Eleanor Reviews

***/**** (3.5 stars) In 1850, Herman Melville travelled to Nantucket to hear the tale of the whaling ship, the Essex , from the last known survivor. It is a story of two men at odds with each other, a ship bound for the ends of the Earth, and a huge white whale.   The first, and most obvious, thing to point out, is undoubtedly the incredible cast list director Ron Howard has managed to pull together. Ben Whishaw is Herman Melville, perfectly acted as a man whose imagination has been captured by the legend of the Essex and is determined to turn it into a great novel. Whishaw is pitted against an equally excellent Brendan Gleeson, the tortured surviving crew member, Thomas Nickerson, who went to sea as a fresh-faced teenager (portrayed by the instantly likeable Tom Holland) and returned haunted by what he had done and seen. Whishaw and Gleeson are treated to the best parts of the script, and whilst their scenes are mainly stationary, it's still a pleasure to see two great

***** A long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away... So begins the long-awaited seventh instalment of the Star Wars saga, which takes place 30 years after the events of The Return of the Jedi . Luke Skywalker is missing. In his absence, the New Order has arisen, an evil totalitarian regime built upon the ruins of the Empire. Opposing them is the Resistance, an underground group, determined to defeat this new evil. It is into this world that scavenger Rey, and ex-Stormtrooper Finn, are flung.   Rest easy, dear readers, for Episode VII is good. It's very good; in fact, it's bloody brilliant. Forget the woes of Episode I , II and III and relax back into a fully-realised, action-packed, funny, well-acted instalment that contains as many fist-pump moments as it does emotional punches. It's a difficult balancing act, but somehow the three screenwriters have managed to pull it off. The plot is undoubtedly secondary to what is a very character-driven film, but the film

**** Brooklyn, 1957. At the height of the Cold War, the CIA arrest suspected Soviet spy, Rudolf Abel, and nominate unsuspecting insurance lawyer, Jim Donovan, to defend him in court. With the eyes of the world upon him, Donovan must tread carefully, especially after a failed US mission leaves a young American on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. Spielberg and Hanks’ latest collaboration has a very old fashioned feel to it; it’s what you might describe as ‘a political talkie’ as opposed to the thriller it has been marketed as. This is not meant as a criticism, merely that this is not an action-packed war film, rather a series of men talking in various rooms as the world seems to fall down around them. Tom Hanks is Jim Donovan, the lawyer asked to defend Rudolf Abel: he is the ‘American everyman’, abiding by the Constitution and determined to give his client the best possible defence, even at the risk of his own safety. Hanks plays him with all the panache that you would ex

**** A chance meeting between a shop assistant and a glamorous customer soon develops into a forbidden love affair. How refreshing it is to see a film about gay women that refrains from exploiting their sex or sexuality. How refreshing it is to see a film wherein women look out for other women, praising each other and supporting each other; where female friendships are shown as something meaningful and precious, as opposed to flimsy and empty as many mainstream films would have us believe. This is a love story, but without the booming declarations of love and desire that we might be used to, instead focusing on the subtlety of a blossoming romance, from the awkwardness of the first meetings, to the exchanged glances over breakfast and beyond. And it’s beautiful. Our two central lovers, Therese (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett) do not live out their love story as though they are on film, they live it as though they are going about their unremarkable lives and happen to