State of Play (2009)

[Movie 242 / Day 256]


A political thriller, State of Play follows Washington Globe journalist Cal McAffrey (Crowe) as he attempts to fit together an apparent suicide, an apparent drug-related killing and a multinational, multi-billion-dollar company who is currently being investigated by Senator Stephen Collins (Affleck). Against a tight deadline, McAffrey has to work out a puzzle that has serious ramifications; helped by a Globe blogger, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) they track down various leads and uncover secrets left, right and centre.

The leads are all very good, as you'd expect; although Crowe and Affleck, whose characters are supposed to be good friends, make a strange couple and really don't seem to go together on screen at all well. Having said that, when they are apart (the majority of their screen time), they're both very good.

The real stars for me though, was the supporting cast - Helen Mirren is fantastic as the Globe editor Cameron Lynne; Jeff Daniels excellent as Senator George Fergus; Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman are also worthy of mention.

Highly enjoyable, well-paced thriller.

My rating: 7.3 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.4 / 10
Running time: 127 mins
IMDB link

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

[Movie 227 / Day 240]


Boasting more cameos than you can shake a dirty stick at, not to mention more than the average number of Star Wars references, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is one of Kevin Smith's sillier films. The plot, such as it is, involves Jay and Silent Bob attempting to get to Hollywood in order to stop a movie based on their fictional counterparts, Bluntman and Chronic, from being made.

It's silly, it references all of Smith's previous movies heavily, but it's pretty funny. I like.

My rating: 6.8 / 10
IMDB rating: 6.8 / 10
Running time: 104 mins
IMDB link

Chasing Amy (1997)

[Movie 131 / Day 115]


Kevin Smith's third film and a love story to boot revolves around two comic book writers, Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) and Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) who pen the popular comic book series Bluntman & Chronic.

All is happy between the pair until Holden meets Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) and promptly falls in love with her - despite her annoying voice and the unfortunate fact that she's a lesbian - which causes tension with Banky.

Like a lot of Smith's movies, it's both funny and touching in places and Banky Edwards is a comic genius of a character, having the best lines in the movie.

My rating: 7.5 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.5 / 10
Running time: 113 mins
IMDB link

Dazed and Confused (1993)

[Movie 15 / Day 9]


If you believe this film, in the 70s, the last day at high school in America was spent taking drugs, driving around in cool 60s and 70s muscle cars, drinking beer with your buddies and looking for freshmen to spank with a cricket bat. Surrounded by hot girls in tight jeans and short tops.

Looks like fun. It's also a highly enjoyable movie, with several young looking members of Hollywood's brightest popping up (including Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich and Ben Affleck - Renée Zellweger is in there somewhere too)... My biggest problem with it is the actor playing the main young bloke, Wiley Wiggins, has a highly irratating habit of holding his brow and rubbing his nose. Other than that, I want to grow up in 70s small-town America, please.

My rating: 7.8 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.5 / 10
Running time: 103 mins
IMDB link