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Caine plays dirty in Harry Brown
DVDs out this week.
WHEN the film opened in cinemas, HARRY BROWN (18: Lionsgate) was inevitably labelled a Death Wish for the noughties.
But I would liken it more to a British version of Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino, another tale of an aged vigilante trying to clean up his neighbourhood, which was released a few months before Sir Michael Caine's movie.
The feature-length debut from director Daniel Barber has as much to say about social conditions in neglected inner-city areas as it does about doddery dispensers of justice.
Caine is surprisingly convincing as the title character, a 70-something ex-serviceman whose life on a tough housing estate ruled by gangs of feral teenagers is thrown upside down when his best pal is murdered.
Determined to gain revenge, Harry hobbles into gun-toting, death-dealing action.
This glossy thriller is a touch melodramatic, especially in the portrayal of the gangs, and you may feel slightly uncomfortable about rooting for the septuagenarian avenger, no matter what the justification for his actions.
> When I slipped a review copy of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (15: Icon) into my DVD player, I must admit it was with a certain amount of scepticism.
But this no-budget horror, presented as "found footage" (a la The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield) creates an incredibly effective sense of dread.
A young couple who suspect that their new home is haunted by a malevolent entity set up video surveillance to capture evidence of what happens as they sleep at night.
What follows plays to the most basic primal fears of darkness and the unknown, from low-key noises and ghostly scares to increasingly unpredictable and sinister happenings that weave a shuddery spell over this supernatural chiller.
As these events take control of the couple's lives, freaky violence leads to a really gut-wrenching conclusion. Minimal special effects and the absence of a musical soundtrack create a heightened sense of eerie tension.
> If you fancy looking fixedly at an all-star Hollywood cast for 90 minutes or so, then THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (15: Momentum) may provide some satisfaction.
The film is based on the eccentric investigation by British journalist Jon Ronson into New Age psychological techniques within US military intelligence.
But it may confound fans of the book and accompanying 2004 TV documentary as the screenwriter has turned the intriguing source material into a wacky, Catch 22-style war comedy set in Iraq.
Ewan McGregor plays the bemused reporter who takes off with reactivated "psychic spy" Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) on a vague desert mission.
Apart from a few slapstick set pieces and the welcome presence of Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey as fellow military mentalists, it's basically a road movie relying more on narration than action.
> Metaphysical comedy COLD SOULS (12: indi VISION) initially promises to follow the lead of the dark and zany Being John Malkovich, but it's closer to the more whimsical work of a young Woody Allen.
Sideways star Paul Giamatti is cast as himself in far-from-real circumstances in this clever, surreal film.
Working on an off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, Giamatti finds his neuroses getting in the way of his performance, so he arranges for his soul to be removed and kept in storage.
Now literally soulless, the actor finds his work suffering even more, so first applies for a transplant and finally asks for the return of his own.
But his soul has gone missing, which is where this witty and engaging picture becomes needlessly complicated by adding a sub-plot about Russian soul-trafficking that muddles a wonderfully simple idea.
> THE WHITE RIBBON (15: Artificial Eye), winner of a clutch of foreign language film awards, is a tense drama set in a fearful northern German village on the eve of the First World War.
When strange, inexplicable accidents occur, fingers start to point and a witch-hunt ensues. The schoolteacher turns detective to discover the truth, with the baron, pastor, doctor, midwife and tenant farmers all involved.
> TOP TEN: 1 Saw VI; 2 The Time Traveler's Wife; 3 Zombieland; 4 Harry Brown; 5 An Education; 6 Couples Retreat; 7 Up; 8 The Invention Of Lying; 9 Julie And Julia; 10 The Ugly Truth. Chart from Blockbuster.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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