At the Movies ...chez moi.

Last night I wanted to watch a movie with The Wee Fella (TWF) so I sent a query out on Facebook and Twitter (I am SO of the moment, am I not) asking for suggestions. Plenty came back, but I had watched all of ‘em. (I should have just scrolled through Ricky’s blog – link on the right - to see what took my fancy).

Anywho, we ventured off to Blockbuster without any clue really. We’d seen all of the recent releases that we wanted to so we moseyed over to the 99p section - more out of hope than expectation, to chance our luck.

TWF happens to have pretty good taste in movies. He likes ‘em “action-y” or funny, or scary and well-acted with good production values. They have to hang together well – meaning the character’s actions have to be consistent with what we know about the character AND he can also smell when he’s being patronised from 100 paces. Which caused all kinds of problems when we were taking him to sports lessons.  “That guy (the golf pro) said I was really good. What a liar. I barely hit a ball. I was crap.”

We took out two. What the hell. Am I good to him or what.

Outpost  - the cover made it look like it was about zombie/ghost Nazis and TWF thought it looked like “it was going to be so bad it would be good”. Surprise, it was actually decent.  Not brilliant, but it totally held our interest for 86 minutes, in places was satisfyingly gory for a teen (I meant to say earlier that gore is good) and TWF gave it 7.5 out of 10.

Legacy: Black Ops  - with Idris Elba from The Wire (most actors have their age written beside their name in articles. For Idris this is replaced with “The Wire”.) The cover – and the title – give the impression that this is an action-fest. And if that’s all you were looking for then you’d be greatly disappointed. This movie was much, much more.  And in a good way.

Elba is hiding out in a shabby hotel room after surviving the months of torture that followed a failed mission in Eastern Europe. He is torn between retribution and personal salvation as he his conscience attacks him and he ponders the ascent of his brother, an ambitious senator with designs on the presidency, who appears to be no saint himself.

If Idris Elba had given this performance in a mainstream movie it would surely have earned him an Oscar nomination. He was intense, utterly convincing and fully committed to the role. One of the best acting jobs I’ve seen for a loooooong time. You knew this man had committed some awful deeds, but despite this, Elba’s haunted and scarred figure engaged your sympathies and pulled you onside.

It’s quite possible that this movie didn’t get the plaudits it deserved because it hinted at an all out action-er and then became a tight psychological thriller, basically set in one room. While I was getting used to what the movie was REALLY about I felt the pace lag, but when the penny dropped and I was caught up in Elba’s performance, I was locked in and engrossed.

The last word, as usual goes to the Wee Fella. “That guy from The Wire was AWESOME and I never give a movie ten out of ten, but I’m giving that a ten.”

So there ya go.