The Imitation Game, Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Paddington

Perhaps I was  looking forward too much to The Imitation Game, and perhaps I knew too much about what happened at Bletchley Park. So the story on the screen was a big disappointment. In hindsight, maybe they had to reconstruct the drama to make a decent story. But most of the changes for dramatic effect did not work well. They had changed the personality of the Bletchley chief Commander Deniston (played by Charles dance) so much that he was unrecognisable. And where was Gordon Welchman? The movie was saved by the superb Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing and Keira Knightly as Joan Clarke. But nil points for direction and screenplay.
Interestingly, Mathew Goode was fine as Hugh Alexander who succeeded Turing as head of Hut 8 in 1941 (it seemed in the film he was the head at the beginning), and in the book The Secret Life of Bletchley Park Alexander testified his admiration for Turing: "There should be no question in anyone's mind that Turing's work was the biggest factor in Hut 8's success. In the early days he was the only cryptographer who thought the problem worth tackling ...... he also shared with Welchman and Keen the chief credit for the invention of the Bombe." But no sign of Welchman and Keen in the movie!

It was good to see that there are no longer any Hunger Games in Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. This made for a competent enough big budget movie with some decent action sequences. It was just a shame that Jennifer Lawrence in the starring role of Katnis Everdeen looked so bored with it all. Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman may have been, but at least they didn't show it.

Paddington was a treat. You always felt the bear was real and the voice provided by Ben Whishaw was completely right. The Brown family were always interesting and although Hugh Bonneville has never been funnier, it was Sally Hawkins who made this film. She lit up the screen whenever she appeared. There were lots of laughs and some subtle choking moments. And an evil Nicole Kidman reprising her role in The Golden Compass. Paul King does an amazing job as director and writer. The only downside was the ending, too contrived and not enough of Paddington. Otherwise superb.