Prime Time: Crime 101 (2026)

I doubt there will be any other movie this year that will have a more suitable descriptive title than Crime 101. It's not a terrible film, but it's very easy to figure out as you watch every piece being slowly moved into place. 

Chris Hemsworth plays Mike, a man who has become very adept at committing non-violent robberies within the general area of the 101 freeway. Nobody else really suspects all of his crimes are connected, apart from one determined cop (Mark Ruffalo). There's a big job looming on the horizon, one that could be classed as one last job, but Mike will need the help of a disgruntled insurance broker (Halle Berry), as well as a good bit of luck. His fence (Nick Nolte) is also working against Mike at this point, trying to make use of a young violent lad (Barry Keoghan) who has a very different approach to his work.

Written and directed by Bart Layton, based on a novella by Don Winslow, this is, as I am sure you have seen mentioned elsewhere, very much Heat-lite. You have the professional criminal, the flawed but dogged cop, the woman (Monica Barbaro) who comes into the life of the criminal and makes him consider what he might do with the next stage of his life, and the unhinged crook able to turn a good thing into a huge mess with one bad decision. There's a bit more to it, but nothing that is any further removed from the pages of a book entitled "Writing Crime 101". Of course.

I would say that everything here is fine, when it comes to the actual production, but that wouldn't be strictly true. Layton knows the tropes that he wants to make use of, but he doesn't put enough care into crafting them. When Hemsworth starts to become interested in Barbaro's character it quickly becomes harder to believe than any of the well-executed criminal plans. The same goes for the numerous moments that show our main character making far too obvious mistakes for someone who has maintained a successful streak for so many years.

Hemsworth is decent in the main role, often going through the motions with very little going on behind his eyes. He's focused on the jobs, or focused on not being caught after the jobs are done, and his behaviour conveys that, whether he's being flustered or managing to maintain his cool. Ruffalo plays the kind of Columbo-esque character that I feel he's already played quite a few times before this, whether as a part of the police or in the world of journalism, and he can do it effortlessly. Keoghan is great, despite how irritating and careless his character is, and Berry has a couple of scenes that really allow her to sink her teeth into things in a way that is missing from the rest of the film. Barbaro is pleasant enough, Nolte does what Nolte does, and there's just about enough time for scenes that include Tate Donovan, Corey Hawkins, Paul Adelstein, and Jennifer Jason Leigh, the latter in the film for such a bewilderingly short amount of time that I admit I spent a good 5-10 minutes asking myself "WAS that Jennifer Jason Leigh?"

There are a few decent vehicle stunts and a satisfying resolution for most of the characters, but the 140-minute runtime is a bit of a slog, especially when you get to the point where you can see how all of the characters are going to interconnect and affect one another during the final act.

6/10

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Mubi Monday: Mickey 17 (2025)

It should be obvious to many by now, but Bong Joon Ho isn't really interested in subtlety any more. His most recent movies, as great as they are, are a long way from his superbly uneven and nuanced Memories Of Murder. I still love pretty much everything that he does, but I also know that I don't mind when the lack of subtlety is so front and centre in a way that may put off others.

Mickey 17 is all about the titular character (played by Robert Pattinson), an expendable who is used by a deep space vehicle to take on the tasks that will result in death. Whether being exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation, being placed in environments that may contain elements harmful to humans, or just exploring terrain that is unstable and could house dangerous alien creatures . . . Mickey's your man. Whenever he dies, it's not long until he is simply "printed out"again, his memories uploaded into his brain, and made available for the next dangerous task. He's ended up with this life (these lives) due to being put in a sticky situation by a bad friend, Timo (Steven Yeun), but at least he has moments of happiness with his partner, Nasha (Naomi Ackie). Things become tricky, however, when the latest Mickey is assumed dead and a new Mickey printed out. Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 are both aware that there are strict rules against multiples, but maybe they can figure out a way to take turns dying while they piece together a relatively full life.

