Drive

The mile-o-meter is ticking all the way back to the 1980s on Drive, an existential heist movie that doffs its cap to the back catalogues of Walter Hill, John Carpenter and Michael Mann. Directed with savvy aplomb by the Danish film-maker Nicolas Winding Refn, this plays out under cloudy LA skies and thrums to a narcotic synth-pop soundtrack as it rides shotgun alongside an imperilled Hollywood stuntman. Buckle up; it’s quite a ride.

Drive
Production year: 2011
Country: USA
Cert (UK): 18
Runtime: 95 mins
Directors: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks, Kaden Leos, Oscar Isaac, Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling stars as Driver, who flips cars for a living and occasionally moonlights as a getaway man for jewel thieves and bank robbers, offering them five minutes of his time, after which they’re on their own. Driver, we soon come to realise, is an American riff on Jean-Pierre Melville’s solitary samourai, smiling and serene, his moral compass set to neutral. Then one day he shares a lift with his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan, playing pensive) and runs clean off the road. Irene has an ex-con, almost-ex-husband called Standard (Oscar Isaac) who needs to perform one last job in order to pay off his debts and care for his family. Inevitably the heist goes horribly wrong. Now Driver is on the run, with a bag of loot in the trunk of his car and a pair of gangsters (performed with gusto by Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks) tailgating right behind.

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Guardian review

Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the long-awaited feature film version of John le Carré’s bestselling novel. Set at the height of the Cold War, this gripping thriller follows retired agent George Smiley (Oldman), recently forced out from the Secret Intelligence Service, a.k.a. The Circus. Smiley finds himself sucked back into the shady world of espionage when he is contacted with information that The Circus has been infiltrated by a Soviet double agent. Unsure of who he can trust and with national security and the fate of the country in the balance, Smiley must work in secret to flush out the mole. Directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In) and starring Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight, Harry Potter) in the role of George Smiley, the thriller also features a who’s who of the British acting elite, including Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Tom Hardy (Inception), John Hurt (Harry Potter), Toby Jones (Frost/Nixon), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes), Ciaran Hinds (Munich) and Benedict Cumberbatch (TV’s Sherlock). Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy opens in cinemas September 16.