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: Die My Love (2025)

I can easily see why director Lynne Ramsay wasn't initially keen to work on this film, which looks at the disintegrating mental health of a young woman after the birth of her child. Ramsay previously gave us the ultimate look at that kind of thing in We Need To Talk About Kevin. That also had an exploration of nature vs. nurture though, whereas this is all about someone losing their own identity, and healthy love of life, piece by piece. It has motherhood in the mix, but it's really more about how we can sometimes give too much to other people in relationships that then leave us without enough energy to properly take care of ourselves. Sometimes that is the fault of the other people, especially if they keep demanding too much of your time and attention. Sometimes it is a fault with the person who wants to keep busy and serve others while avoiding any time that could lead to some introspection.

Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson are, respectively, Grace and Jackson. The two of them move into a home left behind by Jackson's deceased uncle. It needs a lot of work done to it, but it at least feels like a good home for them to start their family. Jumping forward slightly, Grace is left at home a lot with their young son, Jackson is often working away, and things start to sour quicker than a carton of milk left on the windowsill on a scorching summer day.

Based on a book by Ariana Harwicz, Ramsay has done well to collaborate with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch on the screenplay, but quite possibly did even better to assemble a cast who all had faith in her process and were up to the challenge of portraying their characters in a convincing and natural way. The screenplay works well in terms of the structure and the strong thematic core running all the way through it, but the film works as well as it does thanks to the lack of vanity shown by Lawrence and co.

LaKeith Stanfield isn't given much to do, sadly, but is as welcome as ever in his supporting role. Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek get moments that easily remind you of how great they are, but everything steps up a level when either Pattinson or Lawrence are onscreen, with the latter particularly strong delivering a performance that could arguably be considered the best of her career. It is, however, a performance much better than the film that she's in.

I really like the work of Ramsay. She's been delivering one fantastic film after another for almost the entirety of her directorial career. Die My Love is good, and it tries to walk a line between the many clouds and the infrequent silver linings, but it doesn't ever do enough to become great. Whether due to the source material (which I am unfamiliar with, sorry) or her own choices, Ramsay feels a bit undecided about where exactly she wants to take the characters. She also blurs reality and fantasy in a way that works against the potential impact of various moments in the third act, which is a stark contrast to the way she has handled such a blurring in her previous features.

There's still a lot to enjoy and appreciate here, and many others have heaped a lot of praise on this already, but it feels like the weakest film yet from Ramsay. Perhaps she was right to be hesitant when initially offered this opportunity. It certainly feels as if she doesn't have the confidence and instincts here that have served her so well elsewhere. 

6/10

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Mubi Monday: Affliction (1997)

If you're struggling to think of any film to watch on a very Catholic holiday, let's say you're not in the mood for something highly religious but you want something in line with the calendar, then I recommend one of the many films from Paul Schrader. They're all practically dripping with Catholic guilt, and you could argue that Affliction is up there with his very best/most intense.

Nick Nolte plays Wade Whitehouse, a small-town cop who is struggling to maintain control of his temper, his life, and how his turbulent childhood and family life keeps crashing in to his present frame of mind, an unwanted guest smashing up the insides of his heart and mind. He is trying to keep shared custody of his young daughter, Jill (Brigid Tierney), ends up becoming suspicious of a hunting accident that involves a young man named Jack (Jim True), and only finds some solace in the company of Margie (Sissy Spacek). Things are about to get worse, however, when things happen that lead to him having to spend more time with his abusive father (James Coburn).

Based on a novel by Russell Banks, Affliction is a film that feels very much like a murky neo-noir for almost half of the runtime, albeit one that has Nolte being as typically gruff and dangerous as he has been in so many other movies . . . or maybe specifically because of that. It's easy to see why Schrader was drawn to the material - the tension throughout it, the exploration of the sins of the father reverberating through the lives of the sons (the brother of Nolte's character is played by Willem Dafoe, who also narrates parts of the film) - and he is helped by a cast who are all easily up to playing the ramped-up emotions of the piece.