Based on a novel, "Mickey 7", by Edward Ashton, this is darkly comedic sci-fi fare with plenty to say about the exploitation of workers, the ways in which those in power continually keep those below them pitted against one another, and the hypocrisy and arrogance of those who decide to make a life elsewhere without proper planning or consideration for the territory they are invading. As you can imagine, it feels very timely, and some may not appreciate how closely it aligns to some current world events. It doesn't help that Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette play their characters, Kenneth Marshall and Yifa, as arrogant idiots who would happily ruin lives and entire ecosystems just to keep maintaining their image of confident leadership. They're definitely doing what is asked of them, but the broad comedy of their performances is at odds with the real and awful repercussions we can see right now because of someone who works in almost exactly the same way. 

Thankfully, aside from the silliness provided by Ruffalo and Collette, everyone else is much better. Again, I don't blame those two stars, but they're apparently hampered by the direction of their performances. Pattinson has no such problems, and has a lot of fun in his multiple roles, specifically when he gets to show a marked difference between the two most recent Mickeys. Yeun is enjoyably sneaky, Ackie is a nice mix of tough and caring, and the rest of the supporting cast includes such familiar faces as Tim Key, Thomas Turgoose, Anamaria Vartolomei, and Patsy Ferran, some getting a fair amount of screentime and some just popping up for all-too-brief moments.

As expected, there's also some consistently excellent editing work and FX work throughout, as well as production design that creates a realistic world in which the building farce can unfold. It's all in service to the themes that Bong Joon Ho is exploring, and it's a shame when the tone occasionally clashes with the grime and verisimilitude of the onscreen world, but it's also loaded with little details that complement the main characters and their journey.

Not wholly satisfying, it spins so many plates that some inevitably fly off and smash before being quickly replaced, but Mickey 17 is still the kind of thing I would rather see ahead of another empty blockbuster with CGI distractions making up for a lack of any real substance.

7/10

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Poor Things (2023)

Another film from director Yorgos Lanthimos, who has delivered one stunning feature after another for the past decade (and even his earlier work is of interest to those who appreciate his strange look at the world), Poor Things is a film I wish I had seen sooner, but I just couldn’t schedule the cinema trip. I am now even more regretful of that missed opportunity.

Emma Stone plays Bella, a young woman who has been created, in a way, by Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). As she rushes through various stages of development, from learning language to eventually learning about the pleasures of sex, Bella accepts a proposal from Godwin’s assistant, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef). She feels as if she should see a bit more of the world first though, and ends up travelling for a while with the caddish (although a number of other adjectives could also be listed here) Duncan Wedderburn.

Adapted from a novel by Alasdair Gray, Poor Things has a screenplay by Tony McNamara, wonderful cinematography from Robbie Ryan, and a suitably strange and wonderful score by Jerskin Fendrix. I am mentioning these people now before I forget them entirely, because my movie reviews simply don’t have the space to list every single person who contributed to this wonderful vision. Rest assured, however, that this is the kind of film that makes you want to take note of every name, from the production designers to the wardrobe department, from the make up to the lighting. It really is a brilliant group effort to deliver a vision that will be credited mainly to the director and cast.

Moving from what seems like a standard period drama setting to a cool, unexplained, steampunk sci-fi world, Lanthimos is once again having fun with an implausible concept that he can use to scrutinize the rules and hypocrisies of society. This would make an excellent companion piece to his masterpiece, The Lobster, covering the equally important topics of love and sex.

Stone is brilliant in the lead performance here, hilariously non-conformist and constantly questioning the rules and etiquette she sees as obstacles to her enjoyment of life. Ruffalo is equally good, and has many of the best lines in the film, swearing and klutzing his way through every scene as he tries to make himself out to be a much better man than he really is. Dafoe, working under some excellent make up, is as dependable as ever, even doing a decent job with what I think was meant to be a Scottish accent, and Youssef heads up a fine selection of supporting players, including Vicki Pepperdine, Margaret Qualley, and Christopher Abbott.

Simultaneously both funnier and darker than I expected, and also cruder and smarter, this has already been quite rightly praised as one of the best movies of 2023. It has plenty packed in every scene to reward repeat viewings, and I am already keen to make time for my own rewatch.

