The British crime drama has been in disrepute for some time now, thanks to a raft of unwatchable Guy Ritchie imitations featuring bad cockney accents.
Starred Up is an exception, the tale of a young offender (Jack O’Connell) transferred for his violent conduct to an adult prison where his estranged father (the great Aussie character actor Ben Mendelsohn) is also interred. The script is written by Jonathan Asser, a former prison social worker who calls upon his experience to instil a sense of realism in the movie. Gritty and gripping, Starred Up is this week’s must see movie.
Labor Day is a preposterous movie featuring Kate Winslet as a depressed divorcee who falls for the escaped convict hiding out in her home. The film is incredibly misjudged and will raise the ire of feminists with its message that a woman requires a man to be complete, even if that man happens to be a convicted murderer.
More interesting than entertaining, Salvo is an Italian thriller featuring a Mafia hitman who falls for the blind daughter of one of his victims. With a languid and leisurely pace that recalls the Gallic crime movies of Jean Pierre Melville, Salvo won’t be to everyone’s taste but it features some great performances and a stunning use of sound.
The 1986 movie About Last Night, which starred then brat-packers Rob Lowe and Demi Moore, has been remade with an African-American cast. The remake is a schizophrenic affair, part insightful relationship drama, part gratingly unfunny comedy. The latter element ultimately derails the film, thanks to yet another horrific performance from comedian Kevin Hart, the most irritating presence in films today.
Yves Saint Laurent is a biopic of the iconic French fashion designer that will bore the pants off all but the most devoted fashionistas, playing like the sort of politely dull dramas that air on ITV on Sunday evenings.
Also opening, but not screened for critics, is A Long Way Down, an adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel.
Picture caption: Jack O’Connell in NewsFour’s Movie of the Week, Starred Up
By Eric Hillis