The Adjustment Bureau, Fair Game and The Lincoln Lawyer

Three good Hollywood thrillers. Sometimes you have to wait ages for one, and then they all come at once. And with "Limitless" and "Source Code" to come over the next two weeks, I'm making the most of it before the summer blockbusters arrive.

The premise in "The Adjustment Bureau" is quite frankly pretty silly. But it makes for a pleasantly diverting couple of hours watching Matt Damon and Emily Blunt (who are both very good) try to make their relationship work against the wishes of the adjusters. Well scripted by George Nolfi (taking on the same successful format from his screenplays for "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Sentinel") and reworking the original story by Philip K Dick. This is also Nolfi's first attempt at directing and it certainly promises much for the future. There is also a lovely cameo from Terence Stamp. How old is he now?

I'm not a big fan of real life stories, but "Fair Game" worked really well as a political thriller. But then I had little idea of what happened to Valerie Plane and her husband Joe Wilson when the formers cover as a CIA agent was blown. So I guess that was why there was enough to make me quite angry about how the Bush administration lied about WMD even more then Blair did. Naomi Watts held the film together with her fine performance as Valerie, but the same cannot be said for the miscast Sean Penn as Wilson. Jez and John Butterworth have written a terrific screenplay, although director Doug Liman did not really do it justice. Well worth seeing.

Until I saw the movie, I could not quite understand why a standard legal thriller such as "The Lincoln Lawyer" had attracted such good reviews. It turns out that we have a terrific plot, an exciting story well scripted by John Romano from the novel by Michael Connelly, good direction from Brad Furman and most surprisingly, great acting from Mathew McConaughey as the sharp lawyer Mickey Haller. And I never thought I would ever say that. He is well supported from a cast that includes William H Macy and Ryan Phillipe. Plenty of twists as the plot unfolds, and limited violence does the movie credit. The courtroom scenes are not too long and mainly confined to the last third of the film. On the strength of this, I would not be surprised to see a couple more Mickey Haller movies, hopefully with Mathew McConaughey!