THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

As I have a stinking cold (in fact it’s probably flu or some variant of covid and I’m lucky to be alive) I was casting around for something to watch last night. First of all I gave Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom a go. Fuck me! How on earth does shit like this get made? Utter rubbish. Then cor’ blimey me old china I thought the Amy Winehouse biopic might get me up the old apples and pears wif’ it’s authentic old Landan nonsense. Reckon I gave that at least 10 minutes. Cor blimey guvnor it wasn’t for me. Finally I remembered you gave Rebel Ridge 9/10, so I settled on that.

I wouldn’t go as far as you, but as an intelligent, grown up, action, revenge thriller, it’s miles ahead of the John Wick franchise that's for sure.

Basic plot. A small town in the US, I’m thinking the South, police department finds itself broke due to being continually sued as their process is somewhat ‘dubious’ to say the least. Chief Don Johnson, who’s more than decent in this, comes up with a cunning plan to alleviate the funding shortfall. Imposing ludacris fines, and impounding any cash they find, legally it has to be said. Unfortunately for these good ol’ boys they come up against ex-marine Terry, played by Britt Aaron Pierre, enroute to bail his cousin out. A tense encounter, mostly because Terry is a black man in the South being stopped by two white cops, results in the bail money being confiscated, which results in his cousin being murdered.

There’s no rampaging here. It's nicely plotted, albeit it sags somewhat in the middle, with the impressive Pierre handling the action scenes with aplomb. This was originally a vehicle for John Boyega. In fact filming started before he quite literally walked away in still unexplained circumstances. In Pierre they found a more than adequate replacement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF3gZicntIw

In Bruges

Obvs, we've all seen this brilliant film. I watched it again tonight. It gets better with age, although the dialogue would not be allowed today. It's a buddy movie and a gangster movie and it's darkly comic as well as being just dark at times.

Two hitmen, after a botched job, are sent by their nasty gangster boss (Ralph Fiennes) to go hide up in Bruges. One (Brendan Gleeson) loves the place - the culture and the history. The other one (Colin Farrell) hates it and wishes he was back in London. Or Dublin. Anywhere but fucking Bruges.

Over a few days, they have various interactions, some violent, all funny and yet the dark heart of the film becomes clear. But in the final third, the gears shift and the film moves towards a tragic and brutal denouement. I won't go into details as I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it.

Overall, the acting is first rate and the dialogue is on a par with early Tarantino. It's a strong and moving story. It's simply a great movie.

And, of course, "Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf" is still one of the greatest lines in world cinema.



9/10

Watched it last night. Initially I thought it was going to be a Rambo: First Blood thaang. But it was better then that. Not great but OK. 6/10.

Wicked Little Letters

A comedy-drama based on a true story of a small town suffering from a wave of obscene poison pen letters. It's one of those typical "small" British movies which is a bit of a curate's egg (OK in parts). The women in the audience (including Mrs Soze) all seemed to enjoy it but I found it to be passably engaging, whilst being neither especially comedic nor dramatic.

The film features a strong cast featuring some well known thesps, most who have done both drama and comedy. From the top we have Olivia Colman in the starring role as the God-fearing spinster who is the first to be targeted with the letters. Co-starring is Jessie Buckley as her wild Irish neighbour and erstwhile friend, who is accused of the libelous crimes. There is also Tim Spall as Colman's dad, Jason Watkins as a barrister and Joanna Scanlan as a friend to the two female leads. The police are inept but Woman Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan from Killing Eve) is on hand to ensure justice is done. Others include Lolly Adefope as a post mistress and Tim Key as a vicar.

Colman mostly phones in her performance but occasionally, especially in scenes with her father, you get glimpses of her undoubted huge talent. Buckley is fun and likeable if a little implausible but the acting honours sit squarely with Spall, who is wonderfully hateful as the bullying, coercive and controlling father. He is the antithesis to everything else in this film, like a jagged piece of glass hidden in a strawberry trifle.

The film casting is done in the voguish colour-blind fashion (think the ghastly Bridgerton). I get why this is done and, as a fully paid up leftie woke snowflake, I know I should applaud it. But I found it jarring and anachronistic. The film is set in the mid 1920s and the characters plausibly all comment and poke fun at the novelty of a woman police officer but none of them comment about her having a South Asian heritage and the fact her father before her was also a small town Bobby. The same is true in some of the other roles too. If it was set in London then maybe, maybe, fair enough. But Littlehampton? At a time of gas lights, tin baths and outside loos?

Anyhoo, that's a personal bug bear and nothing in the performances of Vasan, Adefope et al are at issue. I should just try to get over it but historical inaccuracy rankles with me.

Overall, pleasant enough fun with a good ensemble cast and some amusing swearing.

6/10