Side Effects, Welcome To The Punch and The Paperboy

Post Oscar season and it's hard to find some decent drama at the movies. All three of these films would have equally been watchable on TV. Side Effects could not decide what it wanted to be. It seemed to be a psychological thriller about prescription drugs but then turns a completely different direction into a crime drama. So although this is an extremely well crafted movie from Steven Soderbergh with impressive performances from Jude Law and Rooney Mara, I felt slightly let down by the story. In fact, we have a typical Hitchcock scenario as our hero gets into deeper and deeper water. There are enough hints along the way that things are not always as they seem, but the plot feels all too elaborate to make a satisfying conclusion.

Welcome To The Punch also tries to be something different, this time a British gangster movie trying to be straight out of Hollywood. It is all there, the frenetic pace, the action, the sets and high production values. And although we have seen the story and screenplay too many times before, it does look glossy and sharp. But what elevates this movie is the cast. James McAvoy, Mark Strong, Andrea Riseborough, David Morrisey and Peter Mullan give it their all. So what could have been the normal bargain bin British crime thriller, is instead something worth seeing.

I had high hopes for The Paperboy, a crime drama set in the American deep south in 1969 was quite intriguing. But what was actually staggering was Nicole Kidman and John Cusack as you have never seen them before, and quite brilliant they were. Cusack is in prison and set for the electric chair, and Kidman is the white trash death row groupie who is trying to get him released and marry him (bad idea). Now throw in a couple of reporters from the Miami Times: Mathew McConaughey returning to his South Florida home town and posh black Englishman David Oyelowo. At the centre of things is McConaughey's younger brother played by Zac Efron, the paperboy (he delivers them), driver and general dogsbody. He immediately falls for Kidman's character, despite every reason not too. So what is a really good set up is marred by poor story development. It seems to wander all over the place. Which is a shame, as the acting is first rate, and the characters full of promise. There are perhaps too many strands for the film to work. There is the racial aspect which only surfaces occasionally. Then there is the family drama of the two brothers and their father who is getting married again. But if nothing else, we shall never forget Kidman and Cusack. There could have been a completely wild and different movie here.