Ani-MAY-tion: Cars 2 (2011)

While I was pleasantly surprised by my recent, long overdue, viewing of Cars, I knew that I shouldn’t get my expectations too high for either of the sequels. Although I have forgotten the full conversation, I remember hearing that one was dire and one was a pleasant surprise. I hope the third Cars movie is a pleasant surprise, because this one wasn’t very good.

When Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) rises to the challenge of racing Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro) he ends up unwittingly amidst a scheme that could lead to the death of many cars. It’s all to do with selling fuel, but a couple of secret agents (voiced by Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer) are on the case. Unfortunately, a misunderstanding leads to them thinking that Mater (Larry The Cable Guy) is working alongside them. There are chases, there are death traps, and there are many moments that have Mater defying the odds to make progress in his “mission”.

While I understand the need to avoid a complete replay of the first movie, Cars feels like a movie series with a limited number of plot options. And, let’s face it, many successful franchises have managed to repeat a formula over and over again, with minor tweaks, including a certain other huge Pixar title. Kids are especially pleased by repetition, which makes the road taken here (no pun intended) all the more bizarre.

Writer Ben Queen does what he can with the premise, presenting a kid-friendly James Bond adventure with Mater being the accidental hero of the piece, but he ends up delivering something incredibly weak. The main lesson feels overwhelmed by the secret agent shenanigans, and the secret agent shenanigans pale in comparison to almost any other film in this vein that you can think of. It doesn’t help that co-directors John Lasseter and Bradford Lewis don’t seem to have any interest in elevating the material, relying on the voice cast to make up for the many weaker elements.

That would be okay if the voice cast was better, but it’s not great. Caine and Mortimer ARE great, but they are absolute highlights here. Wilson is fine, but sidelined in favour of everything else going on, Turturro is equally undone by his relatively limited dialogue (he is fun when he gets time to chatter away), and the likes of Eddie Izzard, Joe Mantegna and others are wasted in supporting roles that don’t give them enough to do. The person who gets to do plenty is Larry The Cable Guy, who is enjoyable enough as Mater, but also quite an acquired taste (although there’s a chance that younger viewers will just lap up everything he says and does).

I didn’t absolutely hate this, mainly thanks to the slick visuals and a couple of small gags that made me chuckle, but it was very disappointing. Am I wrong for wanting another plot that saw Lightning McQueen having to learn some new tactics for a different kind of racing? Probably. Could that have been better than this bit of silliness though? Probably. It gets bonus points for the casting of Caine though, who is the best thing about it.

4/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Noirvember: Get Carter (1971)

Written and directed by Mike Hodges, based on a book by Ted Lewis, Get Carter is a cool and gritty gangster movie that features arguably the most iconic performance of Michael Caine’s career, couched in a film that easily jostles for a top spot when discussing landmarks of British cinema.

Caine plays Jack Carter, a London gangster who heads up to Newcastle to investigate the sudden death of his brother. There are a number of people who don’t want him poking around in their business, including the menacing Eric (Ian Hendry), but that just makes Carter more determined to find out the truth about the death of his brother. His instincts are right, but more people start to try and send him back to London, at the very least, as he gets ever closer to something very unpleasant. There seems to be a reckoning on the way, but who will be left at the end of it?

Get Carter is one of those films that always impresses, however many times you watch it. If you have never seen it, please do so immediately. If you haven’t watched it in a while, please treat yourself to a revisit. It is just one of those classics that has everything mixed together perfectly in a way you could never replicate nowadays (just ask Sylvester Stallone, although I am sneerily dismissing his remake without having actually seen it yet). The atmosphere, the landscape of Newcastle at that time (dominating the narrative as much as any of the main characters), Caine being cool and ruthless, the supporting players, the Roy Budd score, every technical aspect, and the script and direction from Hodges. This is a perfect film, and even the scenes that aren’t necessarily needed to push the story along provide moments and images worthy of your time.

