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Nothing But the Truth

May 9, 2013
Film Reviews
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Nothing But the Truth Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Vera Farmiga, Angela Bassett, Alan Alda, David Schwimmer, Noah Wyle, Floyd Abrams, Preston Bailey, Rod Lurie

Nothing But the Truth: after outing a covert CIA agent, a journalist is given the choice to either reveal her source or do time in jail. The film is completely hinged on the decision to put either free speech or national security first; presenting both sides of the argument in great detail, and very fairly – however the film makes you think about it, and decide for yourself. The story is topped off with a fantastic ending that wraps up the film neatly and explains certain decisions and convictions held throughout the movie. It’s also got quite the cast: Kate Beckinsale lures you in for the duration, Matt Dillon is great as the prosecuting hot-shot, Vera Varmiga is very believable… but everyone is outshone by Alan Alda who acts his socks off in what few scenes he has – he’s truly captivating. There’s no frills, no fancy tricks, no cheesy direction, no mood music, which make it all seem very realistic, especially coupled with the solid characters and fine acting. Like Season 5 of The Wire / State of Play there’s a nice insight into the grind of a journalist, and some of the loopholes / technicalities they need to watch out for. Nothing But the Truth presents you with a sensitive political dilemna, and lets you deal with it – a very effective, intelligent ‘thought-provoking’ political drama.

Score: 7.5/10

“A man can live a good life, be honorable, give to charity, but in the end, the number of people who come to his funeral is generally dependent on the weather.”

Safe House

March 6, 2012
Film Reviews
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Safe House: a neglected CIA rookie sees a chance to prove himself when his safe house is attacked and he’s left to protect & contain a notorious rogue agent. Both Denzel and Reynolds are on good form, although neither’s particularly stretched given what they can do, it’s definitely easy money. In saying that, having these two does mean the characters are a bit deeper than standard action stars would be. The focus here is on straight-up, balls-to-the-wall action – about 1/2 the runtime is chase, shootout or fighting scenes, which makes for some great popcorn gawking. There are a couple of ultra-shaky cam moments where they’d have been better drawing black and white stick men hitting each other, but for the most part the action’s alright to follow. Unfortunately, this doesn’t put much thought on the plot, the story is the definition of unambitious and you can predict everything from the initial set up, right down to the final scene. Safe House may not be a particularly engaging or deep movie: “Post Bourne entry political thriller” just about sums this up, but with its eyes firmly fixed on the CrashBangWallop, it delivers ample in this department.

Score: 7/10

Up In The Air

January 21, 2010
Film Reviews
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Up In The Air: focuses on ‘lonely’ a guy who spends +320 days a year flying all over the ‘States with his company – that specialise in firing people. It seemed to have two contemporary themes: firstly it’s a critique of the direction that society’s heading in; social capital decreasing and technology making interaction easier but more impersonal. It didn’t seem to be overly for or against it the lifestyle, just a balanced account – which was quite refreshing. The second theme was that it also depicts both sides of recession-hit America: illustrating that companies can cash in on the misfortune, negated with the the ‘your fired’ scenes, which hit home pretty hard as it’s everyone’s worst nightmare. It’s pitched as a quirky comedy, but there aren’t many laughs – in saying that, you won’t be disappointed because it’s a tour-de-force in the drama department – very believable, humane and the last section is superb. It takes a while to really get going as the time’s used for adding remarkable depth to Clooney’s character – in general the entire cast notch out top-drawer performances. Some of the camerawork was suspect as it jumped from ultra-slick to shaky amateur cam. Slick film, great story and I think this should be mandatory viewing for all ‘career’ people!

Score: 7.5/10