Tuesday, 18 June 2013 06:26

Cloud Atlas

Directed by Lana Wachowsk and Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tom Hanks, Jim Broadbent, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant

Cloud Atlas has hit the American box office with a thud and the critics are split – is it a sprawling mess, a pompous and self-important reprise for the Wachowski siblings (Larry – now Lana – and Andy sparked like a firework with the first Matrix but the trilogy fizzled out) or is it compelling, amazingly creative and utterly brilliant?

Well, you have nearly three hours to make up your mind. It’s based on the supposedly unfilmable book of the novel of the same name by David Mitchell in which six stories are spread across six different times and each one is connected in some way. They include the diary of an 1849 voyage across the Pacific, a conspiracy at a nuclear power plant, a publisher escaping from an old people’s home and a tribe fighting for survival in post-apocalyptic Hawaii.

Each main member of the ensemble cast appears in multiple roles, playing in some cases both male and female characters (and spotting the actors under the prosthetics can distract a little from clinging onto the plot). So Hugh Grant plays six different evil characters – looks like himself as the dastardly head of the nuclear plant and is at his most colourful as the bloodthirsty cannibal warrior chief.

Broadbent has the funniest lines and with young stars like Ben Whishaw added to the mix the stories crack along. It’s about actions and consequences, and how individuals impact on   each other throughout the past, present and far future.

With many voices supporting it as an epic undertaking with mesmerising cinematography, matched by others condemning it as a bloated folly, whatever it is it is big and bold and hugely ambitious. So best try not to over-think it and let yourself be swept along, waiting for the pieces to come together.

Tuesday, 18 June 2013 06:26

ARGO

Director: Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin

Based on true events, "Argo" chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans,