Big hit in Japan and typical of the sort of British social musical a la Pride or Billy Elliot whereby people in dire straits make their dreams come true.
Here in northern Japan, a coal mine is threatened with closure and the daughters of the miners
join together to produce a Hawaiian hula dancing troupe which hopefully will give their village a second economic string. Led by a failed Tokyo hula exponent, Madoka Hirayama (effective Yasuko Matsuyuki)
, they overcome shyness, awkwardness and the resistance of the rest of the village
to get success and learn about themselves on the way. Set in the 1960s, the film has moments of joy but lacks the humour to really take off.
And it needs a good editor as the long message-laden scenes about being together in adversity go on far too long. I got bored and switched off in parts. Shame because it had a good idea but they needed to see how the British do it.
★★
which grows mandarins (or tangerines) in the countryside. The time is the early nineties and a war in the region of Abkhazia involving Georgians, Russians and mercenary Chechens has driven the Estonian community back to Estonia even though many were born and bred in Georgia. We visit Ivo and his friend Margus
who have resisted the move, largely to look after the mandarin crop. Their life is interrupted by troop movements and one day there is a shootout by Ivo’s house. He ends up with a Chechen 
and a Georgian in his house both recovering from serious wounds and both hell bent on vengeance. Ivo makes them swear to respect each other while they were in his house and as a result they learn about each other and end up realising that they are both decent men. But the visits of the troops continue 
and it becomes harder to hide the presence of these men. Lembit Ulfsak is a commanding presence as the Estonian Ivo, ably supported by Giorgi Nakashidze and Misha Meshki
as the wounded soldiers.
and works with his models; all beautiful young women. He asks Caleb (Domhnall Gleason)
to come to do a Turing test on Ava (the gorgeous Alicia Vikander)
for a week, sworn to secrecy. Caleb soon discovers that things are not what they seem and that Ava has more skills than he first imagined.
Oscar Isaac does another great job as Nathan and shows his camaleonic side. By the end, we are truly intrigued if not somewhat horrified at the Lady Frankensteins he is turning out.
Excellent photography and good music add to a very solid film. Not sure if it is among the best of the year but it is a satisfying production all round.
, wants a baby and gets a pickle entrepreneur to be the sperm donor
but just as she is doing this she falls in love with a university professor (Ethan Hawke) who leaves his wife to set up home with her.
This goes along well enough for a couple of years until Maggie realises that she is becoming a glorified maid for John and his children from the first marriage. She also thinks that he is still in love with the glacial Georgette (Julianne Moore) so she hatches a plan to get them back together. The actors, in particular Moore, who fake Danish accent notwithstanding, is always magnetic,
keep this moving despite a loss in momentum at one point.
I didn’t find it that special but it is a reasonable comedy and observation on life.
who has an ability to produce mathematical patterns and formula that answer some of the mysteries of the academic world at that time.
He is invited to Cambridge
by Dr Hardy (Irons) who insists that he works on his proofs, while at the same time defending him from a racist and belligerent attack on him as an Indian. The whole process also humanises Hardy but just as they really start getting into the swing, Ramanujan comes down with TB. 
As a film, it is a fairly straight biography with a decent recreation of events. Jeremy Northam as Bertrand Russell provides much needed light relief.
The film has a good message 
and means well but only lifts off so much.
wants to release to reduce the world’s population by half. The artistic input comes from Florence, Venice, Istanbul 
and Dante and much of the film is spent running through back alleys, escaping from hidden doorways in museums and finding the old tunnels under historical buildings. The settings and a few plot twists keep an otherwise creaky screenplay watchable. Hanks does little in the centre,
Felicity Jones, as his sidekick, fails to completely convince
while Omar Sy is underused.
A nice plotline with Sidse Babett Knudsen as head of the WHO is the most heartwarming.
This is globalpudding with a Hans Zimmer score. Watchable but only just. Major fantasy stuff.
and is irascible and yearning for the past, the son 
who is always fighting his father and tries to set up a relationship with a woman who is also a lost soul and then the grandson, returning to the town after a broken marriage and enthusiastic about nothing more than his tattoos. He is the most lost of all.
As social commentary it paints a grim and probably quite accurate picture of Cuba today and the way that governmental decisions have led the country into a dead end. 
As a film, it is rather slow and save for some lovely black and white photography, there is not much else to keep us watching.
who decided to become an Olympic athlete and as only those who are truly unhinged can be, he chooses the Ski Jump as his sport. He is of dubious coordination himself,
there are no jumps in Britain, he has no money, he is starting as an adult whereas in Scandinavia children train from the age of 6…All the signs are against him and yet he achieves it and becomes a sort of idol at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988, setting new British records and achieving his dream while coming last.
Eddie the Eagle makes the grade. It is good enough to entertain and while based on a true story, you need to suspend belief on a regular basis.
Taron Edgerton does create a credible Eddie and Hugh Jackman as the former and disgraced ski champ turned coach makes a good partner.
Christopher Walken and Jim Broadbent have nice cameo appearances. Overall, there is nothing new here save the story but it chugs along well enough.
, especially those which are saccharine or emotional, and how he is forced out of his cynicism by a young woman who has very different ideas to his. Rafael Spregelburd is effective as the rather heavy critic but it is Dolores Fonzi who breathes life into the movie.
She is growing with age as a film actress. It is a nice look at Buenos Aires today and the many rather shabby haunts it has as well as the great architecture. This would not be an award winner but I felt that it hung together quite nicely with some good observations about cinema and about life.
it all turns to something else when a disenchanted punter who has lost all his money when one of Lee’s recommendations melted down has come in to seek justice complete with a belt full of explosives. This goes onto Lee and the thriller begins. Given a sloppy security and police reaction, the show’s producer Patti, (Julia Roberts)
soon realizes she is going to have to produce her way out of this if her host is to be saved.
As Kyle (Jack O’Connell) rants and threatens, we see her tying up the loose ends and finding out what really happened thanks to a couple of leads and the speed and ubiquity of modern technology.
So far so good. Now the problem is that Foster wants to convey the whole message of the big bad money markets and the scurrilous people who work in them creaming off profits illegally. And here it gets glossy and all a little bit too superficial. There is plenty of artistic license and while some of the shallowness can be put down to the media’s demands for a simple story, this political side runs out of steam. Generally competent performances and a swift pace,
you will be entertained but not wowed.
passionfilm 