glasser at_the_movies

Brett Ratner, also known as a prolific television producer/director, will be remembered for his second feature film feature, the fast action, misfit-buddy movie Rush Hour, staring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.  A surprisingly entertaining and well-written comedy caper, it was so successful, it spawned two sequels that Ratner also directed.  Ratner is less likely to be remembered for his latest film, Tower Heist, another comedy caper in which a motley group of disgruntled employees seek revenge on the Wall Street investment banker (Alan Alda) who squandered their pensions in a Ponzi scheme.  

Ben Stiller plays Josh Kovacs, a Queen’s boy who has worked his way up to the position of manager of one of Manhatten’s most prestigious apartment buildings. The staff is trained to pamper the residents and the services are run like clockwork. Kovacs plays internet chess with Wall Street celebrity Arthur Shaw (Alda), who lives in the penthouse with his blown up dollar-lined pool on the roof terrace and conspicuous red Ferrari in the living room.  The chess game foreshadows the more high stakes match between the two that forms the basis of the movie. The two men have bonded to such an extent that Kovacs recommended to the staff that Shaw’s firm take charge of investing their pensions.

After Kovacs learns that the retirement dreams of his trusting staff (and his own) have been dashed by Shaw’s reckless greed, he takes an axe to the Ferrari and is fired.  Now, unemployed, he persuades a group of staff (Casey Affleck, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Pena) and a bankrupt banker who was evicted from the Tower (Matthew Broderick), to help him get back their pension.  This allows Ratner to recreate the classic round-up-of-the-gang-with specialized-skills that we’ve seen in almost every heist, revenge or conspiracy movie from Day of the Jackal to Oceans Eleven

Up until this point the film is amusing and interesting, thanks mainly to the Wall Street revenge motif (that we can all identify with) and the setting. But when Eddie Murphy joins the group who are in need of a real thief, and the actual heist begins, the film rapidly descends into a preposterous, tedious farce in which none of these comic actors give us anything to laugh about. 

The fact that seven writers are credited for the lame script is a warning sign, but where were Ratner and co-producer Brian Grazer?   Murphy shows an occasional glimpse of the comic timing that turned Beverly Hills Cop into a master class in comic acting, but his trajectory since then has been a sad down hill run.  The lack of imagination in Murphy’s performance is in stark contrast to Jamie Foxx’s terrific portrayal of a petty thief mistaken for a hitman in Horrible Bosses. In that film, three disgruntled employees conspire to seek revenge on their deplorable employers. While no masterpiece, it is certainly fresher and funnier than Tower Heist.  

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Campaigns & Issues

Lobby for libraries

NPCThe NPC officers have given their backing to a lobby being organised by UNISON, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI), Voices for the Library, The Library Campaign, Campaign for the Book and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which will call on politicians to protect vital library services. 

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News

Care homes spend as little as £2.27 a day on food per resident

Care homes who spend as little as £2.27 a day on food for each resident have been slammed as a "national disgrace".

An independent report into more than 50 care homes in Sefton, Merseyside, found that the average institution spent an average of £27.50 a week on food - or £3.93 a day.

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Competitions & Fun

Win a signed copy of Citizen James on DVD

citizen james

CARRY ON’S inimitable Sid James is Citizen James in the hilarious 1960s BBC comedy, which finally comes to DVD for the first time. This long-lost classic comedy series makes its DVD debut, featuring the only known surviving episodes, the complete series one, and two episodes each from series two and three. They will be released as a two-disc set on 6 February 2012 courtesy of Acorn Media.

In series one written by Alan Simpson and Ray Galton (Hancock, Steptoe & Son), Sid (Sid James) is a hard-working layabout, gambler and con-artist, hanging out on the streets of Soho with his sidekick Bill (Bill Kerr), in Charlie’s Nosh Bar and occasionally paying a visit to his long-suffering fiancée Liz (Liz Fraser), to borrow money to pay off his gambling debts and cons gone wrong.

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Advertorial

February is travel love month with Silver Travel Advisor

Silver Travel_Advisor_LogoWIN £1,000 CRUISE VOUCHERS WITH VIKING RIVER CRUISES AND MANY OTHER PRIZES

Silver Travel Advisor is a friendly website packed with advice, tips, information and honest reviews written by and for silver travellers (aged over 50). A team of advisors are on hand to answer queries (for free), and you can share your own experiences too. 

February is Travel Love month at Silver Travel Advisor, and there is a whole range of prizes to be found including the star prize:

Viking River Cruises – win £1,000 cruise vouchers

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Health & Wellbeing

Scrap the government's health bill, say BMJ readers

bmj logoMore than 90% of British Medical Journal readers responding to a poll published today think the government's health reforms should be scrapped.

The poll asked: "Should the Health and Social Care Bill for England now be withdrawn?"

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Property & Finance

Did you miss the Self Assessment deadline?

hmrc logoIf you have missed the deadline for submitting a Self Assessment (SA) tax return and you can show that you should not have been in the SA regime in the first place, then you may be able to avoid any penalties.

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Lifestyle

Paula's Wines of the Week starting 6 February 2012

Paula Goddard

If you really like a certain wine, rather than buying it in single cork-stoppered bottles why not get larger four bottle-sized amounts available in boxes? But if stepping along to the supermarket seems like too much of a chilly effort then try the online winebox retailer InspiredWine.co.uk because they’re offering free delivery during February.

There are advantages to buying wine in a winebox. As the wine is dispensed through a plastic tap all the annoyance of the cork is removed: no more tainted 'corked' wine (this spoils at least one in ten traditionally bottled wines due to improperly sterilised corks) and no more chasing around bits of broken cork that always sink when the index finger sent in to oik them out gets anywhere near them.

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Travel & Leisure

£15m boost for sustainable travel

Sustrans imageTransport Minister Norman Baker today announced £15m of new funding for sustainable travel projects across the country that will promote economic growth and cut carbon.

The investment is in addition to the £560m Local Sustainable Transport Fund announced in January 2011. This additional funding, heavily geared towards cycling, will support jobs, enhance access to employment and encourage greater use of more environmentally friendly transport.

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