Netflix And Chill: Burnt (2015)

Do you remember when Chef was released back in 2014? It was a delightful little film about someone rediscovering their passion for the thing they do best, and it seemed to have been made by someone rediscovering their passion for the thing they do best. There were moments of fiery anger, and moments of frustration, but it delighted many viewers because it was, at heart, a very sweet and optimistic tale about reconnecting with loved ones, and the world at large, via a passion for food.

Burnt came out a year later. Whatever the intention, and I may be a bit kinder towards it now that I know Steven Knight is one of two people who helped to co-write the screenplay, it feels like a cynical and soulless attempt to rework Chef. If that film was the comforting plate of Cubanos, this is a more expensive plate throwing various ingredients together in a way that simply doesn't make you salivate. There's probably some infused foam on the side.

Bradley Cooper plays Adam Jones, a chef who once had the world at his feet. He disappeared though, after burning many bridges with his addiction issues and his bad behaviour. Now he's back. That doesn't mean that everyone will forgive him, and he still has some debts to pay, but he wants to put a team together good enough to help him get a third Michelin star. Looked at favourably, this is a film about someone figuring out how his behaviour affects others, and how everyone needs to help one another on a journey for perfection. But it's really just about a chef who spectacularly ruined his reputation and career now believing that he deserves to be crowned as one of the very best of the best.

Knight and Michael Kalesniko get a lot of the kitchen chatter right, and they mix in enough mildly interesting characters to help the 101-minute runtime pass by quickly enough. They falter when it comes to the passion though. One or two moments try to remind us of why great chefs love to cook, but they don't work. It's much more believable to simply view Cooper's character as a bloody-minded and hyper-focused narcissist who is ready to throw a tantrum any time things don't go perfectly for him.

It's notable, although perhaps entirely coincidental, that this is the last feature film directed by John Wells, who has spent most of the last decade helming episodes of some fantastic TV shows (including the highly-praised The Pitt). Maybe he also wanted some time enjoying meals made with love instead of meals made to boost someone's ego. Again, it may just be entirely coincidental.

Cooper is fine in the role of Jones, I guess, but is unable to soften him enough to make him a central character that you really care about. Things will either go well or not. Either way, it never feels as if he is the one with the most to lose. Sienna Miller plays a very capable chef, Helene, who suffers throughout the movie by becoming more and more like our lead. Other chefs are played by Omar Sy (who is pretty great), Sam Keeley (who doesn't get enough to do), and Matthew Rhys (playing a discontented rival). Daniel Brühl is good in the role of Tony, the man who ends up bank-rolling the latest restaurant and team of staff, but he allows himself to be far too easily used by someone he should have said good riddance to a long time ago. Uma Thurman is sorely underused, as is Emma Thompson, Alicia Vikander, and Lily James, and, perhaps worst of all, none of the featured dishes ever look like stars in their own right. 

The famous saying goes that "if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen", but Burnt proves that you may want to stay out of that area if you also can't stand anything lukewarm and lacking any real flavour. The supporting cast all try hard enough to save this from being a complete waste of your time, but they can't overcome the problem of such an uninteresting core premise and central character. Chef made me hungry for both the food and the passion on display throughout. Burnt made me want to avoid over-priced and over-complicated menus made by narcissistic technicians who often forget simple pleasures in their pursuit of what they perceive to be greatness. 

4/10

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Inferno (2016)

Despite knowing how they are generally viewed by many other people, I am a BIG fan of the previous movies featuring the character of Robert Langdon. Having read most of the books written by Dan Brown, I knew the way he created the contrivances and characters, and the movies managed to move along at a brisk enough pace to make me forget the increasing incredulity of the set-pieces (almost). I was looking forward to Inferno, remembering the high stakes and the tense final act.

Sadly, this is the weakest of the cinematic trilogy, and it's easy to see why. The source material just isn't as easy to translate into cinematic entertainment, and there's also the small problem of each subsequent film highlighting just how many times Brown reaches for the same bag of tricks. Director Ron Howard cannot do much while tied to the novel, and writer David Koepp doesn't want to take any risks in his adaptation of the work.

