Novel Progress Update 1 – Getting Over The Hump

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2015-02-21

So this weekend I’ve finally started putting some proper work into my first novel. You know, that one about zombies in space. So far my efforts have seen me lay the groundwork for the later action sequences – establishing areas of the ship, a few of the characters, and giving myself plenty to work with when the action finally kicks in. The last thing I want is to get halfway through the first draft and realise I’ve left out some rather important details in the opening chapters – that would definitely be a rookie error.

Well, I say finally – right now the real meat of the story kicks in at the start of Chapter 3 and my current plans are to not really let it slow down until we get to the end. Right now I’m not sure if I can maintain that level of pace for 70,000 words, but we’ll see how I get along. There will be the odd pause for breath, of course, because maintaining such a frenetic pace would leave me having to write one page chapters, Dan Brown style. While I have read and enjoyed his books to a degree, they should and cover never be considered as amazing examples of how the English language has been implemented. I’d not want to be considered in the same category as Mr Brown, but I wouldn’t say no to his book sales and recurring royalty fees.

What have I been creating then? Well, for now I’ve thrown in half a dozen characters who may or may not make it to the end – I admit that I haven’t thought about who I’m going to kill off yet with the exception of one major character. The main one I’ve worked on this weekend is the main villain who currently goes by the slightly unimaginative name of Dr Smith. Decent character names have never been a strong point of mine at the first draft stage, but I do quite like the simplicity of it. My main work today has been writing a scene where Smith’s internal monologue takes centre stage. That’s proven to be much more fun than writing out the less interesting, albeit necessary, introductory chapters.

This part right now is where the real slog of getting the book written sits. Once I get beyond 10,000 words, have introduced all of the necessary characters and set things in motion then it should have enough momentum to almost carry itself through to the end. At the moment I’m looking at having the first draft finished by the end of March, at which time I’ll put it away for a couple of weeks and move onto something else. Thankfully I’m not short on ideas for future novels, but for now I’ll focus my attention on this one and worry about developing the others at a later time. This makes a change as usually I’m dipping into various projects at a time, which so far hasn’t helped me finish anything. The change in thought process is certainly helping me achieve more – for my sake if nothing else, I hope I can maintain this level of focus for the rest of the year.

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-19

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He couldn't help but feel he'd walked into the wrong pub... — He couldn’t help but feel he’d walked into the wrong pub…

Twitter Plot Summary: The Kingsmen are a secret spy organisation who protect the world from threats like Valentine. Eggsy is a youth introduced to their world.

Brought to you by the same creative team that gave us Kick-Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a refreshing take on the spy genre, splicing its classic DNA with a modern edge that sets it off along its own post-modern path. Not just content with almost breaking the fourth wall, this is a script which delights in subverting your genre expectations at every turn and providing laughs aplenty and provides a more than adequate adaptation of Mark Millar’s original comic book.

In brief, this is a world in which a secret group of well-dressed and well-spoken spies, known as the Kingsmen, protect the world from its biggest threats. Meanwhile Eggsy (Egerton), a hooded youth from a rundown estate, is recruited into their world by Galahad (Firth) and trained in the Kingsman ways.

Colin Firth is an inspired choice to play Harry Hart/Galahad, a dashing secret agent in the same mold as Roger Moore era Bond. But there is more to the formula than that as the character represents the best of British spy cinema rolled into one character.

Perhaps more surprising is Taron Egerton as Eggsy, the stereotypical hoodie youth who finds himself under Hart’s wing and training to join the Kingsmen. You wouldn’t expect to find out that this is his first film, but it is and it makes his performance all the more impressive.

The next major role is arguably Mark Strong’s Merlin, for want of a better term the tech support of the Kingsman service. He displays a dry wit and an able hand in the brief moments of action he’s given, and unsurprisingly remains a permanently engaging and entertaining presence no matter what role he takes.

In other areas, there is the surprising appearance of Mark Hamill as an English professor, although if you’ve ever seen the 90s animated Batman show or played Rocksteady’s Batman games, you will no doubt have a mental image of his interpretation of The Joker. We also have cameo and extended appearances from Michael Caine and Jack Davenport, although the latter is probably deserving of more than he was given to work with.

Harry took the young lad everywhere just to prove that a smart suit makes all the difference.

