Every Sunday, Gill delves into his archive of over 800 movie reviews and randomly selects three for your enjoyment! Here are this week’s…
Carriers
This interesting survival thriller is only just over 80 minutes long, and it feels as though it’s missing a few key scenes. There are numerous things to enjoy about it, though, as the four leads all give good performances and the film’s production design and atmosphere are good, and the dramatic situations succeed in having emotional weight. Overall, it’s a good movie, but doesn’t break any new ground and is ultimately over too quickly. Lots of potential is on display, but the film doesn’t really live up to it.
3.25 out of 5
Source Code
A really neat piece of mind-bending science fiction that’s just the right mix of philosophical quandary, mystery and thriller. The premise of the film alone is worth the watch, and the way the plot unfolds is very satisfying. There wasn’t a single moment where I felt bored, and while the ending does falter quite a bit, the film doesn’t suffer for it. This is above-average, intelligent filmmaking – I’m interested to see what director Duncan Jones (whose previous film Moon also had a cyclical narrative) does next.
3.5 out of 5
Super 8
A terrific summer popcorn movie that harkens back to the classic 80’s alien movies made famous by Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment. Anybody who grew up watching movies like E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind will definitely appreciate Super 8‘s nostalgic setting and style, and everything set up in the first act pays off brilliantly over the course of the movie. It’s smart without being preachy, clever without being smug, and if I had seen it when I was thirteen years old, I’d be in love with it. This is what summer blockbuster fare should aspire to be.
4 out of 5
See you next Sunday for three more thrilling short reviews!