In a tale of forbidden love in 1950’s America, that was already paranoid enough with the ever increasing rise of the Communism threat, Carol stars Kate Blanchett who is fighting with her husband Harge (Kyle Chandler) over custody of their daughter when she innocently bumps into Therese (Rooney Mara) while Christmas shopping in a New York department store and while Therese has a boyfriend there is something sparked with the initial business like transaction. When Therese realises that Carol has left her gloves behind in the store she makes it her business to ensure they are returned  and as a thank you Carol invites Therese to her home in New Jersey. It’s from there that things start to develop to the inevitable moment when they can no longer carry on their pretense. However this movie is not about the romance itself it’s more about the effect their mutual attraction has on their lives.

With themes of loneliness and longing running through the whole movie as Therese spends much of her time people watching and torments herself as she sees members of more conventional relationships engage in hand holding, a brush of hair from a face or interaction with their children, all of which she realises she will never be able to do in public with Carol which brings a form of tragedy to the relationship even though it makes her happy. While Blanchett plays the role with such poise that even her innocent actions seem calculated so when she does open up it seems even more raw and out of character. Despite the joy both women gain from the relationship they still feel the loss of not being able to openly show their love for each other so the constant cycle of highs and lows strains their relationship just as far as Harges threats to use Carols sexuality against her in their fight for their daughter.

From beautiful outdoor settings to dingy motel rooms and hotel lobbies there is a fantastic feel of 1950 New York about the movie and when coupled with the excellent acting from both leads and the topical subject matter it’s no surprise that it was one of the most critically acclaimed movies of last year and while I wouldn’t rate it as highly as some there is no doubt that the movie deserves most of the praise.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Meryl Streep, as usual, breezes her way through this performance as Florence Foster Jenkins a socialite in New York’s high society of the 1940’s who believed she was a talented opera singer but was ridiculed for being tone deaf yet she was very popular due to the amusement her singing provided. This movie focuses on her later life as she is shielded from the reality of her delusion by her husband and failed thespian actor St.Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) and ably assisted by her, initially reluctant, accompanying pianist Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helberg)

Bayfield spends all his time shielding Jenkins and ensure that all of her performances are all in front of either paid off members of the musical circles who are more than happy to play the pretence and take the cash in exchange for good reviews in the newspapers, or close friends who are happy to play along with the facade which culminates in her insistence to put on a show at Carnegie Hall for war veterans where Bayfield cannot control the proceedings and thus opens the door for all and sundry to see the realism behind her questionable talents.

While the material may not seem like the most intriguing of subject matter, director Stephen Frear, who previously worked with Streep on The Queen, has put together an enjoyable and sentimental movie which is aided by great performances by it’s three leads who grab your attention and ensure that despite the potential for the film being a bit of a one trick pony there is a certain charm to the movie that you can’t help but be entertained by and despite the main selling point being the comic irony of the situation there is a sub theme which is tinged with a certain tragedy but is handled superbly without ever dragging the story into depressing waters.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Hush is a home invasion thriller starring Kate Siegel as Maddie, a deaf mute writer who lives in seclusion in a house in the woods where her main contact with the outside world are visits by her nearest neighbour Sarah (Samantha Sloyan) and conversations via social media outlets on her phone and laptop.

A masked stranger (John Gallagher Jr.) appears outside of Maddies house one night and becomes intrigued by the lack of response he receives when knocking on the doors and windows. After sneaking into her home and stealing her phone he starts to send pictures of herself to Maddie and she slowly begins to realise what is going on but the power is cut and her car sabotaged so she is stranded in the house with the masked man just waiting outside armed with a knife and a crossbow. Although similar movies have recently been made in the past (The Strangers & You’re next come to mind) the lack of dialogue and sound, when we are looking at things from the protagonists point of view, makes for an intriguing premise in impossibly trying to defend a house using only vision when there are so many missing lines of site for most area of the house at any one time.  Director Mike Flanagan has plenty of experience in the horror genre and he sets up the stranger very well by not giving any reasoning for his stance or even naming him which dehumanises him and gives a better maniacal feel to his actions while but Gallagher and Siegel both do a good job as the stalker who goes about his business with emotionless ease and the prey that gives as good as she gets respectively.