Nolte is excellent, and this was at a time when he was on a hell of a run (the films themselves may not all be memorable, Nolte was brilliant in all of them). He veers between helplessness and misdirected rage with great ease, and his character carries both of those extremes around with him at all times, played like a physical weight on his shoulders. Dafoe is an excellent counter-balance, showing the image of a son who has tried to distance himself from a past that he knows could still endanger and harm him. Spacek gets to be a real sunbeam, someone and something that we know Nolte should be treating well enough to keep in his life. She knows who she is getting attached to, but she thinks that she can help him move forward while he spends too much of his time looking backward. Both True and Tierney are decent in their roles, as is Holmes Osborne (playing the town selectman, Gordon LaRivere), but all of them pale into insignificance under the looming shadow of Coburn's monstrosity. While Coburn doesn't have to be nuanced or subtle (and what "villain" in any Schrader movie is nuanced or subtle), he throws himself fully into being so loathsome, and as cruel as possible, that viewers will want to see him punished, no matter his advanced age and possible diminishing physical strength.

While it seems to explore anger issues, alcoholism, small-town business dealings, domestic violence, and much more, the main strand running all the way through this, to the surprise of nobody who has experienced any other Schrader movie, is guilt. Guilt for things not done in the past, guilt for things happening in the present, and guilt for any possible future created by the reverberations of those things. Not a film to pick when you want something disposable and distracting, Affliction remains worth your time when you're in the mood to observe the unravelling of a hurt person hurting people.

8/10

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Prime Time: Gangster Squad (2013)

When one or two good cops are fed up of gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) basically turning Los Angeles into his own personal playground it soon becomes clear that the best way to beat him is to act outside the law. And the Gangster Squad is created, a group of tough cops who operate without a badge while setting about systematically destroying the operations that keep Cohen in wealth and power.

Based on a non-fiction book by Paul Lieberman (which isn’t to say this is an accurate retelling of anything that comes close to the truth), Gangster Squad is very much style over substance, with the script from Will Beall happy to fit in as many tropes and recycled classic noir movie moments as possible. That doesn’t mean it’s unenjoyable. It’s just an inferior copy of numerous outright classics (including one or two modern classics, with The Untouchables casting as big a shadow over this as the classic WB gangster movies of the ‘30s and ‘40s. 

Director Ruben Fleischer can do fun films. I like one of his films more than the rest of his filmography (the one that involves zombies and a man on the hunt for Twinkies), but I have enjoyed most of his directorial efforts so far, to varying degrees. Even the mis-cast Uncharted. I didn’t enjoy this film though, and it feels as if Fleischer couldn’t get a handle on the material, but was hoping a few cool moments stitched together would help distract people from it being such a messy dollop of weak sauce. He has done well with casting, and managed to do equally well with the team of people working behind the camera to bring the Los Angeles of this time period to life, but there’s no feeling of a steady hand at the wheel.

Josh Brolin ends up as the head of the titular squad, and he gives another strong and gruff performance that matches a lot of his other work. If you need someone in authority to roll up their sleeves and do some dirty work then Brolin is your man, and he also looks damn sharp in the 1940s style. Alongside him are characters played by Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña, Giovanni Ribisi, and Ryan Gosling. All of them do pretty decent work, with the exception of Gosling, who has decided to give his character a slightly higher-pitched way of speaking that doesn’t work. I can guess why he decided to give it a try, but someone should have stopped him. Emma Stone is dazzling as a woman caught up in Cohen’s world, Nick Nolte has a couple of great scenes as he assembles, and checks in on, the squad (off the record), and Penn gets to play his bad guy like he’s just walked off the pages of a Dick Tracy comic strip. Holt McCallany adds another henchman role to his long list of henchman roles, something he excels at, and the rest of the cast is stacked with familiar faces you will recognise, although may not be able to name.

If Fleischer wanted to make something violent and gripping then he failed. If he wanted to make something that felt like an important portrayal of a true story then he failed there too (none of this rings true, sadly, even if it is based on some real events). There are times when it almost gets the right balance, an attempted jailbreak being a highlight until the lights go out, but it’s mostly some pretty, but unengaging, visuals accompanied by a very nice score from Steve Jablonksy. There’s just about enough here to keep me moderately happy for the runtime, but I am VERY easily pleased.