It’s also worth noting, although I am not entirely sure how to put this, that Get Carter wins a prize for being the most sustained selection of unsexiest sexy exchanges, whether it is a naughty phone conversation that creates a triangle of Caine, Britt Ekland, and Rosemarie Dunham, the aftershock of an encounter between Caine and Geraldine Moffat, or even the oft-depicted image of Caine striding nakedly out of a house while he keeps a shotgun pointed at some ill-prepared henchmen. Everything has a frisson to it, but also a layer of grime and nastiness, and it adds to an overall sense of the film being very much a one-off.  

Saying Caine is great in the lead role is like saying water is wet. It’s a given. This IS the role he feels born to play. Which is unlucky for Hendry, who was also in the running for the lead, but makes the bitterness between them all the more palpable. The aforementioned Dunham is excellent, Ekland and Moffat bring a touch of glamour to the whole thing, no matter how fleeting their screentime, and there are excellent performances from Alun Armstrong, Bryan Mosley, and John Osborne, to name just a few standouts.

This and The Long Good Friday remain the peak of British crime movies. They have moments that are cool, that are incredibly cinematic and memorable, but they also focus on the cruelty, showing how the main characters are shaped as much by the events and people around them as they are by their self-created position of power. These are the films that everyone should watch, that entertain even as they look at the morality of things from all angles. And it’s why many film fans become upset when something like Rise Of The Footsoldier 7: Footsoldiers Go Footballing In Ibiza becomes the latest British crime film that casual viewers rate as a great night in. I implore you not to check out any of those films until you have seen this.

10/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Miss Congeniality (2000)

Once you get beyond the opening act of Miss Congeniality, with numerous scenes built around the fact that Sandra Bullock isn't viewed as a lady because she's strong, smart, doesn't take time to ensure her hair and make-up are flawless every morning, and is generally just "one of the guys", things improve considerably. Instead of just trying to hide Bullock in the wrinkled clothing of "FBI slob", she gets a chance to shine, in terms of her transformed appearance and also, more importantly, in scenes that show her talent for comedy.

The basic plot is nonsense, but nonsense that makes the whole thing easy enough to buy into. Bullock is Gracie Hart, the only agent available at short notice to help infiltrate the Miss United States beauty pageant, which the FBI believes has been targeted by a dangerous criminal who wishes to blow it up. Gracie only has a couple of days to be groomed by Victor Melling (Michael Caine), who initially suspects it's a job that even a man of his skills cannot manage, and she is a pain in the backside of all those involved, be it the hosts (played by Candice Bergen and William Shatner) or her colleagues at the bureau (Benjamin Bratt tries to offer support, Ernie Hudson is the boss none too impressed by the whole escapade).

Director Donald Petrie has a filmography with some solid comedies in there, but few real greats. This is another solid one, almost lifted higher by the performances from a couple of the main players. Although it's all put together competently enough, it suffers from a script that fails to wring as many laughs from each sequence as it could. Marc Lawrence has written a few features that Bullock has starred in, whether by coincidence or by design, but co-writers Katie Ford and Caryn Lucas are names I am less familiar with, and that makes me wonder if there were a number of conflicting voices here that tried to pull the film in too many different directions, tonally, without keeping the comedy at the front and centre of their plans. You have the thriller plotline, often sidelined aside from one or two key sequences, you have the "fish out of water" aspect of Bullock being somewhere she really doesn't want to be, and you get the moments of female bonding. None of these elements spoil the experience, but the shifts in tone are enough to make it feel inconsistent and lacking in cohesion.

The consistency comes from the main performances. Bullock is a lot of fun, making the most of this star vehicle, and Caine works very well alongside her, helped by the fact that he grabs most of the best lines from the script. Bergen and Shatner are both good, with the latter a perfect fit for the role of slick show host, and Heather Burns is very sweet as "Miss Rhode Island", a girl who brings out the protective nature of Bullock's character. Other contestants are played by Melissa De Sousa, Deirdre Quinn, and Wendy Raquel Robinson, although they often have to resign themselves to being scene-setting accessories in most of their scenes. Hudson gets to be angry in a couple of scenes, and that's his whole character (basically), and Bratt gets the thankless role of potential romantic interest, which makes a nice change from a talented actress being stuck in such a role.

