One of the silver linings to the particular cloud over the lair at the moment is that I can watch films in peace. Owing to my mood, they haven’t been particularly challenging. All three were McDonald’s movies - crap, but fill you up. Here’s a quick rundown…

Bulletproof Monk
The saving graces of this film amount to the following: Chow Yun Fat being very cool and in a virtual self parody of his roles to date. Victoria Smurfit in a tight catsuit. The tongue in cheek humour. It’s very silly and the action is pretty crap but it’s entertaining and doesn’t require much thinking about. Probably would have been fantastic if it had been written by Joss Whedon.

The Recruit
Fairly run of the mill action spy thriller. Al Pacino is, well, Al Pacino and Colin Farrell was okay. I confess I was convinced by his accent and do think he could make it big if he doesn’t get stereotyped. Nothing to write home about, although it did promote some interesting thoughts about patriotism that I may blog about soon.

Frailty
This is the Whopper with cheese of the three movies (as in, much tastier and more substantial than a Big Mac). Bill (Aliens, Near Dark) Paxton’s directing debut is about a serial killer who kills after having visions from God. Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton and Powers Boothe star and are, like the film itself, quite competent. The pacing is a bit slow and I feel the voiceover narration detracts from the film’s tension but it’s not a bad film. Quite creepy when you think about the subject matter.

Still haven’t got around to seeing Underworld. Maybe this week, depending on how everything goes.