Harry Brown [2009]

My hopes from the short description and from the poster was this would be a bit of an over the top action film like Taken or a continuance of Caine’s best - Get Carter.

My fears were that this film was going to be an style over substance – Guy Ritchie type of film where Caine would be delivering lines that weren’t designed to be said – just written to be clever.

What I got was more of a heavy drama that felt like it should be a BBC produced mini-series – with just the right amount of hard violence and a very good story.

The story was a bit broken – and didn’t really feel to have been resolved fully – there was a bit more meat to the story to be explored. To be presented in a movie format rather than a BBC mini-series I felt like it needed a few random touches to complete it – which was kind of disappointing. There were a bit too many “happy” coincidences for my likes – considering the hard path it was going drama wise. I almost felt ripped off by the end of the film.

It was good – but the first time director Daniel Barber didn’t use a couple of well written scenes – that could’ve brought a lot of emotional tension to the story to the best of his ability. It’s also one of those movies where a good story, a few good ideas and a few interesting pieces happen to carry it through the weak parts of the film.

It was well acted – and though I wanted more from several aspects of the film – I’m still giving it a 4 out of 5.

Feb 7th - Feb 8th - Movie Watching Part 1

Dirty Pretty Things [2002]

When a night porter discovers a heart in the toilet of room 510 – a series of events unfold that leave him and one of the maids facing deportation.

This film was good – not great. I thought the acting was wonderful on both the leads parts – the story was interesting and kept my attention – but nothing about it really sold me that it was anything more than good. The story – even though it was interesting – was for the most part predictable. What also bothered me was how the characters unfolded – especially the character of Senay (played by Audrey Tautou). It just didn’t seem right to me that she’d go from point A to point B personality wise in such a short time.

Recommendation: Hunt it down if you are bored



Get Carter [1971]

Mystery surrounds the death of Jack Carter’s brother (or does it?) – and Carter’s out to investigate and bring the responsible parties to the justice he sees fit.

I really liked this movie the story kept you guessing and Michael Caine was excellent as Carter. I appreciate the realism – you don’t see people in real life running at full sprint for miles - which is something I’ve been keeping a keen eye on these days. I also much prefer these kind of gangster tales than the big shot deals that seem to be popular with US audiences. The story and actors are gritty and uncaring – much more than rich and privileged. More about the film though – it’s a classic – Michael Caine brings charisma to the role that few actors could – he brings a humor and charm – as well as a believable rage. The some of filming techniques were borderline amateur – but I really liked them – it brought an interesting touch.

Recommendation: See it