Providing villain duties is Samuel L Jackson as technology guru Valentine, complete with a lisp, a penchant for McDonalds fast food, and a fashion sense that looks slightly odd on a man in his sixties. He’s joined by Sofia Boutella as Gazelle, so called because she has Oscar Pistorious-style (and equally as deadly…) metal legs.

There are many highlights, but the one that has to be mentioned is a kinetic action sequence set inside a church, not only highlighting precisely how good Firth would have been had he been given the chance to play Bond, but also the sort of madcap energy and humour that a completely over the top action sequence can provide.

If there are any complaints to raise, it is the relatively minor role that women get to play in the story, and some potentially ill-judged lads humour that has the potential to offend a certain subset of the audience. But despite these relatively minor gripes it still proves to be a hugely entertaining venture and an idea worthy of a sequel – provided it can avoid the pitfalls that afflicted Kick-Ass 2.

Score: 4/5

Selma (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-18

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"Hello, is this thing on?" — “Hello, is this thing on?”

Twitter Plot Summary: Martin Luther King’s peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery gets the big screen treatment. Racism, rednecks and religion abound.

As has been covered many times before, the civil rights movement in the United States is one that is rife with storytelling potential. The injustice perpetrated on Black Americans is certainly one of the darkest stories in modern history besides all of the very many tales to be told stemming from warfare and global terrorism. In many respects, the equality divide discussed in Selma is one that is still very relevant today, and while things are much better than they were in the 60s there is still a lot of work to be done – for the record this also applies to gender equality as well as race. With that said, the likes of Benediction Cumberbatch having to apologise for using what is apparently an incorrect term is a very silly state of affairs and people should really get their priorities sorted. A free thinking individual such as Cumberbatch is not the one you should be taking offence at, and that whole situation is perfectly summed up by David Oyewelo’s response to it. It’s a non-issue so let’s please just move along.

After deciding that the black movement isn’t progressing as quickly as it should be, King and his supporters head to Selma, Alabama to stage a large scale peaceful protest. Selma was chosen because it provided ample opportunity to have the protest covered on television, as without such coverage in front of the nation and the rest of the world, the movement was much more unlikely to make as advanced progress as it ultimately did.
As you might expect, the South don’t take all that kindly to King’s plans, and they are personified by Tim Roth’s Southern governor and some typically racist police officers.

The marchers were prepared for anything that came their way. Except for anything that might require the use of their arms and hands.

All of this is carried by an outstanding performance by David Oyewelo as Martin Luther King Jr. He embodies the role so perfectly that it is almost impossible to separate the actor from the real life orator. Oyewelo is as powerful as King in many respects, none more so than his performance of King’s numerous public speeches. But he also proves to be equally as engaging in King’s private moments, be they of a personal nature with his wife and family, or of a slightly higher profile in audience with United States President Lyndon B Johnson (Tom Wilkinson). So strong is his performance that it almost doesn’t matter that the speeches in the film aren’t exactly the same as those he originally made. Thanks to some legal jiggery pokery, the copyright for those original speeches is owned by Stephen Spielberg, of all people and weren’t available to this production.

But then it doesn’t really matter what the words are because the thoughts behind them are the same. Who really has the right to say somebody else can’t vote when the system and the law says otherwise? By focusing on one specific event rather than attempting to portray King’s full life story Selma does what the likes of The Butler could not, and that is to put genuine focus on the issues at hand and to not overstretch itself. It’s just a shame that Selma didn’t receive any recognition in the awards season as it is fully deserving of the praise aimed in its direction.

Score: 4.5/5

The Interview (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-17

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"Hello, is that the jokes department? WE NEED MORE JOKES!" — “Hello, is that the jokes department? WE NEED MORE JOKES!”

Twitter Plot Summary: A TV chat show host and his producer head to North Korea to interview Kim Jong-Un – and try to assassinate him.

As you are no doubt aware, The Interview was a huge news item at the end of 2014, what with Sony Pictures apparently being hacked by North Korea in retaliation for making a film that ridiculed their leader Kim Jong-Un. It seems that either Kim Jong-Il had more of a sense of humour than his successor, or the Internet in North Korea was bad or non-existent when Team America had its release in 2004. For what is little more than an average comedy movie filled with toilet humour and moments of outright silliness, in hindsight it seems like a lot of effort to have gone to.

