MrHlad

Rio de Janeiro is full of pissed off drug dealers and gangs, and they must be taken off the streets before the Pope comes to visit. The elite BOPA unit will be happy to do the job. A very impressive and well shot action drama about how life in Brazil is far from idyllic. But this audiovisual and atmospheric banger has a problem with perhaps too radical ideas in the script.

A well done genre work that has everything one expects from a ghost story. But not a jot more.

A very pleasant surprise. Great actors, good action, not nearly as bad a script as I expected and above all a generous portion of directorial ideas. Too bad about the lower budget and thus unimaginative production design and maybe too frantically filmed fights. Anyway, an enjoyably anarchic extravaganza that pulls no punches.

Too bad Peter Hedges isn't as good a director as he is a writer. The likeable story is well acted, realistic, and funny, but fizzles out rather to nothing towards the end. As a screenwriter, though, Hedges has a lot to offer. It just needs to be made by someone more experienced next time.

The very unoriginal and relatively unfunny screenplay is the main reason why Drillbit Taylor is such a mediocre film. Owen Wilson doesn't have much to work with, and the central child trio is about as likeable as leprosy. Still, there are some good jokes. Not enough for a good movie, unfortunately.

Pure average. Everything works as it should. But you won't find anything extra here.

Surprisingly, it has amazing visuals, it's just a shame about the very crappy script. It's not so much that it doesn't stick too closely to historical facts, but rather that it has nothing to offer. Too little plot and the often ridiculous idealization of the main character makes the film stumble pretty bad. But it's quite nice to watch.

It's as if Neil Marshall is making fun of the whole world. He's got a lot more money than he's used to and he's totally off the rails. There's a lot of gloriously uncompromising violence, badass one-liners, and a perfectly cracking atmosphere. It has its charms and you can tell it doesn't take itself seriously at all, but unless you grew up on Escape from New York and watch Mad Max twice a year, it's probably not going to work for you. The editing could be less chaotic.

The first half is very entertaining and the pace Mark Waters sets by the time the protagonists get to town is almost lethal. By the end, however, the script runs out of breath and not even the decent actors, the good music and the above-average direction can save it.

Tommy Lee Jones is searching for his missing son and discovers that the army is not what it used to be. The director of the Oscar-winning Crash delivers a very compelling but quite challenging to watch psychological whodunit about the lengths to which a man will go to find out the truth and the lengths he must go to in order to come to terms with it. Tommy Lee Jones's excellent performance, the impressive cinematography and the smart script make In the Valley of Elah a very good film, although the slow pace may be an insurmountable obstacle for some