It is not going to set the world on fire but as thrillers so its a good movie that only now and then falls back into the tropes of it’s genre which gives it a certain novelty.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

After working together on both Bridesmaids and The Heat director Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy are back with this tale of Susan Cooper, a desk bound CIA analyst who acts as the eyes and ears for field agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law) and their teamwork has elevated Fine to the top of his field as a world renound suave, confident, super spy. Behind it all Fine is totally oblivious to Coopers obvious infatuation with him which is exactly what is keeping her from progressing her career. It is during one other these missions where Fine is infiltrating the home of Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne), as he believes she is forming links with a terrorist broker Sergio De Luca (Bobby Cannavale), that Rayna kills Fine so Coopers boss decides to send her to Europe to track Rayna to see what her plans are and with some help from Fines colleague Rick Ford (Jason Statham) and a touchy feely European field agent Aldo (Peter Sarafinowicz), Cooper gets on the case.

Byrne is excellent in an over the top performance as a spoilt brat with a constant demeanour of distain towards everyone who take downs cut to the bone and Statham is hilarious as the yarn spinning spy who constantly feels a need to comment on his (obviously exaggerated) feats like “During the threat of an assassination attempt I appeared, convincingly, in front of Congress as Barack Obama”.

Through the movie the comedy is excellent, particular when McCarthy is doing what she does best in spouting out insult after insult with the scene where she tears pieces out of Raynas aide Anton being particularly funny and it is McCarthys over the top interaction with Byrne and Statham in particular which give the movie it’s best moments. It feels like everyone enjoyed themselves on screen and Feig does a good job of the turning the usual macho chauvinistic elements of the spy movies on their head.

Overall the movie pieces together very well and I enjoyed it more than I thought it would, it’s a good spin on the James Bond theme but one with a plot line that actually works within the confines of the humour which leads the film into being one of the better comedy movies of recent years but it’s very much all about McCarthy so if she is not your thing then steer clear.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Eye in the sky is a political thriller about the combined efforts of the UK, US and Kenyan governments to capture three extremist members of the Al Shabaab group who are all on the five most wanted terrorists in the Eastern Africa region, that are meeting in a house in the city of Nairobi. This force is being driven by Lt. Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) from her base in Sussex, England. Assisted by two drone pilots, 2nd Lieutenant Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) and Airman first class, Carrie Gershon (Phoebe Fox) who control the proceedings from Nevada, while Lieutenant General Frank Benson (Alan Rickman) oversees the mission from a political point of view in London with members of the UK government as witnesses.

As the situation develops it turns from a simple recon mission with a view to capture into a shoot to kill mission as the surveillance shows that the extremists are arming two suicide bombers so what ensues is a political game to gain the authorisation to use a Hellfire missile in a civilian area, while dealing with the moralistic issues of acceptable collateral damage and loss of innocent life.

The fact that the movie is told in real time and jumps from location to location keep the tension high, and the political passing of the buck and unwillingness to make a major decision and to keep referring the decision up, borders on comical attimes so you find yourself getting sucked into the movie which director Gavin Hood must be given credit for as the concept and plot sound like they would be more suited to a novel rather than the big screen, yet it works well as a film.

Both Rickman (sadly in his last appearance on screen) and in particular Mirren owned the screen when they appeared and Mirrens calm demeanour masking here sheer determination toward the mission bordered on scary at times. Given that the mission is a UK based operating but the missile is being fired by the US army it does portray the UK as a little set in the bureaucracy of politics where the US seem to have their affairs more in order, which is humerously shown in a scene where the US secretary of state is interrupted in the middle of a ping pong game in China.

The moral and ethical questions are handled well, and the movie does humanise the collateral damage in a way that viewers will be divided as to what the right course of action is. The technology is scary and while the movie mentions that some of the surveillance methods used in the movie are still only in development it does bring to the fore just how progressive military technology has become and how detached from the fighting on the ground some elements of modern warfare is and it was good to see the realism of the questions being posed such as ‘What if this footage ends up on the Internet’ and ‘What type of propaganda can be spun from this incident’.

The movie is not without its plot hole gaps and it does focus on the powers that be rather than on the local Kenyan field agents who are putting themselves right in the firing line but I still found myself enjoying the movie and it you are a fan of slow burner, political thrillers then there’s enough here for you to enjoy this movie.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

I like this premise as a concept for a film where all crime is legalised for twelve hours without judgement. It opens up so many ideas for potential plots so I thought that the first movie had a real uniqueness even if it fell a little flat. This time instead of focusing on one family we get to follow three different groups who’s paths intertwine in the battle to survive the night where all citizens are given their right to purge by the “The New Founding Fathers of America” and their police state that has been established. Although all citizens can purge it is generally used as a method of population control as the poorer neighbourhoods usually the targets.