Other than a Lord of the Rings obsessed Franco (who does a passable impression of Frodo but a poor Gollum), there is little more to Dave Skylark other than a generally childish man who happens to front a strangely popular talk show in America. While he’s particularly good at getting details out of his interviewees, he is nothing more than a repressed individual seeking the approval of others. Parallels are drawn between him and this film version of Kim Jong-Un in a bid to create some conflict between Skylark and his producer Aaron Rapaport (Rogen). Aaron is nothing more than Rogen playing himself, there’s no nuance or subtlety but then you could argue that this sort of film doesn’t require any of that.

Things start moderately well with a joke about Eminem revealing he’s gay on Skylark’s chat show (it’s more about the executive’s reactions rather than the revelation, mind), but almost immediately afterwards it falls into a rut of bad jokes and some wishy washy plotting. Things pick up again in the final third when everything starts falling apart, but by then you could argue it’s too little, too late. The brief action beats in this section in particular lack the same impact of those in their earlier collaboration Pineapple Express, but when they do happen they look good.

Kim loved it when a plan came together. His favourite 80s TV show? Knight Rider.

The plot sees Kim Jong-Un invite Skylark over to North Korea to conduct an interview with him. The authorities in America get wind of this and get Skylark and producer Aaron to agree to kill the Glorious Leader in a rycin-laced handshake. This of course does not go to plan – as it would be a much shorter film otherwise – and, on a brief tour of lazy North Korean stereotypes that focus on the lies the country tries (and usually fails) spreading to the outside world, we discover that Kim Jong-Un (the film version, of course) is very much like Skylark, emotionally stunted and craving the right sort of attention from the right sort of people.

Is it worth all the hassle, publicity and hype? No, not in the slightest. If you’ve seen Pineapple Express then you’ve seen all of the best jokes in The Interview, and they were far superior in that particular film. Here the one big joke is how isolationist North Korea are, but due to the rather lazy writing it’s a project that ultimately fails to impress. You should have saved your time, Kim Jong-Un, this was a target clearly unworthy of your ire – even if it does point out that you pee and poo just like the rest of us mortals.

Score: 2.5/5

Shaun The Sheep Movie (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-16

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The farmer's new sheep shearing technique was shocking to say the least. — The farmer’s new sheep shearing technique was shocking to say the least.

Twitter Plot Summary: Shaun and his fellow farmyard animals head off to the big city in order to save their friendly neighbourhood farmer.

Who needs dialogue in order to tell a good story? Not Aardman Animation, that’s for certain, and they have proven their point in Shaun The Sheep Movie, a feature length adaptation of their own, much shorter kids television series starring Shaun, he himself having made his debut in the Wallace and Gromit adventure A Close Shave and also spawned its own spinoff in Timmy Time.

Here the story is relatively simple. The farm has a very specific schedule that is followed every day, which is understandably quite boring for everyone involved. Seeing a bus advertisement one day, Shaun decides that a day off will do everyone some good, so hatches a plan to sideline the farmer for a day and let everyone kick back and relax for a bit. Due to unforeseen circumstances that stretch the boundaries of possibility (there’s a runaway caravan involved), the farmer is soon in the big city suffering from amnesia and thinking he’s a celebrity hairdresser. As you do. Shaun and pals then decide to go after him, restore his memory and return everything to normal.

Suffice to say, the film is a hoot from start to finish. Not only is it a story that works for the target audience but also for grownups who are either fans of Aardman’s work or have been forced along to the cinema by their kids. References to more adult fare abound – the cat that resembles Hannibal Lecter, or the pound officer getting his head stuck up the backside of a pantomime horse for example – but then simple humour is provided frequently through either classic slapstick action or regularly cutting back to an intense staring dog with bulging red eyes in the pound. Even moments where the sheep dress up as people to move around without drawing the attention of the animal control chap make sense within Shaun’s world and are nothing other than moments of pure, genuine amusement. It’s daft and silly but don’t hold that against it.

Hannibal Lecter had changed a bit in recent years.