4/10

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Mubi Monday: Afterglow (1997)

Written and directed by Alan Rudolph, someone with an extensive filmography stacked with titles I would at least recommend to the curious (Breakfast Of Champions may not work, but it never feels like anything less than a bold attempt to translate difficult source material into a satisfying movie). Having also worked on a few Robert Altman movies, it’s unsurprising to find that his style could be referred to as Altman-esque. Unfortunately, however, he doesn’t have the same ability to meld the cinematic with the authentic, and the end result, here anyway, is something that fails to resonate.

Nick Nolte plays a handyman named Lucky Mann (yes, that would seem to be his actual name). He is married to Phyllis (Julie Christie), an ex-actress who allows her husband to stray and play around with other women. Jonny Lee Miller is an upright businessman named Jeffrey, married to the neglected and unhappy Marianne (Lara Flynn Boyle). Marianne wants a baby, which leads to her getting things prepared in their home. So Marianne hires Lucky, which leads to some fun and games for them, and Jeffrey, happy to use the situation as an excuse to cut loose and find away to massage his ego, ends up seducing Phyllis, completely unaware that she is Lucky’s wife. Conversations lead to a number of revelations, about love, family, sex, and different gender roles, and viewers know that it’s only a matter of time until the central quartet come together to argue and fight.

Despite the changes in location, Afterglow feels like something that may have started life as a play. There are some other people scattered throughout the film, but it essentially stays focused on the four leads, and everything is based on the dialogue. This is a film that works on a “tell, don’t show” basis, with even the moments that could be purely visual accompanied by dialogue redirecting things back to the featured character of that moment.

Thankfully, the cast are generally excellent. Nolte gives another typical alpha male with the cuddly interior that he has presented in a number of his movies. Miller, wobbly accent aside, is a fantastic flipside to Nolte, mistaking coldness and cruelty for a sexual, macho persona. He oozes insecurity for every minute of screentime, covering it up as much as he can with an attitude of entitlement and indifference, and it’s an enjoyably unattractive performance. Christie is, as ever, a mesmerising screen presence, although she suffers from the script giving some of the worst bits of dialogue to her, and Boyle does great work with the rest of the bad lines, because it is the women here who have to speak the clunkiest and most tone-deaf dialogue.

I would say that anyone who likes any of the main cast members should find this impossible to hate, but that doesn’t stop Rudolph from trying to undo the good work in front of the camera with poor decisions behind it, from the score/soundtrack to the structure of the whole narrative. This is ultimately a film about people who are so hurt, for various reasons, that they are holding themselves back from any chance at real happiness. That only becomes clear in the third act though. While that may have been seen as the best decision for the film, I cannot help thinking that a little bit of reshaping of the script would have changed things for the better. But maybe others will disagree.

The drama works, the comedy doesn’t. The cast works, the writer/director doesn’t. Which leaves this hanging absolutely in the middle, between awful and great.

5/10

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Noir-vember: U Turn (1997)

Sean Penn stars here as Bobby Cooper, a drifter who ends up with car problems that leave him stranded in a desert town miles from normality. Bobby soon gets in between two people who seem to be in a relationship (played by Jennifer Lopez and Nick Nolte), but both actually want the other one dead. He may be able to turn his misfortune into a major payday, which would help with his plan to either pay a big debt he owes or run towards a new life. If he somehow has any money left after paying off the ever-growing list of charges that the local mechanic (Billy Bob Thornton) keeps adding to his bill.

Adapting his own novel into screenplay form, writer John Ridley delivers a tale of unpleasantness, madness, and oppressive heat. Whether you like the film or not, director Oliver Stone takes the material and seems to relish the opportunity to spend a couple of hours trapping viewers with characters that we would otherwise be looking to get away from as quickly as possible.

