Drive (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/

Ryan Gosling is exceedingly cool as a car mechanic with hazardous extra-curricular activities.  The plot is engaging and much of the violence impressive, but there’s too much focus on the romance and overall it was a bit too obviously deliberate in its eighties style for me. Definitely worth a watch.

Three stars

The Guard (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1540133/ 

Brendan Gleeson is magnificent as the ‘Guard’ (Irish policeman) in this darkly comic crime thriller.  His abrasive and confrontational attitude is delightful, and wonderfully balanced with Don Cheadle’s straight-laced orthodox US cop.  The character also benefits from a cracking crescendo of a criminal plot with a finale that doesn’t disappoint.

Five stars

50/50 (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1306980/

This ‘cancer comedy’ tells the moving but humorous story of a young man’s cancer diagnosis and treatment.  It’s sensitively executed, evoking laughter and tears in equal measure.  Seth Rogen provides perfectly pitched best-friend banter, whilst Joseph Gordon-Levitt is superb as the patient – sometimes stoic, sometimes desperate, always likeable and real.

Five stars