It is also yet another example of how much fun stop motion animation can be in an era of computer generated animated features. Each character is expressive and can say a lot by doing very little. But then, this is the same company that made the non-verbal Gromit such an endearing character through his facial expressions alone. Aardman have a tendency to fit a number of other amusing and thoroughly British references into their films, and Shaun The Sheep is no different. Perhaps this is the reason why the series is so popular on a global scale. If the Britishisms don’t make sense, there’s the slapstick humour to fall back to.

Along the journey not only are themes of friendship and diversity covered – they meet an ugly but very pleasant dog on arriving in the big city – but it highlights how restrictive constantly sticking to the same pattern day in and day out can be.If it inspires some level of creativity in the children who see it as well as entertaining them, then it will have done its job.

Score: 4/5

Ex Machina (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-15

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Twitter Plot Summary: A very rich man invites one of his employees to his facility to test an artificial intelligence he has created.

Alex Garland takes the director’s chair for the first time, after spending many years scripting some of the best genre films released in the last 10-15 years. Ex Machina is a high concept science fiction fable, discussing the merits of artificial intelligence and what it means to be human, doing so via what is effectively a three-hander between up and comer Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander.

Invited to a remote, underground facility by his boss, Caleb (Gleeson) is given the task of being the human component in the Turing Test – that is, assessing an artificial intelligence and determining if it passes for human. The facility has a very defined claustrophobic feel to it, very much emulating the contained surroundings of a submarine or even something like Hitler’s bunker.

This is all provided by Oscar Isaac’s Nathan – incidentally this was released in the same week as A Most Violent Year and it seems that all Isaac did to switch between the two characters was to transfer his beautiful coiffure from the top of his head down onto his jaw. The Hitler analogy is perhaps the most apt, as he controls every little detail in his underground empire. His vast wealth all stems from Bluebook, the web search engine he developed from scratch.

It doesn’t take long for tensions to start developing. Nathan is a control freak, an alpha male sort who drinks heavily and literally fights away his hangover with a vigorous punchbag regime. Not only that, but he has an excessive amount of surveillance and locked doors – what’s hidden behind them? Caleb is much more internal in processing his thoughts, but no less complex. Finally there’s Ava, for all intents and purposes nothing more than a young woman who has yet to see the world outside of what is nothing more than a fancy prison.

"Sorry, my circuitry is on show." — “Sorry, my circuitry is on show.”

Vikander is superb as Ava, forced to convey most of her character’s emotional state through facial expressions alone due to the rest of her being mostly obscured by some top notch CGI. It’s so good in fact that it barely enters your mind that the mechanics of her body have been composited onto the shot in post production – obviously, this adds to your immersion into the story.

Deception is a key aspect of the character interactions. Who is lying to who? Questions are raised regarding the true nature of humanity, and whether you have to be made from flesh and blood in the first place in order to qualify as such. There’s also a potential discussion about our modern life and big organisations harvesting data from the personal profiles and search history of its users. It’s weighty stuff, but handled in such a way that it never attempts to bamboozle the audience.

It slows down a little too far in its final act, although the motivations of all three characters are well developed and it’s not clear which of them is the true manipulator until the very end. Given how solid the rest of the film is, it’s easy to forgive what is a slight misstep in the grand scheme of things. It’s a solid opening effort from Garland, and on the strength of this film alone he stands to be a director to keep an eye on.

Score: 4/5

Rabid (1977)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-14

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This is what happens when you drink cheap cider.

Twitter Plot Summary: After a bike accident leaves a woman needing experimental skin graft surgery, she becomes the origin of a zombie-like infection.

Rabid is the fourth feature film directed by David Cronenberg, the oft-proclaimed master of body horror. After a motorbike accident leaves young woman Rose (Marilyn Chambers) horribly scarred, she undergoes experimental plastic surgery in a bid to save her life. But the surgery works a little too well, and before you can say “thirst for human blood” she’s nibbling on those around her (kind of) and turning them into zombies. The virus soon spreads and sleepy provincial Canada (for this is where the story takes place) starts to suffer its effects. A fun twist is that those infected have no memory of the event, and are soon chomping down (literally) on uninfected people.