We initially meet Shane (Zach Gilford) and his girlfriend Liz (Kiele Sanchez) are driving to Shane’s sister in order to see the purge out safely but their car breaks down on the way and they are stranded, Eva (Carmen Ejogo) and her daughter Tanya (Justina Machado) live in their apartment in a lower class area of town and once the purge starts they are tormented by the buildings superintendent who wants to make Eva pay for her constant spurning of his sexual advances and an off duty police Sergeant (Frank Grillo), in a role I found very reminiscent of Kurt Russell in Escape From New York for some reason, who has done his preparation and is partaking in the purge in order to avenge the death of his son. Their paths meet in a twist of fate and they are left trying to survive the purge as a group against ever increasing difficult odds.

There’s no real development for most of the characters nor is there any real delving into their backstories and the ‘villians’ are mostly masked so it’s hard to distinguish one from the other with a few exceptions but this movie is not about the who, it’s about the how so forget about the end which gets a bit too Hollywood for my liking and look past any allegory about modern society which may be hidden without in the movie or even the concept of the purge in general and enjoy a movie which takes a different approach to the theme of survivors battling against the odds and puts a spin on things in a way that will, generally, keep you entertained. Here’s hoping that the third movie in the franchise due later this year will take things to the next level.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Mammal is the story of Margaret Brady (Rachel Griffiths) a middle aged woman who lives a mostly solitary lifestyle who’s only real passion seems to be found in swimming. Although she may be an insular person she is a good Samaritan at heart as she does work for the local charity shop, feeds the local stray cats and rents her spare room to anyone who needs it.

Her world is changed when her ex-husband Matt (Michael McElhatton) re-appears to tell her that their son Patrick has disappeared but given that Margaret left Matt with Patrick many years before she is unsure how to take the news. Around the same time Margarets helpful nature leads he to a chance encounter with a young injured boy who she helps patch up but who disappear before she gets a chance to speak with him. The same boy appears again when Margaret is swimming one day and she strikes up a conversation leading to her offering Joe (Barry Keoghan) the spare room she has available until such time as she can find somebody else to rent it. Joe is stand offish at first but will never look a gift horse in the mouth so he takes the room. While her relationship with Joe is developing, he seems to open a maternal instinct in Margaret and almost feels like he is becoming a replacement for her lost son. So their relationship blooms and he begins to open up more but during this period Matt returns with the news that their sons body was found in the canal but he doesn’t want he anywhere near the funeral.

Although she never shows it externally Griffiths reserved performance does a fantastic job of keeping her emotions just bubbling under the surface but with enough showing on her face for you to know she is not made of stone. As Margaret and Joe grow closer their relationship swings back and forth and always has a sexual tension which both seem to want to act on but are reluctant to follow which leads to an almost incestuous vibe between their characters.

Keoghan believably plays the troubled boy who warms to the compassion Margaret shows him while he is still embroiled in his old lifestyle of drug and violence which he doesn’t want to leave behind and with McElhatton appearing more and more in Margarets life as he tries to fill the void left by their sons death there is a triangle of a relationship in play which is never going to end well.

Mammal is not a movie for everybody but if you can tolerate the long silences and dark tone which are used to portray Margarets emotional suffocation then there is a well told and well acted story which deserves a watch if you want something a little different.

Zootropolis centers on the tale of Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) who dreams of becoming the first rabbit police officer and despite the best efforts of her mother, father and many, many siblings she achieves her goal and moves to Zootroplis a huge city where all animals live and work happily together. To her disdain she is initially placed on traffic duty but comes across a con man fox (Jason Bateman) working his operation and suddenly they are thrown together in the middle of a kidnapping plot which leads to a much darker conspiracy of animals being regressed back to their original mind set and the balance of the city being destroyed.

Zooltropolis is a very clever movie as behind the bright colours there are themes of sexism, racism and class discrimination touched upon in what is a classic film noir style thriller with cartoon characters but they are so cleverly intertwined that the film still feels like a feel good Disney movie as, although all animals co-exist there is still the structure of the animal kingdom behind the whole set up, so rabbits or supposed to be cute, foxes sly, the major is a lion etc. which gives some great examples of animal stereotyping and one of the best scenes of the movie as the DMV is full of a work force of sloths, with hilarious consequences.

