Author: Rosalynn Try-Hane

San Andreas is a visual assault on the eyes and ears for its entire 112 minutes running time that leaves you thinking the disaster was in making the film. Unless of course its genius is the creation of a new genre:

Disaster Comedy!

Ray (Dwayne Johnson) appears on screen piloting a helicopter. What a hero we are meant to think. Do we actually think that or, in my case, maybe if I too went to the gym every day could I have abs like his? When his colleague encounters trouble trying to rescue a girl trapped in a car, after a fall that would have killed mere mortals but in San Andreas apparently we are in the realm of titans, there he goes our Ray gliding deftly down the rope to save the day. However, the fun is just beginning – the seismologist (Paul Giamatti) and his colleague Kim (Will Yun Lee) discover that there are significant tremors and quakes happening in the Nevada Valley, but wait, there are no seismic plates there. How is this possible? Forget that, we’re quaking. It’s happening. This is not a rehearsal. The rest of the film is devoted to, wait for it have I said too much, quakes. Whilst the city is burning and crumbling below from all the quakes, Ray just commandeers a helicopter so he can go and rescue his wife, Emma (Carla Gugino). Then, after rescuing her, look for Kylie Minogue’s 2 minutes on screen, he utters those immortal words: “we’re going to get out daughter”. I felt the script lacked a “hell yeah” response at that point.

The sub-plot of the love story between Ray’s daughter Blake ( Alexandra Daddario) and Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) is plain comical – those stolen looks, blushing and when the inevitable happens the preview audience roared with laughter.

The preview was shown in 3D. Although, there’s talk of it to be shown in real 3D. It certainly felt as if the room was shaking and the noise. My ears were ringing for a while after exiting the cinema. Yet against all of this I did think about the recent, very real human tragedy suffered in the earthquakes in  Nepal. The devastation in the film and the speed at which it all takes place sort of gave a minuscule fraction of an idea of what people in Nepal went through.

I like Dwayne Johnson and think his turn in Hercules was thoughtful and showed that he could muster some acting range.  This is, in my opinion, the disaster movie for the x box generation and for a lot of the movie I felt as if I was in a video game except I wasn’t weaving the helicopter between the falling buildings. Having said all that, if you consider this a disaster comedy, even though it doesn’t consider itself to be a spoof like the 1970s classic Airplane! , I think it is vastly enjoyable. The dialogue is just so ridiculous, but with a few beers and popcorn it would be a riotously funny night out.

San Andreas opens in cinemas across the UK from 28 May with a running time of 114 minutes and certificate 12A.

We Are Many shows us how people power is important but remains historical rather than radical. Where were you on Saturday 15 February 2003? If the date doesn’t immediately jog your memory then the event that took place on that day will: the world’s biggest protest against the second invasion of Iraq. Were you one of the 300 million who took part in demonstrations in one of the 800 cities across the globe?

This is the first feature length documentary by Amir Amirani. It tells the story of the biggest global protest ever staged and how it “changed world history”. This is his Herculean labour of love: it took 9 years to complete and was filmed across 7 continents included Antartica. Whilst the intention was to obviously focus on the demonstration against the Iraq war, it is the sub narratives that are of greater interest the: birth of people power, Arab Spring and culminating in the British people’s resolute no to intervention in Syria that lead to the historic vote in Parliament with MPs finally listening to the will of the people.

We Are Many is a mixture of footage from the time as well as recollections and views from a myriad of well kown individuals including: Hans Blix, Richard Branson, Damonb Albran, John Le Carré, the late Tony Benn, Brian Eno , Ken Loach, Mark Rylance, Pete Oborne . Some are frank in their disappointment that the demonstration didn’t go further and achieve more. Whilst others reveal what might of been, I was particularly struck by Richard Branson and his plans which may, had they had happened, led to altogether different outcome. Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector is one of the most poignant testimonies and also the funniest. At the time he came across as quite flat and monotone: if only he had been allowed to speak more.

Amir stated that his desire in making this documentary was: “Stories of mass action by citizens are rarely if ever told, and much less seen on our TV screens, compare with the testimony of politicians. From the start, I was intent on telling this story predominantly from the point of view of the activists and the public.” That particular aim is achieved and what he manages to do, much to his credit, is keep the story global. There is balanced coverage of the demonstrations in the West as well as in Arab countries and even highlighting the 70 people who demonstrated in Antartica and subsequently lost their jobs because of their demonstration.

