Double review time as we go to MOVIEBLAST and binge watch on streaming site Wuaki with EE Film Club...
Bridge of Spies (12A) is the 'based on a true story' latest offering from legendary director Steven Spielberg. Starring equally legendary Tom Hanks and a quality cast (including Mark Rylance), Bridge of Spies is based on a real life 1950's New York insurance lawyer called J Donovan. Hanks plays lawyer Donovan with conviction and accused "spy" Adolf (Rylance) works well against Hank's knowledgeable lawyer.
Bridge of Spies is based on a true story whereby a man is accused of being a soviet spy in 1950's America. Firmly gripped in the fear of nuclear weapons, the USA's relationship is on tender hooks with the USSR. Enter James Donovan; insurance lawyer and, as he says, "yeah I'm pretty good at what I do...". Demanding a fair trial, Donovan is given the opportunity to represent spy Adolf in a court of law. Accepting that the trial is a foregone conclusion, but working in the interests of his country, Donovan agrees to represent him, but as he does so this sets in motion much bigger things at hand.
One part court room drama, two parts spy thriller, Bridge of Spies is a thought provoking yet compelling drama. Hanks' Donovan is a fabulously intelligent lawyer, using words to his advantage. Words are less with Mark Rylance's "spy" but are effective, even if his accent slips from Scottish to Soviet on occasion. The rest of the supporting cast are fab too, and the story itself is interesting at the backdrop of a world not too distant from us yet so different from us. This is where the threat from nuclear fallout was a real possibility, a wall was constructed to divide Germany and one insurance lawyer helped save the lives of at least 3 people. And no internet or mobile phones.
Bridge of Spies is great viewing if you like a good drama or spy thriller. Mr Hanks is doing a good job of biopics over recent years also playing the titular character in Captain Phillips which, like this movie, was a great performance based on a true story.
Bridge of Spies is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.
POPSCORE: 8/10
Suffragette (12A) is a movie about a group of women repressed by society who discover the suffragette movement led by Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) and charts the progress of the start of the movement and the way the women are being treated by society in early 20th Century London.
Focussing on the married mother of one, Maud (Carey Mulligan), Suffragette looks at the working class group of women she belongs to. Working in a washroom with iron fisted, domineering (and sometimes very sexist) men as managers, Maud reluctantly becomes the face of the women's movement when her activist work colleague is unable to continue due to her abusive husband.
She risks everything to stand up for what she didn't realise she believed in and strikes the match to set the future bright for women and their options to vote and become equals amongst men. Making sacrifices of her own - including imprisonment, abuse, beatings and losing her child to the system, Maud still stands by her resolve to change the world for the better.
The film, although I'm sure is made up, runs alongside the factual, historical Suffragette movement in its infancy. For all the optimism it concludes with, and the gritty troubles that are highlighted throughout the movie, Suffragette is a thumping story on the history of women's rights. However, for all the progress that have been during (and indeed the decades after) the suffragettes, there still is some way to go for true equal rights in pay and such for women. However, the film clearly states a fantastic point - "how can you silence half of the worlds population" - food for thought I reckon.
Well acted and fantastically thought provoking, Suffragette is a drama that stays with you long after the credits roll.
Suffragette is out now on DVD, Blu Ray and all good streaming sites.
POPSCORE: 7/10
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