Fifth and First

The Fifth Estate profiles the groundbreaking work of Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose key contribution to the noble act of whistleblowing was committing to privacy. While exposes on Julius Baer's shady clients, the goings-on of banks in Iceland and dictators in Kenya, were fairly one-sided stories, the possibility of confidential information putting people in harm's way is accentuated in the last episode of release of information of US Government war-room text messages. A good watch, though perhaps not as intense and engaging as it could have been

13/20

Men without Women

Peter (Liam Neeson) has the perfect – or not quite so perfect – marriage with Lisa (Laura Linney) and Lisa is dying. All of a sudden, Peter has to contend with the trauma of the revealation that his wife’s various business trips were cover up for a raging 10-year long affair. Investigations lead to Ralph (Antonio Banderas) and what follows is a cat-and-mouse game where Peter tries to draw in his quarry to the final confession. It takes the eventual demise of Laura and subsequent vignettes, to uncover the fact that The Other Man was no other man at all. Intense exchanges between Neeson and Banderas – watch this movie if for no other reason than a study in the emoting ability of two great stars

12.5/20