Berner is a sympathetic character in her younger iteration, but harder to appreciate in the older version given the lie she has evidently been prospering from for so many years. The two actresses tasked with bringing her to life both do an excellent job
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading The Debt
I hoped that the second segment would return to the beginning, but from a different perspective. No such luck. The tangled storyline continues throughout, and this wouldn’t be so much of a problem if it didn’t get in the way of character development.
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Hoopla Factor: 
Continue reading Triangle
The stunning countryside of Iceland is used to good effect, with wind-swept coastlines and barren marshlands adding further to the considerable evidence that some of the best thrillers are set in the extreme landscapes of our far north.
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Continue reading Jar City
A film like this needs powerhouse performances, but these two are just bland. As it is, the most interesting characters are the ones on the edge of proceedings.
Rating: 
Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Cactus
The film is immaculately constructed – the editing, cinematography and score blend seamlessly together. The story isn’t original or particularly confronting, but it’s a solid concept with strong performances.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Deception
For once, the writers get much of the technology and language of this world correct – more accurately, the use of terminology and the interaction between the online and real worlds are plausible, if not actually likely. Several improbabilities remain, but for the most part the writers are spot on and the actors don’t sound ridiculous using terms best known to geeks.
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Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Untraceable
The washed-out blacks, greys and blues may be on the verge of becoming passe for this kind of feature, but in Chrysalis they are used to brilliant advantage. Paris becomes a nether world that leaves no-one unaffected by its malaise.
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Continue reading Chrysalis
The twists are between mediocre and non-existent, and whilst I enjoyed the repetitious nature of the film (always rewinding to follow a different character through the same 20 minutes or so), the audience groaned every time the clock appeared on the screen, heralding midday and the start of another retelling.
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The conceit is that the audience is shown the proceedings from one point of view, and then the film winds back 23 minutes to start again from another character’s viewpoint. For the most part this actually works, with each vignette adequately covering old ground while still seeming fresh due to the new information presented.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Vantage Point
The sex scenes are fairly graphic, but didn’t feel overly gratuitous. The almost sadistic nature of them is more than a little disturbing, however, as the sex is often initiated through acts of violence.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading Lust, Caution
That American Gangster is based on a true story should not give it license to be so unwieldy, and while the performances of both Washington and Crowe are especially good, their leading turns cannot make up for several problems with deciding what is in- and excluded from this portrayal of street life in the 70s.
Rating: Hoopla Factor: Continue reading American Gangster