Here’s another slick trailer for the new Brett Ratner film Tower Heist, which pulls off a mighty feat in taking a fairly hokey premise (big shot moneyman rips off the hotel staff in the building in which he is under house arrest leading them to steal their money back, you know – that old story) from a director not unused to criticism and makes it look like a slightly less glamorous version of Ocean’s Eleven, but a fun one nonetheless.

Certainly the sight of a greying Ferris Bueller shivering on a hotel rooftop and Eddie Murphy stepping out of prison and straight into Trading Places is quite fun, and Ben Stiller looks firmly set in Night at the Museum mode here with Gabourey Sidibe and Alan Alda making the most of the aforementioned hoke. Decent cast having fun with a silly premise then. Why not?

It’s released in the UK 4th November. Will you be there?

Thanks The Sun.

It was the beginning of the year when we first put up and image but now Universal Pictures have release the first trailer for new movie directed by Brett Ratner and starring Ben Stiller, Alan Alda, Eddie Murphy, Michael Peña, Casey Affleck and Ferris Bueller himself, the awesome Matthew Broderick.

Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy lead an all-star cast in Tower Heist, a comedy caper about working stiffs who seek revenge on the Wall Street swindler who stiffed them. After the workers at a luxury Central Park condominium discover the penthouse billionaire has stolen their retirement, they plot the ultimate revenge: a heist to reclaim what he took from them.

It’s released in the UK 4th Novemer. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

It has been quite some time since Tower Heist was filming in NYC which is why I am surprised it has taken this long to get an image from the film.  Recently, Entertainment Weekly has published the first official photo from the film which features a majority of the all star cast staking out their targets residency.

Here is the brief synopsis according to IMDB:  “When a group of hard working guys find out they’ve fallen victim to a wealthy business man’s Ponzi scheme, they conspire to rob his high-rise residence.”

Tower Heist, which is directed by Brett Ratner (Red Dragon), stars  Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Alan Alda, Téa Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Pena, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck and Judd Hirsch.

Check out the image below and let us know what you think.

Harry Brown is an unassuming name for what may become an iconic character in Michael Caine’s career.

That Caine is able to embody a man of frustration and sadness whose inaction turns to violent action with fluidity and pathos is a testament to the talent of the man and the capability of the film’s director Dabiel Barber.

Make no mistake, Harry Brown is a long and hard look into the dark heart of British society, and no one can stare into it for too long without closing up into self-defeating denial or taking a stand. Complex and unafraid, this is so much more than a British Gran Torino.

Barry reviewed the film on release and you can read his take on Harry Brown here and I’m going to give my verdict here on the DVD experience.

Daniel Barber’s first feature is brutal, and sets out its play with a truly nasty opening scene utilising the device of a video shot on a mobile phone camera and instantly we are thrown into a world which, despite the Daily Mail hysterics, actually exists and one that is not often shown on screen.

I believed in the passion Barber and the assembled cast and crew had for this story, as there is an urgency and willingness to show life on the estates of London as bleak and slow and Barber’s camera begins as voyeuristic as Harry himself, standing by while the gang of kids harass, deal drugs and kill unconcerned while the police do nothing.

We follow Harry’s journey from fear, to nervous action to determined revenge and all the while our morals are kept in check the unrelenting cast of nasties who patrol the run down estate, and when the violence is handed out by Brown there is nothing we as an audience can do except watch its awful cycle play out.

And it is mesmerising, and it is uncomfortable and some people will not want to see this play out, but a stunning turn from Caine and great support from Liam Cunningham, Ben Drew and Emily Mortimer make this a raw and relevant film, with some standout scenes (the drug den is a great example, and include a line every bit as iconic as any in Caine’s career) and an inventive use of camera and location that elevates this one. It is highly recommended.

The DVD and Blu-ray extras are comprised of:

Interviews with cast and crew
Deleted Scenes
Music Video
Feature audio commentary with Sir Michael Caine, director Daniel Barber and producer Kris Thykier

And it is the commentary which provides the most enjoyment, though having the three men laugh and joke their way through such a bleak film is an unusual contrast but Caine especially is a great voice and his anecdotes about this film and others in his long career make for a very entertaining watch.

The iTunes 99p rental. For many weeks now the bane of my existence, where once i looked with anticipation to discover what had been chosen, i now look with dread. Fatal Instinct, Surfer Dude, Starter For 10, just some of the rejects i’ve been subjected to.

