Mini-Review: Winstone is terrifyingly terrific as Ray, a character who tries so hard to make those around him sympathise with him (the audience included). It doesn't entirely work, but it's not exactly supposed to; all there is in this dire world of love spilling into hate so easily is a little glimmer of hope for all.
Mini-Review: Don't know why I wanted to see this since I never saw, and never intend to see, Clash of the Titans. This is just a fairly entertaining flick: dialogue and characters aren't memorable or well-written and it's not gonna hook anyone onto Greek mythology any time soon, but the action scenes are quite well done and it doesn't have that sterile cinematography that seems to permeate all other blockbusters. So, yeah, not bad.
Mini-Review: McQueen is real good at channelling the anguish of Peckinpah. As usual with his films (both those folks), this is a real boys film with an underlying unease permeating the car-chases, shoot-outs, women-slapping, and cool sunglass-wearing.
Mini-Review: For a story that ends on quite the unsure downer, this is a rather uplifting film. Showing an excellent relationship between friends and romantic partners, the film condenses down all those trials and trivialisations successfully into its running time, allowing for a grand story on a small scale.
Mini-Review: The story and dialogue is generally rubbish and there isn't really much invested in the characters. This film is just an excuse the string a loose narrative along some wicked-ass fight scenes. And, holy hell, are they wicked! Nothing important, but it's good fun for the most part.
Mini-Review: If you're a Hicks fan, you'll probably have already heard most of this material. But here is where he performs it best, absolutely killing it in his demonic bit on modern pop music. If only we could hear what he has to think of it all now ...
Mini-Review: A hell of a lot of energy for a comedy performance, and this overplayedness is used well to tell great stories in an incredibly funny manner.
Mini-Review: A cool, but generic caper film with an equal amount of tension as there is boredom. Nice car-chase.
Mini-Review: Better in every department than the Swedish version, but is still lugged down by the familiar and thematically empty storyline. It's a brilliantly stylish crime-thriller with excellent cinematography and music, but ended up making two better trailers than a movie.