Every Secret Thing - review

Years ago a baby was taken and later found dead with 2 young girls being convicted of her murder.

A few years later Ronnie & Alice are released from juvenile detention and back living in the same neighbourhood and when another toddler disappears in similar circumstances, Detective Nancy Porter (Elizabeth Banks) believes they may have had a hand in it.

With the movie darting between the past and present, you start to get a sense of what happened but don’t know which of the 2 girls actually committed the original murder and with each of them blaming the other during police interviews regarding the current abduction, it proves to be a difficult case to crack.

As Alice embraces her freedom and Ronnie throws herself into working in an attempt to forget her past, it’s easy to see why they would become instant suspects when history seems to repeat itself, but surely they can’t be guilty of both crimes?

This movie wasn’t as good as I’d hoped and to be honest I was bored way before it was halfway through.

It wasn’t the crime thriller I’d hoped it would be and I wasn’t gripped or particularly determined to see how it ended, but I stuck with it in the hope it would get better – unfortunately it didn’t.

The Forger - review

Serving time in jail for art forgery, Ray Chambers arranges for him to get out early so he can spend time with his ill son. Reunited with his father Joseph and son Will, Ray knows he has to work hard to get back into their good books, but also has to reluctantly pull of a job in return for his early release.

Instructed to copy a Claude Monet so the real one can be stolen and sold, Ray does his best to keep his job secret while also spending time with his son, but when he realises the extent of Will’s illness, he also steps up as father.

Giving Will 3 wishes, Ray arranges for him to meet his mother, lose his virginity and also help out with his latest job, but when he learns the cops are on his tail, Ray alongside with his father, son and friend Carl must work together to pull off the job successfully while also keeping themselves clean.

I found this crime thriller a really great watch showcasing the skills of John Travolta & Christopher Plummer in a subtle way. With a bit of violence and swearing, but not too much for it to be overpowering, this movie was more about relationships and would be one which I would watch again.

Reclaim - review

When American couple Steven and Shannon arrive in Puerto Rico they’re excited to know that when they leave, they will leave as a family after adopting a Haitian orphan.

As they meet their daughter Nina, they enjoy spending time together as they wait for her passport to arrive so they can return to America, but when they wake one morning and realise Nina is missing, their dream come true turns into a nightmare.

With the police on the case, they warn the couple that they may have been subject to an adoption scam and when Steven discovers the office of the agency empty and abandoned, they realise they’ve lost all their money as well as their daughter.

As they desperately search for their daughter, Steven and Shannon are soon kidnapped by a group of friends they met just after picking up Nina with their demands for money turning violent and leaving them fearing for their lives. With the whereabouts of Nina unknown, both Steven and Sharon decide they have nothing left to lose and as the group become more violent, they’re determined to fight for their lives as well as their daughter.

Starring Ryan Phillippe and John Cusack as a bad guy, this thriller wasn’t as fast paced as billed, but it kept me interested enough to keep watching until the end.

Inspired by the real issue of child trafficking, this movie did a good job in highlighting how overseas adoptions can be turned into moneymaking schemes which have no end of victims.

The Calling - review

In the sleepy town of Fort Dundas, alcoholic Detective Hazel Micallef (Susan Sarandon) doesn’t have much to worry about in terms of crime. But when a local resident is found murdered in her home followed by another body in the area, her skills are called into action along with new police officer Ben Wingate as they suspect a serial killer could be at work.

Asking for more help in the team as the bodies start to pile up all with a distinct signature, Hazel and her fellow officers start to piece together what they can about the victims leading new officer Ben to travel outside of state in order to follow a lead. 

But when Hazel works out what ties them all together, she faces a power bigger than anything she knows in order to prevent what the killer aims to achieve.

Starring Susan Sarandon, Topher Grace and Donald Sutherland, this crime thriller had me gripped from the start, although it did have its slow moments and didn’t leave much to the imagination as both the killer and police are followed therefore taking away any guessing about who the killer is.