I am not always a big fan of Penn onscreen, but he’s good here, playing someone so irredeemably bad that he doesn’t realise how much he belongs alongside the other characters who are also irredeemably bad. Lopez is a great femme fatale, and I hope she tries this kind of role at least one more time, and Nolte has a lot of fun in his sleazy role. Jon Voight has a small role that has him quite unrecognisable, Powers Boothe is a local Sheriff who may complicate things further, and there’s even one scene that makes good use of the wonderful Laurie Metcalf. There’s also a fun, though relatively inconsequential, plot strand that benefits from enjoyable turns from Claire Danes and Joaquin Phoenix.

You get the usual overdose of flourishes, editing tricks, and visceral nastiness that so often appears in an Oliver Stone movie, but the score from Ennio Morricone does a good job of helping to offset the unrelenting visual assault. The soundtrack, unfortunately, just feels pilfered from other, better, movies. There are definitely moments when this feels like Stone trying to emulate a film-maker he may view as having moved into his realm and stolen his crown (that cocky overthrower being Mr. Tarantino). 

There are a lot of fun moments here, especially anything involving Thornton, but there are times when it is a bit of a slog. It is a gallery of the grotesque, a carnival freakshow. That is fun when you first wander in and enjoy the novelty. It becomes tiresome when you realise you paid your money and are now stuck inside for an overlong presentation of hucksterism and nastiness.

6/10

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Prime Time: Angel Has Fallen (2019)

Gerard Butler returns to the role of Secret Service agent Mike Banning in this third in the "Fallen" action series, and you could do a lot worse if you're after a decent action thriller with some fun set-pieces throughout.

Banning seems to be, to put it bluntly, getting a bit too old for this shit. Which isn't a problem, because the President (Morgan Freeman) wants to promote him. A nice job with less chance of people trying to shoot him and blow him up. That's not an automatic yes for Mike though, having spent his life in the middle of the action. He's right back in it when an attempt is made on the President's life, framing him as the main suspect.

Yes, Angel Has Fallen is basically The Fugitive with Gerard Butler in the main role, which means more brutal violence and swearing than you got from Harrison Ford. And more Scottishness. I wish there had been an equivalent to Butler in his band of pursuers, just for us to get the glorious "right, all a yous lot git tae work noo, I want you to check every coffee hoose, dug hoose, oot hoose, doss hoose, Muirhoose, Broomhoose until we catch this bam."

If you have seen the previous two movies then there will be no doubt in your mind how this turns out. Banning is always the smartest and toughest guy in any scenario, so it's just a matter of time until he gets himself in the right place at the right time to take down the main villain. And speaking of main villain, if it isn't obvious to you as soon as they appear onscreen then you've never seen ANY movie before.

Ric Roman Waugh does a decent enough job with the direction, working from a screenplay he helped shape with Robert Mark Kamen and Matt Cook. You're not getting any particularly memorable dialogue, but the plotting and pacing both work quite well, and the assortment of characters help to make a fun mix.

Butler is once again having a lot of fun in the lead role, which is slightly infectious. You can happily start laughing as soon as someone threatens him with harm. Freeman is very Presidential, although he has a bit less to do when he ends up incapacitated for a lot of the runtime. Piper Perabo is at the stage of her career now where she plays "loving wife to the hero", she does fine with what she's given, and Lance Reddick is his usual dependable self as David Gentry, the director of the Secret Service. You also get Danny Huston as Wade Jennings, an old friend of our hero who immediately makes you suspicious of him by the fact that he's Danny Huston, and Nick Nolte steals a few scenes as Clay Banning, the absent father who has spent years living off the grid.

Not setting out to be subversive or clever, Angel Has Fallen is simply an entertaining action flick with moments of satisfyingly cathartic violence against nasty villains. Butler, and others carrying weapons, can carry off the look and feel of it all convincingly enough, making it easier to digest all of the nonsense without being overly critical of it all.

7/10

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Parker (2013)

Parker (played here by Jason Statham) is a bad man, but one of the good ones. Does that make sense? No. Well, he's a thief with his own set of morals. For example, he always tries to rob only from those who deserve/can afford it. He doesn't like anyone to get hurt if it can be avoided. And when he says that he'll do something he always does it. When he's double-crossed by some colleagues and left for dead, Parker sets out to make things right, even as his wounds are still healing.

