Greengrass and DP Barry Ackroyd have recreated a tremendously authentic Iraq; the numerous wide shots are simply splendid, assumingly using understated CGI to give it a gritty, war-torn atmosphere. When in close quarters the resonant sound design – punching gunfire, scratchy voices over the comms, thumping footsteps, humming of distant helicopters – that accompanies the intense set pieces add an additional level of immersion that’ll have you on the edge of your seat. The action itself is of the same high standard we have come to expect from Greengrass: fast, hard-hitting, unrelenting, genuine and exhilarating. Whether on foot or on wheels, Greengrass has a deft touch for creating suspenseful and convincing sequences that feel exactly like they would if occurring in real life.

If the story strikes you as slightly idealistic – all characters here are depicted as a clear cut good or bad, no ambiguity at all – that’s because it is. The protagonist Miller is the main focus of the piece and as such is given that extra profundity not afforded to the others and Damon reliably makes the most of this, delivering yet another solid performance. The rest of the cast are chiefly one-dimensional, but let’s face it, how much more fun is it when the hero screws over the political scoundrel or the haughty Special Forces Captain when we know without doubt they’re bad people? It’s credit to the seasoned talent of Isaacs, Gleeson and Kinnear that they provide entertaining caricatures that sneer, growl and smarm all in the right places.

David charms his way into Jenny’s life and the lives of her parents with real ease.  Introducing the young schoolgirl to a brighter world away from her books including classical concerts, dinner parties, art and a trip to her beloved Paris.  Jenny begins to question what the point of her obtaining a school education when the real world provides her with so much more.

As the film unfolds a darker side to David’s character begins to show and it becomes clear that everything is going end in tears but the bright young girl from the film has gone and is now fixated by a lifestyle and nothing else.

The storyline was a little predictable and for me it could have ended with a little more bite.  It was maybe missing that final twist at the end to make this a contender for ones of the years top films. That said An Education is really something worth checking out.

When I watched the trailer I thought this was going to be a comedy but there was much more drama in there than I was expecting (not necessarily a bad ting of course.)  I enjoyed the tone of the humor, it was quite dry but which I like and thought John Krasinski was fantastic as Burt Farlander. I’ve not seen much of before Maya Rudolph but thought so gave a great performance and I’ll keep an eye on her future work.

The plot centers around a slightly eccentric couple traveling across America trying to find an ideal place to raise their unborn child.  Their travels bring them to Phoenix, Madison, Miami, and Montreal.  As their travels unfold it becomes clear to Burt & Verona that finding the ideal location to raise their child is solely based on the location alone.

As they move from location to location their encounters with friends and family fluctuate between quirky (Phoenix) to bizarre (Madison) to genuinely touching (Miami & Montreal.)

All in all it is a decent movie. It won’t feature in my top 5 movies of 2009 or anything but was a worthwhile watch.

Julia Child (Meryl Streep), the famous chef (although I can’t say I know too much about her), finds herself living in diplomatic splendor in France in 1949 when her husband (Stanley Tucci) is sent there on a government posting. Julie, who is a frustrated writer and unhappy cubicle bod, decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” cookbook and blog about the experience.

But that overview barely scratches the surface of the story. Both women endure joy and pain, successes and setbacks. And with scenes that alternate and twine between the two disparate lives, we come to see the parallels that Julie does between her and Julia for ourselves.

This may be the only movie ever based simultaneously on two true stories. The real Julie Powell really did do that cooking and write that blog (and eventually a book). The real Julia Child did write an autobiography and a cookbook that serve as references for the other half of the film. Fortunately for us, both stories are interesting in and of themselves, and the combination is very, very good indeed.

I was as much prepared to dislike Julie & Julia as to like it. What surprised me was just how very much I did like it.  I’d recommend it with no reservations whatsoever although I think I really would not have enjoyed this movie as much a few years ago.

Julia Child (Meryl Streep), the famous chef (although I can’t say I know too much about her), finds herself living in diplomatic splendor in France in 1949 when her husband (Stanley Tucci) is sent there on a government posting. Julie, who is a frustrated writer and unhappy cubicle bod, decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” cookbook and blog about the experience.

But that overview barely scratches the surface of the story. Both women endure joy and pain, successes and setbacks. And with scenes that alternate and twine between the two disparate lives, we come to see the parallels that Julie does between her and Julia for ourselves.