The body horror aspect comes into play with her method of infecting people. Something (a something that is a tad phallic in appearance) pops out of a new hole in her armpit and into her victims. More disturbing is that Rose appears to get a perverse sexual pleasure out of each infection, later moving through the hospital residents and infecting a number of people in quick succession and then gradually out into the wider world. We’ll ignore the fact the hospital looks like a very 70s (read: brown) hotel, because everything in Rabid looks horribly 70s.

"Hey, I'm a Dom DeLuise lookalike. I'm going to hit on you in the cinema. Because this is the 1970s." — “Hey, I’m a Dom DeLuise lookalike. I’m going to hit on you in the cinema. Because this is the 1970s.”

This feeling of 70s cheapness extends to the appearance of the infected. In brief spurts they’re not too bad, but for the most part there is an amateurish air to them, a greenish face paint and copious amounts of fake blood and bile. The effects may not be all that great, but the scares generated by the infected are generally done well. True, they may lack the impact of the original Night of the Living Dead (or even its 1990 remake) and later zombie thrills, but given the obvious lack of budget Cronenberg gets what he can out of it. You wouldn’t get a surgeon chomping down on a colleague in Romero’s canon (unless he was an undead doctor, of course), but Cronenberg does at least follow Romero in providing an incredibly downbeat ending.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a 70s horror film without a woman ambling around topless, and that job falls to Marilyn Chambers. Whilst totally exploitative, in the context of the story it is something that works in her character’s favour. She becomes a creature that isn’t bound by societal norms, existing solely to infect those around her. It also perhaps helped that Chambers was previously involved in the pornographic industry. A link is made between the virus infecting people and the rabies virus, although that angle is perhaps not explored in as much detail as it deserved.

So while it doesn’t have the budget, Rabid is full of big ideas and contains an engaging narrative that horror buffs will appreciate. It occasionally benefits from its rough around the edges style, but you can only imagine how much better it could have been had it received a larger budget. Perhaps a big budget Hollywood remake awaits? Actually, perhaps not.

Score: 3/5

Movie Soundtrack Highlights – Blue Swede: Hooked On A Feeling

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-14

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Welcome to the first in a weekly run of my favourite tracks from the movies. Each of these will cover one particular track that’s caught my eye that week. As should be obvious from this week’s edition, they’re not specifically tied to a film being released this week, but future editions may be.

So, onto the very first tune! To kick off, I’ve gone with a song that helped define one of the big blockbuster hits from last summer, Guardians of the Galaxy. I’d heard the song before, albeit through David Hasselhoff’s enjoyably camp cover, but it’s this version from Blue Swede that I play the most. With that said, the original from B.J. Thomas is pretty decent and features a sitar. Groovy. Jonathan King’s version, which originated the use of tribal grunts in the intro, is okay but for me feels underproduced and, I’m sad to say, slightly amateurish by comparison.

But my main reason for picking this song is because I’ve managed to get my 3 year old niece hooked on it. No pun intended. It’s a fun and infectious songs and the “Ugga chakka” intro is a hoot. While it has been used many times elsewhere, it’s a song that perfectly fits the tone of James Gunn’s Marvel movie.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/139648457″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

The Fugitive (1947)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-13

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"You might want to put that cross away. They don't take kindly to that sort of thing round here." — “You might want to put that cross away. They don’t take kindly to that sort of thing round here.”

Twitter Plot Summary: Henry Fonda goes on the run in Mexico after religion is banned in the region.

Before you ask, no this has nothing to do with the Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones film except for the name and the basic idea for the plot. Here, perennially blue eyed Henry Fonda (although here he’s entirely in black and white) is a priest on the run in Mexico after religion is banned in his parish. Of course, as the opening narration points out, it may have been shot in Mexico but it could have been set anywhere. In this case the Mexican setting adds some regional colour to events, even if that is perhaps your stereotypical view of the region – but then this is the 1940s. In terms of the story itself, Fonda barely feels like a fugitive in the modern sense as he’s more often than not in full view of those he is supposed to be evading. It’s less dramatic thriller than overwrought melodrama, and it’s never clear if this is a good or a bad thing.

Tonally it’s a piece that is very similar to the melodramatic overtones that made It’s A Wonderful Life so enjoyable, however here it is laced with revolution and the tyrannical rule of a chap who looks a lot like the Mexican equivalent of Harvey Korman. This man is an unnamed police lieutenant, moustachioed and prone to outbursts of angry acting. He also proves to be an able horseman, prancing around the place like he’s involved in a dressage competition. His reasons for being such a Grade A pantomime villain are obscured, indeed it is never made entirely clear why he does what he does. Maybe he simply ran out of moustache wax?

