Arrival (12A) - Movie Review

A dark movie with a strong storyline, which could have been a run of the mill feature, but for the director, Denis Villeneuve, left the cinemagoer feeling like they were watching something like a documentary, rather than a work of fiction.
Through this atmospheric thriller, there is much sadness due to the early display of the life of the lead character, Dr. Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams.  It’s probably the first time there has been a sci-fi female movie lead, since Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies, or Jodie Foster in ‘Contact’ in 1997.  In fact there are minor similarities in the story to the Oscar nominated movie, ‘Contact’.
The plot of ‘Arrival’ involves aliens hovering in ships over cities all over the world, and is now showing at Athlone IMC.  Louise is an expert linguist, and from her academic teaching job at a university, she is headhunted in X-Files fashion, to help with communications with the aliens, by the US military, and a Col. Weber, played by Forest Whitaker
The tension builds well in the first twenty minutes, but it waned a bit after that for another twenty, until the movie really found its feet.
Jeremy Renner was subdued in his lingual role, where he played Ian, but after watching the whole movie, it will become obvious, why he plays his role as he does.
The difficulty and frustrations of Louise and Ian while communicating with the aliens are acted well by both stars, and the feature never lets up on its dark tone.
The sense of war being at close hand is shown and felt by the audience, as China and other countries become hostile to any talks with the aliens.
The atmosphere in the movie is intense, and there are times it all looks like a view of real people's lives.  It takes a while to build up, but when it does, it displays a masterpiece, writes David Flynn

A-Team Star of ‘Man From UNCLE’ Dies Aged 83 Years

Many adults today remember growing up watching actors Robert Vaughn and David McCallum star in the spy drama series, ‘The Man From UNCLE’.  Sadly a link with that time is severed with the death this weekend of Robert Vaughn, who played Napoleon Solo for the four years the hit series was on the air.
‘The Man From UNCLE’ was a major drama series, and at the time in the mid 1960s, many children were encouraged to write away to join the UNCLE club and received a wallet with secret agent messages in return.
Robert Vaughn was nominated for three Golden Globe acting awards for ‘The Man from UNCLE’.
Vaughn was also the star of many movies, including the seminal western, ‘The Magnificent Seven’.
He won an Emmy Award for playing in the 1970s political miniseries, ‘Washington Behind Closed Doors’.
In 1986, producers of the tv series, ‘The A-Team’ brought him onto their series, for its fifth season.
Veteran actor, Robert Vaughn from ‘The Man from UNCLE’ was cast as General Hunt Stockwell.  Stockwell promised the A-Team a pardon for taking part in dangerous missions, much different than they had done in the previous seasons.  While there had always been comedic elements in the series, this fifth season was the darkest, with nobody really knowing Stockwell’s real motives.
In recent years, he played a comedic role on the No. 1 British soap opera, ‘Coronation Street’.
Those are just a few examples of the screen time served by the suave Robert Vaughn, writes David Flynn.
Three generations of moviegoers and television watchers experienced the work of this actor.
He passed away on 11^th, November, 2016, aged 83 years.  Deepest sympathy is extended to his wife, Linda, son Cassidy, and daughter, Caitlin.  May he rest in peace.

Doctor Strange (12A)

A marvel comic hero, that wouldn’t be as well- known as the Spider or Ironmen now gets a big screen outing – more than fifty years after his first appearance in a US comic book.
Dr. Stephen Strange, a genius of a surgeon is involved in a life-threatening motor accident, resulting in a crippling of his hands, and destroying his career, and to him – his very destiny.
He goes on a worldwide mission seeking out cures and therapies, ignoring the advice and concern of his sometimes lover, Dr. Christine.  A throwaway comment by a physiotherapist, leads him to a coach, (played in a cameo by Benjamin Bratt), who had previously regained the use of limbs after an accident.
The mission leads him to the mountains of Nepal, and a world of mystical folk.  Here he finds a new way, but it’s a world where time and reality bends easily, writes David Flynn. 
Benedict Cumberbatch who made such a success of BBC’s Sherlock Holmes, plays the lead role of Strange, proving that he capable of going beyond the 19^th century detective, and giving a charismatic performance of this character.  Rachel McAdams is another great performer, but her scenes and dialogue was too limited as Strange’s love interest. 
A bald Tilda Swinton, showed very good facial acting in the role of the Ancient One – but again more scenes with her would have been welcome.  Action, special effects, and bending of buildings and time are all over the movie, ‘Doctor Strange’, and so much goes on on the Galactic Screen, that it would be easy to lose track of things.

Unashamedly set up for a sequel, ‘Doctor Strange’, has a nice story, with great cinematography of particularly of Hong Kong and China.