Changeling (2008) Film Review - Clint Eastwood directed

Plot Summary - Period crime drama directed by Clint Eastwood and set in late twenties Los Angeles, based on a true story. About Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie), mother of a nine-year old boy, Walter, who disappears one day and the troubles she has with the police investigation that follows. POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR THE REST OF REVIEW: the police deliver a boy five months later who claims to be Walter, but mom knows better and denies that this boy is really her son. Christine insists he's not the boy and the police have made a mistake - the cops want her to refute her claims against them and insist she's insane. Corruption in the LAPD leading to a trip into a local mad house for Christine (where other women who stood up against cops have been thrown and electric shock treatments are the norm) and a real life murder story infamously known as the "Wineville Chicken Coop Murders".

Review - A gripping story from beginning to end - I really liked this. It's an odd, scary tale that - unbelievably enough - really happened. Jason Butler Harner, the actor who plays the deranged murderer/monster, gives a really memorable, absolutely chilling performance - I could swear the man was actually a psychotic killer! The recreation of twenties/thirties L.A. is masterfully done, I loved seeing the streets and old red cars looking so realistic! A week later and I'm still thinking about this story. Rating - 9/10 stars

Wanted (2008) Film Review - James McAvoy

Plot Summary - Extremely violent action-thriller starring James McAvoy as Wesley Gibson, an ordinary, mild-mannered account manager who hates his boring job, his bitchy boss, and is not too thrilled with his home life either, what with his rundown apartment next to the El tracks and live-in girlfriend who's shagging his best "friend". But the dad he's never met turns out to be a famed member of a "fraternity of assassins", just killed by a member who has defected. Wesley is pulled into this group of assassins, trained to be a super-power killer, and set to kill the man who killed his dad. But first he has to murder other targets, strangers "fate" has marked for death. He's usually accompanied by girl power assassin "Fox" (Angelina Jolie), and of course, lots and lots of guns all over the place.

Review - I saw this film only to see heartthrob James McAvoy - I certainly wasn't expecting such an amount of violence as contained in this film. I can accept violence in a film that is very good, especially when it fits into the plotline, but this struck me as a film with minimal story to account for all sorts of slow-motion bullets going through victims heads and tons of splattering blood all over the place - I feel sort of sick and that's not how I like to feel after seeing a movie! The visual effects and computer animation made parts of this film seem like a video game rather than the real world - I guess that helped me watch, in a way, because some of the violence actually looked pretty darn fake. I love James McAvoy and he's a doll here, but this is his worst film by a large margin. Please oh please James M. - make your next film a lovely period Dickens or Jane Austen, something like that. Rating - 4 to 5/10 stars