CinemaSerf

This is quite a poignant half hour drama following an Israeli under-cover soldier on patrol who encounters a young man who panics and tries to run away. "Eli" (Moshe Ivgy) handcuffs the terrified kid (Akab Abed El-Hai) to him and off they set to try and get to the police station. Perhaps it's the fact that he is wielding a machine gun that puts folk off, but nobody in this wet and bustling Tel Aviv wants to stop to help, so they commandeer a motor bike and sidecar that thanks to their security arrangements is more dangerous than it's worth as they drive round in circles an attract the attention of the police! It's this whirlwind ride that begins to break the ice between the two men, so they head to the boy's home - well, more of an underpass where the homeless congregate to huddle around anything that will burn. Oddly enough, they don't welcome the pair either - and so they set about finding an ingenious way to get shot of their bonds and get out of the relentless rain. By morning, their own personal dynamic has changed profoundly, but when they separate it becomes clear that these two men are very much in a minority - with tragic effects. There's not a great deal of dialogue, here. Auteur Gur Heller allows the dark city-scape and the audio to do much of the heavy lifting as we watch two people come to terms with the fact that both have acted on the basis of ingrained instinct, and that one's exposure to the other reveals substantial flaws in those age-adhered to doctrines. It's impossible to imbue anyone with much depth in thirty minutes and the denouement isn't really that convincing, but there is food for thought here that challenges prejudice, dogma and ignorance and simplistic as it may be, it's still worth a look.

With "Paddington" blithely going through life untroubled by anything that didn't involve marmalade, he is suddenly commanded to go to school. He takes this new task seriously - he even has a bath! Next morning, he sets off to "St. Luke's" where he meets his teacher whom he immediately corrects on the spelling of the so-called three Rs (he correctly points out there is really only the one R). Determined to be rid of this benignly disruptive influence, "Paddington" is sent to the garden to dig for worms for the biology lesson but when he goes to lunch, there is soon some doubt as to where the worms have ended up. Is the stew a little chewier than usual? Summoned to the headmaster's office, he takes a bit of a nap and imagines himself as a bit of a one-man circus entertaining the parents of his classmates - and that gives him a chance to demonstrate his skills as a virtuoso violinist, a mean weightlifter and an enthusiast can-can dancer. Bert Chapple's instantly recognisable music sets the tone for this enjoyable animation that celebrates the naive and friendly young bear always honest and keen to see the best in people, and with the last segment of this jolly tale allowing a little dressing-up too, "Paddington" is clearly having some fun whilst respecting the loving teachings of his Peruvian "Aunt Lucy". Good fun, this.

A tale of double lives. "Harry" (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a government agent embroiled in tracking down some nefarious Middle Eastern terrorists whilst presenting the façade of a meek computer salesmen to his wife. Meantime, "Helen" (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a bit bored with his timidity and so is seeking a bit of clandestine fun with the enigmatic "Simon" (Bill Paxton) who claims he is also something altogether more "007". When the jihadist "Aziz" (Art Malik) kidnaps both wife and would-be lover, it falls to "Harry" to use all of his wiles to save the world from devastation and to save his own marriage from the doldrums. Though the story isn't so new, it's the engaging chemistry between Arnie, JLC and Paxton that really keeps this entertaining as the adventure kicks in and we have loads of action-packed scenarios; some typically daft buffoonery; lots of death-defying and the pyrotechnics go mad as the story races along. Perhaps, as he was in "The Living Daylights" (1987), Art Malik is a bit lightweight as a not terribly menacing baddie but all in all this is an enjoyable romp through the gadget driven espionage genre with a couple of stars who are clearly enjoying themselves towards a denouement that is a little long in coming, but the substance of which might even suggest a sequel.