9/10

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View From The Top (2003)

I am not sure if others felt the same way, but after reading Ayoade On Top (well, listening to the Audiobook, which I highly recommend) I knew that I had to see this film. In case you aren't aware of the connection, Ayoade On Top is a book in which Richard Ayoade critiques View From The Top in a very funny, very tongue-in-cheek, way, comparing the directorial choices and the performances to great moments in cinematic history. You could watch the film before reading his book, but I assure you that enjoying the book first is the best way to go about things. And don't worry about spoilers, as View From The Top is a film so predictable and bizarre that it's pretty much impossible to spoil.

All you need to know about the plot is that Gwyneth Paltrow plays Donna Jensen, a young woman who dreams of being a flight attendant, aiming for a coveted, classy, route that will take her to Paris. She also develops a nice little romance with Ted Stewart (played by Mark Ruffalo), but that might have to be pushed aside as she focuses on her career goals, all the while following the guidance in a book written by Sally Weston (Candice Bergen), who is essentially the queen of all flight attendants.

It's no surprise to see that this is the first, and so far only, movie script written by Eric Wald. It strives to be so inoffensively bland, and fits everything together like a jigsaw made for 4-year-olds, that it somehow becomes a film that you start to actively dislike. The tone just isn't right either, with the gentle humour (oh Mike Myers and your inward-looking right eye, chortle, chortle) married to material that has Paltrow smiling and winking at viewers, as if everyone is in on "the joke" together. We're not. Mainly because it never feels like there's a proper joke there.

Director Bruno Barreto has an eclectic filmography, and there are certainly other films from him that I am sure I will check out one day (although not because they sound great, they just sound like they could be more fun than this one). Hailing from Brazil, another consideration for the strange experience of View From The Top COULD be something lost in translation. Barreto may have wanted to make something quite different from the final product, it's hard to tell, but we can only judge what we're left with. And we are not left with anything good.

Paltrow doesn't do well in the lead role. Her performance is patronising (considering the kind of small town girl that she's playing) and she doesn't help the comedic tone by simply putting on her big eyes and being overly earnest for most of her scenes. That earnestness affects everyone, however, and Ruffalo is also doing far from his best work here, although he's a bit more likeable, mainly due to his ability to not slavishly follow some set guidelines for a rigid career path that could lead to losing out on love. Bergen does well in her few scenes, nicely fitting into the role of air flight royalty, and Christina Applegate is quite fun in her scenes, as she's the only character in the film who doesn't feel as annoyingly goody goody as everyone else. Myers is allowed to indulge himself with his cross-eyed schtick, and he's not good. He's not good at all, but that tends to be the way with Myers, he will fully commit to something and it either works or it doesn't.

I am sure that someone could enjoy this. There are maybe even quite a few people who would defend it to others. Change just a few details and it's not entirely unlike a thousand other stories of "young woman/man overcomes odds to achieve dream". It just makes enough strange choices, from script to casting, from the music selection to the overall direction of the film, to feel worse than so many of them. By any sane measurement, this is a long way from the top.

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Adam Project (2022)

A time-travel action comedy with a number of lovely moments of sweetness throughout, The Adam Project is a film that manages to deliver what you expect from it, yet also makes one or two decisions that prove mildly surprising, considering how by-the-numbers you may expect it to be.

Ryan Reynolds is Adam, a man who travels back in time to 2022. His vehicle is damaged, as is he, and it won't begin the self-repair program until a healthy Adam can command it. Which means Adam needs help from his younger self (played by Walker Scobell). Young Adam is currently being a bit of trouble for his mother (Ellie Reed, played by Jennifer Garner), mainly due to him grieving the loss of his father (Mark Ruffalo) just over a year before. There are bad people trying to capture Adam and take him back to his own timeline, headed up by Maya Sorian (Catherine Keener), but Adam has made his leap into the past because he thinks the timeline has already been corrupted. He doesn't want to be in 2022 though. He wants to be in 2018. And young Adam may need to join him on the next part of his journey.

Director Shawn Levy has been delivering easygoing hits for a couple of decades now, giving us films such as Cheaper By The Dozen, The Pink Panther, the three Night At The Museum movies, Real Steel, and, most recently, Free Guy. That's not to say that you necessarily view him as a great director, and let's not be too quick to forgive him for The Internship, but he's a relatively safe pair of hands who manages to work well with comic actors. Between their previous collaboration and this one, he may well be the person who helps Reynolds deliver his best, non-Deadpool, work (although he's also now directing the third Deadpool movie, which doesn't feel like an obvious match, but let's wait and see how that goes). This is definitely up there with his better films, and it's easily one that provides a bit of something for almost everyone.

