The kingdom of the film’s title here is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The excellent opening credits gives a quick history lesson to those who are a bit behind on US / Mid-East relations and then we’re taken into a great scene of a terrorist attack on a US compound in Riyadh. From there, the FBI sets up an elite taskforce to go to Saudi Arabia and kick some ass.

Of course politics gets in the way of the ass-kicking so the FBI dudes (and dudette) have to work around the protocols. There was one scene that I really loved involving Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner, two of the FBI agents, where they give the beating of a lifetime to some poor Arab terrorist. I could only laugh at the thought of them playing the lovely suburban couple looking to adopt a baby in Juno.

Anyway, the film as a whole is quite decent. 6 crumbs out of 10.

It’s grim, dark and gritty and the mood is perfectly captured at all times. Very recommended. 8 crumbs out of 10.

The simple storyline is that Juno is a 16-year old girl with an unplanned pregnancy who decides to have the baby and give it up to adoptive parents. The film has many positives – all the scenes flow along nicely, the soundtrack is great and the characters are lovable. But I wasn’t totally impressed with some of the writing. I think the director and actors did great work at delivering the script but at times I cringed at the dialogue. Some of it seemed way too forced and contrived by the screenwriter. The film contained one of the worst lines I can ever recall: “Honest to blog?”.

Ellen Page is fantastic as Juno but even better is Michael Cera who gives another great understated comedic performance. I’ll award the film a harsh 5 crumbs out of 10.