A Year Unlimited

What They Had offered stellar performances from an experienced cast. Hilary Swank acted with her usual understated competence and it was easy to relate to the characters as there was evident on-screen chemistry between herself and her brother played perfectly by Michael Shannon. The sibling relationship was highly believable and their parents relationship was beautiful, with some really touching and tender moments. The story follows a family facing difficult life decisions and encourages you to consider the impact that their respective decisions will have on them individually and within the wider context of the family. It was slow paced but kept you interested, and was unpredictable and thought provoking. Each relationship was examined in its own way, and whilst it was sad it wasn't depressingly so. We have had several discussions about this film since we saw it, and we often find a different angle to discuss. We both enjoyed it, and the performances, and it certainly had s...

Fighting with the Family was an enjoyable and entertaining watch and it was nice to see something different. It told the story of a simple family who are all heavily into wrestling. So much so that they wrestle as a family, at local events. It was very funny and we would both watch it again.....however, it was a tad naff. It felt quite amateur and unpolished and the acting wasn't great, although Nick Frost and Vince Vaughn were the exception to the rule. The story felt contrived, although it was true, and the back story of the brother who was left behind despite his determination and hard work, was just as interesting as the main action. It was refreshingly unpredictable and the smaller character parts were superb, and endearing, and the closing credits bind the whole film together beautifully. We will give each film we see a score out of 10 for overall enjoyment. Fighting with My Family  =  6        (see above) The card we have is £17.90...

The private war in the title obviously refers to much more than the war zones that our lead character finds herself in. Marie Colvin was evidently fighting demons of her own, and these increased given her chosen profession and insistence on being involved in conflicts, from a journalistic perspective, that forced her to take risks and endanger her own life on several occasions.  The film led us to believe that she may have endangered other peoples lives also, in search of the 'truth' or the 'story'. A Private War was a difficult watch, and from a personal point of view it was very difficult to identify with Marie in any way, which created a distance that was hard to bridge. That said, the role of Marie, played by Rosamund Pike, and that of her colleague Paul Conlan, played by Jamie Dornan, were played with such sensitivity and honesty that there were parts of the film that felt documentary like. Taking away any political thoughts or opinions about this fi...

On the basis of sex....told the tale of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the part she played in raising awareness and the eventual changing of the constitution to give women equality in the judicial world and beyond. It told the story from her home and family perspective and gave credence and respect to the sacrifices she was forced to make in her home life to be able to participate equally within her chosen field of work. The main parts were all well played, but ironically the stand out character was Martin Ginsberg portrayed by actor Armie Hammer. As real life characters there is a responsibility to provide a higher degree of accuracy in your portrayal, and if Martin Ginsberg was half the man we are given to believe he was then he must have been some sort of amazing. The lead role was somewhat formulaic given the history and what is known about the constitutional changes that later occurred, but we didn't know so much about 'Marty', so there was perhaps more room for hi...

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part  was a really good and very funny film. It was great to see the original characters return and hear some familiar catchphrases. The film had the same great animation as the first one and the children thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the adults.  Looking at the negatives (none of which detracted at all from our enjoyment), the story wasn't as strong as the original but we knew that was always going to be the case because it would never have that originality again. It felt more contrived to hit certain targets that coincided with the real life action, and clearly relied much more heavily on songs, although they were super catchy and such great quality that it didn't matter. The whole thing was a real feel good experience, we found it an entertaining watch for any age group, and we are all looking forward to seeing it again in the future. Awesome!  We will give each film we see a score out of 10 for overall enjoyment. The...

Boy Erased offered fine performances by all (even Nicole Kidman) however we felt that it missed an opportunity to explain in more detail about conversion therapy. It very superficially skimmed the surface of the practice but there was more detail in the closing statement than throughout the film, which made it seem just like a religion based cruel environment rather than an established practice. It was a slow and measured film but not at all boring. As is frequently the case with films based around relationships it illustrated the importance of listening to one another and hearing what's being said. One of the reasons it was such an enjoyable watch was the detail and the complexities of the characters who often behaved against type. There are a couple of scenes that are an uncomfortable watch and are completely out of the blue but they are integral to the story. One scene in particular is still disturbing us weeks later and we are not easily shocked. It was refreshing to wa...