Writers Jonathan Tropper, T. S. Nowlin, and Jennifer Flackett have a very mixed filmography between them, from The Maze Runner movies to Nim's Island, and TV work that includes Banshee and Big Mouth, but they seem to have worked well together to craft something that provides a perfect mix of laughs, action, and heart, with enough science to allow for cool tech, and to allow for the plotting to work, without getting bogged down in too many conversations about the timelines. There IS a set approach to time-travel here, explained well enough, but it's an approach with rules that allow the whole thing to be feasible. And also allows Reynolds to enjoy another big magnet set-piece, as he does seem to love his big magnet set-pieces.

People seem to complain nowadays about Reynolds doing the same thing in every movie he makes. That's a fair comment, in some ways, but it's also something you could say about any comedic actor in their "bread and butter" roles over the past three or four decades, at least. I like his work, and he's excellent here. Scobell, in his first film role, gives him a good run for his money though. Often just as quick-witted and quick to open his mouth, Scobell has all the smart-ass attitude, but with the attitude of being a cute young kid to underline the occasional punchline/insult. Garner and Ruffalo do very well in the role of the loving parents, viewed in very different ways by the two Adams because of how the loss of one parent affected their lives. Keener is a great menace, flanked by a strong and capable fighter named Christos (played by Alex Mallari Jr), and she has a great way of trying to persuade older Adam that things can be fixed, they can go back to how everything was, while prepping weaponry to destroy him if he continues to disobey her requests. There's also a small role for Zoe Saldana, once again being a perfect combination of loveliness and badassery.

It's an overused compliment when it comes to modern family entertainment, but this really does feel like something that could have been made in the late 1980s. The quality shines throughout, from the music and cinematography to the performances, and the sweetness is offset by the sense of fun, and the odd swearword thrown around. There are also one or two moments that may make you cry, even as you realise how easily you're being emotionally manipulated. This is definitely a film worth making some time for.

8/10

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Noir-vember: Collateral (2004)

It’s something we have seen happen in movies before, the businessman with a busy schedule who offers to pay a driver for a whole night of work. All the driver has to do is get the passenger to various places on time, wait, and receive a nice bonus at the end of his shift. This particular businessman is Vince (Tom Cruise), and the taxi driver is a man named Max (Jamie Foxx). Vince has five jobs to do, but Max becomes alarmed after the first job, when a dead body falls on his taxi. That’s when he finds out that Vince is a hitman. 

Directed by Michael Mann, and written by Stuart Beattie, Collateral is best described as, to use the technical term, an absolute beast of a film. Set mainly during one night in Los Angeles, it’s a two-hander that makes the most of two fantastic leads delivering performances up there with their best work.

It also makes the most of L.A. Mann gets the right people working with him to put his vision onscreen in the way that best showcases his eye for cityscapes, and how human animals move around them when being pursued, or even trapped. This is a gorgeous and glossy film, and it manages to avoid claustrophobia, even when a number of scenes simply show Vince and Max talking while the cab is driving around. Mann doesn’t put a foot wrong, and when the action beats hit, well, he once again does what he seems to do best. The nightclub scene in this film holds up as a flawless bit of entertaining violence, a precursor to the visceral thrills of the John Wick movies.

Sporting an uncharacteristic grey head of hair, Cruise is perfectly fast as the cool, calculating killer who lives by his own moral code. He’s a terminator, but one affected by elements of the human condition. Foxx is just the right mix of comfortable chat, nerves, and quick thinking as he gets drawn deeper and deeper into a nightmare scenario. Around the two leads, you get one hell of a supporting cast all giving great performances. Mark Ruffalo and Peter Berg are two cops trying to figure out what is going on, Jada Pinkett Smith is a lawyer who stands out as Max’s favourite client of the shift, and there are a number of familiar faces elsewhere, from Barry Shabaka Henley to Bruce McGill, Javier Bardem to the briefest turn from Jason Statham.

