It's getting a bit late.

'Balibo' (2009) directed by Robert Connolly

This film tells the powerful and confronting story of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. It focuses on the killing of five Australian journalists by following a sixth Australian journalist who is investigating their disappearance. The film is beautifully shot and the story is very carefully structured as the film builds momentum and tension steadily. The structure of the film dealt with two different time frames, separated by three weeks. I found it an interesting choice to structure the film in this dual narrative way because perhaps due to this fact, I felt less engaged with the characters of the five journalists. This was because much of their story was told as though their fate had already happened, given that the primary world of the film is set three weeks after the events that lead to their deaths. Much of the scenes involving the journalists had a kind of flashback or memory-like quality, the image itself seemed more grainy, the colour more saturated. This perhaps made the action in these scenes feel less immediate and the inherent tension and danger one step removed.

'Adventureland' (2009) directed by Greg Mottola

An immensely enjoyable coming of age/teen romance story about a guy who works at a theme park over summer. The main strength of this film is the writing which is incredibly subtle and doesn't aim for cheap laughs. Also, the entire cast is excellent and everyone in the film seems to really add something extra to each scene. The male and female leads have great chemistry, their scenes together are very strong and give the film a real emotional weight. There are definitely funny and quirky moments too but they all seem to drive the plot forward. The main thing is that it doesn't feel like there are any superfluous moments in the film designed just for laughs. Instead the laughs are generally character based and serve to develop the characters further.