However, this documentary for me lacked balance. As a testament to what happened at the time and why the Iraq war was such a travesty and the mockery of democracy by Tony Blair et al it was spot on. Watching the ludicrous statements about the alleged weapons of mass destruction made me snort with derision as it did at the time. Do documentaries have to be balanced? I am not sure. However, with this particular subject matter, I strongly believe, it needed to show the alternative view from people who did support war or at least regime change. There were some and even now still believe removing Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do whatever the means. Nearly all of the interviewees who supported the war at the time and who are now contrite about it all were shown and only Lord Falconer appeared to be the sole to say the outcome was the correct one. Another point where I felt as if the documentary might have been improved were the protestors interviewed and whom encouraged their friends to protest are all the types of people you expect to protest and be gung ho. I’d have liked to have seen and heard from their friends: the ones who never protest and why they chose to march. There were some unanswered questions – I thought it was interesting when Damon Albarn touched on the point – why didn’t the organisers of the march continue every weekend after that until the government changed their mind about invading.

The director’s had a story he wanted to tell and he told it well. The rise of the protestor and people power is not something to be laughed at. For those who don’t remember this global mobilisation and why Tony Blair is one of the most hated men in the country this is the documentary to go and see. For those of us who remember, We Are Many is a testament to what happened and a moment of reflection to ask: did those events trigger the hell that the Middle East is going through now?

It has a running time of 105 minutes and opens tonight, 21 May, in cinemas with a special Q&A chaired by Jon Snow: http://wearemany.com/cinemas

Chef is a film you should not watch hungry, in the same way you shouldn’t go shopping on an empty stomach – you want everything in sight. In fact, even having ate I wanted every single dish that appeared on screen. The grilled cheese sandwich scene sets the tone of this film demonstrating the chef’s passion for food. It also highlight’s Jon Favreau’s tenacity and success in being able to do what others before him have failed to do. He managed to make a film about a chef without glamourizing what is undoubted one of the most stressful jobs. He highlights the food and the passion of those in the kitchen but also the destructive impact that single minded passion can have on the rest of their life if they want to be successful. As the saying goes: you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

The story of the film is that of chef Casper, played by Jon Favreau, who runs the hottest restaurant in town. He gets into a twitter showdown with the food critic in town, loses it all but like a phoenix rises from the flames to run a uber successful food truck and make the kind of food he loves and wants to make.

Chef works because Jon Favreau put in the time: doing research, learning the craft and talking to respected chefs including Roy Choi. It is Favreau’s hands you will see slicing onions at chef speed and skill or making that grilled cheese sandwich. Passion oozes through this film in the same way it oozed the grilled cheese sandwich on the grill. The supporting cast of John Leguizamo, Bobby Cannavale, Dustin Hoffman, Sofia Vergara, Robert Downey Jnr and Scarlett Johansson (although the list goes on) aren’t too shabby either and the soundtrack make this a visual and auditory feast.

Chef is currently available on Netflix and other digital platforms.

Still hungry for more then you can dowload some of the receipes used in the film here: http://www.bakespace.com/cookbooks/detail/’CHEF’-the-Film-Cookbook%3A-Recipes-from-El-Jefe/1323/

Hopscotch is pitched as a psychological horror film with more focus on the psychological than horror. I kept looking back at the email explanation during the viewing to make sure that my eyes had not deceived me. I certainly was not scared and whilst I remained intrigued for the first 20 minutes of the film my attention started to wane soon afterwards.

The drama is contained to an apartment in a nameless Indian town. A central and sole female protagonist retelling a story of her and Ria. It reminded me of the Amenabar’s film, The Others although without the same dramatic twist.There were also echoes of Locke given there is little change of scenery and in the former all the action takes place in the car. The pop culture Warhol esque colour palate and photography lifted what could have been a rather dull film and the central actress, Sohini Mukherjee Roy, encapsulated unhinged wonderfully. However, I soon became irritated by the way in which she repeated every sentence twice for no apparent reason. A few times and this would centrally have added to the drama but it’s constant employment throughout the film was overkill.

The film is currently nominated for several awards having won one at film festivals in Ohio and Mexico. It does show the already award winning Shomshuklla’s growing confidence as a film director and diversity in trying different genres.

Hopscotch for me lacked a final dramatic punch without which it is merely disturbing and possibly physiological drama. However, the use of colour and actor’s performance makes it worth a look.