RocknRolla

RocknRolla is a 2008 British crime film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, and starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong, Thandie Newton, Idris Elba, Ludacris, Gemma Arterton and Dragan Micanovic.

The film revolves around Lenny, a "rocknrolla" (a successful crime boss and jack-the-lad), and was made in London. It was released on 5 September 2008 in the UK, hitting #1 in the UK box office in its first week of release.

In London, a real-estate scam puts millions of pounds up for grabs, attracting some of the city's scrappiest tough guys and its more established underworld types, all of whom are looking to get rich quick. While the city's seasoned criminals vie for the cash, an unexpected player -- a drugged out rock 'n' roller presumed to be dead but very much alive, comes in and changes the plans.

 Critical reaction to the film has been mixed to positive, with 60% positive out of 134 reviews on the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The website Metacritic, which compiles and then aggregates major film critics' reviews, gave the film a 53 out of 100, which is categorized as having mixed or average reviews.
Chris Tilly of IGN UK gave the film a positive review with four out of five stars, saying "He's hardly re-inventing the wheel with this movie, but RocknRolla is nonetheless a comedy thriller that is every bit as accomplished as his early work, and without doubt a witty, adrenalin-fuelled blast from start to finish.".
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, stating that "It never slows down enough to be really good, and never speeds up enough to be the Bourne Mortgage Crisis, but there's one thing for sure: British actors love playing gangsters as much as American actors love playing cowboys, and it's always nice to see people having fun."

 

Children of Men

Children of Men is a 2006 American-British dystopian science fiction film directed by Alfonso Cuarón and loosely adapted from P. D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men. It stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Pam Ferris, Claire-Hope Ashitey and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Set in the United Kingdom of 2027, the film explores a grim world in which two decades of global human infertility have left humanity with less than a century to survive. Societal collapse, terrorism, and environmental destruction accompany the impending extinction. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom—perhaps the last functioning government—persecutes a seemingly endless wave of illegal immigrant refugees seeking sanctuary. In the midst of this chaos, Theo Faron (Clive Owen) must find safe transit for Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), a pregnant African "fugee".

Exam

Exam is a British thriller film written by Simon Garrity and Stuart Hazeldine, directed by Stuart Hazeldine and stars Colin Salmon, Jimi Mistry, Luke Mably and Gemma Chan. The plot is based on the play The Grönholm method by Jordi Galcerán Ferrer. This play inspired the screenwriter Mateo Gil and the director/screenwriter Marcelo Piñeyro to write the screenplay for the Spanish movie El método, already released in 2005.

Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British film directed by Danny Boyle, screenplay written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. Set and filmed in India, the film tells the story of Jamal Malik, a young man from the dharavi slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, thereby arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.

Boy A

Boy A is a 2007 BAFTA award-winning film adaptation of Jonathan Trigell's critically acclaimed novel of the same name which shares some similarities with the notorious James Patrick Bulger case. The film premièred at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival. It is directed by John Crowley and stars Andrew Garfield (who won the 2008 Best Actor BAFTA TV Award for his performance), Peter Mullan and Katie Lyons. The USA cinematic release is distributed by the Weinstein Company. It is a story of a young ex-con Jack, newly released from serving a prison sentence for a murder he committed as a child.

Bright futures are undercut by dark pasts in Boy A, a quiet, ruminative tale about a violent act committed by a man in his tormented youth, and his haunting inability to find a way to have a peaceful adulthood years later. Fresh out of a 14-year prison sentence, 24-year-old Jack (Andrew Garfield) arrives in Manchester looking for a new start. He has a new name, a new job, and a carefully sealed criminal record, but an entire boyhood spent behind bars has left him permanently looking over his shoulder. Guided by his fatherly caseworker, Terry (Peter Mullan), Jack attempts to forge meaningful ties with a local girl and a chatty co-worker, but what happiness he finds is challenged when his true identity seeps (and then floods) through the cracks of his new façade. Directed with claustrophobic flair by John Crowley, Boy A unfolds in tight hallways and on narrow roads; for Jack, even in freedom, every room's a prison. As the story of Jack's new life moves forward, sharply lit flashbacks continually offer new details of his childhood crime. The backward glances work as both a compelling narrative technique and a glimpse into Jack's conscience (and the viewer's); the harsh reminder of his former self seem to play endlessly in his mind, impossible to reconcile with the gentle, introspective adult he longs to become.

Efficiently directed by John Crowley, Boy A avoids exploitation while never soft-selling its thorny subject matter. The movie is taut with suspense but culminates in wise resignation as the hero comes to understand he's running from a part of himself. Boy A is one of those rare movies that takes the idea of rehabilitation seriously. In the end, it may present a worst-case scenario, but it does so with unusual depth and conviction. Boy A currently holds a 91% approval rating based on 53 professional critical reviews on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Reference:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1078188/

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/boy_a/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_A_(film)

Son of Rambow

Son of Rambow is a 2007 British comedy-drama film written and directed by Garth Jennings. The film premiered 22 January 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was later shown at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and Glasgow Film Festival. The film was also shown at the 51st BFI London Film Festival. Son of Rambow was released in the United Kingdom on 4 April 2008 and opened in limited release in the United States on 2 May 2008. Set during an English summer during the early 1980s, the film is a coming of age story about two schoolboys.

