The opening film for the AFI Fest is the much talked about Robert Redford’s Lion For Lambs. I read somewhere it’s a political thriller … it’s anything but a thriller … I’d call it a visual point-of-view rehash of opinions that have been flying around for the last 3 or 4 years.

Not that I necessarily disagree with the opinions presented in the movie but it’s definitely not opening film quality. No disrespect to Mr Redford, he did a decent job acting and directing. Ms Streep did not disappoint as the journalist forced to question her influential position in the media. Tom Cruise was great as a political figure we all love to bitch about but if given his job we aren’t quite sure what we’ll do … more than that, he’s nice because he said hi to me. Yeah, I went to the little girls’ room before the movie started and bumped into Ms Streep and him. Our eyes met and he said hi. So just for that, he did a great job in the movie 🙂

The supporting cast did an excellent job too, the new unknown who I’m definitely looking out for, Andrew Garfield portrayed a college student faced with choices so many of us in Singapore are fortunate enough to enjoy too. A life so good that we don’t try hard enough to make a difference.

Here is where the film left me wanting for more, it posed questions the are not new in a manner that left much to be desired. Similarly, the log line “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” doesn’t work for me because it presents a black and white situation with no room for grey. We all live in the real world and know real life isn’t as cut and dry.

So in my so called real life, I walked on the red carpet of Lions for Lambs and found Robert Redford just as dashing and Peter Berg totally hotter in person, the glam factor is truly all made up and I’m not quite use to the bright lights … … now I’m just hoping next year’s opening film stars Keanu Reeves and I’m still in the same job 😉