Hero Wanted

We are now onto disc two of my three latest Reedus Season purchases.  Today’s dvd of choice is Hero Wanted.

PLOT:  Liam (Cuba Gooding Jnr) becomes a hero for 15minutes after saving a girl from a burning vehicle.  Two years later Liam is in a bank when it is held up by Skinner (Kim Coates), Derek (Tommy Flanagan) and their getaway driver Swain (Norman Reedus) who, god love him, dreams of living on a beach.  Liam survives the attack and starts to kill off the gang one by one starting by killing Skinner’s younger brother with a frying pan.  Ray Liotta is apparently in this film too but he does so little he isn’t worth talking about.  There is the realisation that all is not what it seems.  Sad Swain montage in which he looks at a postcard of a beach.  There are more flashbacks that an episode of Lost on crack. There is the realisation that no matter whose point of view you watch the film from everyone just loves Swain, who did I mention just wants to go to the beach.  END PLOT

The plot of Hero Wanted is fine.  The fact that it is told through a series of out of sequence flashbacks helps to stop the film from being run of the mill although it does end with a pretty standard shootout in an old abandoned warehouse.

If I were to pick a fault in the film-making it would be the annoying narration which ran throughout the film especially as it was so poorly written.  We were treated to Liam philosophising through the medium of the mighty voiceover that “revenge is an airborne disease…..and it travels fast”.  I can see why they did it as it aimed to give the film a sense of seriousness but in reality it turned out to be delusions of grandeur – sometimes if you are going to make a noisy shoot em up film it’s okay to do just that.

The characters themselves are a mixtures of generic bad guys, a hero with dead wife issues who comes up with a selfish plan to buy himself another 15mins (D-List celebrities should take note – it doesn’t work) and Swain who turns out to be the only likeable character in the entire film and this is not Reedus Bias.

The cast is lead by Gooding Jnr a actor which I enjoy an irrational hatred of.  In Hero Wanted he looks old and rasps his way through proceedings appearing to be in dire need of a throat lozenge.  He lacks the charm required to pull off any leading role.

The main villains are played by Kim Coates and Tommy Flanagan two of my favourite members of SAMCRO and in Hero Wanted. They are very good, enjoyable to watch and confirm that they both deserve much more screen time in the Sons of Anarchy. 

Norman Reedus is good as Swain and givers the viewer someone to cheer for in a film with almost no likeable characters whatsoever.

I am surprised that I liked Hero Wanted as much as I did especially given that Gooding Jnr is an actor on my Shit List but I just about moved past this hatred so I could enjoy the film.

If a different actor was cast as Liam I think I would have enjoyed Hero Wanted a lot more.  It gets a 6.5/10.  It is a solid film and deserves its place on my list of go to 90mins films which is more of a compliment that it appears.

Moscow Chill / Moroz po kozhe

I have to admit that I embraced Reedus Season with as much commitment as I show most other aspects of my life.  I received three new dvds to watch several weeks ago and I am only getting around to watch them.

The first of the three is Moscow Chill and thanks to some wonderful internet friends sending me oodles of attractive pictures, female shallowness kicked in and anticipation was high.

PLOT:  Ray (Norman Reedus) is a small time hacker nearing the end of a six month sentence when he escapes jail and is taken to Russia where he meets Dubinsky (Vladimir Kuleshov).  Ray teams up with two friendly Russian criminals Dolphin (Slava Schoot) and Vasya (Konstantin Yushkevich) in order to hack into local banks and steal $40million.  Everyone sits around drinking.  Ray steals $40million.  Everyone sits around eating a large watermelon and granny’s strawberries.  Ray falls in love with Maya (Xenia Buravsky). Everyone is double crossed by Dubinsky.  Ray falls in love with Moscow.  The battle for $42million is on (although it’s not explained where the extra $2million comes from!  END PLOT

The plot was fine and flowed reasonably well. There was a wonderfully dark comedic moment after Ray, Dolphin and Vasya do the “respectable” thing and visit the victim of their bank theft in hospital only to discover that they had apologised to and thereafter killed the wrong man.  

The ending of the film was also quite strong as there was no real macho showdown and it was more character driven which made for a refreshing change.

Aside from Norman Reedus the rest of the cast is made up entirely of Russian actors none of whom looked familiar.  This helped to enhance the “fish out of water” theme which was running through the film.

The Russian cast spoke Russian to one another which was appreciated from a film-making point of view but because I imported my dvd from Spain I found myself listening to Russian whilst trying to translate Spanish subtitles – there were several short scenes which became lost in translation.

The film was shot on a non-existent budget of $1million and it showed as it looked grainy, rough and in some shots almost out of focus - the scenery however looked cold, damp and derelict but was downright beautiful. There were times when Reedus looked very very cold!  Moscow Chill used its lack of funds to its advantage and created a very natural looking film devoid of any Hollywood gloss.