Nice cinematography does not automatically save a film from mundanity.

The strength of Henry Fonda’s performance is never in question, portraying huge angst and personal turmoil in the briefest of looks. He’s supported by some decent cinematography. It might lack in dynamic camera action, but it more than makes up for it in shot composition and the use of dark and light. Sadly Fonda’s priest doesn’t play as large a part in the story as you might hope, so while he is a strong performer its not possible to praise the film on that performance alone because at times he’s almost reduced to being a secondary character.

The problems lie in how little really seems to happen. Fonda’s priest may be on the run, but there’s no real threat, a lack of any sense of danger. He seems to spend more of his time trying to get away from the Mexican dogsbody, El Gringo, who latches onto him, rather than getting away from the authorities.

If only they had decided to make it this as a thriller than as a melodrama, it may have been a far better movie. Instead, whilst the performances are engaging the narrative is anything but. It may be based on Graham Greene’s novel The Power and the Glory, but you can’t help but feel that the version of The Fugitive about Dr Richard Kimble is a far superior production in every respect, even if they do only share the title.

Score: 2/5

A Most Violent Year (2015)

By

Simon Prior

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2015-02-12

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"What's all this white stuff?" — “What’s all this white stuff?”

Twitter Plot Summary: A tale of business rivalry and derring do in New York 1981. Heating oil is the name of the game. It might get a bit shady.

Oscar Isaac is our lead Abel Morales, an amazingly coiffured businessman, cunning yet unscrupulous and who has ruthlessly stepped into an area where customers need his product in order to survive the harsh winter. The product? heating oil, of course. Unfortunately for him and his ambitious wife (Jessica Chastain), an unknown rival is hijacking his lorries and stealing his oil. Can he stay in business despite the less than fair methods being utilised by his rivals? And if they don’t put him out of business, the investigation into his company being undertaken by David Oyelowo’s District Attorney might just nail the coffin shut. Just to add salt to the wound, Morales is also trying to finalise a deal to take on a depot near the river, and has 30 days to pay a large sum of cash to the Jewish owners of the property.

The story is set in 1981, a year in which New York experienced higher than normal levels of criminal activity. In this context the struggles of Morales in keeping his company in profit are set against the very real threat of violence from all quarters. He’s a shrewd businessman who is doing his utmost to run his affairs on the straight and narrow – while he is hardly the Most Reputable Businessman of the Year, the thought of becoming a fully fledged gangster doesn’t appeal to him. This is despite him being surrounded by a number of business rivals large and small, all of whom (or even none) could be the one setting him up for a fall.

Isaac is up to his usual tricks of completely embodying a character from head to toe. His Morales is conflicted, unwilling to inflict any more pain on a critically wounded deer, yet more than happy to put his running skills to good use in tracking the hijacker crew or using his command of the English language and his ability to influence people in order to get what he wants.

"This sofa is far too big." — “This sofa is far too big.”

Isaac isn’t the whole focus though, as he’s supported by a huge number of incredibly talented performers. First and foremost is Jessica Chastain as his wife Anna, crafting a believable relationship that has origin in their real life friendship. Anna is much less conflicted than Abel and this bleeds through into events at regular intervals. Albert Brooks is the Morales’ lawyer, and while just as shady as you might expect (he is a film lawyer after all), he is still someone that has his client’s best interests at heart.

Sneaking up from the rear to almost steal the show is Brit talent Elyes Gabel as Julian, one of Morales’ drivers who finds himself the victim of a hijacking. Whilst not a regular player throughout, his overall arc is of genuine interest, all carried by a great performance.

J.C. Chandor has said that much of his film’s setup and style are a direct homage to the big gangster flicks from that era – a shade of The Godfather here, a dash of Scarface there. In that respect A Most Violent Year is in good company, and doesn’t set itself apart from those genre classics in any respect. It’s a well written crime thriller that doesn’t stick rigidly to the usual crime movie template, yet still contains enough nods and winks to convention to satiate even hardcore genre fans.

Score: 4.5/5

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