SON OF RAMBOW is the name of the home movie made by two little boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions. Set on a long English summer in the early 80's, SON OF RAMBOW is a comedy about friendship, faith and the tough business of growing up. We see the story through the eyes of Will, the eldest son of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family. The Brethren regard themselves as God's 'chosen ones' and their strict moral code means that Will has never been allowed to mix with the other 'worldlies,' listen to music or watch TV, until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Will to a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood and from that moment Will's mind is blown wide open and he's easily convinced to be the stuntman in Lee Carters' diabolical home movie. Will's imaginative little brain is not only given chance to flourish in the world of film making, but is also very handy when it comes to dreaming up elaborate schemes to keep his partnership with Lee Carter a secret from the Brethren community. Will and Carter's complete disregard for consequences and innocent ambition means that the process of making their film is a glorious rollercoaster that eventually leads to true friendship. They start to make a name for themselves at school as movie makers but when popularity descends on them in the form of the Pied Piper-esque French exchange student, Didier Revol, their unique friendship and their precious film are pushed, quite literally, to breaking point.

Writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith, who as Hammer & Tongs have made music videos for such groups as Fatboy Slim, Supergrass, Blur, and REM, follow up their 2005 film, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, with the charming indie SON OF RAMBOW, a love letter to the movies. A success at such festivals as Toronto and Sundance, SON OF RAMBOW stars Bill Milner as Will Proudfoot, a shy, reserved young boy who is different from the other kids because his family is part of the Brethren, a religion that shuns the outside world, not allowing him to have friends at school or to watch television. While in the hallway in school one day because he can't watch an educational film in class, Will gets into a fight with Lee Carter (Will Poulter), a tough kid who gets into trouble all the time. Lee forces Will to help him make a homemade version of the Sylvester Stallone film FIRST BLOOD, but after watching the original, Will is captivated by the movie and writes his own sequel, casting himself as the son of Rambow (he misspells the name of the character). Will and Lee use their imagination and lots of grit to get the project off the ground, bonding as only blood brothers can. But soon the entire school wants to participate in the movie, including ultra-cool French exchange student Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk), jeopardizing the integrity of the production as well as Will and Lee's growing friendship. Milner and Poulter, both making their feature-film debuts, are engaging as the lead characters. Jennings sets SON OF RAMBOW in the 1980s, before cell phones, digital cameras, and YouTube changed the way people communicate. Amid a soundtrack that includes music from such seminal period bands as The Cure and Depeche Mode, the two young boys learn about family and friendship, jealousy and ego as their carefully controlled worlds threaten to implode.

Son of Rambow received generally favourable reviews from critics. As of 10 January 2009, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 74% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 113 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 66 out of 100, based on 29 reviews.

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Both Kimberly Jones of The Austin Chronicle and Ty Burr of The Boston Globe named it their eighth best, and Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle named it his ninth.

Reference Links

• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0845046/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Rambow
• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/son_of_rambow/

The Bank Job

The Bank Job is a 2008 British crime film directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Jason Statham, based on the 1971 Baker Street robbery in central London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The producers allege that the story was prevented from being told because of a D-Notice (now known as a DA-Notice) government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family. According to the producers, this movie is intended to reveal the truth for the first time, although it includes significant elements of fiction.

In September 1971, thieves tunneled into the vault of a bank in London's Baker Street and looted safe deposit boxes of cash and jewelry worth over three million pounds. None of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then disappeared - the result of a 'D' Notice, gagging the press. This film reveals what was hidden for the first time. The story involves murder, corruption and a sex scandal with links to the Royal Family - a story in which the thieves were the most innocent people involved.

Inspired by the infamous 1971 robbery that took place at the Lloyds Bank in Marylebone London, LIONSGATE's ® The Bank Job stars Jason Statham (Transporter, Snatch, Crank, Italian Job) and Saffron Burrows (Klimt, Enigma). The highly-charged heist thriller tautly interweaves high-level corruption, murder and sexual scandal in 1970s England.

A car dealer with a dodgy past and new family, Terry (Statham) has always avoided major-league scams. But when Martine (Burrows), a beautiful model from his old neighborhood, offers him a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London's Baker Street, Terry recognizes the opportunity of a lifetime. Martine targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal that spans London's criminal underworld, the highest echelons of the British government, and the Royal Family itself...the true story of a heist gone wrong...in all the right ways.

Reference Links:

• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200465/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bank_Job
• http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1189844-the_bank_job/