Imagine my surprise, then, when i found that this week’s selection might actually be watchable. Let’s take a look, then, at Layer Cake.

Initially wanting to be an actor, Matthew Vaughn thought better of it, and began in the British film industry. Vaughn served as producer for several of friend Guy Ritchie’s mockney gangster flicks, including Lock, Stock… and Snatch. Watching Ritchie work, Vaughn clearly decided it was a better gig, directing. His first film would follow Ritchie’s in the British gangster genre.

Daniel Craig is XXXX, a terrible conceit, so i’ll refer to him as Craig. Craig is a business man. He has personal guidelines, wears a suit, and won’t deal directly with his end consumers. His business? Drug dealing.

Craig conducts himself in a professional manner, so is perturbed when crime boss Jimmy Price (Kenneth Cranham) orders him to buy drugs from an amateur, and sends him on a fool’s errand to track down a missing girl. Things go from bad to worse when it is revealed the seller, named The Duke (Jamie Foreman), stole the drugs from a group of ex-military Serbians, killing one in the process. Whilst trying to negotiate the purchase of the drugs, and looking over his shoulder for a Serbian hit man, Craig discovers the missing girl is daughter of rival gang boss Eddie Temple (Michael Gambon). Jimmy has set him up.

Craig takes care of Jimmy, but with a deal still to be done, and his life still at risk, he finds Eddie pulling him in a third direction. Craig was on the verge of retirement, but now has a job on his hands just staying alive.

It’s impossible to judge Layer Cake without reference to Ritchie’s work, so i’ll make use of the comparison. Whilst Snatch et al. feature working class style shady characters, Craig’s smart, intelligent well spoken business man is a breath of fresh air. He is a calm character, but when it all starts to go wrong he finds himself slowly being brought down to the level of the hard nosed villains and petty scumbags he has taken great pains to avoid. Craig’s is a surprisingly well rounded character. He doesn’t like guns, he isn’t a fighter, and he goes weak at the sight of a gorgeous woman. Then, when he is forced to get his hands dirty, he reluctantly does what is necessary, but suffers emotionally for it afterwards. As he tries to plan, and tie up loose ends, it doesn’t come together easily for him.

Layer Cake could easily have slid into predictability, but Vaughn keeps it fresh, with enough surprises along the way to keep you guessing. Where Ritchie introduces a myriad of characters, who don’t get resolution until the big bow at the end, Vaughn cleans up as he goes. Vaughn uses flashbacks in a similar way to Ritchie in Snatch, which here are distracting and feel out of place. There are some genuinely good moments here. The scene where Craig is given a gun by Gene (the excellent Colm Meaney) is simple, yet with some wonderfully nuanced acting, feels like it belongs in a truly great movie.

Little scenes like this scattered about hint at directorial greatness, and it’s only really the more comedic scenes which drag this movie down. The more outlandish characters detract from a serious movie that generally explores some very interesting themes. The main crux is the story of a man who thinks he can stay clean in a murky world. With his rules and manners, Craig thinks he is above the petty criminals that share his circles, but learns the hard way that easy money is a difficult thing to earn.

If you can forgive the somewhat anti-climatic resolution, which suffers a little from fuzzy logic and suspect motivations, Layer Cake is a very good film, with flashes of brilliance. Where Lock, Stock… and Snatch are knockabout light entertainment, Vaughn’s first feature contains some real depth, and many, well, Layers.

I’d been looking forward to Kick-Ass because of the concept and great source material. Now i have another reason, because i think Vaughn has the potential to be a truly great film maker.

Layer Cake is available on iTunes at the discounted rate until Monday Midnight 23rd November, and on DVD now. And is definitely worth watching if you haven’t already.

Bazmann – You can now follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

Harry Brown is old. He lives in a tiny flat, on a run down estate. He eats jam on toast. He has a wife in the hospital, and he spends his days playing chess with his only friend in his local pub.

Harry Brown is scared. The estate where he lives is run by the out of control kids who live there. They deal drugs, are armed, and are prone to committing random acts of violence. Harry is so intimidated, when his wife takes a turn for the worse, he still takes the long way around the main road, because he doesn’t want to go down into the subway. His friend Len is also frightened, and is sick of it. He’s armed himself with an old bayonet, and is threatening to use it. Harry gets the news the next day. He has now lost everything, and despairs for the world around him.

