Captain Phillips

Directed By: Paul Greengrass

Written By: Billy Ray (Based on the book “A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea” by Richard Phillips & Stephan Talty)

Starring:

Tom Hanks

Barkhad Abdi

David Warshofsky

Max Martini

 

Captain Phillips follows the true story of Richard Phillips, captain of MV Maersk Alabama. On a routine journey they are attacked by Somali pirates. They try to defend their ship and hide themselves from the pirates.

 

The first hour is brilliant. The scenes when the pirates are attempting to capture the ship are fantastic and action-packed. However after an hour into the film it drags on for a while but near the end it picks up the pace thankfully. It reminds me a lot of Argo which followed the same pace as Captain Phillips.

 

Paul Greengrass does a good job directing this film. The action scenes  and the boat and ship races are very well done. The use of shaky camera is not distracting, unlike Hunger Games, it is used perfectly to show the audience the state of fear and panic that the crew are in.

 

Tom Hanks puts in a good performance as Captain Phillips and shows us that he isn’t going to just coast along for the rest of his career.

 

Barkhad Abdi, a first-time actor, plays a decent bad guy but it shocks me how he was nominated for a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Oscar. I would have thought that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy would not even have considered someone who had no aspiration to be an actor at all, never mind the fact that he wasn’t even that good.

 

Overall, Captain Phillips is a good film and I would recommend that you see it.

 

7/10 – Michael

7/10 – Cody

70%

 

Superman Returns

Directed By: Bryan Singer

Written By: Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris

Story By: Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris

Starring:

Brandon Routh

Kate Bosworth

Kevin Spacey

James Marsden

Parker Posey

Frank Langella

Sam Huntington

I worry because everyone seems to look up to me and it’s making me a little uncomfortable. I can try but I can’t solve every problem. I don’t know if I can live up to this… myth they want me to be – Superman (JLA)