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Louise Banks ( Amy Adams ) is a linguist who teaches at a College. One day, twelve giant spacecrafts appear in random locations across ...

Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is a linguist who teaches at a College. One day, twelve giant spacecrafts appear in random locations across the world overnight.

Louise's skills make her a requirement for the U.S forces, who recruit her - and mathematician Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) - to attempt to decode and translate the language that the creatures inside the spacecrafts are using in order to prevent a global war.

Arrival does not rely on conflict between the humans and aliens to keep you invested and entertained because Arrival is against that trope. Each time our characters interact with the aliens, who remain covered in mist for most of the screen time, we as the audience gain something new in the form of knowledge and discovery rather then an action set piece. And when we return back to the outside world, we see through the media how each discovery affects it in different ways.

Arrival is a movie that is more then just about language. It shows how divided we are as a species as each nation and culture interprets the alien's language in different meanings. And from this lack of clear understanding it creates fear and paranoia that could lead to global war. But Arrival shows that despite the mystery that surrounds the unknown, the future can be just as hopeful and bright as it might be scary and we should approach it with confidence.

Visually the movie is fantastic with an expert play on light and dark imagery, and the very deliberate use of color to emphasize certain characters and events. This transfers into the shadowy and smoke filled environment inside the alien vessel as well as the ink like Rorschach style alien writing. The visual effects used in Arrival give a sense of other worldly presence making the ship look as if it were a great technical feat of some unknown civilization, yet at the same time look organic as if were merely plucked from the surface of some far off planet. The aliens themselves look as if acquired from a Guillermo del Toro set, they are octopus like with long tentacle arms and gunmetal gray coloration, which begs the question of how a creature like this could have the dexterity to craft a sophisticated vehicle.

Coming to the performances, Arrival features a real emotional heartbeat thanks to a fantastic performance from the always dependable Amy Adams, who conveys such a wide range of emotions as Louise, growing in confidence with each session she gets with the visitors. Jeremy Renner and Forest Whitaker offer some fine support for Adams but there is no doubting this film belongs to her.

Rogue One is the first Star Wars movie to be set outside the Episodic Sagas. With that, there was a lot of pressure on it to perform a...

Rogue One is the first Star Wars movie to be set outside the Episodic Sagas. With that, there was a lot of pressure on it to perform and launch this new series of Star Wars movies.

Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a Rebellion soldier and criminal, is about to experience her biggest challenge yet when Mon Mothma (Genevieve O'Reilly) sets her out on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. With help from the Rebels, a master swordsman, and non-allied forces, Jyn will be in for something bigger than she thinks.

How much you enjoy Rogue One is, for the most part, going to depend how deep you invested you are into the world of Star Wars. There were so many moments that was so much meaningful and heartfelt because I knew the backstory to some of these events and characters. By far, this is the least kid friendly movie. This was at it's core, a war movie, something we have never really gotten in the Star Wars universe. With the war theme we got an overall darker tone than we are use to, and it really suited the story they were telling. We never have experienced the war side of Star Wars because the stories have always been focused on a force user rather than the events around them. Because there are no jedi, we got to see more of the Rebellion and the Empire and the battle that is taking place during the original trilogy.

Felicity Jones is a fine addition to the “Star Wars” tradition of tough-minded, quick-thinking heroines. The movie contains so many pure Star Wars moments. I have no doubt the Droid - voiced with skill by Alan Tudky - will become a favourite of many and new aliens and ship designs are not thin on the ground. Apart from K2SO, I thought Donnie Yen's character, Chirrut was a close second standout. I really enjoyed his character because of his connection into the Star Wars law.

Overall, I loved this movie. This did what it need to do and prove that they can make Star Wars films that isn't all lightsabers and Skywalkers. But what this film does the best is enhance A New Hope. As soon as I walked out the cinema I wanted to go and watch A New Hope.