Maybe not as successful as it wants to be when really trying to push the urban jungle and predator/prey analogies, Collateral does everything else pretty much perfectly. From the pacing to the soundtrack, the set-pieces to the foreshadowed final moments, this is gripping, very cool, and arguably the most fun film that Mann has delivered within this subgenre.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: In The Cut (2003)

I remember being hugely disappointed when I first saw In The Cut, a film which was the first (and, sadly, still the only) I saw from Jane Campion. It was promoted as an adult erotic thriller. It was Meg Ryan moving away from her lovely, cute, roles. It seemed to be something that I would enjoy. The end result left me resenting a number of the people involved.

Here we are, almost two decades later, and this is the first time I have rewatched the movie since that initial disappointment. I don't know why I hoped that my response to it nowadays might be very different, all of the problems that I saw in it back in 2003/2004 (whenever it hit the home rental market) are still very much there).

Ryan is Frannie Avery, a woman who teaches writing. She is also working on her own project, which is why she meets up with student Cornelius Webb (Sharrieff Pugh) at a bar called The Red Turtle. And in that bar she ends up in a back room where she sees someone receiving oral sex. Although not seeing the face of the man, she spies a tattoo, which may be of some importance when the woman involved in the sex act turns up dead. Detective Giovanni A. Malloy (Mark Ruffalo) is investigating the murder, which brings him into contact with Frannie. The two have some chemistry together, and start having sex. But Detective Malloy also has a tattoo that looks identical to that which may belong to a killer.

Adapted by Susanna Moore and Campion, from the novel by Moore, In The Cut is a trashy erotic thriller that can't ever be comfortable as nothing more than a trashy erotic thriller. The sexual politics are interesting, to say the least, and a woman being in the director's chair doesn't make it any less strangely old-fashioned when it comes to dealing with what could have been an interesting look at what women can enjoy in their sex life while rejecting a number of those elements in any other context (the power shift, something dangerous, an abandonment of intelligence). Campion, and Moore, don't give more than a cursory nod to this complex subject, although there's a recurring narrative strand that shows Ryan's character exploring some of her thoughts with all the sense of a fumbling adolescent.

The weak screenplay and disappointing direction (meandering, unfocused, camerawork that is also trying to distract viewers from the kind of film Campion and Moore seem to want to deny making) would be less obvious is covered up by a decent cast, but In The Cut has a number of people giving far from their best performances. The worst of these, arguably, is Ryan, who just cannot convince in a role that sets her up as someone trying far too hard to shake off an image she crafted through years of successful rom-com work. Ruffalo may not be AS bad, but he seems to be bored throughout, perhaps knowing that the technical aspects won't mask the deficiencies in the material. Nick Damici is Ruffalo's partner, and he seems equally bored. Jennifer Jason Leigh is as good as ever, playing Pauline, a much more interesting character, Frannie's half-sister who seems less repressed, but also more troubled. Pugh is very good, and sorely underused, and Kevin Bacon appears just long enough to, well, I'm still not sure of the reason for his character being added to the plot (apart from, I guess, he was in the novel).

In The Cut is, essentially, an erotic thriller for people who just cannot sit comfortably with the idea of watching an erotic thriller. And it's made by people, both behind and in front of the camera, who all feel the same way. You may watch it and somehow appreciate it as a work of art. If so, feel free to call me an ignorant heathen. It wouldn't be the first time. Others should just go and watch Basic Instinct or  Poison Ivy again instead.

3/10

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Foxcatcher (2014)

A bleak drama that often forces viewers to watch moments unfold in uncomfortable silence, Foxcatcher is a riveting piece of work, benefiting from three fantastic central performances - from Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell.

Based on a horrible true story, that I'll try not to entirely reveal here (for those unaware of it), this is a look at John du Pont (Carell), a rich man who created the Foxcatcher training facility to help the wrestlers of America, namely one Mark Schultz (Tatum). Mark always seemed to be stuck in his brother's shadow, and Foxcatcher looks like the chance to make a name for himself. But his new boss also wants his brother (David, played by Ruffalo), and his new boss tends to get what he wants. Things start to get very tense, depite David trying to play peacemaker between du Pont and his brother, and the glorious future that they all began to dream about starts to look less and less likely.