Based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake, Parker has a decent enough script by John J. McLaughlin and competent direction from Taylor Hackford. Fans of the character have noted that it doesn't really feel like a Parker movie, but it's certainly an enjoyable Jason Statham movie.

Alongside the leading man, support comes from Jennifer Lopez, Bobby Cannavale, Micah A. Hauptman, Clifton Collins Jr, Emma Booth, Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce and Nick Nolte. Lopez has the biggest supporting role, as an estate agent who gets caught up in Parker's scheme, and she's enjoyable, if unspectacular, in the role. It's a shame that the scene in which Parker makes her disrobe to prove that she's not wearing a wire didn't feel completely, and eye-rollingly, gratuitous, but I'm sure J-Lo fans won't be complaining. Cannavale just keeps doing solid work, and is quickly becoming someone I like to look out for in movies, and his turn here as a concerned police officer is another good one. Nolte and Booth are fine, while Chiklis, Pierce, Hauptman and Collins Jr. are all suitably mean.

Action fans may be disappointed that there aren't more fights throughout the movie, but what IS onscreen is good stuff. It's gritty, brutal stuff in places, with Statham taking a lot of hits as he tries to continue on his path of vengeance. Take note, however, that it's not just the fight scenes that might make you wince. Yes, this is another movie in which The Stath attempts an accent, and it's pretty horrible.

Parker is, like many other Jason Statham movies, an easy film to enjoy. It doesn't require intense concentration, it's not trying to change the rules of the game, it's just a solid bit of action entertainment. I recommend it to viewers who probably already suspect that they're going to enjoy it anyway.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Parker-Blu-ray-Jason-Statham/dp/B00CP7ZWMW/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1394051775&sr=1-2&keywords=parker

Extreme Prejudice (1987)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Walter Hill makes movies so manly that if you were to melt them all down and form a shield then you would then have the one viable protection against any attack from Chuck Norris. The man knows how to put a bunch of great actors together and then heap on the violence with the eye of a world-famous dance choreographer. Just watch any one of his movies and try to deny it. Well, okay, most of his movies can be put into that category. Maybe not every single one.

Extreme Prejudice can certainly fall into that category. Crackerjack cast? Check. Great characters and a selection of great lines scattered throughout the script? Check. Violent set-pieces mixing some major bloodletting with moments of beautiful camerawork? Check.

The film, in the first act, feels like two completely different storylines. Nick Nolte plays Sheriff Jack Benteen, a man trying to keep drugs and drug-runners out of his local area. Unfortunately, the main drug baron is Cash Bailey (Powers Boothe), a man who used to be his best friend. Elsewhere, Mighty Michael Ironside leads a team of soldiers in a plan to rob a bank that stores most of Bailey's drug money. These two storylines soon intertwine, with the soldiers affording Benteen an opportunity to hit back, and hit back hard, at Bailey's operation.

As well as Nolte, Boothe and Ironside, Extreme Prejudice has room for Rip Torn, William Forsythe, Clancy Brown and Maria Conchita Alonso in its cast. While their names may not be as recognisable, the likes of Larry B. Scott and Dan Tullis Jr. also do a very good job, easily holding their own alongside some of the heavyweights onscreen.

The script by Harry Kleiner and Deric Washburn is based on a story from John Milius and Fred Rexer, which helps to further solidify those tough credentials, if anyone still had any doubt at this point.

Hill draws great performances from everyone here, with Nolte and Boothe in especially good form, and once again mixes the visceral and strikingly cinematic amongst a varied cast of characters who don't just feel as if they've been shoved into the movie to be shot at.

