Two films I saw yesterday

Rango is an inventive animation that plays with your perceptions, with distinct echoes not just of westerns (e.g. True Grit), but also the films Apocalypse Now and, most pertinently, Chinatown. Clint Eastwood (and his clutch of Oscars) is cleverly referenced. It also has an eco-message (similar to the one botched in the Bond film Quantum of Solace) about tensions over water – the aquifers beneath cities like Phoenix are running dry and the extravagant use of H2O is speeding up this process. Johnny Depp is always watchable, even in dire films. Here as a lizard, he has a close encounter with his lounge lizard Hunter S. Thompson alter ego from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is a refreshing touch for all those in the know. Depp heads up a fairly accomplished cast who fall into line behind him. The action sequences are expertly handled, topping off a very smart cartoon. Four out of five.

Source Code is what used to be called a B-movie. It is moderately diverting for its running time and stepped revelations open out the movie and the characters expertly, but these float away on the evening air after leaving the cinema as there is no great high concept – essentially, it’s we keep sending you ‘back in time’ until you get the information needed to stop a mad bomber. It mentions quantum mechanics and parabolic calculus as throwaways to bamboozle our curiosities and it could end with a multiverse being created, but I’m more of the opinion it is a paradox. All very Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits, but with a big Hollywood budget. Jake Gyllenhaal is a consistently engaging actor and we have Michelle Monaghan as a beautiful, if probably flaky, damsel to save – undemanding eye candy. Plus, it is always good to see Jeffrey ‘Felix Leiter’ Wright on screen. There are also some lovely panning shots of the more picturesque parts of Chicago (a bridge that passes under the unseen helicopter reminded me of its appearance in High Fidelity). Given the rubric of the plot though, it is just a B-movie. Three out of five.