"Trance"

A new thriller from Director Danny Boyle, fresh from his massive success as Director of the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.
Simon works in an Art Gallery, as an auctioneer. And his form of employment could possibly help with a little problem that he has...a problem with a certain gambling debt, which is spiralling out of control. In order to clear his money worries, he goes to a Crook, Frank, where Simon can have his money troubles sorted, and Frank gains access to a rather expensive painting.

The painting in question is a rare piece, and is expected to sell for £25 million. With everything synchronized, all goes to plan, the heist takes place, the staff secure the painting, and transfer to a secure drop box, only it will be intercepted by Frank.
All goes swimmingly, til Frank gets the painting home and discovers an empty frame. Understandably he is a little annoyed by this. To make matters worse, during the interception he had to hit Simon on the head with his rifle, and Simon is now suffering from a rather unfortunate bout of amnesia, and has no idea where the he has hidden the painting.

Medical opinion is that no medicine can return the memory loss, and it may take considerable time, but another option is hypnosis. So they find a hypnosis expert, who they hope can retrieve the information they need and get back the painting.
There is very little involvement from the Police in the film, they either believe that the painting is long gone, and will not be recovered, and that it possibly may even be an inside job involving the Gallery manager, but none of that is really pursued.
Ultimately the film looks what unravels once Simon is in the Doctor's chair. What is real and what is in his mind. The strands of the story start to merge together as more is revealed. Did Simon outsmart the crooks? Will he survive to enjoy the painting? Is there a connection between the therapist and Frank?  Do we really care?

After an engaging start, the film soon descends into a murky mess of confusion. All the lead characters have no redeeming qualities, which makes you not care about them, and ultimately the film drags. The film also has a rather bizarre ending...which I will not spoil here.
The film is well photographed, as one has come to expect from Director Boyle, and another of his trademarks is a well composed score, and again here he delivers, but sadly they are about the only two fields where I can compliment.

One of shining examples of British acting, James McAvoy is now on his second film in a row that has failed to be worthy of both my time and money (the other being "Welcome to the Punch"), and hope that he can regain the kind of high quality films that he deserves.  Vincent Cassel is ok as French crook Frank.

Started well, but the film soon put me into a trance......5 out of 10

"Olympus Has Fallen"

Mike Banning is a Secret Service Agent, who has faithfully stood by the side of his President. But during routine escort duty, an accident occurs, which results in a personal tragedy for the President. We then jump forward 18 months, the President still struggles to deal with his loss, and Mike now finds himself working in the Treasury Department, unable to work at the Commander In Chief's side, as it would serve as a permanent reminder of what had gone before.

Now this next part of the plot will sound really far fetched, and could not possibly happen in real life. It would seem that there are tensions between North and South Korea, and The Americans have created a buffer zone, a demilitarized area where they have troops to avoid anything kicking off. I mean come on, as if that could ever happen???
Anyway, tensions are on the increase, and the Prime Minister of South Korea has arrived in the US for a meeting. Except he is not alone.

For starters a large plane wages its own war on the good people of Washington DC, and makes a mess of the Washington Memorial. Then various vehicles attack the city also, and entry is gained to the White House both outside and within. The President is housed in a secure bunker, along with the Vice President, Chief of Staff, the South Korean Official and his chief of staff, who is also one of the most wanted terrorists in the World.
Kang, the Korean terrorist, has one simple aim, to lay waste not only Washington but to the whole of the United States of America. As they sit in a bullet riddled White House, he plans to obtain the codes for a weapon system called Cerberus, which when activated will see every nuclear missile in America detonated, leaving the country a vast waste land.

The Secret Service have all but been killed, there is no way to gain entry to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and there is a gun pointing at the President's head......is there any hope?
You bet your bottom dollar that there is. Banning, upon hearing the initial commotion, has managed to gain entry into the White House, and his near impossible task is to deal with the terrorists, locate and rescue the President's Son, who is roaming loose, and also rescue President Asher. But Banning is the best at what he does, and would make Liam Neeson look like a Boy Scout, and that is no small task.