Fans of the director will have seen this one already, no doubt, but if you've somehow missed it until now (as I had) then do make it a priority. And anyone new to Hill's filmography, all I can say is that you have so many treats ahead of you. Extreme Prejudice is one of them, and as good a place to start as any.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Prejudice-DVD-Nick-Nolte/dp/B002TS15K0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391202128&sr=8-1&keywords=extreme+prejudice

Mulholland Falls (1995)

A decent thriller written by Peter Dexter and directed by Lee Tamahori, Mulholland Falls is one of the best films I've seen recently without having heard any praise for it beforehand. It has some nice period detail, decent plotting and one or two good set-pieces, but the whole thing is made well above average by the superb ensemble cast.

Nick Nolte is the main character, a man investigating the death of a beautiful young woman (Jennifer Connelly). Unfortunately, that young woman was caught on film having sexual relations with one or two men, one of them being a very important General (John Malkovich). And the other being Nolte, which puts him in a bit of a compromised position, especially as he tries to keep his infidelity hidden from his wife (Melanie Griffith). As the investigation continues, moments of violence punctuate the proceedings while Nolte heads on a path that may not end well for him.

As I have done before, let me just sell this movie to people by reeling off the names from the cast list. Nolte, Connelly, Griffith, Malkovich, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Chazz Palminteri, Treat Williams, Bruce Dern, Daniel Baldwin, William Petersen, Rob Lowe, Louise Fletcher and Andrew McCarthy. A few of those people only appear for a moment or two, in an uncredited cameo role, but that's still a mighty fine selection of talent.

Everything is in place, with the look and feel of the movie perfectly capturing a bygone era, but it's also not spectacular in any way, with the exception of the cast. The script sadly leaves a couple of the main characters just lingering in the background of many scenes, while Tamahori deals with the material in a clean, unshowy manner, relying on the story and the characters to hold the interest of viewers. Well, although I know that many others will feel differently, that worked for me.

Not one to easily recommend to people, I will still take the plunge and . . . . . . . . . . recommend it to people. It oozes quality from start to finish, and I hope that more people like it as much as I do if/when they give it some time.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mulholland-Falls-DVD-Nick-Nolte/dp/B00004W4H6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385375171&sr=8-1&keywords=mulholland+falls

Arthur (2011)

A remake of the much-loved 1981 movie, this time around drunken, childish Arthur is played by Russell Brand, Hobson is played by Helen Mirren and the love interest has become Naomi (played by Greta Gerwig). Luis Guzman is the chauffeur, Jennifer Garner is Susan Johnson and Nick Nolte is her scary father.

A quick reminder of the plot. Arthur is a drunk but a very, VERY rich drunk so that’s fine. The fact that he’s always in the news isn’t so fine and so his mother (played by Geraldine James) tells him that he must marry Susan Johnson or be cut off from the money. This happens, annoyingly enough, just as he meets and falls for the lovely Naomi.

Written by Peter Baynham (with plenty of lines and spirit, pun intended, lifted from the original) and directed by Jason Winer, Arthur could have been something really enjoyable. Russell Brand can do an eccentric drunk in his sleep so everything else should have fallen into place, right? Wrong. For some reason it was decided to make Arthur less of a staggering drunkard (though he’s drunk a lot of the time) and more of an outright man-child in this version, meaning that we have to suffer through an appalling performance from Brand that has him putting on a very childish voice and acting just like someone who’s been doped up with drugs. I’m sure this choice was made so that the film wouldn’t be seen to be deriving fun from alcoholism in these PC-infested times but it’s a bad choice and throws off the whole film. 

Everyone else is good and that’s a great shame because it simply highlights the poor performance from Brand, someone who I have so far always enjoyed in movie roles. Mirren makes a more than adequate replacement for John Gielgud and the bond between Arthur and Hobson is more obvious and easier to understand this time around. Gerwig does just fine as Naomi and Garner certainly does well as Susan Johnson, who is a colder and more calculating character in the remake than she was in either of the 80s movies. Guzman is very funny and Nolte is believably fear-inducing.

There are individual moments of fun, and a nice selection of movie cars, and the main character eventually gains your sympathy as the movie winds towards a predictable finale but this is inferior to the original and inferior to many other comedies released this year. 

