jamiecostelo58

A film that perhaps was overlooked by many, People Like Us is a great movie that has its mixture of moving and humorous moments, all entwined with wonderful imagery and a dense musical score. It's a film detailing the trials and tribulations of a fractured family life and how perhaps everyone has a "skeleton in the closet" as the saying goes. And as it's inspired by true events on behalf of the director Alex Kurtzman, he shows the viewer the emotional aspects of broken families and strained relationships with admirable tenacity; it makes you wonder what goes on behind closed doors.

The performances in this film were second to none, with Elizabeth Banks the stand out in my mind. Banks delivers an alert and moving execution of her role as Frankie, and she shares a wonderful chemistry with Chris Pine, who also proves he is more than just a pretty face. While Pine's character of Sam may at first appear to be a bit pompous and big headed, Pine is able to show how he actually is not so bad after all; the touching moments he shares with (still stunning) mom Michelle Pfeiffer, the eventual truth regarding his true relationship with Frankie, as well as the conclusion to the film prove this.

People Like Us is simply a movie that packs a huge emotional punch about love and how life is not always as simple as it could be. We do make mistakes after all; but when those mistakes cause pain and suffering to those around us, it's time to take a step back and re-evaluate that life, and that is what makes People Like Us one of those films that instantly touches you. 9/10

GT6 has proved (at least for me) to be an acceptable game and a definite improvement over GT5, which had been seen to be a little fussy and complicated. However, I was intrigued to discover this game was not a Playstation 4 title, but nevertheless the excellent graphics certainly prove the astute attention to detail; up to a point. There are still some missed opportunities such as 'standard' vehicles having straightforward black interiors and the lack of windscreen wipers for example. There are other imperfections; the AI - as with GT6's predecessors - leave a lot to be desired, and if using a car up to the newly introduced PP limit, winning races really isn't that difficult. In other words, it's not challenging enough.

The inclusion of 1200 cars is obviously a winner, although from what I've seen, many vehicles seem to be from the 1990s and early 2000s, so the vast majority are nothing new to me. I appreciate the game makers are Japanese, but the bias towards cars from that part of the world (as with the earlier games) is annoying; how many Mistubishi Lancers, Subaru Imprezas and Nissan Skylines do we need?! There are also some interesting omissions from the line up; a list of cars I could mention is endless so I won't do that here.

Nevertheless, in a nutshell, I enjoy GT6; I prefer it to GT5. Then again I sense the GT franchise is beginning to lose its edge to other games of a similar nature, such as Forza, Ridge Racer and so on. It may have been the class leader in the car racing genre, but time has moved on. However, as a major fan of the Gran Turismo franchise since the series began in 1998, GT6 is a game that cannot be ignored from someone like myself, and is worth having in my collection.