The Spectacle that is Spectre

James Bond (Daniel Craig) kicks off his search for the elusive secret organization Spectre in the midst of the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico City. The search takes him across to Rome, where Ernst Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) engages him in a cat and mouse game that finally culminates back in London. Bond affictionados are in familiar territory (or are they?) - the title song (by Sam Smith, male), the Bond girls - Lucia Sciarra (Monica Belucci), and Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux), the latter highly accomplished in medicine and hardly a wilting violet by any stretch of the imagination, the gadgetry from Q - and Bond inevitably taking some liberties with them. In the balance of things, Spectre is an understated good watch, with Daniel Craig showing clear signs of ageing though. That for me was the only point of disappointment with what was otherwise a fine movie.

15/20

Blow the Right Whistle

The distressing reality of the “war whores” - women trafficked from their homelands into war torn Bosnia, as a part of a trade that tears into the heart of the establishment – is showcased in The Whistleblower. The unfolding starts the newly promoted Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) unearthing the heinous nexus between the people who are purported to be liberated, and those ostensibly sent to liberate them. With generous doses of the emotive, Kathryn goes about her mission, is duly sidelined the establishment right up to the topmost brass, and eventually has her say - but not before she has lost much in the process. As depicted many times in movies and real life, the road to hell (for do-gooders) is indeed paved with good intentions (that are shared with but a few)

14.5/20