Zero Dark Thirty, Flight and Warm Bodies

Three very different movies, but the best trio I have seen for some while. Zero Dark Thirty is not a happy movie. The hunt for OBL is an uncomfortable experience. I felt very nervous all the way through, although we all know what happened in the end. But it is film making of the highest quality, and what we have now come to expect from director Katherine Bigelow. Why she misses out on an Oscar nomination is quite absurd. The acting is very good, led by the excellent Jessica Chastain. The location  photography is mesmerising, almost documentary in feel. However there are times when the dialogue is hard to hear, but that is the only fault. The first half's dispiriting failures of the hunt is more than compensated for the second's gripping denouement. It was interesting to see late on the unexpected arrival of British actors Mark Strong, Stephen Dillane and, amazingly, John Barrowman. And the reminder that the Pakistan military academy was less than a mile away!

I thought Flight was an outstanding movie, in no small part due to Denzel Washington in the lead role of an alchoholic in so much denial, he still thinks he is fit to pilot a passenger jet. His role as Whip Whitaker has led to an Oscar nomination for best actor, and I have not seen a better performance, including DDL. John Gatins has written a superb original screenplay and will push Quentin Tarantino close for the Oscar. Robert Zemeckis directs his first live action movie since 2000, and has lost none of his brilliance for manipulating our emotions. His opening sequence of the crash is spectacularly gripping, but is no contest for the presentation of an alchoholic's destructive nature. Awesome.

Almost as good was Warm Bodies. This was a highly original, sometimes extremely funny and touching, Rom-Com-Zom. It starts with our narrator (wait for it), a zombie young guy, moaning about being one of the undead. Yes, you know I dont like narrators, but this one is so witty and likeable. He cannot speak, so we hear what is in his head. The opening sequence in an airport full of zombies is really funny. I will never forget the zombie security gate guard. But our hero's relationship with a human young woman makes for a wonderful story. When he is getting to know her, he tells himself not to be so creepy. As if being a zombie is not creepy enough. Jonathon Levine has done a great job adapting the novel by Isaac Marion and directs with style and gusto. Promises well for the future. The acting is OK. Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer as the star crossed lovers (look out for a balcony) are quite adequate. The soundtrack is the icing on the cake. John Waite, Guns and Roses, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan (Shelter From The Storm - terrific) Roy Orbison and The National and others. Films like the last two is what I love about the cinema.