I love how in New York you only have to show your ticket at the entrance of the cinema and you can then watch as many films as you want (I’m not sure you are allowed to, but since nobody checks, who cares?!).

Public Enemies

Before I get into the story of this movie, let me just say a few words about the way it was filmed because that was a big problem I had with it. IMDb says that it was partly shot on 35mm and partly on HDTV but it looked like it was all shot with HD cameras. A large part of this film actually looked like it was shot with a private HD camera. The look of the film was absolutely terrible! I don’t know which parts they are supposed to have shot with 35mm, but the pictures were lacking in depth and darkness throughout. In some pan shots it even looked like the film was slightly pixelated. I know film is expensive, but if you want to make a 1930’s gangster movie, invest in it! HD just takes the mystery out of it and really doesn’t do the actors any favors. It just didn’t look like a quality film.

Everyone knows who John Dillinger was and quite a few films about him already exist. Public Enemies isn’t telling a new story but it is telling the story well. Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cottilard are, of course, fantastic. The film is rather long, though, and strangely uneventful. There is A LOT of shooting going on which I found quite boring because it’s so repetitive. I am sure there are a lot of people who love Public Enemies (it got a ridiculously high rating on IMDb), but for me it wasn’t anything special. It felt like I had already seen this film with a slightly different story and different actors.

Brüno

First of all, I loved Borat and was really looking forward to watching Brüno. But it really sucked. It seemed like Sacha Baron Cohen was desperately trying to create something more outrageous than Borat and failed miserably. The film is overly obscene and is lacking in story. The story is very close to Borat: Brüno loses his assistant (and lover) and has to make it on his own, he is traveling through America on a mission (he wants to become world famous) and at some point has a complete meltdown and has to sleep on the streets because he has run out of money — there is always very dramatic music to Brüno’s misery. It’s like Sacha took the same ingredients of Borat and mixed it up with a new character and some serious toilet humor. That just isn’t enough. It has its funny moments but it will probably be forgotten in a couple of years.

We did a double feature of Madagascar, parts one and two, last night. It involved a lot of pizza, sweets, Caipirinhas and laughter (especially as the evening went on…)

Madagascar

Alex (Ben Stiller) is the most beloved lion of the New York Zoo. While his friends think that he is a bit lame, Alex enjoys nothing more then putting on a good show for the tourists. The zebra Marty (Chris Rock) on the other hand can’t think about anything else than going to the Wild. At his birthday party he announces this to his best friend Alex and his other good friends, the giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and the hippo Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith). They are shocked and upset about the news. For them the Zoo is the best place in the world.

During this night, Marty goes to Grand Central station to take the train to Connecticut (which he believes to be the Wild). Alex and the others run after him to bring him back to the zoo. Animal rights activists insist that this break-out is a sign for the animals to be sent back into their natural habitat. The ship they are put on is heading for Africa, but through some circumstances it lands on Madagascar.

Here the movie really starts. The animals have to get used to the new environment, to the other animals living on Madagascar and to not having food served to them anymore. This is especially hard for the lion Alex. He doesn’t even know what his favourite food, steak, is made of. Suddenly he gets urges to bite his best friend.

Although not as good as some other Dreamworks movies (such as Shrek) Madagascar has some funny and original ideas. The beginning of the film, before the group goes off to Madagascar, feels quite long. Once they get to the island, it gets really funny though. A group of lemurs, with their King Julian (Sacha Baron Cohen), is hilarious. They really make the film. As do the other side characters. There are some clever penguins and very upper-class British monkeys that will make you smile.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Alex and the others have had enough of Madagascar, they want to go back home. Using a plane that has crash-landed on Madagascar, they want to fly back to New York City. Unfortunately the plane isn’t properly repaired and crashes again – this time somewhere in Africa (Tanzania?). Alex, Marty, Melmon and Gloria are shocked. This is where they belong! The Wild! There are thousands of hippos, giraffes, zebras and lions.

For Alex it is more then just being with other lions: he meets his real parents again. Now he has to be accepted into the pride. There is an official coming-of-age fight among the young lions, at which Alex obviously fails. Now his father, the king, has to banish Alex from the pride. I really don’t want to get into too much detail of the story here but, of course, there are many other obstacles.

In my view, the second film is better than the first. The pace is quicker and you already know all the characters, so they don’t have to be introduced again. There are some fun new characters as well (such as the hippo Moto-Moto who Gloria starts dating). The African scenery is done extremely well. I would have liked to see it on a big screen, rather than on my laptop…

Lemurs I saw at the Zoo. They are so cute!

What I didn’t like about this movie were the similarities to The Lion King. Why does there always have to be a bad lion, who wants to ruin the party? I mean, I like the obvious mocking or quoting of other films (the plane crash is, for example, obviously stolen from Almost Famous) but with the story of the lions it feels more like the makers couldn’t come up with something else.

These two movies are absolutely worth watching. They almost deserve a MovieCat award (and go onto my !Must see! category), but not quite. There is just something missing to make them perfect.