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ROCKnROLLA IS GOING TO OWN YOUR ASS.

GUY RITCHIE. KNOW IT.

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels is the only film in my native tongue that required I turn the subtitles on to understand the dialogue. I remember liking Snatch. Haven't seen any Richie since.

hey hey! I'm off to see that tonight. Hope it is far better than his last few films...

Guy Ritchie = one trick pony.

I have no clue on the love of Snatch. Lock, Stock is interesting-looking (for awhile) but it's empty.

I would like to see a good performance from Thandie Newton one day, I assume I simply haven't seen the right movies yet.

Yeah, Jeff, what do you know, "MR POOOOO-LIIIICE MAN?"

Also, to the naysayers: REV0LVER OWNS. Ritchie is TOTAL OWNAGE.

I assume that's a Crash (the bad one, not the amazing Cronenberg one) reference?

I think she would have been a better choice for Things we Lost in the Fire than Halle Berry. Berry was able to hit the quiet moments in that film but missed the big melodramatic ones.

But I agree though she is remarkably beautiful I really haven't seen a substantial performance from Newton (perhaps W will change this). Of course that could be said of almost all american actresses that have come on the scene since 1993(I would say that Adams, Leo and Gyllenhall are the exceptions).

I though she was decent in Run FatBoy Run. In fact, I thought the whole movie was a pretty enjoyable time and didn't deserve the beat-down it got, much like Miss Pettigrew...

She was also good in the Truth about Charlie which I feel is an underrated film, but has never done anything approaching someone like Watts or Morton.

She was delightful in Truth About Charlie and Wahlberg's beret was awesome.

Yes, jeff, that was from the bad "Crash."

Hcat said:

"I really haven't seen a substantial performance from Newton. Of course that could be said of almost all american actresses that have come on the scene since 1993(I would say that Adams, Leo and Gyllenhall are the exceptions).

Isn't she British?

And what about Biel, Alba, Dawson, KRISTEN STEWART, Dunst, Faris, Hathaway (HAVOC, SON), Gellar, Lohan, Jolie and even that Maria Bello?

When I stop laughing (Alba? Gellar?) I'll get back to you on that list, Lex.

I liked Newton in Mission Impossible 2.

Newton is Australian I think. In the mid nineties she was hyped as the next it girl due to roles in Jefferson in Paris and Beloved but both the films and her perfs failed to deliver. As far as your list.

Biel: Only interesting without her top

Alba: Only seen her in FF2, don't think I am missing anything

Dawson: Good looking, strong foil for male lead, fills void left by Rene Russo.

Stewart: Has she made a movie yet? I know twilight is coming but she's simply done tv so far right?

Dunst: Showed a lot of promise when young but is now just window dressing even in Marie Anttoinette which was supposed to be her biggest role.

Faris: Cute as hell, Funny as hell, in movies that are just hell. She can make crap watchable when it hits cable but is in need of a major break.

Hathaway: Charming and talented but hasn't done any real heavy lifting so far. This looks to change with Rachel Getting Married and of all the people on your list she is the one that might be around in ten years. She did have some nice seductress moments in Havoc but that movie was only notable for her nudity.

Gellar: Never seen her in a movie, does she still make them?

Lohan: as talented as Lea Thompson was in her day, and will have the same career longevity.

Jolie: Has that tough Jodie Foster vibe but is unamimated without a pistol. This could also change in the coming weeks.

Bello: made good choices with HOV and Cleaner but was the least interesting thing in both.

This is not really the fault of Dawson, Faris, Hathaway and Jolie, they just need better roles.

Sorry, got Stewart mixed up with Veronica Mars. Liked her in Panic Room and Into the Wild (at least they didn't give the part to Even Racheal Wood who has played that same role nearly her whole career).
I know this is poking the bear but Twilight looks like a cheap cash-in piece of shit that is only being saved from DOV by being released by a start-up distributor.
I am often wrong about judging future potential (I could not believe they gave that one hit wonder Fresh Prince guy his own TV show, they canceled ALF for that?). I thought Swank and Theron were all one more film away from Lifetime movies before M$B, and Monster made me look like an ass. So all of those you listed may have hidden depths but right now I am more impressed by imports like Watts, Green(she is Hathaway if Hathaway was able to steal your soul with her stare), Watson, Morton, Cruz (Volver, Son) and Binoche.

