Fair Game

Sean Penn and Naomi Watts star in this political thriller that is based on a true story of actions that took place eight years ago.

Valerie Palme (Watts) works for the CIA but when her husband, Joe Wilson (Penn), writes a damning article regarding the Bush administration and their war in Iraq, the government get retribution by leaking her identity which attracts a lot of unwanted attention for Valerie and discrediting her husband.  The lives of her co-operatives are put at risk, her career is destroyed and her family is hounded by the media.  Armed only with the truth, Joe and Valerie fight back against the government and feel the strain on their lives and marriage as they attempt to bring those at the White House to court and clear their names.

The fact that it’s a true story is gripping and Penn and Watts do an excellent job in conveying the heart and frustration of the story to us.  It is well written but takes a while before it ever really gets going and thriller wouldn’t be the best word to describe Fair Game as it goes at a steady pace throughout.

The Adjustment Bureau

We live in a predetermined world where we have no control over our own fates and our destinies are mapped out.  If we fall off these paths, then there are those whose job it is to make sure we get back on track.  This is what happens when David Norris (Matt Damon), an up and coming politician meets ballet dancer Elise (Emily Blunt).  Despite there being an instant connection between the two, they were never meant to be together and it isn’t long before their relationship brings the truth of the world they live in to the front and The Adjusters intervene.

The Adjustment Bureau runs along a similar idea to the Matrix where our lives are not our own and not everything is as it seems.  This movie makes you think outside the box and keeps you gripped.  There is a romantic story imbedded within the sci-fi story which helps to keep the movie grounded and is made believable with a convincing performance from both Damon and Blunt.  Definitely worth seeing.

Rango

Johnny Depp has given us memorable characters such as Captain Jack Sparrow, Sweeney Todd and now follows them up with a brilliant performance as Rango.  Rango is a lizard who is used to the life of luxury within his tank but has to face up to hard times when his life of a sheltered pet chameleon accidently comes to an end when he falls out of his tank on a highway and finds himself stranded in Dirt.  A town in the Wild West.

Pampered but not entirely useless, Rango fortuitously manages to defeat the feared hawk that has been terrorising the town and it lands him the job as sheriff.  Relishing the role, the actor in him rises to the occasion and he embellishes his role by pretending to be a feared gunfighter.  But it’s not long before it all goes awry when the town turns to him to sort out their water problems and an adversary in the shape of a land baron forms.

Rango is a good fun animation with plenty of humour and a good but simple plot that everybody can follow.  Despite not being on screen himself, Johnny Depp makes the character his own and his timing is perfect.  Adults will certainly take more out of Rango than children will and parents be warned, there is a darker element to Rango than most animations and characters do perish.

The Rite

Ireland’s own Colin O’Donoghue stars opposite screen legend Anthony Hopkins in this supernatural thriller.

Michael Kovak (O’Donoghue) is a seminary student who has gone to the Vatican to try and understand and study exorcism.  It looks to be all in vain though as he is considering dropping out for his belief is in doubt.  This leads him to Father Lucas Trevant (Hopkins), an unorthodox exorcist who has a wealth of experience, in an effort to rediscover his faith.  Together, they investigate a case of a pregnant woman who is suggested to be possessed by a demon.  It is a case that will question both their beliefs and is only the start of the turmoil they’re about to endure.

Hopkins has seemingly lost his way in recent years with his movie choices and it is no different here.  The Rite isn’t bad, but it isn’t good either.  It’s predictable and for a movie that promises thrills and screams, it offers few.  Hopkins give a good performance as always, especially when he turns sinister, and O‘Donoghue does himself no harm with his own performance but unfortunately they have nothing to do with story which is where The Rite lacks.

I Am Number 4

Three are already dead, and now it’s his turn to die.  The bestselling book has made it to the big screen in this movie adaption which sees John (Alex Pettyfer) battling to stay alive.

The movie centres around John and Henri (Timothy Olyphant) who is John’s guardian.  John isn’t an ordinary teenager but a being from another planet.  Nine of them, as infants, were sent to Earth with their guardians when the Mogdorians set about destroying Lorien, their planet.   Each assigned a number, the children can only be killed in sequence but the Mogdorians are determined to exterminate every single part of Lorien and have already killed the first three and are now hunting John.  John though is tired of running.  All he wants is to fit in to society and be with Sarah (Dianna Agron), a sweet normal girl who he’s fallen in love with.  Fortunately John isn’t completely helpless for as the Lorien children grow and reach adulthood, they start to develop supernatural powers.

Twilight meet X-men.  This teenage genre is fun and entertaining but not for everybody just like the book was.  It has plenty of action, a romantic element and is played by good-looking people, yet despite all these sure fire ingredients to make a blockbuster, there is a lack of substance that fails to take it to that elite level Twilight dwells in.  Nonetheless, still a good watch.

Drive Angry 3D

John Milton (Cage) has landed in hell with sins to pay but he manages to escape with the intentions of avenging his daughter who was murdered at the hands of a satanic cult.  But a vengeful vendetta turns into a rescue campaign because his infant Granddaughter has been kidnapped by the cult so they can sacrifice her at the next full moon.  Aided by Piper (Amber Heard), he does all he can to stop this from happening while also trying to evade the ‘Accountant’ (William Fichtner) who is on his own mission to bring Milton back to hell.

Nicholas Cage seems to be driving further away from his Oscar past in this over-the-top 3D action event.  That doesn’t mean Drive Angry is bad, it’s just never going to win any awards.  Drive Angry is simple; it’s fast paced and ferocious and will leave you struggling to catch your breath.  It is a movie filled with cheap thrills such as huge explosions, great car chases and fight scenes but if you take it for what it is and what it’s intended to be, then they all work to make an entertaining movie.

Paul

It’s been just over three years since the last Simon Pegg and Nick Frost collaboration, their last being Hot Fuzz, but they’re now back on the big screen with Paul.

Paul is an alien who has been kept locked up in a military base for over 60 years.  His usefulness to the military operation is coming to an end though and Paul, not wanting to wait for a decision on his future, takes it into his own hands and escapes the compound.  Needing a ride desperately, he hops onto a RV that’s going his way which is owned by Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings.  Graeme and Clive eventually come around to the fact that Paul is an alien and against their better judgement, go up against federal agents in an effort to get Paul back to his mother ship so he can go home.

Paul, played by Seth Rogen, is the star of the movie.  His fun loving, carefree attitude and foul language is a refreshing change from all the other ‘I want to eat you’ alien movies.  Pegg and Frost, as always, have brilliant chemistry together and combined with Rogen, make Paul a very enjoyable and amusing movie.