The Visitor

A widowed college professor travels to New York to attend a conference and finds a strange couple living in his apartment.

A simple story that embraces loneliness, sadness, laughter, heartbreak and ultimately frustration. Richard Jenkins portrays Walter, a college professor who has nothing to live for since the death of his wife. When he travels from his home in Connecticut to attend a conference he plans to stay at his New York apartment only to discover two illegal immigrants, Tarek and Zainab, living there. Walter befriends them and slowly discovers a way to bring joy back into his life. But when Tarek is arrested and on the brink of deportation, Walter and Tarek's mother find themselves fighting a cruel immigration system. This is ultimately a heartwarming film that highlights how immigrants are dealt with since 9/11. Although it seems to end quite abruptly, the film makes a point and leaves you with plenty to think about.

4 elephants

The Social Network

In a nutshell - the story of how the social networking website 'Facebook' was found.

Directed by two of our absolute favourites, the brilliant David Fincher (Fight Club) and written by the equally brilliant Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) we didn't expect this movie to fail us and thank goodness, it didn't. It begins in 2003 with a breathless, wordy scene in a noisy bar and, to be honest, we hadn't a clue what was being said because of Jessie Eisenbergs fast paced delivery and the music. Nevertheless we were soon drawn into a story that was totally compelling. Jessie Eisenberg is superb as Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew Garfield as Zuckerberg's best friend, Eduardo Saverin. Although we didn't pay much attention to Saverin at first, by the end of the movie we all felt really sorry for the guy. It is just ironic that Zuckerberg created the world's greatest tool for communicating with people and yet, in reality, he couldn't communicate.

5 elephants

Source Code

When soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an unknown man he discovers he is part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. As part of a government experiment called Source Code he is able to cross over into another man's indentity during the mans last eight minutes of life on the train.

Keen to see this new Duncan Jones movie after the brilliant 'Moon' we experienced a thriller that was both gripping and intelligent. An entertaining puzzle that kept us guessing but wasn't without emotion and a little humour. Some call it Groundhog Day meets Inception. All we know is Duncan Jones didn't disappoint. This movie is brilliant!

5 elephants

Citizen Kane

Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final words.

It was made 70 years ago and by today standards certain aspects are not great, but that's because we are used to seeing great things in movies. But in Citizen Kane everything was, for want of a better word, ground-breaking. Some of the shots are brilliant and the acting is superb.

Still, when we came to watch this movie and comment on it, it was difficult (and not just because each actor seem to speak a thousand words a minute - boy did they talk fast in those days!) because we'd been told, often enough, this was the greatest movie of all time.

It's one of those movies you will enjoy much more when you reflect on what you've experienced. When you consider how old it is, it really is a remarkable piece of movie-making that has truly stood the test of time.

5 elephants

Due Date

Father-to-be Peter Highman (Robert Downey Jnr) is forced to share a car with wannabe actor Ethan Tremblay (Zach Galifiankis) on a road trip back to LA in order to be at the birth of his firstborn.

We all expected this movie to be absolute crap but it was surprisingly funny. Zach Galifianakis is hilarious. There are not many films that truly make us laugh out loud (we're kind of hard to please) but this really did. There were some funny lines that we still keep repeating to each other. Even the way Zach Galifianakis walked was funny. Go see - we command you.

4 elephants

The A-Team

A group of war veterans framed for a crime they didn't commit, try to clear their names.

Great acting, especially by Sharlto Copley as Murdoch, but the movie felt old and tired and uninspiring. Like it had all been done before - which it had.
Franchise format:
1. Come up with basic plot that can be easily understood.
2. Pay a special effects company millions of dollars to come up with a big CGI filled battle scene.
3. Leave the ending ambiguous in case you want to do a sequel.

But, on the other hand, a fun film that you can go see with your mates or kids and don't have to follow intently.
So it isn't all bad. Just a bit boring....

2 elephants