There's a good selection of familiar hits in the soundtrack, some amusing lines of dialogue outwith the exchanges between Bullock and Caine (my favourite being the answer to a question about a favourite date), and it just about manages not to outstay its welcome. If you're a massive fan of Bullock then you may want to add an extra point. Everyone else can have more laughs with Drop Dead Gorgeous (a much funnier film with a similar setting, albeit very different thanks to the mock-doc style) first, and then get to this one whenever the opportunity arises.

6/10

You can buy the movie, with the sequel, here.
Americans can buy it here.

Mubi Monday: Children Of Men (2006)

The first time I saw Children Of Men I wondered what everyone else saw in it that I didn't. It was a good film but everyone else seemed to love it. And now I know why. What once felt like a low-key sci-fi movie that I could never warm to now feels like the kind of sci-fi tale warning us of what could be just around the corner. To be fair, it was probably always that way, it's just that when I first saw it I wasn't taking as much notice of the world around me.

Clive Owen stars as Theo, a man trying to keep his head above the dangerous waters of a society on the brink of collapse. There hasn't been a child born for almost two decades and the UK is dealing with an immigration problem by basically capturing them and keeping them in camps until they can come up with an excuse to send the military in to solve the problem with deadly efficiency. Theo also used to be a political activist, information that is used by his ex-wife (Julianne Moore) when she needs someone she can trust to assist a valuable young woman (Kee, played by Clare-Hope Ashitey) in escaping the country.

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who also co-wrote the screenplay with a number of other people (incorporating feedback and ideas from Owen), Children Of Men is a wonderful film that mixes hope and despair in a delicate and thoughtful mix. This is mainly thanks to the central character, an understandable cynic, being constantly surrounded by people who cling on to the smallest silver lining as the clouds gather overhead. It's also thanks to the fact that we can still watch the movie and, I sincerely hope, view it as a low point that we would never want to reach. We're already precariously close to it, in places, but I have faith that those with more common sense and empathy will always outnumber the small-minded bigots and xenophobes who keep trying to drag us further and further down into the mud.

Based on a novel by Ps. D. James (yes, THAT P. D. James), this story layers on the horrible  revelations and realisations as we keep moving towards the grand finale, not sure if this will be able to give us a happy ending, considering the overwhelming odds that keep mounting up against the main characters. There are a number of moments that let the action unfold in a number of impressive tracking shots, contributing an effective air of immediacy akin to the found footage format without really showboating in a way that takes viewers out of the movie (it's worth noting that I didn't notice these the first time I watched the film, I was so engrossed, and it was only in the intervening years that I saw them praised and then knew to look out for them on a rewatch).

Owen is superb in the lead role, he's an actor that is rarely given his due and this is one of his very best roles. Grim and determined, he is dragged into the situation in stages, always resisting right up until he realises that he's the only one who knows how to do the right thing at the right stage in the journey. Ashitey is very good in her role, similar to Owen in the way that she's often passive until the moment when she has to put her foot down, and there are strong supporting turns from Moore, Pam Ferris, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, and Peter Mullan. There is also a fantastic turn from Michael Caine, playing Jasper, a man who deals cannabis and tries to keep himself hidden away from the urban madness until the day when he hopes things start to get better.

If you think Children Of Men is just a dystopian thriller disconnected from the events of our daily lives then see how you feel during the scene in which the characters discuss how an upcoming major event could be manipulated and "improved" for the public by replacing the face of an immigrant with the face of someone white. Prescient sci-fi? This almost feels like a documentary nowadays.

