The Eclipse (2009) Set and mainly filmed in Cobh, this is about a widower (Ciaran Hinds) who sparks up a relationship with an author (Iben Hjejle) attending the local literary festival, there are also supernatural elements involved caused by the widower's recent loss. It is nice to see Hinds in a leading role and he shines helped by the likeable relationship with Hjejle. Aidan Quinn is enjoyable as another author, an obnoxious character and Hinds' love rival. The supernatural moments are either spooky or shocking,it may have worked better without the shocking moments, which are a bit incongruous. Also starring Jim Norton. 6.5/10
Orders To Kill(1958)
A decent war film from director Anthony Asquith.An American agent faces a moral dilemma when he is parachuted into France with orders to eliminate a suspected Nazi traitor.The plot unravels rather too quickly but the good script is brought to life by strong performances from Eddie Albert and Lillian Gish.
7/10
Corridors of Blood(1958)
Robert Day directed this good horror film with Christopher Lee as a character named Resurection Joe,an ice cold killer who is a sort of a combination of Burke and Hare rolled into one man.Boris Karloff puts in a good turn as Dr.Bolton,basically a kind version of Dr.Knox from the Burke and Hare stories.Only here,he is completely unaware of the malignant sources of his research subjects.An underrated and effective take on the classic tale.
7.5/10
Badlapur (2015) An Indian revenge movie, mostly in Hindi with some English, where a man( a fairly complex performance from Varun Dhawan) tries to track the killer or killers of his wife and son following a bank robbery. Starting off fast paced, but cleverly interspersed with flashbacks to show the central character's personality. Then develops into a drama and then takes an unexpected turn towards the end, which maybe isn't completely believable. Also starring Nawazaddin Siddiqui, Yami Gautam, Vinay Pathak & Radhika Apte. 6.5/10
The Fencer(2016)
Klaus Haro's film is built on the sporting underdog template that we've seen previously in the likes of The Natural,Rocky etc,but its strength is in its political metaphors that give this film life and emotional gravitas.In Stalin controlled USSR,Ebdel Nelis played brilliantly by Mart Avandi teaches PE but has to keep a low profile due to his past.His fencing students reach exceptional levels and have their eyes on a championship in Leningrad,Nelis faces a dilemma of breaking his cover and taking them there or letting them down to save his own skin.
8/10
Her (2013) Directed and written by Spike Jonze as Joaquin Pheonix plays a writer who forms a deeper and deeper relationship with an operating system( played by Scarlett Johansson). A triumph for Jonze as he provides inventive directing and and an intelligent witty script with superb performances from Pheonix & Johansson. It poses questions about what is intelligent life, does it require a body etc? It cannot provide definite answers but you empathise with Johannson's character due to the warm,sympathetic, dare I say, human performance, despite the fact she doesn't appear visually on screen. Both the cinematography (sort of pastel shades) & soundtrack (mostly mellow, classical or chilled) are good. Also starring Amy Adams, Chris Pratt,Rooney Mara & Matt Letscher 7.5/10
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, i was curious as to how this would translate from the comics to animated form and wow it was very good. They've pretty much taken the same story and actually fleshed it out a lot more. Word of warning the animated film is very violent with blood and heads and arms been cut off and kids being killed. The voice cast they got was perfect and fitted each of the characters very well, the animation and sound track was great.
For me now up there as being one of my fav animated movies and there's even a little twist to the Joker blink and you'll miss it.
It's the perfect set up for Flash Season 3 tomorrow 9.5/10.
Lone Survivor (2013) The true story of four Navy Seals sent to Afghanistan in 2005 to kill a Taliban leader, and the aftermath of this unsuccessful attempt. A tense, realistic movie, imaginatively filmed, perhaps slightly over showy with the cinematography at times. There's also a clever use of stillness and action in the the film, and a moving ending. In the end credits there is a rather good cover version of Bowie's Heroes by Peter Gabriel. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster,Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Eric Bana & Alexander Ludwig. 7.5/10
Fresh (1994) A 12 year old nicknamed Fresh lives in the New York projects selling drugs before and after school but wants out... A film with quite a lot going for it, Sean Nelson in the title role puts in a believable performance in his film debut, Samuel L Jackson as his father is good as ever and the soundtrack avoids the obvious,rap and is mostly instrumental and is performed by Stewart Copeland. The strongest scenes involve Nelson & Jackson and also three gunfight/shooting scenes which are well done. Also starring Giancarlo Esposito, N'Bushie Wright,Ron Brice, Jose Zuniga & Cheryl Freeman 7/10
Castle Sinister(1947)
An Oscar Burn directed mystery drama.At the height of the second world war,a British agent is despatched to Glennye Castle under orders to investigate a murder commuted by a masked assailant.Very nicely shot and framed with an effective score.
7/10