This may be the only movie ever based simultaneously on two true stories. The real Julie Powell really did do that cooking and write that blog (and eventually a book). The real Julia Child did write an autobiography and a cookbook that serve as references for the other half of the film. Fortunately for us, both stories are interesting in and of themselves, and the combination is very, very good indeed.

I was as much prepared to dislike Julie & Julia as to like it. What surprised me was just how very much I did like it.  I’d recommend it with no reservations whatsoever although I think I really would not have enjoyed this movie as much a few years ago.

The romance centers on Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). Tom bores himself to death writing greeting cards when his true passion lies in architecture, and Summer is the boss’ new assistant. Tom falls for her the minute he sees her, and our 500 days have begun.

The irony of this relationship is that Tom and Summer are truly opposites. Tom believes in love and fate. He hasn’t been very successful in relationships, but he is not discouraged because he is waiting for “the one”. On the other hand, Summer believes that true love is a myth. In fact, she doesn’t even know what love means.

At the outset, Summer is clear with Tom that she just wants to be good friends. Reluctantly, Tom goes along with this, not because he agrees with her, but because he thinks he will be able to change her over time. This blossoming romance is presented in non-chronological order, jumping to and from all points in their relationship.

The non-chronological presentation is not the only thing that sets this film apart from your average romantic comedy. The script, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, successful combines both the comedic and dramatic moments. It achieves one of the hardest things for a script to do: to be funny and heartbreaking at the same time. In addition, director Marc Webb, in his feature film debut, shows that he can do more than tell a good story. He uses a variety of creativity to tell the tale, including split-screens, but it is all controlled. He doesn’t go over the top and the movie benefits from its 95 minute running time. It is the perfect length to tell a story that bounces around a lot.

And then there is the acting. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are perfectly cast in this movie and their chemistry is truly genuine. Deschanel has already established herself as a solid actress, and she takes another step forward here. She plays Summer perfectly as a woman who doesn’t really want anything more than to just go with the flow. We sense in some scenes with Tom that she is capable of being vulnerable and committed to the relationship, but that side of her is never brought out. On the other side, Gordon-Levitt is not yet a household name, although he is sure to be there soon. He gives another solid performance in this movie, in a role that requires a variety of emotions, from dancing with a cartoon bird, to smashing plates on his kitchen counter. He has an incredibly bright future ahead of him, and he is probably licking his chops after landing a role in the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie, Inception.

To find any criticism in the movie, I would say that the narration and the opening credits sequence are a bit quirky and unnecessary. The narration is fine for the opening scene, but as it continues throughout the movie, I didn’t really see its purpose. As for the credits sequence, which features childhood photos of Tom and Summer, I just found it completely weird. It’s not as if they knew each other when they were children, and this movie isn’t supposed to be a true love story, so seeing their childhood photographs just didn’t do anything for me.

However, these are minor faults, and the film is still completely worth seeing. From top to bottom, from the acting to the script, it’s one of the most charming films of the summer. For anyone who appreciates originality, 500 Days of Summer is definitely a must-see.

The movie is broken up into five chapters and for the whole two and a half hour running time, I never took my eyes off the screen. Not during the brutal violence, the bloody climax or the scenes of teeth-cringing suspense. This is a filmmaker that knows how to get an audience’s attention and keep it for the entire film.

The movie’s brilliant opening scene introduces the memorable character Hans “The Jew Hunter” Landa, played with so many emotions by the relatively unknown Austrian actor Christoph Waltz. In this first chapter, Landa enters the home of a dairy farmer named Perrier LaPadite and conducts a subtle interrogation that eventually gets the job done. He finds the Jews and takes them out…but one, named Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), escapes.

In the second chapter, we are greeted with a long, expertly-written harangue delivered by the audacious and hysterical Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Pitt is assembling a team of Jewish American soldiers whose mission is to scalp as many Nazis as possible. In fact, Raine actually demands 100 Nazi scalps from each member of the squad. Needless to say, they pass the test with flying colors. Arguably the most outrageous member of the crew, besides Raine, is Sgt. Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth), better known as “The Bear Jew”. He spends his days beating Nazi soldiers to death with a bat. And they all love it.

After we meet the Basterds, we find Shosanna a couple years later, now living under the name of Emmanuelle Mimieux, as the owner and operator of a cinema which has been chosen by her somewhat stalker friend Frederick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) to premiere a feature film titled A Nation’s Pride, which chronicles Zoller’s unbelievable experience of killing 300 enemy soldiers by himself over the course of three days.