9/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Filmstruck Friday: The Hand (1981)

To give you the most basic summary, The Hand is a film about a comic book illustrator named Jon Lansdale (played by Michael Caine) who loses his right hand in a car accident. While struggling to accept his new life with half of his familiar roster of phalanges, and while plodding on through a marriage situation that is clearly in trouble, Jon takes a job at a community college, rents a small cabin in the woods, and seems unaware that his dismembered hand is still moving around, ready to act on his angrier impulses and resolve a number of issues with fatal violence. Unless it's all just the vivid imagination of our main character.

The Hand is a strange film experience, for a number of reasons. The first reason is that it was written and directed by Oliver Stone. He's not necessarily a bad choice, although he makes many bad decisions, but the plot and the way things play out make this the kind of film that you would more readily associate with his friend, Brian De Palma. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was one of those projects that a number of people discussed in theory before Stone got the opportunity to make his film.

Based on a novel that I am unfamiliar with, "The Lizard's Tail" by Marc Brandell, this takes a bit of adjustment on the part of viewers who may be expecting something along the lines of The Beast With Five Fingers, And Now The Screaming Starts! or even Body Parts. It's more in line with The Hands Of Orlac, in the way that it shows the main character starting to unravel, and it's a shame that Stone can't decide on how he wants to play things. Shots of the hand about to commit grave misdeeds are too few and far between while the script doesn't ever have enough interesting statements to make about the clearly-unstable mental state of Caine's character. Things are packed in to the last few scenes, but they're too little too late, and also come as no surprise to viewers who have been waiting for something to be revealed ever since the halfway point.

Caine is fine in his role, and he's called upon to be the focus of most of the scenes. Andrea Marcovicci does well in a much harder role, she's the wife who fell out of love with her husband a long time ago, Bruce McGill is as great as he usually is, and Annie McEnroe appears just in time to derobe and give the main character a temporary ego boost.

If you go into The Hand expecting a schlocky horror movie about a killer hand then you'll probably end up disappointed. If you go into it expecting a portrait of a traumatised and shattered individual then, well, you'll still probably be disappointed, but hopefully less so. This is a Stone project that sees him holding back when he should have just pushed things further, either in terms of the bloodshed or the skewed viewpoint of the main character.

4/10

Here's a film with a much better animated hand.
And Americans can get it here.

The Prestige (2006)

Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".

The Prestige is another sumptuous Christopher Nolan film in a fine line of sumptuous Christopher Nolan films, co-written by himself and his brother Jonathan, based on the novel by Christopher Priest, and arguably more intriguing and intimate than anything else he has directed since he reached the level of success earned by Batman Begins. That's not to say that this is better than any of his other films since then. It's just nice to see him work on something of a smaller scale, something that doesn't need to warp cityscapes or throw you headlong into grand moments seemingly designed to look best in IMAX.

After a stage trick goes horribly wrong, Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) find themselves growing more obsessed with each other. Each wants to outdo the other, but Borden seems to have the upper hand when he achieves great success with his "transported man" illusion. Angier grows more and more desperate to learn the secret of the trick, unaware of what it will end up costing both men if he continues on his self-destructive path.

The Prestige is very much constructed like a magic trick, and very much in line with the quote above. But while this could have seemed a bit precious and self-congratulatory, with the Nolans spelling out the structure of the film and trying to trick viewers on the way to the finale, it instead comes over as something that has simply been crafted with great attention to detail and an aim to entertain. The twists in the plot are enjoyable enough, but rewatching the film emphasises just how unimportant they are when it comes to the quality of the tale. You can know how a card trick is done, but that doesn't stop you enjoying it being done by a slick showman who also tells you an entertaining story while he's trying to keep everyone else from figuring out his secrets.

