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The
Number 23
Cert: 15
Starring: Jim
Carrey, Elisabeth Shue, Virginia Madsen, Danny
Huston
Director: Joel
Schumacher
Running Time: 98
minutes
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Jim
Carrey plays a different part than we are used to seeing him take
in this physiological thriller.
As a local dog-catcher Walter Sparrow (Carrey) is happily going through
his normal routine when his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen) bestows
him with a book for his birthday. With the unusual title “The
Number 23” he is intrigued, and as he begins the novel soon
starts to notice many similarities between his own life and that
of the books main character.
It isn’t long before Sparrow begins to become obsessed, not
just with the book but also the number 23. As he tries to resolve
what is happening to him, his own future and that of his family begins
to come under threat.
There are a number of elements in this movie that give you very mixed
feelings about it all.
While the fantasy type sequences where Carrey is acting out the character
in the book do give a certain amount of atmosphere, they also, at
times begin to make things a little confusing.
As with Jim Carrey, his performance is very watchable, and he manages
the part well, but you still are left with the feeling that he isn’t
quite right for this type of role.
This movie does have a few lively moments, but in all is a little
patchy and never really gets tense or scary enough to do the job. |
The
Good Shepherd
Cert: 15
Starring: Matt
Damon, Robert De Niro, Tammy Blanchard, Angelina
Jolie
Directors: Robert
De Niro
Running
Time: 167
minutes
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‘This
is Robert De Niro’s return to the director’s chair,
with an espionage drama charting the beginnings of the Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA).
This is an historic look at how the Agency began mainly through
the eyes of one man Edward Wilson (Matt Damon). Unlike the
sort of characters we often associate with the spy world, this
is a man who gives very little away.
It begins in 1961, where he is desperately trying to solve
the quandary of who has passed the plans to the enemy, which
caused the failure of the attempted counter-coup against Fidel
Castro.
With a series of ‘flashbacks’ we see how as a young
promising student at Yale he is recruited to join the Skull
and Bones, a brotherhood, which is a breeding ground for future
leaders. With his acute mind and strong values in the American
way of life he is soon ear marked for a career in intelligence.
We follow his progress through the Second World-War and on
to how he is one of the covert founders of the CIA, but what
we are also shown is that it comes with a price. As a veteran
operative a growing suspicious nature begins to take over,
and nothing will divert him from the path of his job, not even
his wife, Clover (Angelina Jolie), or his beloved son.
There is a lot more to the plot of this movie than is written
here. It is well put together and well acted. While you can’t
doubt the research and detail that is shown it is almost a
little too serious. However credible it all seems, it does
make you feel as if the pace of the movie has slowed down,
and you want a little more to happen.
For the people who enjoy watching something that is accurately
portrayed then give it a look, but for those looking to be
purely entertained, at over 2 3/4 hours this may prove a little
long. |
Hot
Fuzz
Cert: 15
Starring: Simon
Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Timothy Dalton
Director: Edgar
Wright
Running
Time: 120
minutes
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PC
Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is London’s new breed of
super cop! In fact to the annoyance of his superiors, he is
that good he is making the rest of them look bad.
Their answer to this is to ship him out to the country to the
sleepy town of Sanford. It’s here he is partnered with
a local country PC, Danny Butterman (Nick frost), where his
biggest problem is trying to find lost swans. Then, in a car
crash a local couple are killed and Angel’s suspicions
are aroused, especially by the local supermarket manager (Timothy
Dalton). It’s then not long before the body count starts
to increase.
After Pegg and Frost had given us their zombie send up “Shaun
of the dead” you were wondering what they would come
up with next. The result was this movie ‘Hot Fuzz’ which
is their British parody of American police action movies.
It does its job quite well and sends up a lot of those classic
scenes that we are now so used to.
The jokes go from the downright silly to the very clever and
back again.
Admittedly the climax is a little slow and one or two jokes
are being used a bit often, but it still remains fun to watch.
(It also contains quite a few familiar faces in small cameos),
so if you want to have a smile then give this movie a go. |
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