Diagonaldi Very well executed

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

nicholls_les A ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) is hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan) and uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.Well directed and very well acted by everyone, the film moves at a steady pace towards the surprising conclusion (I did guess the twist) Pierce Brosnan, one of the most under rated actors in my opinion and the best James Bond there has ever been, plays his part very well and although there are clearly parallels to Tony Blair, he never tries to mimic him or anyone else.Ewan McGregor is as good as he always is (does that guy ever age?) although I did find his attempt at an English accent odd, much worse than Kim Cattrall's.Olivia Williams is very good as the wife with a secret past, but the bedroom scene with McGregor didn't seem to fit in with her character.Good to see Eli Wallach in what must was one of his last films, I believe he only made two more after this one.Over all a good thriller and well worth a watch.

wavecat13 Whatever one may think of Polanski, he can direct a fine thriller. Many of his movies have this quality - they don't seem to be part of a grand director's oeuvre, but are full, fine, successful projects. This is a taut, slightly spooky political thriller in which Ewan MacGregor plays a ghost writer - a replacement ghost writer, since the first guy mysteriously died - for a smooth British politician (Brosnan). There is nothing to complain about here - locations, performances, imagery, low key soundtrack - all of it is first rate. There are dashes of Hitchcock and classic mysteries. The ending is a little unsatisfying, but it has the right paranoid scope.

justincward Ewan MacGregor is recruited as memoir ghost writer to the ex-Prime Minister of the UK, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), who will soon be facing a war crimes trial. Ewan's predecessor was mysteriously lost from a ferry to the island in Maine that Adam Lang is holidaying in, in the stormy season.Luckily, Ewan has all of the previous writer's stuff to go through, and it contains many clues to solving the mystery of um... whatever the mystery is. Why the previous guy was killed, I suppose. He also gets the help of a very old Eli Wallach, who puts beyond it reasonable movie-goer doubt that the guy Ewan has taken over from was murdered. Well we kind of gathered that already, but thanks Eli.Pierce Brosnan always gives good baddie, but while Ewan MacGregor is very good at appearing ordinary, he has never managed to make me believe a character, apart from in Trainspotting. If he's supposed to be an alcoholic in this, he's a kind of weekend alcoholic. And while there's mystery in this movie, IE wondering what secrets are being covered up, there's very little suspense, because you have no idea what or who Ewan is supposed to be scared of. Apart from Adam Lang's wife.Terrible, terrible ending, too. It's like they gave up trying to explain anything because the plot is so inconsequential. The ex-Prime Minister's wife was a CIA plant, OK? (Oh! THAT'S why Lang was so pro-US foreign policy!). This message is 'hidden' in the first words of each chapter of the memoir manuscript. And Ewan figures it out, just in time for publication date, shortly afterwards being hit by a car in a neatly directed but letdown final scene.We never know for sure why the first dead ghostwriter thought 'hiding' his revelation in this way had any point whatsoever. And this isn't even a spoiler because it's a plot turn that has no consequences or relation to the conclusion of the story. All you end up with is, "The CIA are very bad". But you knew that already.Undemanding. Silly. Watchable, just, for Pierce Brosnan's class turn, digging at A. Blair, Esq. Spoiled the book (and any Robert Harris in future) for me.

grantss Good, but not great. Intriguing plot, well shot, very well acted. However, the plot often seems contrived, and there are some gaps. Plus in the end you think "So what? This was the big secret?". For all the stylish, clever build-up, the ending is quite underwhelming.Great performances all round. Olivia Williams is miscast though. Not because of her ability to play her part, but we are supposed to believe she is in her mid-to-late 50s! She certainly didn't look it.Decent enough movie, but not worth all the hype.