There are many more characters to meet in this film, such as the German actress, double agent named Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender), and Hugo Stiglitz, played by Til Schweiger. It would take too much to explain all of these stories in this short review, and you might seem lost already, but in this film Tarantino weaves this story as good as any story he’s written before. Everything comes together beautifully and it is perfectly entertaining throughout.

Tarantino writes this film in an alternate history of World War II, which gives him complete freedom, and it certainly pays off. He doesn’t want this to be “just another WWII film.” He is creating a clever and completely original experience of a topic that has been filmed what seems like over a million times.

The performances that Tarantino gets in this film are all stunning. Even the actors that are in the movie for only one or two scenes create characters that are fully memorable, which is also credit to the script. Waltz’s performance is undoubtedly the stand-out, not only because Waltz is terrific, but also because he is the most fascinating character on the page as well. The writer-director created a character that needed a big-time performer, and Waltz delivers. He turns in a performance that is hilarious, frightening, devilishly cunning, and it will certainly not be forgotten come Award season. Brad Pitt’s performance is also very well done. Even though his character basically only hits one note the entire film, he manages to make every note funny and entertaining.

This is a film that has Tarantino written all over it. In some parts, you will be repulsed by the graphic violence, and in others, entranced in the dialogue that is absolute genius. From top to bottom, it is the best experience I’ve had at the theater the whole year. Sure, it’s a little too long and a little too violent in places. But, who really cares? I am judging the movie as a whole, and it is undoubtedly four- star experience. And sometimes a four-star experience is better and more refreshing than a four-star film.

This is Greg Mottola’s next film after his breakout hit “Superbad,” and audiences are likely to draw comparisons. I can tell you the general consensus: “Superbad” this is not. I’ll admit that Superbad also had a rather formulaic premise, but something in the execution of that film puts it a few hefty steps ahead of this one.

The acting, while good but does not have the charisma of the Michael Cera & Jonah Hill duo. Nor is the romance completely fresh: despite good actors and realistic portrayals, it seems to fall into some of the old genre favorites–the inevitable fight followed by the inevitable reunion.

That said I did enjoy the film. It’s good for laughs and a bit of the old feel-good familiarity in which we all like to indulge once in a while. Oh the 80s soundtrack is pretty cool too!

The first part of the film obviously introduced the main character (Eric Bana), his condition, and the love interest. This was done very cleverly, as she had known him for many years, but it was the first time he had met her. This is because it was an older version of him that travelled back to her childhood and earlier years. This broken timeline continues throughout the whole film, meaning that it could have easily been an incoherent muddle, but the director has controlled things carefully; sometimes following the traveller’s timeline, so everyone around him changes age suddenly; sometimes following everyone else’s timeline, so the traveller appears to suddenly age/become younger.

The plot was kept on a low level; no one has to save the world in this film; it’s just about a couple trying to live a normal life given the bizarre condition the husband has. The time travelling is played to various effects throughout the story; there are a few scenes of comedy, some extremely touching emotional scenes and some genuine shocks. A fair few plot twists come as a surprise, at times drastically changing the tone of the movie, but never coming across as contrived. While there is little to no action, the characters are certainly interesting enough to keep you in this movie, the cast played their parts perfectly; most importantly and everyone acts realistically which really adds to things.

The first part of the film obviously introduced the main character (Eric Bana), his condition, and the love interest. This was done very cleverly, as she had known him for many years, but it was the first time he had met her. This is because it was an older version of him that travelled back to her childhood and earlier years. This broken timeline continues throughout the whole film, meaning that it could have easily been an incoherent muddle, but the director has controlled things carefully; sometimes following the traveller’s timeline, so everyone around him changes age suddenly; sometimes following everyone else’s timeline, so the traveller appears to suddenly age/become younger.

The plot was kept on a low level; no one has to save the world in this film; it’s just about a couple trying to live a normal life given the bizarre condition the husband has. The time travelling is played to various effects throughout the story; there are a few scenes of comedy, some extremely touching emotional scenes and some genuine shocks. A fair few plot twists come as a surprise, at times drastically changing the tone of the movie, but never coming across as contrived. While there is little to no action, the characters are certainly interesting enough to keep you in this movie, the cast played their parts perfectly; most importantly and everyone acts realistically which really adds to things.