Jackman and Bale are both great, although Bale's accent does occasionally veer a little bit towards parody cockney territory, and they both get their share of excellent moments throughout. Michael Caine is also very good, helping both men out at different times in their lives. Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, and Scarlett Johansson all play women who are adversely affected by the obsessions of these men. They're not given as much to work with, at all, but all do a good enough job, with Hall giving a surprisingly effective and moving performance that sits up there with the best I have seen from her. David Bowie plays Tesla, which allows him to yet again be effortlessly cool in a much smaller role that absolutely works for him, and both Andy Serkis and the magical Ricky Jay do well with their brief amount of screentime, Jay is a cameo you could easily miss.

The music by David Julyan is very good, the production design and composition of every scene is gorgeous, and the editing allows for lots of nice foreshadowing and reveals on the way to . . . The Prestige.

All too often overlooked nowadays, which is understandable considering the impressive body of work that Nolan has built up, The Prestige is definitely worth a watch/rewatch. It's a film for fans of Nolan, for fans of the cast, for fans of magic, and for fans of great film-making.

8/10

Buy the shiny disc here.
Or, in America, buy it here.

Bonus Review: Interstellar (2014)

It sounds like a cliche, it's the kind of thing that all fans seem to say at one point about their cinematic heroes, but I really wish Christopher Nolan would move back to the smaller movies that he showed so much promise with years ago. Because I DO really like the guy, he always puts moments onscreen that make for great cinema, but he's in danger of taking away every ounce of goodwill that I have left for him. Interstellar is his most unsatisfying movie yet. Like the wildly overpraised The Dark Knight Rises, it suffers from an excessive runtime, a selection of ideas that are never treated as well as they could be, and a real lack of actual entertainment value.

The place is Earth. It's the future. There have been wars. There are environmental problems that affect the growth of crops. It doesn't look good for the future of the human race. One man (Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey) ends up piloting a spaceship on a mission that everyone hopes will provide a solution, or at least provide an alternative home for the general population. Cooper is accompanied on the mission by Brand (Anne Hathaway), Doyle (Wes Bentley), Romilly (David Gyasi), and a couple of smartass robots. As they venture further into their mission, travelling through a wormhole and dangerously close to a black hole, it soon becomes clear that the most important resource they have is one that they can do very little to manage: time.

Where to begin? Where, where, where? Perhaps I should start by clarifying that my biggest problems with Interstellar don't lie with the science, which many are quick to state is considered to be quite sound. I'm no scientist, so I'm not going to fight that fight, even if I have my doubts about some of the speculation. I will, however, say that the ideas presented here are never explored to anywhere near their full potential, which left this particular viewer frustrated and wishing that Nolan had at least created a film with the full courage of his convictions. He didn't. He sets up what could be an interesting tale of the human spirit flying into the unknown abyss of outer space and then simply neuters the whole thing. Which is a great shame.

Perhaps I'm skipping ahead. My first problems with this movie cropped up within the first few scenes. First of all, Nolan set up a world that I didn't believe in. An Earth blighted by such problems (no military, extra health issues, the potential for mass hunger) shouldn't, in my view, seem like our Earth as it is now, albeit with an extra coating of dust over everything. But this is the world that we're presented with. Then I started to get an idea, an inkling that I knew how things were going to pan out. This was within minutes of the movie starting, mind you. For a movie that clocks in at just under three hours, that's not a good thing. It's even worse when the whole thing plays out exactly as envisioned.

Are there ANY surprises? Yes. Well, it may be better to say that there are one or two decent diversions. I can't go into any more detail because they feature people and situations that you'll enjoy more if you have no advance notice. It's just a shame that those good moments are adrift in a sea of horribly manipulative codswallop, surprisingly lacklustre special effects, and an audio mix that ranks among the very worst I've had to endure from a blockbuster cinema release. Seriously, Hans Zimmer may have enjoyed being given so much screentime to score by Mr. Nolan, but there were times when I would have much preferred to hear what the main characters were actually saying. You may think I'm joking, but there were at least one or two moments when I strained to hear dialogue that was obscured by Zimmer's ruckus.