On the face of it Moscow Chill reads like a thriller however the action is very limited and when it comes it is very very basic.  The shootout scenes have a very raw look and feel about them which makes them seem all the more real although if I am to pick a fault it would be the obvious squib on Ray's arm when he gets shot. 

Moscow Chill attempts to be a coming of age/fish out of water drama, a black comedy and an action free thriller all rolled into one and what’s weirder still is it totally pulls this off!

It is 100% accurate to say that if Norman Reedus wasn’t in this film I would never watch it on tv let alone seek it out so God bless Reedus and his off the beaten track career choices as it has thrown up some wonderful films. 

I am happy to report that The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow was just a blip in a very successful run of Independent films that would have passed me by completely if I hadn’t known to look for them.

I have to dedicate this particular blog to the wonderful Dixons Vixens as without this amazing family I lucked my way into there would be no Reedus Season.

Blade 2

 Blade 2 is a film which should have been watched much earlier in Reedus Season as the combination of a newly discovered actor and my all time favourite director, Guillermo del Toro, ought to have been given top priority but alas it was not to be.

PLOT:  Blade (Wesley Snipes) together with his team of Scud (Norman Reedus) and the newly humanised Whistler (Kris Kristofferson) join forces with the Bloodpack in order to defeat a new breed of super vampire which has the cheek to feed on both humans and vampires alike.  There is tension between the groups. There is betrayal.  There is the great Ron Perlman as Reinhardt.  There is the knowledge that Blade survives and goes on to star in the awful Blade Trinity.  END PLOT

I am not familiar with the Blade comics therefore I have no idea whether or not Blade 2 follows them accurately or at all.  Blade 2 joins the long list of films based on literature that I have no inclination of ever reading and gets reviewed based on its merits as a film.

The plot was strong and delves into Blades own particular brand of vampire lore very well.  As a general rule vampires are not my genre and I am thankful that Blade 2 refrains from turning them into the high definition whining sex objects such a True Blood or *spit* *spit* Twilight.

I have never been a huge fan of Wesley Snipes but he stars in one of my guilty pleasures - Demolition Man.  As Blade he thankfully is required to do nothing more than utter the odd monosyllabic phrase in between swinging his sword at whosoever he chooses.  The character of Blade is one of the least interesting title characters I can think of but luckily Blade 2 has a ridiculously strong supporting cast.

It is hard to believe that in a career filled with cult classics, indie films and cameos Blade 2 is probably one of the most mainstream films of Norman Reedus’ career.  There is nice story that Guillermo del Toro rang Norman Reedus and offered him the part of Scud as he was fed up with him staring in indie films “that nobody ever fuckin' sees”.  One can only hope that del Toro will pick up the phone more often. 

The scenes between Kris Kristofferson and Norman Reedus are some of the best in the film as we get to see their relationship grow from mistrust to bonding in a relatively short space of time.

Not enough male to male bonding makes me very sad :-(

Ron Perlman, a family favourite and affectingly known as Big Ron by all members of the Bamber household, steals the show as Reinhardt without ever taking off his sunglasses.  It is easy to see why he is one of del Toro’s preferred actors as the man just commands your attention whenever he is on screen. 

You know you live in a special household whenever Ron Perlman is the family favourite.

My love of all things touched by Guillermo del Toro is well known to my friends and Blade 2 has all the earmarks of a traditional del Toro film.

Blade 2 was filmed in Prague and del Toro makes great use of its old Gothic buildings and churches which are themes which pop up regularly in his films.  The section which takes place in the House of Pain is visually stunning.

The film is very drained of colour with black, white and chrome being the main colour scheme which makes the blood really stand out.  There is a lot of blood yet the film never appears overly gruesome. 

The effects are fine and del Toro manages to put his own spin on the dusting of a vampire to the extent that the death of Nyssa is actually quite beautiful to watch.

I think Blade 2 owes it success to its director - David Goyer, the writer of the Blade films, directed Blade Trinity and the dip in quality is blatantly obvious. 

Blade 2 isn’t my favourite Reedus film nor is it my favourite del Toro but it gets an 8/10 which is uncharacteristically high for a vampire film.  If it wasn’t for the excellent supporting cast or the directors talented eye Blade 2 would have been Blade Trinity and quite frankly one of those is more than enough.

The Messengers 2: The Scarecrow

I found myself stuck in the middle of an almighty clash between Reedus Season and my Inner Movie Snob as today I watched The Messengers 2:  The Scarecrow.

I did see The Messengers in the cinema but I can remember very little about it so the unnecessary straight to dvd prequel did not register on my radar until quite recently - if it wasn’t for Reedus Season The Messengers 2 would have passed right by me.

