The Next Three Days (2010)

An intelligent thriller directed by Paul Haggis. 

Russell Crowe stars as a man who wants to spring his wife (Elizabeth Banks) out of prison after she’s wrongly convicted of murder. It’s fascinating because he’s a school teacher – not your standard film action hero – and he makes mistakes.

It’s tense and exciting. To the film’s credit, there are sufficiently imaginative twists that I could never guess where the plot was going. 

Crowe has an elaborate chart on his wall revealing all of his illegal plans and I found that slightly ridiculous, but the fate of this chart is cleverly worked into the story in such a way that makes you appreciate it. 

Liam Neeson has a curious cameo as an expert at escaping from prisons. I thought he would return to the film at some point but he only features in that one scene.

Rush (2013)

Rush is a simple film that offers much pleasure. The Formula One rivalry between the cocky, sloppy playboy Brit James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and the careful, considered Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) is brought to life in a noisy, exciting way by Ron Howard, who evokes the 1976 Grand Prix season leading up to the all-important final race. 

Period detail of the 1970s is handled well. There’s a colour filter applied that cleverly makes it look how we seem to remember that decade. Fast edits and low angles bring out the maximum drama in a sport that was often surprisingly dull to watch on TV. Howard has the luxury of cramming in all the good bits and omitting all the tedium.

The two leads are both excellent. Hemsworth’s posh English accent is remarkably convincing given that he later came unstuck with his Nantucket accent for In the Heart of the Sea (also directed by Ron Howard). Especially strong is Alexandra Maria Lara as Lauda’s wife. Rarely has a face been so expressive.

I always enjoy biopics. Even when they don't work, they are usually interesting, but this one really does work – and for both protagonists. That said, a decent documentary of the same events would probably be more fascinating. Only one criticism: James Hunt’s wife, played by Olivia Wilde, has a storyline that just peters out – almost as if a scene was cut by mistake.

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

Inspired fusion of sci-fi and western. Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are the cowboys battling the mysterious aliens who have stolen their people and who want their gold. Daniel Craig is the sole survivor of an abduction and cannot remember any of what happened to him, but he wears one of the aliens’ bracelets, which acts as a superweapon he can use against them. Olivia Wilde plays the blue-eyed girl assisting him and turns out to be not quite what she seems.

The brilliance of the film comes from the fact that it plays it straight. There are no knowing smirks and winks. No self-conscious irony. It’s a proper western in which the enemy just happens to be from another world.

There’s plenty of character development, with a father/son theme running across several relationships. Clichés were avoided and scenes that could have turned corny were sufficiently humanised to work well. I suspected it would “go rubbish” at various points – when the aliens started running around, when the big battle began – but refreshingly it stayed original and watchable to the end.

Surprisingly the film wasn’t a commercial success. Too intelligent? Too unusual? It’s a shame – especially when tripe such as Independence Day (1996) does so well.