The Hurt Locker

The performances are brilliant, with Jeremy Renner especially standing out as the cocksure bomb-tech Staff Sergeant William James. He manages the bravado of a man used to risking his life as his job with ease, while also completing the out-of-combat sequences with aplomb. This is really his movie, and he has taken charge and delivered.
Rating: 4.5 starsHoopla Factor: 4.0 stars


I keep hearing that its bipartisan nature is to be applauded, but I can’t see how this film is bipartisan at all. It’s basically about a bunch of people slowly going crazy because of the horrid job they do – there was nothing in the film that said what they were doing was worthwhile.
Rating: 4.0 starsHoopla Factor: 4.5 stars Continue reading The Hurt Locker

Valkyrie

It is clear, however, that this is a man who wants to save Germany, rather than save those being murdered by the Nazi regime. He knows that once the Allies close in, there’ll be no hope of reaching a satisfactory truce from Germany’s perspective.
Rating: 4 starsHoopla Factor: 4 stars


Singer moves the film along at pace, ensuring the audience is enthralled with the question ‘what if?’ without really having time to consider its ramifications. The film works as a thriller, mostly when one is able to forget the actuality of this real-life story and be drawn into the hopes of the men involved.
Rating: 3.5 starsHoopla Factor: 3.5 stars Continue reading Valkyrie

Atonement

Ronan is vaguely disquieting in the early scenes, and plays the mixture of innocence and culpability so well the audience is left to wonder if she can really be blamed, in spite of the fact Briony seems to know full well what she is doing.
Rating: 4.0 starsHoopla Factor: 4.0 stars


The score in particular stands out – surely one of the best of the year. Dario Marianelli’s music uses the tapping of Briony’s typewriter to great effect, infusing the early scenes in particular with a sinister sense of urgency.
Rating: 4.0 starsHoopla Factor: 3.5 stars Continue reading Atonement