3 stars***

You have to buy into the concept of the movie and relate to the characters to ‘care’ what happens to them and the outcome of the movie. With Inception, I found I didn’t care about either despite the excellent special effects and the wonderful acting.

So what’s it all about?

Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

The first word has to go to the special effects; they are quite tremendous and almost set a new standard. You can see where they spent the money. Christopher Nolan and his music writer Hans Zimmer have set a pattern that depicts a ‘C Nolan’ movie.

The second word must go to the screenplay. This shows either an extremely vivid imagination or a long spell on LSD from the late 1960’s. We’ll guess the former as Mr Nolan expresses a certain style. The story is difficult to follow in the beginning which is why they spend a long time giving all the necessary information which is all explained by the end of the movie.

Leonardo DiCaprio has proved time and time again that he has acting quality up there with the best and of course he gets to work here with two of the best, Ellen Page and Michael Caine. They bounce off each other so well that they are totally believable in their roles.

The enormous budget allocated for this film has already been surpassed by over US$100 million in its first couple of weeks. DVD sales will certainly boost that by a few million more.

I’ve read online, elsewhere, explanations about some of the action in this film. Obviously I did miss some major items; but was I dreaming?

So what’s it all about?

Harry Brown is a British vigilante crime thriller film directed by Daniel Barber and starring Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Jack O’Connell, and Liam Cunningham.

The story follows Harry Brown, a widowed Northern Ireland veteran living on a London housing estate that is rapidly descending into youth crime. Harry takes up violent methods to curb crime after a friend is murdered.
Writer Gary Young expertly allows the actors to perform and keep the dialogue to the minimum. With the help of such a star actor, the direction must have proved quite easy.

Emily Mortimer also gives a great acting presentation as the police detective who is the only officer who knows who the vigilante is (no-one else will listen to her) and is the lone law enforcement bureaucrat that can stop him, but her flaky attitude to her work leaves her open, venerable and unable to capture her rogue. This, of course, leads to her near death, but as could obviously be predicted, she’s saved by the very man she’s chasing for crimes against the criminals. Confused; no need; it’s expertly prepared and presented with a few twists that weren’t anticipated.

The Brits do these movies so well that it could, worryingly, be set in any ghetto in most first world countries. The language and graphic violence will stop younger people seeing this movie, which is just as well because the longer they can be protected against such drugs, under age sex and gun murders, the better.

At under two hours, the movie could have been given the traditional Hollywood style ending, but it kept to its central core and gave us a real ending.

Let’s hope, as reported, this isn’t Sir Michael Caine’s last lead role, although at aged 77 he may not want such hard work (which he makes look so undemanding) in the future. A veteran of over 100 movies, you can fill a top ten of his quality movies with at least twenty titles.

This movie should be on any newbie actor or screenplay writer’s watch list so they can learn from the masters.

Whether you agree or disagree with the award winners or losers is irrelevant. You, personally, get to decide who you thought was the best for your eyes and ears; the Academy ™ decides who they liked the most and their ceremony is probably bigger than yours. Na na na boo boo, as five year olds say.

Just a few months back, Slumdog was a certainty for the ‘straight to DVD’ market. How that can happen to any Danny Boyle movie is a wonder to most people; his skills being well known? You may (or may not) have liked Trainspotting, but you probably enjoyed 28 Days Later and The Beach.

The Brits certainly did invade during 2008. Our own FAMM ™awards (more highly rated than the Academy’s Oscars™) recently voted first place to Mamma Mia! for the best movie and best musical; Rolling Stones music in Shine A Light for best score; Guy Ritchie, best director for Rocknrolla; best short film went to Chris Jones’ Gone Fishing; Michael Caine won the Special FAMM ™Mention.

FAMM™ agreed with the Academy ™over Penélope Cruz , but FAMM™ awarded her for Elegy and not Vicky Cristina Barcelona; it must have been a good year for Ms Cruz who carried part of her winning speech in her native tongue.

