Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2013

Olympus Has Fallen

Starring: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo Director: Antoine Fuqua Genre: Action Running time: 120 minutes It is easy to see why a lot of critics hated this film. It is overly patriotic, sometimes rambling, and with quite a few scenes that should have seen the cutting room floor. This said, it is also a lot of fun. Olympus Has Fallen works as a fully-fledged, old-school action movie; predictable of course, but sometimes that is exactly what is wanted when going to see this kind of movie. The plot is basic and easy to follow. Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a secret service agent assigned to protect the President of the United States and his family. In a tragic accident the First Lady is killed and Mike feels responsible. Eighteen months later a terrorist attack leaves the fate of the President and his son in Mike's hands, but will he live up to the challenge? The first and most glaring of its faults is the overly long and lingering shots to emphasise the patrio

Trance

A Neo-noir crime thriller,  Trance is glossy, good looking and has a helter skelter of a plot that will keep most people guessing until the bitter end. Danny Boyle is at his directorial best, with sleek and smooth direction which is a treat. Moving away from the 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire subject matters, Boyle has gone back to his dark roots with a movie which is reminiscent of Shallow Grave with its focus on greed, violence and the underbelly of human nature. Simon (James McAvoy) is an art auctioneer. However, during a robbery at the auction house where he works he is hit on the head and loses his memory. As he recovers he soon realises that he needs to remember where the stolen painting has gone or suffer dire consequences. In a desperate attempt to regain his memory Simon visits a hypnotherapist named Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) in the hopes that she will help him to locate the stolen artwork. What results is a journey into the mind which offers an unreliable narrator wit