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AlexG101
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Reviews
A Belfast Story (2013)
Pleasantly Surprised
I must admit I was skeptical about this one at first but I thought I'd at least give a local film a chance. Let me say this; I was pretty surprised.
Going in expecting some sort of troubles rehash the first few scenes immediately set the film in a more gritty reality. With a nice balance between familiar scenery and bloody murders the film flows better than I'd have thought and haunting music gave the whole piece additional atmosphere.
Colm Meaney certainly pulled his weight as an aging detective alongside a cast which seemed to be entirely Irish (which was nice, none of those awful fake accents American films are always using). The only non-local I noticed was Malcolm Sinclair and he was almost as good as Colm so it's easy to overlook. Over all the acting pleasantly surprised me, proving our performing heritage once more.
The concept is definitely daring and certain areas might struggle a little now and then from the sheer weight but having seen it for myself I'm surprised by the bad press it's gotten, especially for a local film. I know I myself will recommend it, a good film that is also locally made and acted deserves all the support it gets
Ronin (1998)
A excellent action film with thought
When I first saw this film I went in expecting an average action flick with some big names to help it along. Boy was I wrong.
The film starts out slow as the 'ronin' are introduced, mercenaries from various backgrounds who are hired to retrieve a silver briefcase with unknown contents. The group is soon torn apart by betrayal and things really start to heat up as the briefcase exchanges hands more than once and you fight to keep up with the plot (in a good way).
Both DeNiro and Reno deliver an excellent performance as does pretty much the entire cast. And the best part? They manage to have some of the best car chases and action scenes of any film I've seen in a long time without sacrificing the story as some films do. Plus they're fairly realistic, the shootouts and car crashes don't just look like a whole bunch of CGI.
Overall I'd say it's a must see film even if you have to spend a few minutes figuring out exactly what just happened.