The only reason I went to see The Hole in 3D was because it was directed by Joe Dante. It is twenty six years since Gremlins, so letting him loose with a 3D shocker for teens sounded interesting. And it was. With writer Mark L Smith in familiar territory after scripting the scary Vacancy, the movie zips along with good special effects and reasonable dialogue. There are some frights along the way, but none the worse for these being fairly lightweight.
I had put off going to see Made in Dagenham until the last day it was on. A British film about women striking for equal pay did not sound like something I would like. How wrong I was. This is a great emotional rollercoaster, full of lump in the throat moments. Such as when towards the end, Rita (the reluctant leader played by a superb Sally Hawkins) on her way to see the minister, goes to borrow a Biba dress from the bosses wife played by Rosamund Pike. Brilliant. The direction by Nigel Cole is spot on and the opportunity is here for some of our best actors to shine. Geraldine James and Miranda Richardson are wonderful, but it is Rosamund Pike who brings a huge subtlety to her role that is the biggest surprise. The men too are terrific. Bob Hoskins, Kenneth Cranham's awful shop steward and Daniel Rhys Mays as Rita's husband give stand out performances. Watch out for them at the Baftas.
It was half term week, so I decided to pick a movie where any background noise would not be intrusive. Red proved to be a wise choice. Some chatter behind me early on, but quite soon the movie took over and I cannot remember another sound. The plot was pretty thin but the action was pacy enough. The shoot outs were only just tolerable but what made the film was the terrific ensemble acting of Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and a superb hilarious performance from John Malcovich. This was even better than his roles in such movies as Burn After Reading. A good action-comedy.
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