The Imitation Game

'The Imitation Game': Movie review  

Story of the English math genius, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who helped win World War II is solidly done but might have been better with a less conventional approach

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, November 24, 2014, 3:12 PM

There’s an algorithm for making an Oscar-ready prestige picture — and “The Imitation Game” follows it obsessively. With a committed Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead and awards-savvy producer Harvey Weinstein steering the campaign, this polished, poignant biopic may well earn the success it clearly seeks.

Ultimately, though, director Morten Tyldum’s conventional approach doesn’t do full justice to his tragically unconventional hero.

As played by Cumberbatch, English mathematician Alan Turing is a man fated by the timing of his birth. Ferociously brilliant, possibly autistic and definitely gay, Turing is charged with saving the war-ravaged country that considers him an abomination.

The film starts in 1952 but it quickly flashes back to 1938, when Turing was called in to crack the German Enigma code. With the code being changed daily, it has been impossible to gain any traction.

Turing immediately antagonizes his new colleagues (overseen by a charismatic Matthew Goode), who are equally put off by his arrogance, intense intelligence and idea for a proto-computer he thinks could solve their problem. Only Joan Clarke (an underused Keira Knightley) respects his outsider perspective. With her help, he finally persuades the establishment to look beyond established methods.

Cumberbatch specializes in emotionally detached geniuses, and there’s no doubting his skill and his innate empathy for Turing. But there’s a meticulous self-awareness to this portrayal that has been absent from his previous performances. When we watch him as Sherlock Holmes, we simply see the great detective. Here, we see Benedict Cumberbatch working very hard to play Alan Turing.

Similarly, Tyldum and screenwriter Graham Moore seem to be using the Oscar-approved method of “The King’s Speech”: stately, straightforward filmmaking.

But Turing’s story was impossibly messy. The heartbreaking betrayals and ironies of his existence — the man who saved Britain only to be betrayed by her — deserve more than well-meant platitudes.

Fortunately, Tyldum and Cumberbatch demonstrate enough compassion and sincerity to give us a respectable imitation of an extraordinary life.

structure:

who: Benedict Cumberbatch

what: Story of the English math genius, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who helped win World War II is solidly done but might have been better with a less conventional approach

when: 2014

where: not given

how: not given

websites:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/imitation-game-movie-review-article-1.2022089

keywords:

1.algorithm 算法

2.prestige 威望;聲譽

3.savvy 機靈

4.steer 操舵

5.poignant 悽美的

6.biopic 傳記片

7.ferociously 兇猛地

8.abomination 厭惡

9.traction 牽引

10.antagonize 對抗

11.detached 超然的

12.meticulous 細緻的

13. filmmaking 電影

14. platitude 老生常談

week 3-Taoyuan fire

Six firefighters perish in Taoyuan blaze

ILLEGAL OPERATION:Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan has ordered local officials to perform inspections to identify all illegal constructions in the municipality

Six firefighters, all in their 20s, were killed in Greater Taoyuan yesterday morning after the bowling alley in which they were battling a blaze collapsed. All six were found dead when rescuers managed to reach them.

Officials from the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office announced that an inquiry would be conducted into the deaths to investigate the cause and circumstances of the fire, and to determine if there had been any negligence or dereliction of duty.

The fire broke out early yesterday morning at about 2am at a three-story building in Sinwu District (新屋). The proprietor operated a bowling alley on the second floor and a swimming pool on the ground level, with the third floor used as a dormitory for employees.

The six firemen were on the second floor, near the bowling alley’s counter area, when a burst of flames erupted at shortly before 3am and the burning structure collapsed, trapping the firefighters.

“Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion, then the burning metal-sheet roofing caved in. It was terrible, because we knew some firefighters had gone inside to battle the fire,” an eyewitness was quoted as saying.

The bodies of the six firefighters were transported to the Sinwu Branch of Taoyuan General Hospital for identification by DNA testing and post-mortem examinations.

Two civilians, including the proprietor of the building, surnamed Liu (劉), were pulled from the fire and sustained minor injuries.

A total of 104 firefighters employing 36 fire engines and other vehicles were dispatched to the blaze.

Officials including Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國), Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) and Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) sent condolences and paid tribute to the firefighters for their sacrifice in the line of duty.

Cheng said his government would seek the maximum compensation payment possible for their dependents according to official regulations, which would be about NT$19 million (US$600,000) per family.

Taoyuan Fire Department Chief Hu Ying-ta (胡英達) said the building’s operating permit, received in 1994, approved the facility’s swimming pool business and the second floor for residential use.

“The bowling alley did not have a permit, so it was operating illegally. The third floor is also an illegal add-on structure,” Hu said, adding that the building passed a fire safety inspection last year.

After finding out the bowling alley had been operating illegally for 20 years, Cheng was incensed, mandating government officials to make inspections to identify all illegal buildings in Taoyuan within 10 days.

Meanwhile, a number of questions were asked following the incident, including whether the firefighters were equipped with inadequate protective and communication equipment; why there was a lack of accountability among government officials regarding the existence of illegal structures; and why no action had been taken against many known illegal businesses.

Commenting on the incident, the National Association for Firefighters’ Rights (NAFR) said it highlighted a widespread lack of personnel and adequate equipment among firefighting squads across the nation.

