Paddington (5/10): I'm not jumping on the Paddington bandwagon.

"Long ago, people in England sent their children by train with labels around their necks, so they could be taken care of by complete strangers in the country side where it was safe.”

This quote is taken from a scene in which Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton), a CGI animated Bear living in a Peruvian rainforest, prepares her nephew Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw), a charming but mischievous marmalade-loving bear, to travel to London after a terrible earthquake has destroyed their home. Apparently the real life images of the children leaving the train station during the war along with a teddy bear in a store at Paddington Station is what inspired Michael Bond nearly sixty years ago to create this beloved children character which has now been brought to the big screen by director Paul King (Bunny and the Bull). To be honest, I wasn’t familiar with the character and this was the first time I was introduced to his world which sort of feels like it comes from the same universe as Stuart Little where you simply have to accept the fact that it is apparently normal for a talking bear to walk around the city and be adopted by a loving family. I’m not going to jump on the Paddington bandwagon here because despite the sweet and charming story I did find it rather tedious, boring, and extremely predictable. With a 98% of critics on Rottentomatoes liking this film, I’m definitely in the minority here, but I simply didn’t find it appealing. 

Once Paddington arrives in London he is temporary welcomed by the Brown family until he finds the explorer who had befriended his uncles forty years ago in Peru. Henry (Hugh Bonneville) and Mary (Sally Hawkins) Brown are the parents of Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), but other than Mary no one seems too pleased about the intrusion of Paddington in their house. Eventually they all warm up to him despite his mischievous behavior, but not everyone is as welcoming as they are. There is a museum taxidermist, Millicent (Nicole Kidman), who hears rumors that this Peruvian bear is living with the Brown family and she wants him for her personal collection. Peter Capaldi plays the role of Mr. Curry, the Brown’s next door neighbor who is willing to help Millicent take the bear away from his neighborhood, while Jim Broadbent is Mr. Gruber, an antique shop owner who tries to help Paddington locate the mysterious explorer.  

It is evident that the film has an underlying message about the poor way in which immigrants are treated. Paddington is a beloved and charming character that will easily win the hearts of children. The story follows pretty much the same basic formula as most classic children films did. Visually the movie is very stylish and there are several set designs that reminded me of Wes Anderson’s work. Especially those scenes where he uses rostrum camera insert shots to animate several objects. I’ll give King credit for those visually beautiful scenes, but I simply didn’t feel engaged with the characters as most people did. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I had never heard of Paddington before, but as a film on its own it definitely didn’t stand out for me.

My Review: In the Loop (8/10)

¨Now I may not believe in that and you may not believe in that, but it makes for a useful hypocrisy¨

In the Loop is a very smart political satire about British and American involvement in the Middle East. The film has many laugh out loud moments and very memorable quotes; it is just beautifully written. Many people may wonder what led these two nations to invade Iraq and this is perhaps not the real reason, but it does touch our funny bone and it`s probably true that many political figures put themselves first and didn`t want to lose their position of power instead of focusing on the real issue at hand. Armando Ianucci, who is mostly known in the UK for his TV series ¨In The Thick of It¨ which is also a political satire that stars Peter Capaldi as Malcolm, directs this brilliant comedy. He also was involved with the screenplay along with Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche, and Ian Martin, who all colaborate with him in The Thick of It. In the Loop was nominated for an Oscar for best adapted screenplay and in my opinion it should have won because it was very witty and pulls off some great one liners. This film proves once again that the British are ahead of the Americans in satire, especially political satire. The movie moves really fast, the dialogue is great, and you might find yourself laughing at jokes the second time around that you had missed the first time because In the Loop drops one joke after another at a very fast rate. The performances are great as well; everyone knows that you can`t make people laugh only with a good script, you need to have capable actors that can deliver those funny lines and that is the case with this movie.

The movie opens in middle of an international conflict. There are talks of war in the Middle East and there are anti and pro war groups in both countries. The young British minister for International Development, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander from Pride and Prejudice), is strongly against war, but he really doesn`t know what he is doing and in a recent interview he declares that ¨war is unforseeable.¨ This vague statement wins him friends on both the pro and anti war sides who want to use him to swing the vote in the UN comittee. Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi who plays the same role in the series In the Thick of It) is the Prime Minister`s communiations chief and he is not very happy about Simon`s statement. He tries to use Simon as a puppet and tell him what he should and shouldn`t say. Malcolm has a very aggresive style and drops the f-bomb in every sentence. Simon becomes a key player now and has to travel back and forth to Washington, UK, and NY along with his young assistant, Toby (Chris Addison) who is as clueless as he is on what is going on. The Americans on the anti-war side consist of the Assistant Secretary for Diplomacy, Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy), her assistant Liza (Anna Chlumsky from My Girl) who wrote a paper stating the pros and cons of war, and Lieutenant General George Miller (James Gandolfini), along with their staff. On the pro war side we have the US Assistant Secretary for Policy, Linton Barwick (David Rasche), who is forming a secret war comitee that Karen wants to get into and stop. They all seem to manipulate and leak information in order to get what they want.

The movie completely works because the characters deliver every line with perfect timing and the screenplay is just brilliant. The plot might be a little dificult to follow, but it is worth paying attention too. Peter Capaldi gives a very funny performance, although I have to warn you he is very foul mouthed. Every character in the film is manipulated by someone and at the same time is manipulating or intimidating someone else in order to mantain their position of power. They are not really concerned over the casualities of war, they are only concerned about losing credibility and power. There are several funny quotes that you will remember and the movie was just really well constructed. The filming might distract some as it uses a documentary style and shaky camera, but those who are familiar with The Office are already used to this style which gives it a more realistic feeling. Steve Coogan also shows up in the film as a secondary character and he gives a great performance as well. The scene with Coogan only serves to confirm how incompetent Simon really is. Overall the movie is a must see for those who like smart comedies, political satires, and are tired of all the cheap laughs and old familiar jokes of recent lazy comedies.

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