Film review: Lion

Off the bat, Lion is a corker of a movie. It’s about of a boy who becomes separated from his family in India and is taken to Tasmania for adoption. After 20 years, he manages to track down the village of his birth through Google Earth (yes, really) and begins a journey to find his lost family.

It’s a true story, and true stories always make the best movies – Lion is no exception. The writing is brilliant, the acting superb (though I wouldn’t expect anything less from Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel), and cinematography was brilliant.

lion.jpg

In fact, there was only one real problem I had with the film, and I’m not sure there’s much they could really have done about.

Continue reading “Film review: Lion”

Film review: Passengers

I was in two minds about seeing this because I wasn’t sure it was going to be my sort of thing. Had a spare evening though, so I thought why not? The good news is that I wasn’t all that disappointed. Yup, it’s an okay film.

Travelling in a huge starship on his way to a new home and a new life, one passenger (played by Chris Pratt) finds himself awoken ninety years too early by a ship malfunction. Another passenger (Jennifer Lawrence) is also woken up, and so the two of them, alone, falling in love, and in a race against time to repair the ship and save the lives of the other five thousand sleeping passengers.

passengers.jpg

Okay, that’s the plot; sounds simple, but I can’t say too much else without giving the whole thing away. Chris Pratt, in a rare non-comedy role is surprisingly good as the distressed mechanic, and Jennifer Lawrence is… well, surprisingly passable as an even-more distressed writer (trust me, she has good reason) facing a life of total isolation. Both of them, however, were in danger of being outclassed by Michael Sheen, even though he was playing an android bartender with a very limited AI and oddly narrow range of movement.

The design of the ship (inside and out) was simply stunning, and the special effects were top notch. I liked the film a lot, but perhaps not as much as I wanted to. Unfortunately, to tell you why I’m going to have to spoil it for you, so do not read any further if you haven’t seen it yet!

Okay?

Are you sure?

Last warning!

Alrighty then…

Continue reading “Film review: Passengers”