The film never falls below average, which is unsurprising when you consider just how good at the technical stuff Nolan is. He's also helped by a decent cast, all doing their best to distract viewers from the clumsier elements of the script. McConaughey continues his hot streak, giving a performance that distils all of the best of humanity into one strong-willed protagonist. Hathaway is also very good, somehow able to waver between supporting McConaughey and trying to equal him. Bentley and Gyasi may be given less to do, but both men acquit themselves capably. Michael Caine and John Lithgow both make the most of their supporting turns, while Jessica Chastain once again proves that she'll never stop ACTING her heart out to show you how hard she is ACTING. She could take some notes from Mackenzie Foy, a young actress who steals every scene that she's in.

Many people will love Interstellar. It seems that every film Nolan makes nowadays is able to find a large, loyal fanbase. Who wouldn't want such bankability? I certainly didn't love it, and there were many times when I didn't even like it. It's a mess. It never feels plausible, despite the science all being as accurate as possible (allegedly). It's massively self-indulgent. Worst of all, it never feels like great cinema, even as it clearly strives to prove that it is.

Maybe, just maybe, Christopher Nolan should come back down to Earth. And soon.

5/10

Here's the science part - http://www.amazon.com/Science-Interstellar-Kip-Thorne/dp/0393351378/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1415650031&sr=8-4&keywords=interstellar+movie

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)

Yet another movie to highlight when people start ranting and raving about how all remakes are the work of the devil, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a remake of a 1964 movie, Bedtime Story. I've not yet seen Bedtime Story, so I can't say if this film is better or worse, but I can tell you that this is another great vehicle for Steve Martin, this time sparking brilliantly off Michael Caine.

The script, by Dale Launer, Stanley Shapiro and Paul Henning (the latter two being responsible for Bedtime Story), is consistently smart and witty, and the set-pieces are enough to lift the whole film into the realm of greatness.

Michael Caine plays Lawrence Jamieson, a sophisticated con-man who works on a large scale. His nose is slightly put out of joint when he encounters Freddy Benson (Martin), a small-time con artist who may cause problems. Benson may not be operating in the same league as Jamieson, but as the former puts it: "A poacher who shoots at rabbits may scare big game away."
When his attempts to get rid of Freddy keep failing, a truce is called. The experienced, sophisticated con-man will educate the talented novice. And if the two feel that the education is concluded, well, there's always the chance to compete against one another as they see who can extract the most money from Janet Colgate (Glenne Headly). The prize? Well, it's kind of a winner take all deal.

Directed by Frank Oz, who hasn't directed a bad movie in his entire film-making career (as far as I'm concerned . . . . . . and I will debate that point with anyone who cares to try), this is a warm, lively pleasure from start to finish.

It may not have all of the whackiness that Martin used to get away with in the earlier years of his movie career, but it does have sparkling banter between the leads, a sequence that introduces viewers to a very special man named Ruprecht and many other moments that make me laugh so hard I sometimes get worrying looks from people who think I am perilously close to having a seizure.

While Caine and Martin are superb in every scene (this brings out the best in both of them, I only wish they had found something else to work on together), there's plenty to praise in the performance from Glenne Headly, who holds her own alongside the gentlemen and plays up the sweetness of her character while also reacting in the best possible way to the inspired lunacy that builds and builds. Anton Rodgers and Ian McDiarmid do well enough with their small roles, and I've always been a big fan of Barbara Harris, who has a lot of fun here playing Fanny Eubanks (aka Lady Fanny of Omaha).

This may not be absolutely perfect, but it comes close enough for me (as so many Steve Martin movies from the '80s do). We can all just breathe a huge sigh of relief that the initial pairing of Mick Jagger and David Bowie didn't come to fruition. The mind boggles at how THAT film would have turned out.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dirty-Rotten-Scoundrels-Steve-Martin/dp/B00005KISR/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373978036&sr=8-1&keywords=dirty+rotten+scoundrels

Harry Brown (2009)

Daniel Barber's first full-length feature could, at a casual glance, be seen as a lazy way to fast-track him into the growing collection of great UK film-makers such as Shane Meadows, Danny Boyle, Christopher Smith, Neil Marshall, Guy Ritchie (YES, I said Guy Ritchie), Michael Winterbottom and others. It's a crime movie, it's done with a measured amount of gritty realism and it's got Michael Caine in it. So far so seen-it-all-before. But Harry Brown brings a bit more to the mix than just that.