NAFR secretary-general Cheng Ya-ling (鄭雅菱) said firefighters could benefit from the use of infrared imaging equipment, such as thermographic cameras, which can be used to establish the topography and temperature of a fire prior to entry.

Fire stations in Taoyuan possess only two thermographic cameras, an insufficient number to significantly reduce the risk to firefighters, Cheng said.

She added that firefighting squads often have a drastic shortage of personnel, leading to the common absence of an incident safety officer and an emergency reaction team at fires.

structure:

what:Six firefighters were killed in Greater Taoyuan

who:Six firefighters

why:They were battling a blaze collapsed

when: yesterday morning 

where:Greater Taoyuan

how:The building collapsed

website:

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2015/01/21/2003609731/2

keywords:

1.perish 殞滅

2.municipality 直轄市

3.dereliction 拋棄物

4.proprietor 業主

5.dispatch 調度;派遣

6.condolences 慰問

7.compensation 賠償金

8. incensed 激怒

9.mandate 強制

10.accountability 責任

11.infrared 紅外線

12. thermographic  熱感

13.topography 地形

14.absence 缺席

Week 2 - Sydney cafe hostage

Hostage in Sydney cafe was killed by police bullets during raid: courts 

The first day of an inquest into a 16-hour hostage standoff in Sydney revealed that police accidentally killed hostage Katrina Dawson as they raided the cafe and shot gunman Man Haron Monis.

When police stormed a Sydney cafe in December, killing a gunman to end a 16-hour hostage standoff, they also accidentally killed a hostage, an inquest revealed Wednesday.

Katrina Dawson, 34, one of the two hostages killed in the Lindt Chocolat Cafe, was struck by six fragments from one or more police bullets, one of which hit a major blood vessel.

That detail emerged in the first day of a coroner’s court inquest about what happened that day in December and what led up to it. Several surviving hostages will be called as witnesses, the BCC reports.

A former member of Australia’s counter-terrorism unit has suggested the police used the wrong rifles during the standoff, with bigger bullets that were more likely to ricochet, ABC reports.

The first inquest day also revealed that gunman Man Haron Monis forced Tori Johnson, the other hostage who was killed, to kneel down before being shot in the back of the head. The media previously reported Johnson, the cafe's manager, tried to knock the gun out of Monis’ hand before being shot.

Monis took 18 people hostage in the Lindt Chocolate Cafe on a Monday morning. He reportedly had a history of mental illness and supported radical Islamic extremism. During the standoff, he hung a black flag in the cafe that said in Arabic: “There is no God but Allah; Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah,” a phrase that also appears on the ISIS flag.

Police raided the cafe after several hostages ran out of it. Besides the three fatalities, four other hostages and a police officer were injured.

As the inquest continues, prosecutors plan to delve into Monis’ mental health history and determine how he got the guns used in the attack.

structure:

who: police, hostage and gunman Man

what: police accidentally killed hostage

when: not given

where: Sydney

why: to save hostage

how: use gun

website:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/sydney-cafe-hostage-killed-police-bullets-courts-article-1.2095666

keywords:

1. raid 突襲

2. inquest 審訊

3. standoff 僵局

4. storm 攻佔;闖入

5. coroner 驗屍官

6. ricochet 彈飛

7. prosecutor 檢察官

8. delve 探索;翻找

Week 1-Eric Garner

Black Police Officers Divided Over Eric Garner's Death

In the wake of Eric Garner's highly publicized death, many African-American police officers are finding themselves caught in the middle of fiery debate over the use of excessive force. As we mark Black History Month, NY1's Cheryl Wills speaks to two important figures in the NYPD with sharply different views. She filed this report.

“The most difficult part of this whole process is people failing to understand that I am an African-American man. I could be Eric Garner or I could be Daniel Pantaleo – I could be either or," says 48-year-old NYPD Detective Yuseff Hamm.

Hamm readily admits that he is caught in the middle of a firestorm within his own ranks. He is the president of the NYPD Guardians Association, a fraternal organization of African American police officers. There are about 2,000 members and they are sharply divided about the use of force in the death of Eric Garner. Many members want Yuseff Hamm—who's been on the job since 2001—to condemn what some black officers believe is excessive force, but Hamm refuses. For that, he says, he's been harshly criticized.

"You should read some of the emails that I receive. They call me all kinds of names except the one name that I remember," says Hamm. "The guardians position is unique. As the president of this fraternal organization, I've made a conscious decision to stand on the side of justice."

"He caused a man to lose his life and as far as I'm concerned that's unforgivable," says Charlie McCray, the president of the Retired NYPD Guardians.

McCray has harsh words for NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who is seen here taking Eric Garner down. He says his 800 African-American retired NYPD members are unanimously opposed to the way officers handled Eric Garner—and the group also has strong views about Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch.

"Pat Lynch is protecting his job, but he really, really overdid it," McCray says.

Although Hamm and McCray have different points of view, both agree that more dialogue is needed and The Guardians should be included in the ongoing dialogue at City Hall.

structure:

who:Eric Garner and many African-American police officers

when: not given

where: New York

what: Many African-American police officers are caught in the middle of fiery debate over the use of excessive force.

how: Eric Garner's highly publicized death

website:

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/black-history-month-2015/2015/02/16/black-police-officers-divided-over-eric-garner-s-death.html

keywords:

1. readily 樂意地

2. firestorm 大爆發

3. fraternal 兄弟的;友好的

4. unanimously 全體一致地