Right from the off, you are on a non stop action ride, which delivers both knuckle whitening action, with a compelling story. The opening nicely sets up the story of the relationship between Banning and President Asher.
The initial attack on Washington is brilliantly staged, you dare not blink for missing a frame of the action, as it unfolds on screen.
There is then the mexican stand off between the Armed Forces and the terrorists, and again this makes for compelling viewing. It all builds beautifully to the inevitable climax.

Director Antoine Fuqua really provides top notch direction, the action comes thick and fast from every direction. He has assembled an all star cast, with the likes of Angela Bassett and Robert Forster manning the Operations Centre, to Aaron Eckhart as The President, plus the always reliable Morgan Freeman as The Speaker of the House. There is a wonderful scene where Speaker Trumbull gives one of the Generals a right bollocking. And of course there is the one man army that is Gerard Butler as Mike Banning. He does a credible job in the role, and clearly this is someone you do not want to mess with, and it is great fun seeing him kick the what not out of the terrorists.

It is especially nice to see Rick Yune as Kang, in that when he is on screen, if he has a gun to someones head, you really do wonder if his target will survive, as Kang has no redeeming qualities, and will kill without a second of hesitation.

I have been looking forward to this film for some time, and for fans who enjoy this, there is a similar film coming out later in the year, which sees Channing Tatum as a Police Officer dealing with terrorists in "White House Down", another action packed all star affair.

Needless to say I enjoyed it immensely, great fun, action coming thick and fast, and all round fantastic movie.......8 out of 10.

"Oblivion"

The distant future.....the Moon was attacked, left in ruins, thus leading to cataclysmic effects on Earth. But the suffering does not end there. Our planet is attacked, War rages, we win, but the price we pay is too high, Earth is uninhabitable. The remainder of the population are taken to Titan one of the moons of Saturn, going to start a new life.

But there are still those who seek to inflict further harm to Earth, they are called Scav's.
Large energy units called Hydro Rigs convert the sea water into energy, and protecting them from attack are Drone units, and looking after them is Jack Harper and Victoria, a team of two who work on maintaining the Drones, Victoria working from their shared workstation, and Jack out on the open road as it were, doing the maintenance, and dealing with any problems with Scav's, and of course they are in constant contact with a main ship which is in constant orbit near Earth.

But on a routine inspection, Jack is captured by a band of Scav's, except all is not as it seems. For they are actually humans, like Jack and Victoria. And Jack is told of what has really happened on Earth these last few decades....but who does he believe?  His trusted team on the Mother ship, or Beech, the head of the Scavengers?  Which ever way he goes, life will never be quite the same on Earth again.

The premise is interesting, not totally new, there are shades of other filsm in there, from "Aliens" to "The Omega Man", and several others, and it would be the latter of the two films where the greatest similarity lies, lone people defending a desolate Earth from a band of scavengers.
The main thing with a film of that nature, whether it be "The Omega Man" or its recent remake "I Am Legend", to have a film dominated by pretty much one or two characters, the film has to be engaging, and sadly this new Cruise film does not deliver in that area. It lacks any major tension, it is literally the two of them working towards fixing non-functioning drones. Oooh how exciting.

Although the film may feel like it drags because of the lack of any drive in the story, it is saved by some great photography, stunning visual effects, and an awesome soundtrack, one which I shall soon be buying, it is that good, and is composed by M83. No, I haven't heard of them / him / her either.
The combination of the three combined makes for a film that is entertaining to look at, and yes it does compensate.
The film does pull it back in the third act. It may seem all nice, neat and tidy, but when the story started to come together, and when you see the bigger picture, and all becomes clear, and your enjoyment is enhanced.

Had there been more substance in the opening two acts, this could have gone down as a truly great sci-fi film, as it is the film is good, and many will enjoy it.
Jospeh Kosinski has proved his worth, and followed on from the visual triumph that was "Tron Legacy" with another visually jaw dropping movie. Definitely a talent to watch.
For a man of 50, Mr. Cruise shows no sign of slowing down, and he gives a nice performance, as does Andrea Riseborough. And it goes without saying that Morgan Freeman is always worth the price of admission, no matter what he is appearing in.

Good, could have been great, but visually it will amaze........7 out of 10.