Harry Brown is angry. The kids are getting away with murder, and the police are seemingly powerless to stop them. A chance encounter on the tow path pushes Harry to the edge. Is this what his life has come to? Harry decides to buy a gun. Is it for self defence? Or revenge? With nothing left to lose, what’s to stop ex-marine Harry from dispensing a bit of justice himself?

The early word on Harry Brown was that ‘it’s a bit like Gran Torino’. Be under no mis-conceptions, this isn’t your Hollywood fairy tale, a story of a man who learns to overcome his prejudice and love thy neighbour. This is drama. Dark, bleak, uncompromising. Filmed on a low budget, partly financed by the lottery comission, and directed by British first time director Daniel Barber, Harry Brown is a gritty exploration of the youth in revolt you might find in any working class estate, in any town in Britain.

Drugs, violence, sexual abuse, this film is at times difficult to watch. Difficult because of the nature of the violence yes, but more so because it’s all so… real.

We’d like to hide our heads in the sand, and pretend this is an extreme view of the world, and isn’t really happening. But it is. It’s happening every day, somewhere in your town. The no mans land of the subway may sound a little cliche, but that’s because it’s true. We all know that underpass, or that alley, or that park that we walk around, for we dare not enter. Daniel Barber has shot Harry Brown very well. An opening shaky-cam sequence foreshadows the chaos to come. The violence is filmed in several different ways, all very effectively. A gang attack seen from a high window, vicious with eerily muted sounds. A happy-slap style mobile phone video. Scenes are darkly lit with stark yellow streetlights, but the violence is clear as day, and menacingly real.

Director Daniel Barber also takes a real poke at the ineptitude of the police force too. Caught up with ideas of crime fighting initiatives with names like Project Lion, their ineffectiveness at grass roots level is hopelessly exposed. Never more so than in the run up to the climax, when the police attempt a handful of arrests, but arriving short-handed trigger a terrifying riot in the estate.

Michael Caine doesn’t need to work anymore. He’s worked in the business for six decades, performed in every genre, won awards, semi-retired, then done it all again. This means that when you see his name in the cast list, you expect something special. And it is a great performance from Caine. Known for being a vibrant and humorous character, it makes his convincing portrayal of a timid old man in failing health all the more remarkable.

However, as a movie, Harry Brown is deeply flawed. There is a real pacing issue, particularly in the middle part. Harry’s descent has to be a slow burn to be believable, but as he is present in every scene, it slows the movie down to a crawl. One scene in particular, as Harry sits in a squat trying to buy a gun, starts off tense, but as the sequence drags on, and you wait for the switch to flip, you’re left waiting too long, and the tension ebbs away.

The other major problem is that whilst Harry is a well rounded character, his youthful nemeses are unforgivably two dimensional. There are a couple of scenes explaining away their motivations as being a product of the abuse sustained from their paternal figures, but we see very little of their interactions with each other, no development of their personal relationships. One line in the film gives it away. Harry tells DI Frampton that at least in Northern Ireland he was fighting for something, and that these kids are just doing it for entertainment. That’s the view being expressed here, that the antagonists are just animals.

Ironically, these two major issues could have been rectified at the same time. If the story of these kids had been explored more deeply, those scenes could have been intercut with Harry’s journey, providing a more balanced account and solving the pacing problems.

Caine won’t have been paid much, and it’s obvious he took this role on because of his belief in the message the film maker is trying to put across. Before the screening, Sir Michael explained that it was a film about violence, but not a violent film. He went on to say that it was not meant to glamorize violence.

Harry Brown nearly lives up to this, until the final scene. I don’t want to give too much away, just to say that when someone is shown to have made their own life better by violence that they have perpetrated, for me that is a true glamorization of violence. Barber has tried to make both a film with an important message, and an entertaining movie. Unfortunately, he has not succeeded on either count. He has shown enough here however to suggest he can become a very good director. The problems with this film are down to inexperience and a bad script, both of which can be overcome. Harry Brown is worth watching, if only to remind you how lucky you are.

Harry Brown opens in cinemas in the UK this Wednesday 11th November. No word on a US release yet. Hey, we got Harry Brown, you got Boondock Saints 2.

Bazmann - You can now follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/baz_mann