Mary Poppins
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2016 lifestyle MUSIC & MOVIES Review Beatty as eccentric billionaire - not THAT one arren Beatty doesn't want us to regard "Rules tract. But when her mother (the always-superb Don't Apply," in which he stars as Howard Annette Bening, being directed by her husband for WHughes, as a Howard Hughes film. It's actual- the first time) gets the willies and suggests they leave, ly a movie about late '50s Hollywood, he says, and the Marla insists on staying. sexual puritanism of the era. Indeed, Beatty doesn't Personal assistant appear for a long while in this much-awaited film, Marla's handsome driver is aspiring real-estate which he co-wrote, directed and starred in - perhaps developer Frank Forbes (the appealingly earnest partly to prove his point that he's not the main attrac- Alden Ehrenreich, soon to be the next Han Solo). tion. But come on - it's Warren Beatty, a legend who When Marla complains she hasn't yet met Hughes, hasn't made a film for 15 years, playing America's Frank admits he hasn't met their employer, either. most famous eccentric, controversial billionaire until Suddenly, Marla's ushered into a darkened hotel bun- ... well, until you know who. Of COURSE it's a Howard galow and served a TV dinner in tinfoil. Hughes Hughes movie. appears, befuddled and amusing. He asks her name, And that's not a bad thing, because whatever you plays some saxophone, barks into the think of the new film, Beatty at 79 retains much of phone to his subordinates. These include Matthew that youthful charisma - he may have wrinkles, but Broderick (having lots of fun as Hughes' chief driver, the features are still boyish - that's made him a especially in a laugh-out-loud scene with his boss Hollywood fixture for more than a half-century, from toward the end), Candice Bergen as a personal assis- "Splendor in the Grass" to "Bonnie and Clyde" to tant, and Martin Sheen as Hughes' CEO. "Shampoo" to "Heaven Can Wait" to "Reds." As for The plot - often in short, choppy scenes unfolding "Rules Don't Apply," it's many years - decades, actually pell-mell - careens like a pinball between Marla, Frank - in the making, brings together a who's who list of and Hughes. The young couple has obvious chem- on-and-offscreen talent, looks gorgeous - and still istry. There's a catch, though. Frank, a Methodist and a feels strangely uneven and tonally confusing. But if virgin like Marla, is engaged to his hometown sweet- want French Vanilla!" And mostly, the Frank-Marla Beatty, the rules really don't apply - and that's OK. This image released by you can get over that, it's undeniably entertaining heart. And Hughes, despite his own sexual dalliances, courtship has the pizazz of, well, vanilla ice cream. The "Rules Don't Apply," a 20th Century Fox release, is rat- Twentieth Century Fox and at times, even quirkily mesmerizing. has declared that drivers hitting on actresses will be Hughes storyline? More banana nut - emphasis on ed PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of shows Lily Collins, left, It's Hollywood in 1958 - just three years before fired. nut. Which would you rather watch? Beautiful to look America "for sexual material including brief strong and Alden Ehrenreich in a Beatty himself made his mark - and aspiring starlets at, never less than engaging, sometimes inspired and language, thematic elements, and drug references." scene from ‘Rules Don’t are descending on the town, among them fresh-faced Vanilla ice cream sometimes just odd, the film shifts uneasily in tone. Running time: 126 minutes. Two and a half stars out of Apply.’ — AP Baptist beauty queen Marla Mabrey (Lily Collins, a The Marla-Frank plotline competes with Hughes' Yet it's distinctly watchable, even when perplexing us. four. Definition of PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. gorgeous Natalie Wood lookalike). She's been invited increasingly erratic episodes - taking the cockpit for a Is this Beatty's final big film? At this rate he'll be in Some material may be inappropriate for children by the reclusive Hughes to audition for his RKO terrifying ride while singing at the top of his lungs, or his 90s for the next one. (And still look boyish.) All the under 13. — AP Pictures. Once there, she realizes she's just one of ordering truckfuls of Baskin-Robbins' Banana Nut ice more reason to appreciate this, foibles aside. Perhaps many aspiring starlets Hughes has brought in on con- cream, and then declaring: "No More Banana NUT! I for a man with the pedigree and charisma of Warren Review Danish 'Borgen' star making up for lost time he made her name in hit TV drama au pair, that she started doing something "Borgen," but only a few years later