Tom Goes to the Movies

Winter nights and no YOMG rehearsals say all hail to the cinema.

A Prairie Home Companion (***) The three stars are chiefly obtained by Garrison Keillor, who for the most part plays himself in the story of an old time radio show and its theatre about to go out of business.

Keillor wrote the script, based on his radio show. Robert Altman’s last film it features an ensemble cast as was his signature style. Other than Keillor Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, as a Chandler-esque prvate eye/security guard are about the best of the bunch.

Things take an odd turn though when Virginia Madsen turns up as an Angel of Death. ‘Why’s this turned into The Sixth Sense?’ I found myself thinking.

Smokin’ Aces (****) From the trailer this looked like a mad shoot ‘em up with no real plot. And that would not be far from the truth. Narc director Joe Carnahan’s fourth feature film Smokin’ Aces sees an assembly line of hitmen and FBI agents attempting to track down Jeremy Piven’s Sinatra-like magician and mobster turned stool pigeon.

I found both Ryan Reynolds and Alicia Keys pretty watchable in this cast that includes Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta.

Surprisingly the film takes on a moral core towards the end, which to be honest the set-up never really justifies.

The undoubted stand out in the picture is Jason Bateman’s hilarious cameo as a washed-up lawyer. Lost’s Matthew Fox is unrecognisable in his great scene as the hotel's head of security.

I can totally see why this is being panned everywhere though. Too many characters, a story that's not particularly believable and a twist that I saw coming from early on.

Carnahan said this about the film on his blog.

"Very happy that the film finished behind 'Pursuit of Happyness' and 'Night At The
Musuem' this weekend at the UK box office despite horrific reviews which I guess I
understand to some extent. The film really is in a lot of ways a make or break
proposition: You're either going to groove with the pretty radical gear and tonal
changes the film makes and go with it, or you're not."


The Last King of Scotland (****) Based on Giles Fodden’s novel of the same name this looks at the rise of Idi Amin through the eyes of fictional Scottish doctor Nicholas Garrigan.

Both Forrest Whitaker as Amin and James McAvoy as Garrigan are excellent. So too is Gillian Anderson in her small role as an English doctor.

Garrigan’s excitement and naivety at life in Uganda is perfectly believable and the thriller plot builds slowly. In Amin’s Uganda nothing seems implausible so even when the story seems to stretch credibility, you can still buy into it.

The Pursuit of Happyness (****) Another film partly based on a true story. This time of Chris Gardner, who lived in poverty with his young son while attempting to become a stockbroker. If you’ve seen the trailer for this, you’ll know what the deal is as it’s little more than a 2 hour version of that trailer.

Will Smith shows his acting chops once again and his real life son also plays a good part. It’s a well told story, that kept me entertained throughout. Nice to see Dan Castellanetta in a movie role, although he does very little in it.