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05 / 11 / 2008
Review: After the gruelling James Bond press junket tour, I bet Daniel Craig could use a Quantum of Solace.

02 / 11 / 2008
Fantasy Rally: The results from Rally Japan are in - just one rally to go and still the lead keeps changing! See how your team fared or see the Japanese rally results. Any of the top ten could still claim overall honours!

23 / 10 / 2008
Review: Brad Pitt steals the latest from the Coen brothers: Burn After Reading.

23 / 10 / 2008
Review: Simon Pegg learns How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

23 / 10 / 2008
Review: Ben Stiller directs stars aplenty in Tropic Thunder.

12 / 10 / 2008
Review: A few words on some recent movies: RocknRolla,
Death Race,
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army,
Space Chimps,
Stuck,
The Babysitters,
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder,
Son of Rambow,
Jack and Jill vs the World,
Made of Honor,
Meet Dave,
Doomsday,
Pathology.

15 / 08 / 2008
Review: You can mess with Adam Sandler, but You Don't Mess with the Zohan.

15 / 08 / 2008
Review: Mike Myers tickles some chakras in The Love Guru.

14 / 08 / 2008
Review: Toot and come in, it's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

14 / 08 / 2008
Review: You can stop watching the skies now, it's The X Files: I Want to Believe.

31 / 07 / 2008
Review: Batman Began and now continues in The Dark Knight.

24 / 07 / 2008
Review: The Chronicles of Narnia continue with Prince Caspian.

23 / 07 / 2008
Review: Pixar goes Short Circuit with Wall-E.

22 / 07 / 2008
Review: Jules Verne never envisaged a 3D version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: Jet Li and Jackie Chan team up in The Forbidden Kingdom.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: Will Smith keeps the streets safe and smelling of booze in Hancock.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: M Night Shyamalan's latest, The Happening.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: Spanish creepy-creepy The Orphanage.

09 / 07 / 2008
Review: A quick catchup of movies that don't get the full treatment:
Be Kind Rewind,
Street Kings,
What Happens In Vegas,
Superhero Movie,
The Ruins and
Teeth.

08 / 07 / 2008
Review: Bend that bullet Angelina! Wanted.

01 / 07 / 2008
Review: Those cats were fast as lightning - Kung Fu Panda.

24 / 06 / 2008
Review: Don't make Ed Norton angry - The Incredible Hulk.

24 / 06 / 2008
Review: Carrie and Big's wedding, it can only be Sex and the City.

11 / 06 / 2008
Review: Everyone's favourite pot-addicts are back in Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

04 / 06 / 2008
Review: Harrison Ford returns in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

04 / 06 / 2008
Review: Tube driver seeks suicidal man in Three and Out.

18 / 05 / 2008
Review: CGI fantasy motor racing in Speed Racer.

18 / 05 / 2008
Review: Your creases will fly away with Iron Man.

18 / 08 / 2005
Sudoku! Have a go at the online Sudoku game.

Plenty more
See the rest of the reviews here.

In the Valley of Elah

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Susan Sarandon, Josh Brolin, Jason Patric, James Franco. Written and directed by Paul Haggis. Story: Son goes AWOL from Iraq, ex-army father investigates. Running Time: 2hrs 1 minute. UK Certificate 15.

In the Valley of Elah is an averagely compelling talkie drama, but nothing to write home about. Hard to believe it was written and directed by Paul Haggis, who was responsible for the seminal Crash.

Tommy Lee Jones stars as the father of a soldier recently back from a tour in Iraq who mysteriously disappears, so he investigates. I can't tell you what happens next, but I can tell you it's more of a sleuthy affair than a cracking-skulls one. Hangdog Tommy makes a few clever deductions along the way and puts in the top notch performance we've learned to expect from him, netting him the Oscar nomination that he could just as easily have won for his supporting turn in No Country For Old Men. Charlize Theron is good but unspectacular as the sympathetic cop who ends up helping and Susan Sarandon is rather underused as the distraught wife and mother left back home wringing her hands while Tommy picks through the clues.

I can't say I didn't enjoy Elah, because I did - it's just rather ordinary. The story plays out in a pleasingly unpredictable way and the ghost of A Few Good Men makes its presence felt, but it lacks the memorableness of that particular spectre and it has very little of the emotional resonance that made Crash so special. I can imagine it would strike a chord with army folk - in fact the colour palette is drained in places in such a way as to give the impression of a desert uniform - but the great unwashed masses are likely to feel less than involved, and I don't expect it to make any decent money at the box office.

In the Valley of Elah is fine - there's nothing particularly wrong with it - it's just that there are better movies out there to spend your money on. One to catch on a quiet Monday night on Sky.

UPDATE: Having seen this a second time, I've revised my opinion somewhat - the ending seemed a lot more poignant, but the anti-war message seemed rather clumsier. Still, I've changed it from 3/5 to 4/5.

I enjoyed this film: 4/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 3/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 1/5 - random boobs in a titty-bar scene, Frances Fisher shows a mighty fine pair for a 50+ lass.

To enjoy this film you should: have served in the armed forces.