Michael Caine IS Harry Brown, an old man living on a rather dilapidated council estate, spending his time either visiting his ill wife, playing chess with his friend Leonard (David Bradley) or simply filling the lonely, bleak hours in between such little moments of pleasure while, around him, the local area is going to ruin thanks to local teenagers playing with knives, guns and drugs and terrorising those who try to get on with their daily lives. When things happen that directly affect Harry he is then forced into making a decision he never thought he would make . . . . . . and to start cleaning up the estate. But it's not long before one good policewoman (Emily Mortimer) starts to suspect Harry's hand in the latest, bizarre events.

Michael Caine is an icon, an untouchable living British legend who can get by simply by being Michael Caine nowadays. Which is why it's been all the more impressive to see him put in damn fine performances in recent years and his portrayal of Harry Brown is one of his very best. Vulnerable and weak one moment, tough and dangerous the next, it's all believable thanks to Caine's performance. It helps that he's surrounded by the likes of Emily Mortimer, Liam Cunningham, Sean Harris and a group of young actors who all put in excellent acts, even while playing people you hope to never, ever meet in your life.

The character motivation feels real enough, the twists and turns don't leave you feeling cheated and the script stays truthful (sometimes disturbingly so) within the environment created for the movie so that's a success for writer Gary Young and director Daniel Barber that goes beyond any that a mix of standard crime antics and flashes of style could have provided.

The overall experience may be a little bit cold and bleak for some viewers but this is still a movie worth seeing, one that both entertains and makes you wince while also raising a number of moral questions as events move towards the climax.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Brown-Blu-ray-Michael-Caine/dp/B002XWV3C2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1372487268&sr=8-2&keywords=harry+brown

On Deadly Ground (1994)

A film with a cast that includes Michael Caine, John C. McGinley, Billy Bob Thornton, Joan Chen, R. Lee Ermey and Mike Starr may sound like something well worth watching. But then just let me add that Steven Seagal also stars in this one. In fact, he’s the lead. And let me also add that nobody involved in this film is putting forward their best work.

Seagal plays an environmentally-minded hardass who is working for Michael Caine, and his massive oil company, at the start of the movie but quickly realises that something is amiss and goes out of his way to right some wrongs, earn the respect of the Eskimo people and punch people in the face. Everything you would expect from a Seagal movie.

I was expecting something awful from On Deadly Ground but I have to admit that . . . . . . . . . . it’s okay. The environmental message sits uncomfortably beside the action sequences (especially in an overly preachy final monologue from Seagal) but the action sequences themselves are pretty bloody good.

Which is a big relief, considering what we have to endure from Michael Caine in his many scenes. Caine starts off attempting an American accent and either soon gives up on it or is simply so awful that he sounds just like . . . . . . . . . Michael Caine. And the black hair-dye is also another big distraction.

John C. McGinley as is good as he so often is, R. Lee Ermey isn’t too bad and Billy Bob Thornton is in the kind of role you could easily label “number two henchman” but gets a couple of good lines despite his very limited screentime. Joan Chen will probably want to forget this one, it’s far from her best role.

Written by Ed Horowitz and Robin U. Russin, and directed by Seagal himself, this is a rare action movie with a social conscious. Which is why it falters. Does anyone really want to watch an action movie that takes time out to remind you of how to make the world a cleaner place?

 

The mysticism and nobility of Seagal makes for some unintentional laughs but that can all be forgotten during a final half hour that replaces the battleship of Under Siege with an oil refinery. Which is why the movie still manages to get a score that just lifts it above average. 

6/10.

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share