P.S. I Love You, Aliens Vs Predator and In the Valley of Elah

It cannot be possible to see three such different movies. A romantic drama, a horror and an intelligent crime drama all in ten days.

The best of the three for me was definitely "P.S. I Love You". Lightweight and trivial it may have been, but I just loved it. Good dialogue and great acting from especially Hilary Swank. Beautifully filmed, well dressed, some nice songs and good locations in New York and Irish countryside. . How could I not be impressed when the penultimate scene was shot at a deserted Yankee Stadium. The critics hated it. Far too commercial.

I thought the first "Aliens Vs Predator" film was pretty good. The latest did not match it, but was entertaining enough for the 90 minutes. Not too much of the monsters, and plenty of action built around the main characters. Could have been better written, but that was not what the film was about.

Now "In the Valley of Elah" was well written, not as bad as Jonathon Ross made out. What else do you expect from Paul Haggis. But what detracted from the screenplay was that the film was far too slow and ponderous. Too many silences punctuated the dialogue. It was said to be a slow burner, too slow for me. There was no pace until the last half hour, by which time it was too late. There was a good story there, and if the film had been cut by half an hour, it might have been great. As it was, it was left to fine acting from Tommy Lee Jones and, remarkably, from Charlize Theron to hold the film together. They nearly pulled it off.