‘Tropic Thunder’
Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) action supremo, low-brow comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), and Oscar-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr) are cast in an ‘Apocalypse Now’/ ‘Platoon’ style Vietnam war epic for studio boss Les Grossman (Tom Cruise).

Shepherded into the jungle by neurotic British director (Steve Coogan), the crazed veteran author of the book the film’s based on (Nick Nolte), and a hillbilly explosives expert (Danny McBride), the cast soon find themselves in the midst of actual warfare, at the hands of a heroin cartel. However, they assume that it’s all part of the director’s creative vision, to get deep into character, and encourage realistic performances.

The set-up is genius, and the cast make the most of the committed (if terribly dim) characters. The three leads are superb, with Downey Jr commanding the vast majority of laughs, while Cruise (an incredibly brave performance), McBride, Nolte, Coogan and Matthew McConnaughey (as Tugg’s agent) all excel in supporting roles.

The standout, of course, is Downey Jr. He plays an Australian actor, notorious for his bad behaviour, but famous for his immersion in the characters he plays. Sound familiar?

It’s quite a good Russell Crowe impersonation, but Lazarus decides to take it to its logical conclusion– cosmetic surgery to transform himself into an African American for the movie.

The film’s first half is the funnier one as it does, quite badly, lose its way around the halfway mark, criminally squandering the magnificent cast, to make way for the final over-indulgent action scenes.

The satire rapidly runs out of steam and the happy ending is nothing you haven’t seen before. However, Tropic Thunder, by its sheer audacity (some will cry political incorrectness), is well worth a watch.
3.5 out of 5

‘The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas’
Bruno at aged eight has just moved into an isolated house in the middle of nowhere and feels imprisoned by his mother’s warnings never to venture beyond the garden’s high walls.

He’s captivated by the view from his bedroom window where he sees the workers in the fields. His curiosity leads him through an open door and to a huge electric fence, behind which sits a boy of exactly the same age– but with an entirely different story to tell.

The director, Mark Herman, adapted the children’s bestseller of the same name by Irish writer John Boyne. The story is told through the eyes of a child and Asa Butterfield, delivers a convincing performance as a sheltered young boy set loose in a brutal world.

Amber Beattie as sister Gretel, seduced by the Hitler Youth, is outstanding and Jack Scanlon as his unlikely friend Shmuel also performs well. Vera Farmiga, as the mother Elsa, is making discoveries of her own. Her life goes to pieces as she uncovers the horror of the Final Solution and her own husband’s brutal role in it.

The music composed by James Horner is played over the dramatic moments of the film and seems completely at odds with the stark nature of the story and nearly ruins the film’s tragic denouement.

As Cosmo Landesman of the Sunday Times said: ‘Holocaust movies suitable for family viewing are few and far between. So it’s good to see a new one that the entire family can watch together– and get depressed. Then again, what do you want from the Holocaust: uplift, laughs and a happy ending? ‘
4 out of 5