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arthur-Triple-Blu-ray-Digital-Region/dp/B004Q9SYYA/ref=sr_1_8?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1371664113&sr=1-8&keywords=arthur

Mother Night (1996)

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is a writer who, I am sad to say, I have never read. Despite hearing great things about Slaughterhouse Five I've just never managed to delve into his work. Yet. Based on the content of this movie adaptation of Mother Night (one of his works), whether it sticks rigidly to the source novel or not, that is something I will have to change soon because the man writes some thought-provoking stuff.

Nick Nolte plays Howard Campbell, an American who grew up in Germany and became a successful playwright. As an adult, he fell in love with an actress (Sheryl Lee) and somehow managed to enjoy his life while avoiding intense scrutiny from the Nazis. However, when he is asked by a mysterious stranger (John Goodman) to consider working as an American spy his whole life changes. All he has to do is work for Germany, deliver speeches over the radio (speeches that have been annotated with a code he follows even though he doesn't even know the meaning of it) and continue living his life of relative privilege. Of course, that's only all well and good until the war ends and it's really when Howard moves on throughout his adult life that the questions raised at the very beginning of the movie start to burrow into your mind and take hold.

Directed by Keith Gordon (who will always be Arnie from Christine to me), and adapted for the screen by Robert B. Weide, Mother Night is a stunning movie once the premise is fully established about ten or fifteen minutes into proceedings. It's about good and evil and how complex, and close, those two things can be, highlighted in a central character who pretends to be someone evil to do good, but may well have also been responsible for a lot of evil deeds while playing his part all too well. Does pretending to be someone evil actually make you evil?

The interesting material, and it's made all the more interesting thanks to the ambiguity always weaving through the material (I, personally, couldn't make up my own mind as to whether or not I found Howard Campbell to be evil), is made all the better thanks to a fantastic cast. I've never been the biggest fan of Nolte, but I think this may be his best performance. It's certainly the best thing that I've seen him in. Sheryl Lee plays the love of his life and she's someone else that I've never been all that impressed with. I think she got luckier than she could have ever hoped when she landed her role(s) in Twin Peaks, but here she gives a very good performance, especially in the second half of the movie. John Goodman lends his usual greatness to the film - though, on a side note, how MANY times has Goodman played someone on the sidelines who ends up greatly influencing the main events? I think it may be his specialty - and so does Alan Arkin. Arye Gross also does well with his small role, Kirsten Dunst has an even smaller role and David Strathairn has mere seconds onscreen, but is always worth looking out for.

Unjustly neglected by many people, including myself (for which I am appropriately annoyed), over the past 15 years, Mother Night is a film well worth seeking out and giving 110 minutes of your life to. It's a new favourite of mine and I hope that others enjoy it just as much.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Night-DVD-Nick-Nolte/dp/B00024763I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361157914&sr=8-2

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

I couldn't tell you the exact facts and figures involved but it seemed to me that, when it was released, The Spiderwick Chronicles didn't do all that well at the box office. I hope it did okay but it certainly didn't create any major excitement and talk of big new franchise opportunities. That's a shame because it's a very enjoyable family film. The same thing happened to Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events (another family film I also enjoyed a lot). Hmmm, I hope I'm not jinxed.

Anyway, to the movie. The Spiderwick Chronicles. Young Freddie Highmore takes on two roles here, playing twin brothers Jared and Simon Grace. After their parents separate, the two boys, along with their older sister (Sarah Bolger) and mother (Mary-Louise Parker) move into the Spiderwick Estate, an old and run-down house in the middle of nowhere. Jared is convinced that his mother is to blame for this family split and he reacts with anger and insolence, resenting every minute of his new life. That all changes, however, when he discovers a book filled with details of many magical creatures living in the area. He doesn't believe any of it, of course, until he actually sees the creatures for himself. There are quite a few nice, sweet creatures to be observed but, sadly, also a number of nasty baddies out to cause harm and get their hands on the book in order to deliver it to their master, an ogre named Mulgarath (Nick Nolte). Jared must keep the book safe at all costs, which isn't going to be easy unless he enlists the help of his family. Will anyone believe him?