Director Bennett Miller sets out his stall early on, allowing viewers to decide whether they're willing to jump in for the long haul or whether they won't be up to the task. The film is so still and, for the most part, quiet that it helps to maintain a constant feeling of unease. You know that any sudden movement or noise is going to be a bit of a shock. The script, written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, is light on dialogue for most of the 130 minute (approx) runtime, but that doesn't mean that it's light on information and characterisation. This is a film in which the things that are unsaid are just as, if not more, important as those that are said. And each character has specific body language that speaks volumes.

Tatum and Ruffalo are both on top form, the former showing his lack of self-confidence, and purpose, while the latter knows where he wants his life to go, and already has a wife and children to consider in his plans. Carell, working under some fantastic make-up, gives the kind of performance that should allow him the choice of more dramatic roles further down the line. John du Pont is a man who often acts like a child. He can throw money around to get whatever he wants, be it a specific item, person or even friendship. Everything has a price, apart from the thing that he craves the most, which is approval from his mother (Vanessa Redgrave). Anthony Michael Hall does well in a small role, playing the right hand man to du Pont, and Sienna Miller has a handful of scenes as Nancy Schultz, wife of David.

The main problem with Foxcatcher is the feeling that the whole story could have been told in a much shorter amount of time. I understand that the steady, measured approach helps the material immensely, but it also feels as if things are being dragged out for far too long. Those who know the outcome of this tale may well have less patience than someone who knew nothing about it, like myself.

Well worth your time, it's just a shame that Miller seems so concerned about treating the story with the proper respect and tone that it deserves that he forgets to make some choices that might benefit the cinematic treatment of the material.

8/10

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Zodiac (2007)

David Fincher hasn't made a bad movie, I'll say that right now so that people know how biased I am when it comes to his work. I'd even go so far as to say that he's made at least three modern masterpieces. One of those modern masterpieces is Seven, a movie which really reinvigorated the thriller genre after too many years of safe, but enjoyable, movies that all had a movie sheen to them. Zodiac certainly isn't Seven, but it's most definitely made by the same man who shows such attention to detail and seems to always find some new way to treat material from any genre.

Zodiac is about the Zodiac killer, and the lives that he changed. The strange thing, and the thing that many people will know before the movie begins, is that the Zodiac killer was never caught. A Jack The Ripper for the modern age, he committed his crimes, taunted the police and deliberately kept changing his M. O. to stay one step ahead of those trying to catch him. The fact that he was never caught explains why Zodiac is half a film about a serial killer and his crime spree and half a film about the obsession that he sparks in those who become involved in the investigation. The murders start to consume Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and even a cartoonist who starts to weigh up the evidence and begin his own amateur investigation (Robert Graysmith, who wrote the book that the screenplay was based on, played by Jake Gyllenhaal).

Closer in feel to All The President's Men than Seven, and all the better for it, this is a tour de force mix of great acting, superb attention to detail and sheer bravura (as Fincher paces the film perfectly while also jumping through the years to various pivotal points in the investigation and the life of Graysmith).

The actors already mentioned give performances that show just why they're often heaped with praise, but the supporting cast features other people effortlessly doing what they do best. People like Elias Koteas, Anthony Edwards (so good here that it makes me wish he had more good roles through the years), Brian Cox, Chloe Sevigny, Donal Logue, Philip Baker Hall, John Carroll Lynch, Candy Clark, Dermot Mulroney, Zach Grenier, Charles Fleischer, Clea Duvall and Jimmi Simpson. You may not know recognise all of the names, but you will know most of their faces.

The script by James Vanderbilt may be hampered by having to stick to Graysmith's interpretation of events, but it's pretty flawless in all other respects. Dialogue informs the viewer about both procedural events and each character is nicely rounded out, both in the usual way and also in the way that the ongoing murders begin to affect them.

Everyone deserves praise for working together and achieving such a great end result - director of photography Harris Savides, David Shire who created the score, the hundreds of people that it took to get the look and feel of everything just dead on - but it's all overseen by David Fincher, who shows, once again, just why he's a director I always support. I know that there are people who will pick at least one of his movies to highlight as a bit of a mis-step, to say the least, but I really don't feel that. He's a master of the medium, able to elevate even average material into something well worth seeing. With the story that he's handed here, it's almost another masterpiece. Almost.

