The Critique

Dir: Guy Ritchie Starring: Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Debicky Dur: 1 hr 56 mins Genre: Spy Thriller Rating: 4.5/5 PG: Back view of a woman in lingerie (about 7 seconds) I’m a fan of the spy genre because it’s thrilling, displays mind-boggling gadgets, has a quick pace, fast cars and interesting twists. But this film was something else. It had a rapid pace and thrills galore. The cars were quite fancy and fast, considering the setting was the 1930’s. The gadgets were pretty simple but the dialogues swung things its way. The Americans and Russians make an unlikely alliance and team up their best spies, Solo (Henry Cavill) and Illya (Armie Hammer) for a mission that is intimidating and critical. The alliance is unnecessary but it adds to the glamour of the story. A nuclear warhead has fallen into wrong hands and so has knowledge that could be used to dominate the world. From this point of view, the alliance does make sense as U.S.A and Russ...

We are a little more than half way through the season of Lent. This season holds different meanings and has a different value and significance for each of us. For some, Lent might be a morose time, for others it might be that inconvenient time when one must engage in some kind of fast; some might think of it as a time for reparation and renewal, while others see it as not having any personal significance. No matter what our attitude to Lent, we are all certain about one thing: It is a time of mercy. If one reads the scriptures daily one will encounter a recurrence of the theme of mercy. Homilies too are likely to be based on a similar theme. The importance given to confession during Lent, which is essentially openness to mercy, puts beyond doubt the intrinsic connection between Lent and mercy. This year being the Jubilee of Mercy makes Lent a particularly significant and unique period. The Holy Father had requested that it be “lived more intensely as a privileged moment to cel...

Dir: Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandburg Starring: Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz Dur: 1 hr 33 mins Genre: Action - Comedy Rating: 4/5 PG: Few kisses and occasional foul language. This is a girly flick but its real fun. Set in 19 something Mexico , it’s a story of two young women who take it upon themselves to alleviate the plight of their people. It’s got everything you’d associate with Mexico : funny English accent, cowboy hats and boots, horse riding, dusty landscapes, gunfights and of course, song and dance. Bandidas is Mexican for bandits. Salma and Penelope express a range of emotions from jealousy and anger to fear and humour with professional ease. The film is very good humoured and the villain, ironically an American, is sufficiently detestable to make you want to finish him off in case the ladies don’t but there’s no room for all that because his villainy is only a part of the larger narrative. Harrison Ford has got a small silly role as a rusty outlaw who train...