Based on the books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, this is an imaginative, consistently entertaining adventure that mixes great special effects with a great cast all portraying nicely rounded characters. Freddie Highmore is a very talented young actor and gives two great performances as Jared and Simon, Sarah Bolger is very likeable as Mallory and Mary-Louise Parker plays a very understanding and loving mother. Nick Nolte isn't onscreen physically for very long but he's excellent whether voicing Mulgarath or portraying him in human form. There are also roles for the likes of the great David Strathairn, the great Joan Plowright and the . . . . . ummm . . . . pleasant Andrew McCarthy. They may not be seen onscreen but Martin Short and Seth Rogen provide some enjoyable vocals for a couple of creatures that are on the side of good.

Three people, including John Sayles, worked to adapt the screenplay and the end result is well balanced. There are moments that may feel a bit intense for younger children but there are also many moments of comedy, spectacle (a flight on a griffin is a particular highlight) and sheer wonderment to keep everyone happy.

Director Mark Waters has given audiences a couple of poor movies in his career but he's also responsible for the remake of Freaky Friday, the great Mean Girls and, his first film, The House Of Yes. The Spiderwick Chronicles easily sits alongside that lot and I think that my high rating here could easily rise after future repeat viewings.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Spiderwick-Chronicles-Blu-ray/dp/B001B6CCD0/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1353725018&sr=8-6

Warrior (2011)

Directed by Gavin O'Connor, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Cliff Dorman and Anthony Tambakis, Warrior could just as easily be a greatest hits megamix called "Now That's What I Call 101 Cheesy Fight Movie Moments".

Tom Hardy stars as Tommy Conlon, an angry young man who returns to see his alcoholic father (played by Nick Nolte). He blames his father for a lot of things, especially driving his mother away and leaving him to watch her die slowly from a terminal disease. Tommy also blames his estranged brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton). Brendan chose to stay close to his father because he'd just met a young woman that he'd fallen in love with. That woman would become his wife (Jennifer Morrison) and his happy family life with his wife and kids causes yet more resentment. Tommy considers himself alone. The only thing he shares with his brother is a strong dislike of his flawed father. Well, they also both happen to be pretty handy at fighting in a cage which leads them to enter a MMA tournament with a $5 Million prize. Tommy wants the money for reasons that will become clear as the movie unfolds while Brendan wants to avoid losing the family home.

So what does this all add up to in terms of the viewing experience? We have the family drama, the personal problems and the far-fetched nature of the whole thing. It's ridiculous, almost childishly simplistic in places and only ever gets into top gear when the vicious fights are taking place. Yet I still enjoyed myself and I still had a tear in my eye by the time the end credits rolled, even while I was cursing the movie for being so bloody manipulative.

Tom Hardy puts in a good performance but I remain unconvinced of his greatness. In this performance he mixes elements from Bronson with his performance in The Dark Knight Rises and it all just starts to feel a little too familiar already. Joel Edgerton is easy to root for but completely unconvincing as a potential MMA champion (though I'm sure that he could kick my ass if he ever felt the urge, along with 75% of the entire population of our planet). Nick Nolte is excellent in a role that easily gives him the opportunity to . . . . . be excellent. Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo, Kevin Dunn and Bryan Callen all do good enough in supporting roles and there are also a number of muscle-bound men out to hurt each other en route to the big finale.

O'Connor directs the whole thing competently enough. The soundtrack and score may be a bit underwhelming but all of the shots and scenes are generally well presented and the film overcomes the problems inherent in the unoriginal material by simply giving time over to every cliched aspect and treating each one as if it deserves inclusion. Strangely enough, this means that by the time all of the elements come together at the very end of everything they DO all deserve inclusion.

Okay, so it's easy to believe that before writing the script for the movie everyone involved simply sat down and watched all of the Rocky movies, each instalment of The Best Of The Best and a few older Jean-Claude Van Damme films for good measure. But that doesn't necessarily make for a bad blend of movie moments. In fact, on this occasion it makes for something overwrought, cheesy and, dammit all, solidly entertaining.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warrior-Blu-ray-Tom-Hardy/dp/B0063H2ZS4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344271119&sr=8-2