Newton's performance in Beloved was one for the books. The movie, too. It is truly a lost masterpiece from Deeme.

She showed a real feistiness in the underrated Gridlock'd.

She gives a real performance in M:I 2.

The Truth About Charlie is also underrated.

newton is english

Newton is brilliant in Beloved. A misunderstood performance. That said, I can't say she's blown me away in anything else.

Off-topic, but, Variety just threw up their review of Darren Aronofsky's 'The Wrestler':

"Mickey Rourke creates a galvanizing, humorous, deeply moving portrait that instantly takes its place among the great, iconic screen performances."

"Rocknrolla" delivers on Ritchie's early promise: it's quite possibly the best thing he's ever done. And yes, Lex: it is totally ownable.
"Brothers Bloom" hopscotches around the globe so much (Greece, Mexico, New Jersey, Tokyo, Prague, ad nauseam) that you feel entitled to frequent flyer miles just for sitting through the damn thing...which would only be fair since it's a movie in which absolutely NOTHING works.
The Assayas and Terrence Davies films ("Summer Hours" and "Of Time and the City") totally lived up to their Cannes reps: 2 master filmmakers at the peak of their form.
Totally psyched about the Demme movie tomorrow afternoon.

"Beloved" is neither lost (I saw it on a video store shelf last week) nor a masterpiece. And, deservedly, it is not beloved.

LexG: I second Movieman's take.

http://movingpictureblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/from-toronto-rocknrolla-rocks.html

NICE. Good review, Joe!

For the record, I think the half of REVOLVER that's stylish Ritchie crime shit and Statham owning motherfuckers is awesome; When it delves into that "fractured self"/Chopra shit, it's just embarassing, and clearly the influence of Mrs. Ritchie. It was like some dude who usually owns was forced to bring the wife along on game night or something.

Now I'm wondering which already-stuffed U.S. release weekend RocknRolla is dropping on; I can't think of a single weekend for the next three months where there aren't 6 high-profile movies.

Thandie Newton is english, but her debut (I believe) was the Aussie flick Flirting (with Nicole Kidman).

I thought Newton was the best thing about Crash and like so many actresses that she reminds me of (the likes of Jada Pinkett Smith) wish she'd get more of a chance to show them off instead of, as hcat said, casting directors being lazy and just hiring Halle Berry or whatever.

Kamel: I remember quite liking Flirting? Am I remembering correctly: Wasn't it the sequel to The Year My Voice Broke?

Nice to know some other people liked the Truth About Charlie. Newton was a gem, and Demme's direction always had something interesting going on that improved the movie. It was more of a street-level remake, so to me the casting of Newton and Wahlberg made sense. They weren't supposed to top the star power. They were meant to be more like people. Not a great movie by any means, but filled with a lot of nice touches and quirky enough characters.

Will Smith was attached to Charlie for some time and kept switching between making that and a remake of kind hearts and coronets with Demme (he ended up passing on both for sequal duty). Wahlberg was hired and paid handsomely based on what they thought would be his star power after Planet of the Apes was released.

Smith would have been infinitly better in the movie being closer in style to Cary Grant from the original and better fitting in with the 'pretty people in danger in pretty places' style the movie was shot in. Wahlberg was fine as long as he kept his mouth shut but delivered another one of his breathy asthma induced line reading performances that seem to dominate the middle portion of his career.

Hrm. I thought rocknrolla was a bit of mess. Even less coherent that Richie's other movies, if that is possible. And the bad guys just weren't as menacing as in Snatch. Still, some very funny moments, but Newton is wasted and Butler's character does seem as central to the film as it should. I was disappointed.

if i may be so bold as to reply for kam across the ditch in his absence, 'flirting' is the sequel to 'the year my voice broke'. i've always liked noah taylor, he's lovely. good to see he's still getting steady work.

kam, you being an oz film buff, i've always thought it funny that thandie's character's name in 'flirting' was 'thandiwa' (sp?) and wondered if that could possibly have been a coincidence or an inside joke after casting thandie...any idea?

Couldn't say, I'm afraid. I've actually never seen Flirting because it's not readily available on DVD here. Not even my online service carries it.

Trust me, it boggles my mind too.

Joe, Noah Taylor revives his character from The Year My Voice Broke, although it's technically not a sequel. It's like how Downey Jr's Tony Stark appeared in The Incredibly Hulk.

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