There’s enough here that kids will enjoy what is essentially a tried and tested Disney tale of anyone can achieve anything in life once you try hard enough but the writers have included enough winks and nods to classic movies and TV shows that adults will get a good giggle as well.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 Out Of 10

The latest effort from the Coen brother is an irreverent and comedic look at Hollywood in the 1950’s with the usual array of stars gathering together to intertwine numerous tales into a work of fiction but one that you are constantly cross referencing with actual movies, events and people from the era.

Josh Brolin is the centre point as Eddie Mannix a studio fixer, based on a real life character, who’s job it is to ensure that all aspects of the lot run smoothly from day to day while dealing with all manner of curve balls that a gang of primadonna film stars can muster up. His primary issue in this movie is when the studios main star Blair Whitlock, played by George Clooney, goes missing during the middle of a film shoot. A ransom note follows shortly afterwards and Mannix has to juggle the various parties around the studio lot into ensuring that nobody knows they have a kidnapped star on their hands, all the while trying to deal with his own personal issues outside of work and a lucrative new job offer which has been put on the table.

Clooney once again superbly plays an idiot character in a Coen movie, he’s attired in a Roman Centurion costume and haircut for the whole movie and cluelessly plays his role without ever realising he’s the central figure. But, aside from Brolin, stealing the show in the movie is Alden Ehrenreich as Hobie Doyle the crooner cowboy star who the film studio want transform into a star of the new era but with his Southern drawl and John Wayne like mannerisms it is never going to be a runner. Once scene in particular where Hobie is being directed by the thespian like Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) but poor Hobie can neither get his head around the confusing name or the equally confusing, to him anyway, scene he is being asked to perform, is a moment of comedy genius.

The rest of the cast come and go and while the performances are all good it felt as though they sometimes were added on to increase the movies star power rather than developing the storyline. Shot as a movie about making movies each moment whether looking at an on screen movie take or not still feels like you are watching an on screen movie take so I kept expecting the camera to pull back to show that the whole thing was one big movie set but that would be too obvious for the Coens so while not as good as some their other classics it’s as clever as you would expect, the acting is excellent as always and the script as ludicrous as ever for one of their comedy movies.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10

George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham a man with no friends, no ties and essentially no home. He enjoys the anonymity of hotel rooms, airports and the lack of interaction his job gives him. Go in, fire people, never see them again. He lives for his life on the road and his goal of reaching the milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles while developing his motivational speeches called What’s In Your Backpack? Where he suggests unburdening yourself from all the emotional baggage in your life that other people bring.

His interactions are all snapshots and moments but his world changes twofold when he first meets a like minded individual in Alex Goran played by Vera Farmiga while in a hotel one evening who appears to be a female version of himself. There’s an initial spark between them so they decide that they can continue to play their friends with benefits game when work scheduling will allow. Secondly, his company decide a change is required and thanks to a radical new approach devised by an young, eager employee Natalie Keener, played by Anna Kendrick, Clooney’s job will now be done via conference calls rather than in person. Clooney takes offence to this so he convinces his boss to allow him bring Kendrick on the road with him for a month in order to show her the value of the face to face work he does.

It then becomes a road movie of sorts as Clooney and Kendrick start to bond despite his best efforts and he almost becomes a father figure for her, these interactions are intertwined by an upcoming wedding which Clooney is obliged to attend despite it being the last place on earth he actually wants to be and Clooneys developing relationship with Farmiga despite it going against all his principals.

Its a movie that’s hard to classify, part comedy, part drama, part road trip but it all comes together to show how life can teach an old dog new tricks and despite any effort you may take to distance yourself, it’s impossible to go through life alone as you are inevitable dragged into situations which require interaction with others and human nature will always nudge you in that direction. Clooney is excellent as Bingham, believable in all facets of his actions, awkward moments and emotional turmoil. There also a clever use of duality with the title that can be interpreted as alluding to both the main characters time spent in flight and the fact that he is brought in to tie up loose ends when companies are downsizing coupled with the representation of the two female leads as Clooney’s alter egos in different stages of his life.

Overall an entertaining movie, even if you are left feeling a little empty afterwards, assisted by great acting from the three main leads. It’s not going to change your world now but I can understand how it would have hit home back in 2009 when America was going through the turmoil of a major recession.

DJ Speaks Rating: 6 out of 10