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Director: Ridley Scott

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh, Oscar Isaac, Ali Suliman

DiCaprio continues his trend of working with the biggest names in Tinseltown, as he teams up with Russell Crowe in this gritty 21st century spy nail biter. Di Caprio is steady, but unremarkable, while Crowe shines as one of the worst bosses in film history. Crowe always manages to find different ways to portray characters that seem, on the surface, to be similar to his past selections, and its always impressive to watch. Add directing master, Ridley Scott to the mix, and all the ingredients are present to make a film that is actually worth the ten bucks they charge for it.

Leonardo is Roger Ferris, a smart, fearless hands-on kind of modern spy who is after a terrorist leader named Al-Saleem with the shadowy help of Jordanian intelligence leader, Hani (Mark Strong), and the dubious support of his manipulative boss, Ed Hoffman, who is half soccer Dad and half sociopath (Russell Crowe). There is an unconvincing Hollywood-style romance tacked on with the usual style and results, but the dark story is still engaging and is sprinkled with authentic action scenes.

Body of Lies is an appealing blend of films like Traitor, Spy Games, Syriana and Enemy of the State, that mixes a good story with a not so subtle message about the weaknesses of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East with striking visuals and high quality production. If tricky espionage action is palatable to you, then don’t miss this one.

Body Of Lies - movie quotes:

“Nobody’s innocent in this shit.”

Movie lines from Body Of Lies

Director: Thomas McCarthy

Starring: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira, Hiam Abbass

Hollywood likes to make films that I call issue pieces from time to time. An issue piece has a story and characters and they can be quite a good film, but there is always a central social issue that the filmmakers seem to want to sway your opinion on. The Visitor is an issue piece, with the issue here being the plight of illegal aliens in the United States. The story is grim and slow-paced, but the message is clear and poignant without being overpowering. The performances are very good and both relative newcomers Haaz Sleiman and Danai Jekesai Gurira, show both ability and charisma

Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) is a widower and university professor who is living life through the motions, finding some relief in music, though he is frustrated in his attempts to learn an instrument himself. When an unavoidable NYC conference leads him to return to his long-kept but rarely used apartment, he finds a young couple, Tarek and Zainab (Sleiman and Gurira) are living there. Things are tense at first but soon Vail’s loneliness and a mutual interest in music gives rise to a friendship between Vail and Tarek, which leads to complications.

The Visitor is a semi-satisfying, but unremarkable drama, designed to tug at our heartstrings, but is not wholly successful. Still, with a decent story and a fresh cast of talented and mostly unknown faces, it does mange to draw out a couple hours worth of entertainment.