Movie of the Week: Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

If you liked the first Marigold Hotel movie (which I did) you'll love this. The venerable cast on British thesps are on top form, though Richard Gere seems a little out of place (but does add eye-candy, for a certain value of eye-candy). Sonny (the excellent Dev Patel) is hoping to expand his business and buy another hotel, so is courting American backers. Things start going haywire when he makes assumptions about a guest (gere) whom he believes to be the 'guy' who has been sent to check out the hotel. With his wedding looming over him it seems that Sonny can't get anything right, though, of course, his guests always rally in support.

There's a sweet romance going on between characters played by Judi Dench and Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith is her usual redoubtable self. The cinematoography is excellent capturing the vivid colours and the heat of India.

Yes, I'm a sucker for the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - and though you can never quite recapture the pleasure of seeing the first one for the first time, the Second Best is not really second best. Highly recommended

Movie of the Week: Chappie

A Neill Blomkamp movie set in a near future Johannesburg with a robotic police unit designed by Deon (Dev Patel). Deon is working on true artificial intelligence on his own time, and when his boss (Sigourney Weaver) turns down his request to experiment on one of the police robots that's been damaged beyond repair, he does it anyway. Unfortunately the robot, still a naive infant, though in a poerful shell, falls into the hands of Ninja and Yolandi, a pair of criminal thugs invested in gang culture and in desperate trouble with the violent local gang leader. They are planning a heist and the robot, named Chappie by Yolandi, is a likely candidate to help them.

Just to confuse you totally, Ninja and Yolandi are played by husband and wife team Ninja (no surname) and Yo-Landi Visser. Both are members of the South African rap/rave group Die Antwoord with only mild previous brushes with independent movies, however both are excellent as the developing 'parents' of the childlike robot.

But if you think this sounds like a South African version of Short Circuit, think again. This is Neill Blomkamp, South Africa and a 'fifteen' certificate. Chappie is soon being taught to say motherfucker, slouch with an attitude, and steal cars. When he refuses to shoot at humans his ned 'dad' tells him that knives are OK because they only make people sleep. (Yes, 'Dad' is a nasty piece of work.)

Despite having been kidnapped and almost killed by Ninja's gang Deon comes back time and again to try and educate Chappie..Chappie's education, gang culture and the gradual change in Yolandi and even in Ninja as they have to learn to moderate their behavious for the sake of the  new child in the family are fascinating, but there's a major plot bunny in the shape of Deon's jealous fellow robot designer (Hugh Jackman) whose own pet project, a giant battle-robot remotely controlled by an operator, has been shelved. Jackman's robot looks like a cross between an At-At and a dumpster, but it's big and powerful and as mean as the brain behind it - which unfortunately is Jackman's character.

Cinematography is gritty and grim, entirely in keeping. The robot design is intriguing. Though it has a human-shaped body, the face is not designed to bring forth a chorus of aaahhs and awws from the audience. Mistakes are made. Stuff happens, and I'm not going to offer any more spoilers. It doesn't have a fairy tale ending, but it does have a satisfying one. Watch it for yourself. Highly recommended.