A Year Unlimited

Julia Roberts proving that she really can act and Lucas Hedges proving that be is wise beyond his years, in a sad take on a Mother's need to protect her child against all sound reasoning and at a cost to the rest of her family and potentially her own well-being. Ben is Back  is a lovely film with sadness and risk running throughout it. Told again from a slightly different angle, but with lots of familiar themes and issues. The mistrust when someone has a history of drug use, the desperate need of a parent to protect and understand their child, especially when their behaviour is alien or out of character. The film mostly documents one night in these peoples lives and the dark turns and lengths they go to, and how decisions they make impact upon each other. We will give each film we see a score out of 10 for overall enjoyment. Ben is Back  =  8         No feel good elements which made it hard to enjoy although a very good film. The card...

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...