Eye In The Sky (2015)
Genre: Thriller
Certification: 15
Duration: 102 minutes
Directed by: Gavin Hood
Starring: Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Iain Glen
KRS Releasing Ltd

Helen Mirren has to take some tough decisions in Eye in the Sky.

The British thriller, that premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, stars Helen Mirren as Colonel Katherine Powell, a UK-based military officer in command of a top secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya.

Through remote surveillance and on-the-ground intelligence, Powell discovers the targets are planning a suicide bombing. She thus decides that the imminent bombing changes the mission objective from “capture” to “kill”. But not all the politicians in the British Cabinet who are needed to make the decision agree with her assertive stance.

When a decision is finally taken, a nine-year old girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute, reaching the highest levels of US and British government, over the moral, political and personal implications of modern drone warfare.

The film garnered a lot of praise for its screenplay by Guy Hibbert. Olly Richards of Empire Magazine wrote: “It's a tight thriller played out smoothly but tying the viewer in moral knots. A film to think about for days, with little hope of finding a comfortable answer.”

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone was intrigued by the plotline. He said: “Eye in the Sky asks a provocative question: Does conscience still figure in modern warfare?”

The film also stars the late Alan Rickman. His last-posthumous role will be in Alice Through the Looking Glass, to be released this year.

Ratings
IMDB: 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
Empire Magazine: 4 stars

Robinson Crusoe (2016)
Genre: Animation
Certification: PG
Duration: 90 minutes
Directed by: Vincent Kesteloot, Ben Stassen
Voices of: Yuri Lowenthal, David Howard, Laila Berzins, Sandy Fox
KRS Releasing Ltd

Robinson Crusoe meets some hostile islanders when he shipwrecks.

The Belgian-French 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film is inspired by the famous novel by Daniel Dafoe but the title character is not really the protagonist.

On a tiny isolated and idyllic South Pacific Island, parrot Mak (who is eventually dubbed Tuesday) is getting bored and dreams of leaving his little paradise and exploring the world.

Then one day, after a violent tropical storm, Mak and his friends wake up to find a huge ship broken up on the beach. Two strange creatures emerge from the shipwreck: Robinson Crusoe and his dog, Aynsley.

Unbeknownst to everyone, two ferocious cats have also survived the storm. They are determined to take control of the island and make the human pay for the years of bad treatment they had to endure as ratters in the darkness of the ship’s hull.

Slowly but surely the islanders drop their guards and welcome the newcomers to their island. But one day, the cats with multiplelitters of youngsters decide to put an end to it all and wreak havoc.

The film, released as Wild Life in the US, received tepid reviews, with critics in general saying that while entertaining on a visual level, the lacklustre script and dull storytelling make for a quite “forgettable” film.

Ratings
IMDB: 5.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Empire Magazine: N/A

Mother’s Day (2016)
Genre: Comedy
Certification: PG
Duration: 118 minutes
Directed by: Garry Marshall
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson, Britt Robertson, Jason Sudeikis, Timothy Olyphant
KRS Releasing Ltd

Jennifer Aniston and Kate Hudson both lack some motherly affection in Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day is the latest star-studded comedy from the director of Pretty Woman, Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve, Garry Marshall. The film was lambasted on different levels, including its cast which, according to one critic, “seem barely human”, and the script.

The film follows three generations of women who are seemingly unconnected.

Sandy (Jennifer Aniston) is a divorced mother of two boys whose ex-husband has recently remarried a younger woman. Miranda (Julia Roberts) is an accomplished writer who gave up her only child, Kristin (Britt Robertson) for adoption.

As a grown-up Kristin prepares herself for marriage and while contemplating not having a mother in her life, her friend Jesse (Kate Hudson) urges her to go out and find her. Meanwhile, Jesse, who never sees her mother, is surprised when her parents drop by for a visit.

Andrew Barker of Variety wrote: “Atrociously written, begrudgingly acted, haphazardly assembled and never more backward than when it thinks it's being progressive.”

David Sims of The Atlantic agrees completely: “Mother’s Day is creepily patronising and sickly sweet endeavour that widely misses the mark.”

And Stephanie Zacharek of Time went as far as saying: “Hate your mom? Take her to see Mother’s Day, an ensemble comedy that’s being billed as sweet and heartwarming but which is actually an insidious form of torture.”

Ratings
IMDB: 5.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 8%
Empire Magazine: N/A