To hear my gushing praise, you'd be forgiven for thinking that I view this as a perfect film, but there are a couple of minor flaws that see it falling short of perfection. First, the fantastic script also has a few too many lines that make for great soundbites as opposed to real exchanges/replies. That worked better in The Social Network, but seems a bit incongruous at times here. Second, the first half is understandably a bit rougher than the second half, with so many characters needing introduced and the whole situation being set up. The second half becomes rather more streamlined as people fall out of the big picture, leaving only those most caught up in the events to see it all through to the very end, whatever that end may be.

Despite those small flaws, I was still tempted to rate this film as perfect, but I ended up going with near-perfect instead. See the film for yourself and find out whether or not you agree with me.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zodiac-Directors-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B0013BCWEW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364751546&sr=8-2

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

The more I see and hear of Rian Johnson, the more impressed I get. I saw Brick a few years ago and didn't know what to make of it before it just kept growing and growing on me. I enjoyed Looper even while discussing the many flaws that became obvious as the end credits began to roll (flaws that didn't stop me from buying the movie as soon as it was released on Bluray). And now I have been utterly won over by The Brothers Bloom, a charming con movie with a great cast and a taste for the theatrical.

Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody play the brothers, two characters who discover the art of a good con at a very early age. Ruffalo is the elder of the two, Stephen, and he loves to plan things so well that when they happen it's all real. His perfect con would be one that really unfurls itself in a completely natural way and one where everyone involved gets what they want. His brother Bloom, on the other hand, wants to put his conning days behind him. He's confused and unhappy, despite the exciting life he leads with Stephen and their near-mute accomplice, Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi). Stephen doesn't want to lose the company of his brother and so he comes up with that movie standard, one last big job. The mark this time around is Penelope (Rachel Weisz), a rich young woman with far too much time on her hands and not enough to hold her interest. Bloom, despite himself, warms to the idea and it's not long before he's in character once more and helping a beautiful woman to get some excitement in her life while losing some of her money. Because everyone should get what they want.

Over the years, a great con movie has ultimately become as hard to pull off as any actual con scheme. I suppose it can easily be argued that the con movie is always a con anyway, attempting to wrong-foot the viewer whenever possible, but still leaving them entertained and feeling good about having one pulled over on them (everyone gets what they want). The grandfather of the con movie is, of course, The Sting, but there are many other greats to check out, with personal favourites of mine being The Grifters (if you haven't seen it already then do so ASAP), Matchstick Men and House Of Games (the directorial debut of the great David Mamet). These movies all do a fantastic job, but they also add to the pile of references that movie viewers have to choose from, making each subsequent con movie that little bit harder to get right. People know what to look out for, they know to stay mistrustful of everything and they know how things have panned out in the past.

This is why writer-director Johnson excels with his own contribution to the subgenre. The Brothers Bloom seems to acknowledge right from the very beginning that the well-known history and film presence of cons can make it hard to come up with anything completely fresh, but then it ploughs ahead anyway and wins you over thanks to the performances, the style of the film and a real sense for the theatrical. Mark Ruffalo may play a character who wants to tell a great story, and wants that story to unfold as if it's a natural thing instead of a story being told, but he feels very much like an outlet for the director to voice his hopes and dreams. He's a storyteller in search of the perfect story, which is surely what every writer-director seeks throughout their career.

Mixing comedy and some drama with some wonderful characters and great set-pieces, The Brothers Bloom won't be for everyone, of course, but it's a beautiful, intelligent and cine-literate piece of work that I'm surprised isn't given more praise.

Brody and Ruffalo work very well together and are very believable as brothers, Rinko Kikuchi gets to play one of the coolest characters I can think of in the past decade and Rachel Weisz has one of the best roles of her career. Her character starts off as someone who may just be annoyingly quirky, but soon becomes someone with an infectious joy that viewers won't want to see come to any harm, physically or emotionally. There are fantastic little supporting turns from the likes of Robbie Coltrane, Maximilian Schell, Andy Nyman, Nora Zehetner (onscreen for one brief scene only) and Ricky Jay (narrating). And eagle-eyed fans of Joseph Gordon-Levitt can spot him in the background of a party scene during the first 10-15 minutes. He has no actual dialogue or role, he's just there, hanging out and being cool.

