Changeling
Cast: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Rating: 15
This Clint Eastwood masterpiece is based on a true story. In March1928, a supervisor at a telephone company Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie) returns home to find her 11-year-old son, Walter, is missing. A complaint is filed but the police are clueless. Four months later, a boy found in the company of a drifter is identified by police as Christine's son. No, says Christine, this is not Walter. But Captain J.J. Jones (Jeffrey Donovan) refuses to budge. The boy's features could have changed over the months and perhaps mental stress is preventing Christine from recognising her son. Reluctantly, she agrees to take him home. Then she discovers features that make it impossible for the boy to be Walter. The family dentist and a teacher add their say too. The police are in a fix. In a bid to save face, the Captain throws her in a mental asylum. Jolie excels as she did in A Mighty Heart and is well supported by Malkovich as radio evangelist Gustav Briegleb who wants to ensure that the police are not above the law.
The day the earth stook still
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connelly, Jaden Smith
Director: Scott Derrickson
Genre: Sci-Fi/Drama
Rating: PG13
Imagine that aliens do exist and that they have our planet's interest at heart. We could count on them for solutions to global warming and other ills plaguing us. But what if they saw us, like Al Gore does: as the species that is killing the Earth? What would they do? Eliminate us, of course! This is the premise of The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the classic 1951 movie of the same name. As the movie begins, a large sphere from outer space lands in Manhattan's Central Park. The blubbery creature that emerges from the orb is shot by a paramilitary sniper and promptly taken to a hospital. As surgeons operate on the bullet wound, the gooey substance falls off to reveal an alien in human form (Keanu Reeves) who calls himself Klaatu. Meanwhile alien spheres are also discovered in other parts of the world. In response, the US forms a team of experts that includes astrobiologist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly). But Klaatu's mandate is clear: the planet can only live if the humans die.
Without a paddle: Nature's calling
Cast: Kristopher Turner, Oliver James, Madison Riley, Rik Young
Director: Ellory Elkayem
Genre: Adventure/Comedy
Rating: 15
In the 2004 movie Without a Paddle, three guys headed into the woods looking for a huge stash of cash. Five years later, we have another movie of the same name with the appendage Nature's Calling. But it's not a sequel. This time an entirely different trio go into the wild for a different reason.
Zach (Kristopher Turner) is a friendly and carefree nurse in a convalescent home. His longtime buddy Ben (Oliver James) is a lawyer tied down to his desk with hardly any time to socialise. One day Nana Besslar, who feels that her time has come, pleads with Zach to find Heather (Madison Riley), her granddaughter who has not been seen for years. Zach is more than willing to volunteer when he finds out that the girl is the same Heather he had a crush on as a child.
He ropes in a reluctant Ben to scour the woods for Heather. Heather's stepbrother Nigel (Rik Young) joins the adventurers, but for another reason.
