Suite Francaise (15A) ***
The story of how Suite Francaise came to be is almost more interesting than the movie itself. Its author, Irene Nemirovsky, write the unfinished novel in a journal while living in occupied France.
Nemirovsky was captured by German forces and died at Auschwitz, even though she had long since converted to Catholicism.
It laid undiscovered for decades, her daughter finding it too difficult to read what she assumed to be her mother's diary. It was only when she turned the pages that this story came to life.
A big-name cast brings the resulting big-screen adaptation to life, but the pace lags at times.
It tells the story of Lucile (Michelle Williams) a Frenchwoman living in a quiet town with her frosty mother-in-law (Kristin Scott Thomas) as she waits for word on her husband from the front.
There is panic when refugees fleeing Paris start pouring into the town. They’re soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who start taking up residence in the homes of local people, throwing their lives into disarray and making any sort of privacy impossible.
But Lucille forms an instant connection with one of them, a soldier named Bruno (Matthias Schoenaerts) who has been conscripted and has no time for the conflict in which he finds himself
The film is to be commended for refusing to be black and white and performances are strong all round. It’s a shame that the pace frequently drags, and the story occasionally veers into melodrama.
Run All Night (15A) ***
Kicking baddies' butts - check. Being menacing on the phone - check. Gunfire and explosions - check.
While most actors would be settling into dramatic roles, Liam Neeson continues to be a badass at the age of 62.
At least Run All Night is an improvement on Taken 3 in that it bothers to give us a plot, but it's not exactly a classic of the action genre.
The bould Liam plays Jimmy Conlon, a mobster who has escaped justice for several suspected murders over the years.
Along with fellow don and close friend Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), they're leaving crime to the younger guys - until their sons get drawn into some murky business.
When Shawn's son Danny runs foul of a nasty drugs gang his father refuses to bail him out - and the two older men are pulled into the criminal underworld when Jimmy’s son is accused of Danny's murder.
It’s a busy, gritty action film that sets its stall nicely but flounders baldy in the final act, courtesy of uncertainty in its resolution and some silly plot twists. Neeson gets lead billing and most of the best lines, but it's Ed Harris's conflicted crook that carries the film.
