MOVIE: Adam Driver steers two movies to success

YOU may not know his name, but you will probably recognise his face. Star of ‘BlacKkKlansman’ and various ‘Star Wars’ films, Adam Driver, is hot property nowadays.

This week he opens two movies, and in both, Driver struggles to hold things together. Firstly a failing marriage, and secondly an attempt to compile and release a massive report on CIA torture tactics following the 9/11 attacks.

‘Marriage Story’ stars Driver and co-star Scarlett Johansson in the Noah Baumbach tale of two people falling out of love. It’s a kind of modern day ‘Kramer vs Kramer’ with superb acting performances that should attract award nominations, as well as a surprisingly funny script. Catch it in cinemas and later on Netflix. We award it a review score of four emotional stars.  

‘The Report’ sees Driver play real-life FBI agent Dan Jones, who is charged with investigating the CIA’s use of torture to fight the cleverly titled ‘War on Terror’. Jones works for Senator Diane Feinstein (played by Annette Benning) and ultimately comes under severe pressure from all fronts to pull back on his findings.

It’s interesting that this movie comes hot on the heels of Keira Knightley’s ‘Official Secrets’, which deals with similar shenanigans by US authorities, and if you liked that movie, you should enjoy this one too. 

And now for something completely different and a film that doesn’t feature Adam Driver, ‘Little Monsters’, an Australian zombie horror comedy.

Put simply, it’s not funny, it’s not scary, and it features the most obnoxious character of 2019 in the form of Teddy McGiggle played by Josh Gad. With expectations lowered so much, you might just enjoy it.

And finally, recently released is the Helen Mirren/Ian McKellen drama, ‘The Good Liar’, about an elderly con-artist trying to take advantage of a rich widow.

It’s a kind of ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ set in Surrey but without the jokes. Despite some difficult to believe coincidences and plot holes, there is some pleasure to be had in the acting and final fight sequence between our two zimmer-frame wielding leads. 

Paul O'Rourke