Hanks returns once again to play the hero, who this time starts things by waking up in an Italian hospital with what seems to be a very bad case of amnesia. He barely has time to try and remember who he is before Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) is helping him to evade a deadly assassin. The two of them then race against the clock to hopefully stop a madman from releasing a virus that will cut the population of the entire planet in half.

It's hard to work up any enthusiasm for Inferno, it's such a mediocre and disappointing movie, especially coming after two much better films. Things start promisingly enough (there's the suicide of the madman who has already put his plan in motion, there's Langdon having a nightmarish vision of people burning to death around him), but that is all soon forgotten as the plot starts to trudge along from one weak set-piece to the next. Even the travelogue aspect isn't all that enjoyable, with the camerawork and visuals surprisingly dull throughout. How the hell do you make Venice look anything less than eye-poppingly gorgeous??

Hanks is yet again a comfortable fit in the role, and Felicity Jones is an enjoyable co-star for him, hampered by the material, but buoyed by the fact that she's Felicity Jones. Omar Sy is okay, but equally hampered by the material, and there are unmemorable supporting turns from Irrfan Khan, Sidse Babett Knudsen, and Ana Ularu. Ben Foster stands out, despite his limited screentime, thanks to his role in one or two of the most intriguing scenes.

Others might end up enjoying this more than I did. If you haven't read the books, or seen the other movies, then you may have a better viewing experience. I found it a big disappointment, especially following on from the two movies that preceded it.

4/10

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Micmacs (2009)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is the French king of quirkiness. Some, like myself, love that quality of his movies. Others absolutely hate it and will never be converted. Micmacs is perhaps his quirkiest movie yet so if you give it a viewing and you're not the biggest fan of Jeunet then don't say that you weren't warned.

Dany Boon stars as Bazil, a man who has suffered through his life thanks to arms dealers. When Bazil was a young boy his father was killed by a landmine. As an adult, he suffers even more directly when he's shot in the head. The bullet doesn't kill him but it does change his entire life. Because an operation might actually put him into a vegetative state, he is left with the bullet lodged in his brain. He's also left with no job and no home, both lost while he recovered in hospital. Thankfully, someone spots Bazil trying to struggle by on the streets and invites him along to meet a bunch of people who live in the depths of a junkyard. This band of eccentrics - including a female controtionist (Julie Ferrer), a woman who can calculate measurements instantly (Marie-Julie Baup) and a man who was once in the book of world records for his feat as a human cannonball (Dominique Pinon) - welcomes Bazil  with open arms. When Bazil is out walking one day and finds himself standing directly in between the buildings of both the company responsible for the landmine that killed his father and the company that made the bullet now lodged in his head he decides that he wants to get revenge. He thinks that he will somehow manage on his own but his new friends soon correct him and insist on helping out. They then set out to show that revenge isn't always a dish best served cold. It's sometimes very enjoyable when it's served with imagination, a selection of unique skills anda dollop of humour.

It's quirky, it's almost constantly upbeat and it's full of larger than life characters, which means one thing. If you hate Amelie then you'll probably hate this, too. I love Amelie and I've loved pretty much everything that I've seen from Jean-Pierre Jeunet (okay, I didn't LOVE Alien: Resurrection but I did enjoy it more than most people). Micmacs doesn't change my opinion of him one bit, it's another warm (in terms of content and visual style) and off-kilter story populated by great actors having fun playing great characters.

Dany Boon does very well in the lead role but the movie is very much an ensemble piece with everyone getting their chance to shine. Ferrer, Baup and Pinon are great fun, as are Yolande Moreau and Omar Sy, playing the junkyard-dwelling misfits. Andre Dussollier and Nicolas Marie are also both very good as the warmongers who find themselves being, unwittingly, played off against one another.

If you scrutinise the movie too closely then you will see how flimsy it all is. It's lightweight, most of the delights onscreen are completely unnecessary and the implausibility of it all starts to build up from the first few scenes but it's not a movie that you should scrutinise too closely. It sets out to entertain from start to finish and succeeds.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Micmacs-Blu-ray-Andre-Dussollier/dp/B003FVBN48/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348657514&sr=8-2