People judging a con movie by how effectively they were conned may rate this one lower than I did because, ultimately, it's not that surprising for most of its runtime. Clues are littered throughout the script and design of each scene. However, they may be missing one important factor. The con works. Viewers will find themselves, as I did, watching for the twists and turns and enjoying each revelation and when the end credits roll they'll realise that, actually, they just enjoyed a great story. Which is what Johnson intended and what left me with such a warm glow inside and an urge to buy the film as soon as possible. Everyone gets what they want.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brothers-Bloom-Blu-ray-Adrien-Brody/dp/B003YUBZ66/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364353176&sr=8-2

Avengers Assemble (2012)

And so it appears at last (albeit with an annoying title change so that we easily confused Brits don't think Steed and Emma Peel are coming back to the big screen this year), the  film that looks set to be the mightiest of superhero movies, the royal rumble of the Marvel cinematic universe, the geekgasm for comic book fans. With Joss Whedon directing (and co-writing the script with Zak Penn), Avengers Assemble actually manages to be all of this and more.

For anyone adjusting to the sunlight and the sights around them after coming out of some decade-long hibernation, here is the plot. Loki (Tom Hiddleston), last seen causing major trouble for Thor (Chris Hemsworth), has managed to get himself to Earth with a device that can run on self-sustaining energy and grow more and more powerful. Loki hopes to use this device to bring a warring alien race to Earth, cause mayhem and chaos, and then lord it over all he surveys. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) really doesn't want this to happen so he enlists the help of the superheroes that he knows and thinks up to the task. Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor, Dr. Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo in both forms), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and, hopefully, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner). The biggest problem is that these characters don't play well together, something that Loki soon realises as he puts strain upon strain on their relationships (even completely taking over one or two characters to do his bidding). There's also the ever-dependable Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders).

Most of the cast here have already grown into their characters in a previous movie (with Robert Downey Jr. perfecting his great patter in two enjoyable Iron Man films) but viewers may be most surprised to find that the person who comes near to stealing every scene here is Mark Ruffalo, arguably the best onscreen interpretation yet of the man who fears his own uncontrollable strength and rage. In a script full of great one-liners he also comes close to bagging two of the top five spots (though the absolutely greatest retort comes from Loki in a comment so funny that the cinema audience I saw the film with was laughing hard for the next full minute). But the best, and most impressive, thing about Avengers Assemble is just how everyone gets their share of great moments without the movie feeling overlong or bloated in any way. You may go into this film with a favourite that you're looking forward to seeing but I guarantee that you come out of it loving the entire group and struggling to pick an outright favourite moment. Which all goes to show just how much praise Tom Hiddleston also deserves for making Loki such a memorable and worthy villain, a perfect mix of camp and menace and scheming (his outburst to Black Widow in one particular scene ranks up there with some of the very best rants by cinematic baddies ever).

The writing is as sharp as you would expect. Okay, this isn't necessarily a film for complete newcomers (if there ARE any) but it sketches out enough details to keep most people happy and it does a great job of following major plot strands through a whole cat's cradle of different sub-strings. There are also at least four great action set-pieces, just as important to a film of this type, and the barnstorming finale features a superb mix of CGI, witticisms and sheer spectacle.

As you would expect from Whedon, he knows what fans want. I think that most people will be like myself, eager to like the film even before the opening titles come up. But with great anticipation comes, of course, the chance for great disappointment. Thankfully, there's absolutely nothing to worry about here. Whedon shows in almost every sequence that he knows just what audiences want, the action may be fast and frantic on many occasions but there are many times when the camera is pulled back and viewers are allowed to revel in a moment of sheer fan-pleasing awesomeness (be it simple joy at the scale of the action or an extended shot of Hulk having a smashing time).

2012 is already shaping up to be a great year for BIG cinematic spectacle (I am also drooling with anticipation at the thought of going to see Prometheus and The Dark Knight Rises) and Avengers Assemble has already set a very high bar for blockbuster quality. Did I want to go back and watch it again as soon as the credits rolled? Yes. Am I looking forward to reliving the whole thing on shiny disc format? Yes. Am I already very, VERY eager for a sequel? I think you know the answer to that one.

9/10

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