Films of February - Part 1

Hyde Park on Hudson ***

Bill Murray puts in an enjoyable performance of the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in this story of when The King and Queen of England visited the President at Hyde Park. However, unlike Daniel Day Lewis' magnificent performance of another President, Lincoln, all I saw with Bill Murray's performance was Bill Murray...

This is a predominantly lighthearted film which unveils a true story that had been unknown for decades until Daisy's (Laura Linney) secret letters were found after her death.


Flight ****

Denzel Washington deserves his Best Actor nomination in this powerful performance of an alcoholic pilot, who comes under heavy fire when alcohol is found in his system after the plane he is piloting crashes. Whip Whitaker (Washington) is a character you can't help but like, even though he's a selfish alcoholic in denial. Flight is one of the best films of the month.



Zero Dark Thirty ***

It was always going to be intriguing to see how Zero Dark Thirty played out, especially with Bin Laden being killed in real life. So this had to be the ending for the film but without making it some sort of God bless America situation. Although this is a good film, well acted, tense and a true story based on real events, there's a annoying sense of generic familiarity to it.

Jessica Chastain plays the hardened female character who is career obsessed and has no personal life, while also not being afraid to swear at and argue with people in authority to her. This has been done a thousand times and in my opinion was an error by the director.



I Give it a Year ***

It was nice to go see a romantic comedy that was a bit different from the usual tripe. Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) get married after 7 months and their marriage is a struggle as they begin to realise that they are not meant to be together. As the viewer you are actually hoping for the couple not to end up together, which made it different. There was a lot of humour too and this is a very good Couple's comedy.