amy Adams) and
secondly some of his fellow Kryptonian survivors pay him a visit, the
former in seach of the truth about this mystery man, the latter desperately after
a weird skull shaped MacGuffin that would give Krypton a second
chance, but only at the expense of humanity. Clark soon has no choice
but to reveal himself to everybody and fight for his surrogate fellow
species against his own kind led by the ruthless General Zod (Michael
Shannon having a ball playing a rather bad man who can't stop
shouting), who has a personal score to settle with the last remaining
member of the -El family. What started as a thoughtful and
intriguingly calm, impressionistic superhero movie exploring the
nature of superhuman powers in an all too human world (similar to the
likes of smaller budget films รก la Chronicle) soon erupts
into a huge, undoubtedly super-expensive visual effects extravaganza
as a big battle between Earth's armed forces against the vastly
superior extraterrestrial legion commences, with Clark caught in the
middle, forced to finally accept his otherness from both parties and
donning the traditional red and blue garb we all know (sort of, as
there's no underpants in Nolan's world). This time his father Jor-El
(Russell Crowe) was kind enough to save the knitting patterns for the
suit in his son's spaceship computer banks, probably anticipating a
hugely muscled guy in a super tight suit would be just what Earth
required to convince its inhabitants of the practicality of a
'Super-man'. Unfortunately the film is released mostly in 3D, while
the movie is shot largely through handheld means, rendering the
majority of the battle sequences' 3D effects a failure, if not
excruciating on the eyes. And sadly those battle scenes make up
nearly all of the film's final hour. Overall, Man of Steel is
a crystal clear attempt to rejuvenate the Superman franchise applying
the Dark Knight's formula, driven by its uncanny ability to
bring in the biggest bucks, crafted in an all too similar style that
leaves the titular character devoid of his usual comic book feel and
charm (not to mention sense of humour), maybe for the better too
considering the alternate approach attempted in Superman Returns didn't work out so well. This tactic doesn't prove to be as
appropriate for Supes as it was for the Caped Crusader, but works
well enough, though definitely more so in the bold first half of the
film that relies more on the subtle exploration of a lonely
Superman's place in the contemporary world than it does on the
overabundance of loud digital action that follows it. One thing is
for sure: with this particularly dark brand of superheroes, the
upcoming Justice League movie is gonna be pitch-black.
