Chico & Rita

A aspiring young pianist and his lover chanteuse hit the jazz -bebop scene from Cuba to new york Paris and Vegas the films starts showing Chico an old man now shinning shoes for a living in Havana once home he turns the radio on and hears an old song of his then we are transported back to 1948 the beginning of his on of love affair partnership with Rita what follows as the hit the highs and lows in their life and music is a beautifully animated well scripted film with a great jazz soundtrack very evocative of the golden era of jazz a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

UNSTOPPABLE

A runaway train carrying toxic chemicals pits an engineer and his conductor in a race against time as they chase the runaway in a separate locomotive and need to bring it under control before it  hits a curve in the track and destroys a town. there,s not many surprises in tony Scott,s Juggernaut of a film almost the definition of predictability and cheesy dialogue certainly sells the idea that these machine r heavy clunking leviathans with plenty of noise and colorful imagery but its strictly by the numbers good performances from Denzel Washington a tony Scott regular and also Chris pine as engineer and conductor respectively .

The Social Network

On an autumn evening in the dorm rooms of Harvard university young undergrad and computer genius mark zuckerberg heatedly begins work on what will become a global social network and computing revolution six years and one million friends later he is the youngest billionaire on the planet this comes at he cost  of lawsuits and friends that feel deeply betrayed.David fincher is back with a vengeance this is text book film making an then some form the beginnings at Harvard everything is beautifully shot the Harvard dorms are moodily lit dark browns and amber light in contrast to the bright pastels of California and silicone valley the three male leads Andrew Garfield,(Eduardo saverin) Sean Parker(Justin timberlake) and Jesse eisenberg(mark zuckerberg) are pitch perfect casting i particularly liked timberlakes lounge lizard Sean Parker add to that a great sound track by Trent reznor and you have in my opinion one of the best if not the best film of the year so far.

DEVIL

five people trapped in a lift one is the devil went to see this with fairly low expectations i don't trust 15 rated horror movies although i have been pleasantly surprised in the past but as it turned out this is more thriller than horror its competently acted by a bunch of b list stars and well directed some of the plot devices were a bit hokey eg the superstitious mexican security guard but never the less the devil was a character in this so technically still a horror but when reveled the devil is frankly not that interesting and the inevitable third act twist is also pretty low rent not the worst movie a mediocre thriller at best at worst a luke warm horror.

SALT

Evelyn salt is highly respected CIA operative ,then one day a Russian defector walks in out of the blue he warns of a plot conceived at the time of the cold war to kill the Russian premier on American soil,thus perpetrating a world war and then tells her it is she who will kill him ,she then flees stating that she is only concerned for the safety of her husband ,her boss refuses to believe shes a double agent or a mole but her actions  begin to raise doubts.this thriller would have been better in the 80,s when there was a cold war,that said Jolie plays her role with gusto as do the supporting cast well shot ,good set pieces although its all a bit to slick and predictable and it thinks its a lot smarter than it is although its never boring

Splice

Clive and Elsa are scientist's specializing in gene splicing to create animal hybrids for a pharmaceutical company,but when they are told the cannot create a human animal hybrid they do it anyway in secret ,the result is dren an amazing strangely beautiful creature that display exceptional intelligence and some bizarre physical developments,she exceeds there wildest expectation's but as she grows she threatens to become there worst nightmare.went into this expecting a creature feature in the vein of Frankenstein and the fly although it is a horror flick its very pscyhcolgical making you think about the ethical implication's ,playing god etc ,and other issues such as child abuse the Elsa character was clearly abused as a child even although it not made clear exactly how she was abused ,and a strange sort of genetic incest incident a bit of a genre twister for sure on the downside it was a bit predictable but the performances were good enough to lift it from the mundane.

INCEPTION

Dom Cobb is the absolute best in the art of extraction,stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious.Cobb's ability has made him a coveted player in the world of industrial espionage,but it has also made him a fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved.But one last job could give him his life back if he can accomplish the impossible inception Cobb and his team must pull of the reverse of extraction and instead of stealing  they must plant an idea.But no amount of careful planning can prepare them for a dangerous enemy that seem to be prepared for there every move an enemy only Cobb can see coming .Wow and i mean wow this movie is a treat for the senses everything about it feels epic from the cityscape to the mountainside it all feels limitless and the dream world also particularly Cobb's own dreamworld a mish mash of pieces of his past life ,once in the dream world it plays out Simalar to the matrix but the later part is more like a bond movie ,di caprio is solid the supporting cast very good also a great sweeping score match some of the lush visuals all in all a feast for the senses  more smarts than your usual summer fare fantastic!