about her ambition to be on the big screen. SDanish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen is Between odd jobs she took acting lessons, juggling coveted small- and big-screen roles on indulged her love for cinema and spent lots of both sides of the Atlantic. It is all a long way time in the Pompidou Centre, where she from her Copenhagen roots-especially for an learned French by reading a translation of actress who spent a long time struggling, Kafka's Metamorphosis. before finally making the big time. The award- But after six years winning 47-year-old, who played Denmark's she decided to return first female prime minister in the political dra- to Copenhagen, tired ma, is currently starring alongside Hollywood of struggling to veteran Tom Hanks in "Inferno" by Oscar-win- make ends meet. "I ning director Ron Howard. came back because it At the same time on the small screen she is was not easy being in hit US sci-fi western thriller "Westworld" with Sidse Babett (in Paris) I had no Anthony Hopkins. Back in Europe she won a place to live and it This image released by Disney shows characters Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson, right, and Moana, voiced by Auli’i Cravalho, in a scene from the ani- Cesar, France's version of the Oscars, this year was just going mated film, ‘Moana.’ — AP for "L'hermine," while her latest Gallic outing is around with your in "La Fille de Brest" after French film icon hat, asking for jobs Catherine Deneuve suggested her for the role. all the time. It When director Emmanuelle Bercot offered her became a bit too Set sail with the spirited, familiar 'Moana' the part, the elegant blue-eyed actress didn't hard," she said. Back believe him at first. in her home town, "a friend of mine did "I was like 'What are they thinking?' because (Ibsen's) 'Peer Gynt', and she asked me to top me if this sounds familiar: A Disney ani- that has more to do with modern audiences winc- away to try to return the stolen heart to the I don't speak French very well. I thought maybe come to Dan, and I thought 'Yeah, do that'." mation film about a bright and spirited ing at the idea of a 16-year-old heroine getting fabled island of Te Fiti and save her people. somebody told them I was half French because Further parts with the same theatre group fol- young woman who feels stifled by outmod- married than actual progress in developing more She journeys first to get the help of Maui, a S I studied in France," she told AFP, sitting in a lowed. ed expectations and dreams of exploring beyond complex female characters. But perhaps that, too, cocky showoff who has his own agenda that does- plush Paris hotel. "Maybe they thought that Her cinema breakthrough came in the the confines of her home. It's the premise of is just getting bogged down in semantics in n't involve taking orders from a pushy teen, and was it," she added. Much like in "Borgen," for 1997 improvisational comedy "Let's Get Lost," "Moana ," but it's also that of "The Little Mermaid," another way and deflecting from the very won- then across the ocean where Moana, Maui and a which she shared a BAFTA award, she loves which won her a best actress Bodil, Denmark's "Beauty and the Beast," "Mulan," "Brave" and derful and joyous "Moana," a classic Disney pic to dimwitted chicken encounter all kids of obstacles, playing strong and intelligent women. "I love version of Hollywood's famous golden stat- scores of other animated films about teenage the core, bursting with stunning visuals, good including a band of hostile coconuts (a terrific gag), being in the skin of courageous people. That uettes. She followed that in 1999 with roman- girls. It's not a bad one by any means, and an hearted humor, adventure and some truly catchy a glam rock hermit crab (Jemaine Clement) at the inspires me," she said. "When I read a part, tic comedy "The One and Only" by Susanne understandably captivating foundation for chil- songs from "Hamilton" maestro Lin-Manuel bottom of the ocean and a vindictive lava monster. either I think it makes the world smaller or the Bier, and seven years later "After The Wedding" dren especially, but "Moana" is, like so many Miranda. (Move over, "Let it Go," there is some- The fable of "Moana" is sweet, often funny, spiritual world bigger. I want to go towards those where with Mads Mikkelsen. But she really made the recent films, dressed up as something wholly new thing really grand and even superior about the and epic, although Johnson's reliable charisma gets I see the world getting bigger." big time with "Borgen," which hit TV screens in and bold and corrective against all the sins of fairy swelling rally cry of "How Far I'll Go.") lost under the animation and the writing.