My Review: In the Name of the Father (9/10)

"I don't understand your language. "Justice." "Mercy." "Clemency." I literally don't understand what those words mean."

If I had to describe this film using only one adjective I would say it is an enraging movie. Jim Sheridan followed his successful directorial debut, My Left Foot, by teaming up once again with Daniel Day Lewis who delivers yet another superb performance. I'm ashamed to admit that I just got around to watching this film for the first time on its 20th anniversary, but it was completely worth it because I was blown away by this powerful and engaging film. I wouldn't call this a groundbreaking film because we've had plenty of movies dealing with similar themes. Films like The Hurricane or The Shawshank Redemption deal with the kind of social injustice that is presented here where an innocent man is incarcerated due to a corrupt justice system. In the Name of the Father differs a bit in that it doesn't focus so much on the hope of finding freedom, but rather on the enraging aspect of the injustice that the lead character and his family and friends go through. This is a genre that I'll always be drawn too, especially when it is based on a true story because I think these people deserve to have their voice heard after all they've gone through. I know that several artistic liberties were taken to make the film, but even so it draws attention to Gerry Conlon's autobiographical book. Sheridan's direction was solid, and I liked how he focused a lot of the attention on the father and son relationship. I don't know if this film would've worked as well as it did if it weren't for Daniel Day Lewis's brilliant performance. He is without a doubt one of the best actors of our time.

Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day Lewis) grew up in Belfast in the 70's when the IRA terrorist attacks were at its peak. He was never involved with the terrorist group, but he was no saint either. As a young lad he felt forced to become a small time thief due to the lack of employment. While robbing some lead sheets from a roof of a house he accidentally leads British soldiers to a home that was hiding IRA weapons. Fortunately they never discovered anything, and the IRA members send Gerry off with a warning. His father, Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), with whom he's had an estranged relationship, sends him to London hoping he can find a better future there and escape from all the political turmoil. On his way to London, Gerry runs into his school friend Paul Hill (John Lynch) and together they decide to go visit their friend Patrick Armstrong (Mark Sheppard) who has been living in London along with a group of free spirited hippies. Unfortunately for Gerry and his friends, they end up being in the wrong place at the wrong time and are accused of bombing a soldier's pub. Bullied by the police officers they are forced into signing a confession and are sentenced to prison along with some of Gerry's family members. In prison, Gerry and his father continue to fight to prove their innocence with the help of an attorney named Gareth Pierce (Emma Thompson) and the more she digs into the story the more corruption she finds in the police procedures.

The film manages to draw you in and make your blood boil due to all the injustices suffered by these characters. It is one of those movies where the tension builds up with the passing of time, but at the same time you also feel a connection growing between Gerry and his father. The film becomes more than a simple social injustice tale and turns into a character driven story focusing on the relationship between father and son. It is a shame the film has kind of been forgotten because I thought it was really well made. It never won an Academy Award, but it did receive 7 nominations including Best Picture, losing out to Schindler's List that year. Daniel Day Lewis outshines everyone in this film, although the supporting cast was very strong, especially Pete Postlethwaite who shared great chemistry with Lewis. This was an intense film that had me at the edge of my seat thanks to the way in which Sheridan tells the story and slowly draws the viewer in. The final 20 minutes of this film are perfect and Daniel Day Lewis knocks his performance out of the ball park.

My Review: The Town (10/10)

¨I will see you; this side or the other. ¨

Many critics thought that Ben Affleck`s successful directorial debut in Gone Baby Gone could have to do with beginners luck, but he proved them otherwise with The Town because he has made one of the best films of the year once again. He has managed to go two for two now and is beginning to prove he may have a better career as a director than an actor. Affleck has brought us one of the best crime thrillers of the decade; I was completely hooked from the very beginning with the heist and chase scenes as well as with the characters. The movie has several tense scenes that will have you at the edge of your seat, and at the same time very well developed characters with good dialogues thanks to a smart script adapted by Affleck himself and a good performance from the entire cast. The screenplay was adapted from Chuck Hogan`s novel ¨Prince of Thieves¨ and besides Affleck, Aaron Stockard and Peter Craig collaborated with the adaptation. The screenplay was very well adapted although it differs from the novel in the ending. Affleck also stars in this film and he does a pretty good job, but who really steals the show is Jeremy Renner as the secondary character. The rest of the cast also have an above average performance: Blake Lively, Jon Hamm, Rebecca Hall, and the late Pete Postlethwaite all give very memorable performances thanks to the solid material they had to work with. Affleck seems to bring the best out of each actor as a director and he has proven he has a very promising career ahead of himself if he continues at this pace.

As in Affleck`s other film the story takes place once again in Boston. Charlestown is a neighborhood known for producing the most blue collar bank robbers in the world. Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck), James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), Albert Magloan (Slaine), and Desmond Elden (Owen Burke) have all grown up together in Charlestown and are no exception to the rule. Together they have managed to pull off a series of armored vehicles and bank robberies throughout Boston under Doug`s leadership. They receive tips from a florist owner known as Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite) who has controlled the neighborhood for years. During their latest bank robbery things go wrong and they are forced to take the bank manager, Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage before letting her go unharmed once they have escaped. Things begin to get complicated once James realizes that Claire lives in their same neighborhood and fears she might have seen something. Doug decides to follow her around to make sure she doesn`t suspect anything and in doing so they begin to develop a friendship. James would much rather get rid of her because he doesn`t want to risk their cover, but Doug has fallen for her and wants to change his life around. Doug will soon discover that getting out of a life of crime will be more difficult than he ever could have imagined. Doug`s other concern is that the FBI is close on their tail and they are receiving a lot of heat from S.A. Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) and his partner Dino (Titus Welliver).

The Town is a very tense and gripping movie that manages to balance well crafted suspenseful crime scenes with well developed characters and a good script that adds some emotional drama to the action sequences. It is hard to avoid comparisons between this movie and Michael Mann`s Heat since every successful crime film can be compared to that one, the best of its genre. Ben Affleck is turning into a great director and is perhaps doing something similar for Boston to what Woody Allen and Spike Lee do for New York. There is no denying Affleck also has talent as a screenwriter since he won an Oscar for his work with Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting, and Gone Baby Gone was also a really good adaptation. Crime thrillers are one of my favorite genres in film and it has been awhile since I have enjoyed one as much as I did with The Town. It has great action scenes that feel real and interesting characters. Jeremy Renner is really on a hot streak following up on his Oscar nominated performance for The Hurt Locker. In this movie he is once again the highlight of the film. Blake Lively also gave a terrific performance as an alcoholic and drug addict mother from Charlestown who has a casual relationship with Doug. Her Boston accent was right on the mark. The entire cast was great in this film. I really enjoyed this film and consider it to be one of the best of 2010 along with Inception.

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