Lejink

Mike Newell's gangland movie documents the real-life story of FBI agent Joseph C Pistone, who, set up as a criminal jewel-expert under the name of Donnie Brasco, infiltrated the Mafia organisation's New York operation, putting away, as we're told in the end titles, many of its members. The film shows how as "Brasco",he ingratiated himself into the Mob through a targeted relationship with a middle-ranking hit-man Lefty Ruggiero, played by Al Pacino in an operation which lasted two years, highlighting the lengths to which Brasco must go to fully gain the mobsters' trust as well as the strain playing such a part puts on his relationship with his own wife and family.

As his immersion goes deeper and deeper, Brasco is forced into at first witnessing and then actively participating in the criminality and related violence escalating around him, so as not to blow his cover. At the same time, we see close-up the strain that living this double-life places on Brasco's wife, played by Anne Heche and their young family as his behaviour to them changes. On the few occasions he gets to go home, he's increasingly distant to them before, certainly with his wife, becoming completely dismissive, coercive and finally violent.

Although extensively cast, the film is clearly centred on the relationship between Depp and Pacino's characters. We learn quickly that Lefty has a difficult relationship with his own son, who seems to be about the same age as Donnie, but who suffers from a drug addiction. With Donnie's evident street-smarts, plus the admiration and loyalty he shows the older man, the ties between the two bind closer as you sense Lefty considers Donnie as a better version of his son.

With Lefty's help, Donnie's acceptance amongst the upper echelons of the organisation leads him to take greater personal risks to protect his identity, especially when he incites the brutal beating up of a Chinese restaurateur which comes about when the man perfectly reasonably insists that Donnie, like the rest, remove his shoes on entering his premises which act would have exposed the wire he was concealing.

The movie is unremitting in its depiction of violence, culminating in the bloody slaughter of three senior bosses with Donnie forced to assist in the dismemberment and disposal of their corpses. This occurs after the action has moved to Miami, where Donnie has been compelled by his FBI superiors to develop a sting down there with a fellow-agent, director Newell effectively contrasting the sunshine colours of Miami with the grim greyness of New York.

Depp is very good as the compromised agent, you see in his eyes alone his growing descent into dehumanisation while Al naturally Pacinos all over the place with his garish clothes, accentuated mannerisms and of course his traditional motormouth Ital-american "fuggedaboudit!" delivery.

The question looms at the finish as to whether the ends justifies the means as you suspect that Donnie will struggle in the future to live with his recent past and resume his normal family life. Meanwhile, we almost sympathise with Lefty who we say ritually removing his jewellery as he answers the summoning call where he will pay the ultimate price for his unsuspecting duplicity.

Making good use of actual Sun-apple locations and effectively evoking the late 70's / 80's era, especially with the songs chosen for the soundtrack, this uncompromisingly tough movie shows that where the Mob is concerned, the only way to beat them is to actually join them.

The third entry in what I guess we'll have to call the Paddington Trilogy sees the duffel-coated little bear return to his native Peru to track down his Aunt Lucy, who's been reported missing by the mother superior of the Care Bear Home to which she's retreated. Along with him for the South American adventure, of course, is the Brown family, in their own way trying to reconnect as they seem to be drifting apart from each other at home.

The change of scenery undoubtedly does the series some good as the film cheerily evokes "The Sound of Music" and the Indiana Jones movies on its travels and is boosted further by amusing guest turns from Antonio Banderas as Sebastian Cabote, the guide employed in their bear-hunt, who has his own ulterior motives, Olivia Colman who gets to channel her inner Maria as the Mother Superior, plus Julie Walters with her wavering Scottish accent, gets to tag along for the ride as old Mrs Bird.

As for the marmalade-sandwich-munching Paddington, he gets to do his usual array of rolling and tumbling feats in the jungle, over waterfalls and up and down Machu Picchu before it all culminates in a good old Peruvian stand-off where Colman shows her true colours, Banderas resets his priorities and Paddington finds his tribe.

It's all very light and bright with another personable performance besides by Hugh Bonneville-Scott as the indefatigable father Brown, even if he hasn't detected that his wife has changed from Sally Hawkins into Emily Mortimer.

I felt the film started nicely with some entertainingly amusing animation but inevitably dragged as the search got properly underway, although a neat sight gag, running joke or genuinely funny line was never too far away. I especially liked the moment when Cabot interpreted the ironing instructions on a scrap of clothing as ancient Inca scripture.

The film ends with a hopeful teaser setting up the return of Hugh Grant's dastardly Phoenix Buchanan from "Paddington 2". I fear however with familiarity breeding a little discontent that this might be where the story ends although I guess we'll have to bear with the situation (ouch!) to see if there's a bear necessity (ouch again!) for any more bovine frolics to come to the big screen.

I normally enjoy the work of the screenwriter William Goldman, whose memoir on his experiences in Hollywood, "Adventures in the Screen Trade" I remember reading many years ago, but this early effort of his, I'm sure, would have embarrassed him later in life.

Unless he was actually determined, for reasons of his own, to ridicule Jewish motherhood, little people and especially the homosexual community, the only other excuse I can offer him for the vaguely phobic stereotyping he employs is the standard defence "... but those were the times...".

Rod Steiger, fresh from his Oscar nomination for "In the Heat of the Night" gets to unleash, as he termed it himself, his inner Peter Sellers in this very camp and very cliched comedy-thriller which also stars George Segal as the live-at-home, put-upon son of his over-exaggerated Jewish momma, played from over the top of Mount Sinai by Eileen Heckart in probably, the most exaggerated part in the movie and that's saying a lot when you consider the amount of scenery that Steiger chews his way through.

The story riffs off the then recent crimes of the Boston Strangler but it's as clear as his mother's ruby red lips that it's really just a showcase for Steiger to rake around his old trick bag, striving to combine comedy with horror as he impersonates an Irish priest, a German repairman, a cop (an in-joke reference to his previous role?), an outrageously gay hairdresser, an Italian maitre-d and of course at one point going full drag-queen too.

The problem with the comedy was that I found myself laughing at, not with him and not I think for the right reasons either while I didn't find enough compensation in the shock elements to pull the movie round.

Segal and Lee Remick get to lovey-dovey one another in an unengaging sub-plot and while I enjoyed the location filming, I considered the direction by Jack Smight at only about TV-movie level, without ever stepping up to big-screen requirements plus the picture is lumbered with a clichéd and intrusive soundtrack for good measure.

All in all, if you ask me, this movie was no way to treat a viewer.