The flicks
The best of British at the worst time in THEIR FINEST, trick and a big py paydayy in GOING IN STYLE
Director: Lone Scherfig ( Starring: Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy, Jack Huston, Helen McCrory, Jeremy Irons. Rating:
There is not much wrong with Their Finest, a straightforward, sincerely endearing tale of quiet achievement and steady self-discovery set in London during WWII.
Put simply, everything about this modestly appointed all-ages affair just feels right. Their Finest certainly won’t change your world, but it definitely will brighten it for a few hours.
In a career-best performance, Gemma Arterton plays Catrin Cole, an inexperienced advertising copywriter who has moved from Wales to the British capital so she can be with her boyfriend.
Ellis (Jack Huston) is a struggling artist and money is tight, so Catrin must land a job fast for the couple to keep their tiny flat.
In the first of many happy (and sometimes, unhappy) accidents littered throughout Their Finest, Catrin scores a plum position penning dialogue for British propaganda movies.
The government’s Ministry of Information wants to up their game. Cheap short flicks just aren’t cutting it with the general public. A proper feature film pushing the virtues of ordinary civilian vigilance and heroism is the goal. When Catrin lands upon the true (ish) story of two sisters who stole their dad’s boat and crossed the English Channel to help Allied forces with the Dunkirk evacuation, the Ministry’s secret movie project gets an instant green light.
Catrin is ordered to collaborate on the script with Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin), a cynical screenwriter not so enthused by this new assignment.
Tom will deal with the ‘big picture’ stuff. Catrin will provide what is referred to in filmmaking parlance of the 1940s as ‘the slop’: the banter that goes on between housewives Director: Zach Braff (Garden State) Starring: Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin Rating: AN unfailingly genial, yet unrelentingly generic comedy, Going in Style is a remake of a long-forgotten 1979 movie which starred the late George Burns.
What saves this bland endeavour from being totally smoothed down into a slab of movie margarine is a superb trio of old-timers cast in the main roles.
Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin share a catchy casual rapport that keeps drawing you closer at those corny moments you’d usually back right away from.
They play three best buddies who were steel workers back in the day.
Now, after their corporate pension fund has sneakily cut off their weekly wages, the greybeards are secretly prepping for a new career very late in life: robbing their local bank for fun and profit. Joe (Caine) is the brains of the outfit. He’s watched a lot of Law & Order, and it’s given him plenty of ideas as to how to get away with the perfect crime.
Willie (Freeman) is the conscience of the outfit. while their men are away saving the nation from Hitler. Despite the open discrimination and condescension facing working women of the era — who were continually reminded they were “only minding the store” until the war ended — Catrin forges ahead to become the creative linchpin of her movie team.
A cast and crew are assembled, and everyone heads up-country for a location shoot that must be turned around swiftly. The morale of two Allied nations is counting on it. He’d rather not resort to thievery. However he’s not just broke. Willie needs a new kidney fast, or it is all over. Albert (Alan Arkin) isn’t one for brains or consciences.
He’s a glass-half-empty grizzleguts who thinks the heist is the dumbest idea ever.
Of course, he’ll eventually join his pals for the stick-up, but not before he’s had a good, long whine about it.
There is an extended period in Going in Style — between when the heist is first hatched and then finally executed — where the film goes very close to stopping stone dead.
A training sequence set-piece where the oldtimers attempt to shoplift the ingredients for a meal from their neighbourhood supermarket is substandard slapstick of the lowest order.
Luckily, the big bank job and its aftermath (in which Matt Dillon’s suspicious police detective stumbles upon one clue that could put the pensioners in prison) are very well handled by director Zach Braff.
Overall, there is not much that is memorable about Going in Style, and many of the jokes will be just as familiar to you as the leading actors themselves.
Nevertheless, both the combined work ethic and seasoned performance smarts of Caine, Freeman and Arkin propel this vehicle much, much further than it should have gone.
Combining just the right dashes of drama, comedy and romance, this calculated crowdpleaser always goes about its business amiably, but never aimlessly. Arterton and her leading man Sam Claflin are both excellent when it comes to applying the will-they-or-won’t-they? factor to their characters.
Meanwhile, a delightfully motivated support cast (led by Bill Nighy as a faded film star looking for another shot at the big time) keep the good times on a roll. FATE OF THE FURIOUS (M) As we have come to expect, the best action sequences in keep switching from incredible to insane with ridiculous ease. A key part of the juiced-up joy that comes from experiencing is processing the implausible scope of its highly kinetic action scenes on your own. However, mention must made of the new peaks of craziness scaled by the new film’s finale. RAW (R18+) Not often we get to see a horror film hailing from France. And it is not often we get to see a horror film as audaciously confronting and worryingly clever as This is the strange and tough-to-stomach story of Justine, a first-year veterinary student who used to be an out-and-proud vegetarian. However, after a school initiation ritual got out of hand, Justine discovered she didn’t mind meat after all. As long it is human. That’s right: the hungry heroine of this film is a cannibal, and when the urge for a snack attack takes her, everyone on campus had better watch out. A SILENT VOICE (M) Anime fans who made the sublime such a resounding hit in Australian cinemas late last year should be making tracks to catch ASAP. A box-office record-breaker at home in Japan, this moving and emotionally astute teen drama is every bit as strong as albeit in subtly different ways. GHOST IN THE SHELL (M) Devotees of all things can rest easy: this big-budget mainstream take on your favourite cyberpunk saga does not let the team down in any way that can’t be somehow forgiven. Not only has the movie been made with a respectful regard for the many source materials that have inspired it (particularly the iconic 1995 animated screen debut of the franchise); it also harnesses an ambitious creative vision that makes it a worthy addition to the wider canon in its own right. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE (PG) The Caped Crusader is back in Lego form, and as awesome as ever. Kids will love the fun, adults the sophisticated satirical rush given off by this entire experience. This Batman is living a dual existence — superhero by day, recluse by night. THE BOSS BABY (PG) Despite the casting of Alec Baldwin as the voice of a conniving, corporate infant in this animated comedy, a relatively ambitious plot involving a secret organisation run by babies gets left by the wayside.