Maria Bello

After being thrilled by Jonathan Blakeson’s excellent “The Disappearance of Alice Creed” I was intrigued to see how he dealt with an alien invasion movie with a slightly bigger budget and a cast of young upcoming Hollywood – sadly The 5th Wave was not what I hoped for, it lacked the grittiness, the devil of similar movies in its genre, the movie lacked energy and I felt considering it’s storyline was nowhere near dark enough – at times it felt like I was watching a really tame TV movie – the undoubted talents of Chloë Grace Moretz and Maika Monroe were wasted, with the latter being very underused having little screen time of which is a real shame as she steals every scene she’s part of – Overall as movies go The 5th Wave is a pretty average affair, it’s predictable, add’s nothing new to the apocalyptic world style of movie and most of all the reveal of the actual threat to earth is such a big let down – the film is watchable but only just ★★★

Prisoners (2013) – Movie Review ★★★★½

Stars Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Paul Dano, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo & Viola Davis – Keller Dover (Jackman) take his family over to his neighbors the Birch’s (Howard & Davis) to celebrate Thanksgiving, after dinner the families young daughters go out playing and as time ticks by it becomes apparent that the girls have gone missing – after calling the police a frantic search gets underway, but there’s still no sign of the two girls – Keller suspects a local simpleton who drives an RV & was last seen in the area where the girls disappeared, he doesn’t see much progress being made by Loki a police detective played by Gyllenhaal who’s on the case so decides to takes matters into his own hands VERDICT boy that was intense! a tough subject matter to portray on film and one that pulls at the heartstrings as you watch the parents struggle to come to terms with their daughters disappearance & the emotions they must be feeling at times making it difficult viewing – all credit to the cast and crew of making Prisoners such an engaging film experience. I really felt for all the characters from Hugh Jackman’s religious father who takes the law into his own hands, Paul Dano’s superb portrayal of the accused and Jake Gyllenhaal who is outstanding as Loki the officer trying to solve the case – the film’s location also deserves a mention, it’s dreariness, wet and darkly lit streets and the interior camera work of the houses that are seen throughout the picture lend to the overall tension that’s slowly building from movies opening scenes – overall this is an edge of the seat thriller, that will grind your fingernails to a pulp, it’s truly heart in the mouth stuff and one that you should not be missed on the big screen….