Hanna, Attack the Block and Never Let Me Go

Mix a young female Jason Bourne with a fairytale thriller, put on a soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers, and you have Hanna, an original take on the action assassin genre. But it is all a bit of a mess. Joe Wright is a clever director, and many of the scenes work well. But taken together they defie logic. It would have helped to have the basis of the plot explained aroung halfway instead of waiting until the silly ending. Saoirse Ronan is excellent as Hanna, as are Olivia Williams and Jason Flemyng as the hippie parents who take her under their wing. But what is Tom Hollander doing as one of the villains. He must have been instructed to camp it up.

After watching the trailers for Attack the Block, I couldn't wait to see the movie. The concept of aliens landing on a South London housing estate was just too good to be true. The leader of a teenage gang of hoodies unwittingly kills a young alien. Big mistake. It's not long before the hideous creature's friends are up for revenge. This makes for a brilliant comedy horror from writer-director Joe Cornish. He has a good ear for the slang of our "heroes", and this is well delivered by the young cast. OK, the limitations of the budget makes for a low key spectacle, but the film is none the worse for that. Jodie Whittaker and Nick Frost bring a clever adult counterpoint to the exuberance of the boys. There are a few distinctly irresponsible actions from the gang, but in the end this is a fantasy and they are included for a reason. In my view, a movie that is even better than Shaun of the Dead, and that is saying something. One last memory, the exterior photography of the the lit tower block seeming like a gigantic spacecraft was fabulous.

I had to see Never Let Me Go. One of my favourite books by Kazuo Ishiguro and a story that I knew would be so difficult to replicate on screen. And I have to say that I felt director Mark Romanek failed to find the essence of the novel, but that was probably to be expected. It is quite a harrowing story, and this certainly comes out in the movie. But there is a feeling of happiness and friendship in the book that is missing here. So all we are left with at the end is the sadness of the character's predicament, and the horror of what put them there. I also felt the times at Hailsham and The Cottages were rushed to spend longer with the final section. The acting is very good, Carey Mulligan excellent as our narrator (why do I love narrators in books but can't stand the concept on film), and she is well supported by Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield.