Body of Lies.

Directed by: Ridley Scott.

During the Iraq War, a CIA informant Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio) gathers intelligence for his boss back in the United States, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), a family man who is far away from the assignments as possible. Ferris, who can speak Arabic and is a resilient agent, befriends a Jordanian secret serviceman, (Mark Strong), who works with him to infiltrate terrorist organizations, using Muslims in Iraq as pawns to gather information. He also meets a nurse (Golshifteh Farahani), with whom he forms a restrained relationship with.

Body of Lies, adapted from David Ignatius's novel of the same name, is a slick action film, with high production values. It was shot in Morocco and has a detailed and authentic look to it. Parts of the dialogue are spoken in Arabic too and Scott, as you would expect, handles the action sequences very well with both energy and intensity. Yet it is a shame the narrative feels convoluted in parts and lacks a clear focus until its final act though. Audiences are also likely to be divided by the representation of the characters too, some of which verge towards caricatures: Russell Crowe, while looking the part of the overweight American family man is serviceable, there just isn't much for his character to do and it is highly doubtful that CIA men confer while at their children's soccer games. It feels like a very cynically written role, too obvious a jab at the bureaucrats of America. Chris Cooper might have been a more suitable choice for the role.

Mark Strong as well seems like a very obvious representation of the dangerous but smooth talking, Arab businessman. While the terrorists' are not given any particular representation apart from being radical and violent extremists. Fortunately Australian Vince Colosimo looks very suitable to his small role, and the film really belongs to DiCaprio who is competent in his delivery.

After films such as In the Valley of Ellah and Syriana, Body of Lies is not a particularly fresh film about espionage and conflict in the Middle East and its narrative does not flow as well as one would like. The politics of the film remain questionable too, particularly being filmed and produced by a British director, but fans of Scott and DiCaprio are likely to enjoy the action anyway and shouldn't be too disappointed.

3/5.

Wall-E

Directed By: Andrew Stanton

In the future, Earth has been abandoned by humanity and transformed into a smog covered wasteland. A robot with the brand Wall-E on his body, operates to compress the planet's trash by himself. His functions are mechanical, but his personality is like that of a small child, amusing himself with various pieces of junk he finds while working. After a spacecraft lands on Earth, Wall-E finds a companion in Eve, a fiery female robot who has been sent to search Earth as well. Wall-E is highly entranced by her.

The opening shots of Wall-E, with the quiet filming of a desolated planet Earth, present a film that is more considerate and serious about the environment than one would anticipate. There is a strong subtext throughout the film about the way in which technology has formed an entirely dominant control over humanities life and brought about the demise of planet Earth. Yet at its heart though, Wall-E remains a charming and clever cartoon, mainly because of its title character. Resisting the conventional and often dull use of celebrity voices, Pixar and Disney have instead employed more traditional techniques of characterisation to bring the robot Wall-E to life.

Just as older cartoons like The Sorcerers Apprentice used facial animations to convey emotion in their characters, Wall-E too is cleverly presented as innocent, imaginative and fragile through the tender look of his robotic eyes, or the trembling of his metal body when in danger. His fascination with junk too gives him a sense of innocence and naivety that is both enjoyable and funny to watch. He is a likeable and refreshing protagonist, one that children will certainly resonate with.

The second half of the film takes a surprising turn, particularly in accentuating its themes and questions of humanities use of technology. Though thankfully it never becomes too serious or overbearing in presenting these ideas. Despite being a more action packed half than the first though, the pace of the film does seem to lumber and drag slightly towards the end. Regardless, there is still an important and timely message to consider about the treatment of the Earth, humanities responsibility and our overly dependent use of technology. Wall-E is beautifully animated too, and a scene of both he and Eve drifting through space together, is one of the most endearing and sweet moments of animated cinema in years. This is a wholly charming film.

You have to see this...

The Captain From Wall-E

And then this man...

Looks like he's been doing more than just Giant Bomb!

Gamespot's Imperial Guard have tracked him down at last!!