It was good to see Sean Penn’s career win a top slot. He’s the spitting image of my friend Martin and was able to give (Sean, not Martin) a part political speech in his allotted 45 seconds, of which all but a few Californian voters agreed.

I must take umbrage with Wall-E getting the Oscar™ for best animation. Let’s be honest, it wasn’t nearly as good as Escape2 Africa, wasn’t anywhere close to the quality of Bolt, but it contained a message that came across well, rather than entertain. Two of our group of four fell asleep during Wall-y (the Brits and the Ausies will get that pun) so while the message reached them, the entertainment didn’t.

The Main Awards

Of course the main recipients of the key awards this 81st edition were for best adapted screenplay: (Slumdog Millionaire) to Simon Beaufoy from the novel by Vikas Swarup and best original screenplay to Dustin Lance Black for his ‘Milk.’ Without the script there is no movie. Directors, producers, actors and crew should remember that.

A further thought; perhaps the British invasion should be termed half British and half Indian. After all, the story is about India, it’s set in India and stars many Indian actors. Without India, this movie wouldn’t have existed so it’s fitting to acknowledge where appropriate.

We stand by our FAMM™ decision to go for Mamma Mia! It excelled in every way. How long before the Academy dares to give the main award again to a musical?

I hope I’ve added enough ™ symbols where appropriate. The Academy are quite (means very) strict about who can say or print their name and they do like being attached to their intellectual property, the Oscars ™. If I have missed any, here’s a spare one – ™; Please place where appropriate.

FAMM ™ hasn’t used a picture of the statue for fear of upsetting too many people at the Academy™. I wouldn’t ever wish to use anything without permission just as I wouldn’t anyone to use my work without asking (and preferably paying dollars) first. It’s been suggested that I start work on my winning speech for future use. Can I borrow your shampoo bottle, Kate?

5 stars****

The ‘biff’ and ‘pow’ of Batman films has been replaced by outright violence and murder. What happened? Did I miss the intervening years when Batman movies were really quite friendly even to the baddies?

The antagonist, the Joker, played to the highest standard by Heath Ledger, is now on a par with any James Bond rival. I believe I heard the joker say that he’d only killed six people, but I’m sure the body count was almost up to a hundred or so. The Joker has also turned into an arsonist blowing up more buildings and cars than Bond even manages.

Christopher Nolan as director, producer and writer, with more than just a little help, has put together a rather good movie that is excellent in so many areas.

The acting is high quality; Michael Caine becomes Alfred who has taken on a much more pivotal role in the organisation. Michael Caine continues to be Michael Caine; he never disappoints, his delivery is magical. Morgan Freeman appears as a major part of the team. Gary Oldman, as Commissioner Gordon plays a real hands on policing role with twists we couldn’t have imagined. They all return from the original film, Batman Begins.

The music by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is first class. That will be a CD worth buying/downloading. It captures the imagination and matches the changing pace throughout. You often miss the background music in a film; here it strikes you.

The blowing up of buildings, people, cars and trucks is outstanding. The Joker takes down a complete hospital towards the end of the film. I don’t know how they completed that scene, but it was worth the money.

The drive-in appreciated the tripping up of the Joker’s articulated truck as the masterpiece effect of the movie. I could watch that over and over again.

I’m sure I saw some robots that were so dangerous at the start of the movie which became as soft as tomatoes near the end; such were the mind baffling complexities of this script.

I don’t expect the late Heath Ledger will gain a win at the awards next year as his supporting actor role wasn’t really big enough; even though his acting skills were first class, but then you never do know about these things.

Nevertheless, despite all this good news about the movie, I didn’t feel I needed to hold on to my seat, jump up in fright or explode with excitement. The first half of the movie was worthy of three stars while the second half achieved five start status. It won’t be the movie of the year for me, but it was good, very good, in so many areas. It was well worth the few dollars and at almost three hours long I wasn’t bored, but I would like to have been more excited.

I guess tripping up and double somersaulting a truck at fast speed will be seen in many more movies soon.

Just where was Robin when you needed him?