PLOT:  John Rollins (Norman Reedus) and his family risk losing their farmhouse as their crops are failing and they are falling deeper into debt.  After John finds a scarecrow in the crawl space of an old barn he puts it up in the middle of his cornfield and his luck begins to change.
The harvest improves however John doesn’t become as jolly as a green giant as people around him begin to die in suspiciously unaccidental accidents.
John enjoys his run of good luck. John’s son is scared of the scarecrow.  John no longer enjoys his run of good luck.  John is scared of the scarecrow.  For want of a better description John is raped by a ghost.  There is a hoedown showdown in the barn. END PLOT

The plot of The Messengers 2 was exactly what I was expecting yet it also managed to be quite different.

In most conventional horror films it’s either the mother or the child who take the lead role in dealing with whatever creepy entity is harassing them with the father being either absent or relegated to the doubting cynic who is killed at the beginning of the third act.  The Messengers differs from norm as the story is told solely from the fathers point of view with John Rollins being in almost every scene.

The Messengers doesn’t go down the route of a typical scarecrow themed slasher film ala Jeepers Creepers (although I do love these films) and plays as a purposely slow moving thriller.

There is an episode of the show Supernatural called Scarecrow - with the Scarecrow being a pagan god who brings life to an orchard in exchange for a male and female sacrifice once per year.  There is a hint of the supernatural running through the film and a brief mention of black magic although the black magic theme or potential paganism aren't developed in any great detail - instead the film plays on the notion that John may or may not be going crazy due to his financial stresses.  Was this the right decision? Maybe....

The performances of the cast are all fine - the interesting thing about The Messengers 2 is that there is actually very little dialogue with the vast majority of the movie being played dialogue free and the score is pretty much non existent. 

Despite being shot on a $2million budget the movie does not look cheap - The Messengers 2 has a great wide open independent feel to it which I am falling more in love with, with every Reedus Season film.

For a horror/thriller the action is pretty much non existent although there are the traditional jumps and scares.  I will admit that once Norman Reedus picked up an axe and stated running through the cornfield my Walking Dead fangirl was awakened as the dude pulls of the "running with purpose whilst holding an axe" look like no other.

Norman Reedus wielding an axe automatically makes everything 10x better. 

Overall The Messengers 2 is not a great film but neither is it a bad.  If they had strengthened the supernatural element or ramped up the tension of John’s perceived insanity it may have served the film better. 

The Messengers 2:  The Scarecrow gets a solid 5/10.

Reedus Season 1 vs. Inner Movie Snob 0. 

**Thank you to my fellow Vixen for finding me the screen cap!!**

The Conspirator

Norman Reedus season had taken a short hiatus due to lack of funds, dvds and willpower to sit through Blade2 but it was back with aplomb as The Conspirator was finally released.

PLOT:  Abraham Lincoln has just been assassinated and with The Conspirators safely behind bars Fred Aiken, (James McAoy) a young captain who fought in the war, has been given the charge of defending Mary Surratt, (Robin Wright) the mother of the only conspirator who managed to escape.  Aiken reluctantly prepares his defence and discovers that Mary was not directly involved in the conspiracy but has been arrested as she refuses to give up the whereabouts of her son.  Aiken tries to find John Surratt in order to save his client from the gallows but is up against a courtroom and a society hell bent on revenge/swift justice on those involved in Lincoln’s assassination.  There is a conspiracy (poor I know).  There is severe miscasting.  There is no happy Hollywood ending.  END PLOT

Right off the bat I should point out that I know very little about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln other than he was shot and killed at the theatre by John Wilkes-Booth and keeping true to form I have carried out no research whatsoever in order to determine if the events which took place in The Conspirator are historically accurate. 

The film well written and the content of the plot is strong.  Aiken constantly put forward the argument of Mary’s constitutional rights and that she should be tried under a civilian court of her peers but this never happened.  The Conspirator also played up the hysteria which followed the assassination and the fact that the Court Tribunal was hell-bent on having people hang for the crime regardless of their level of involvement.  This is the part of the film which really caught my attention and I think it would have made it stronger if they developed this further. 

The pace of the film is very slow which suited it.  This is not a modern courtroom thriller complete with stylish linguistic manipulation of the jury - the drama within the courtroom scenes is very much in line with what was acceptable at the time. 

The story of Mary Surratt was completely new to me and I blame Hollywood, rather than my own historical ignorance, for the fact that I watched the entire film waiting for the moment she would be released.  I waited for John Surratt to turn himself in thereby saving his mother right up until she went to the gallows and it obviously never came. 

During the closing credits we were informed that John Surratt was given a civilian trial and as his involvement could not be proved beyond all reasonable doubt he was set free - this is a story I will keep in mind if I ever move across to American historical novels.

I will watch James McAvoy in anything - he is an actor of my generation and when my grandchildren are discovering film he will be the one I force upon them as the dashing young star of my time.  As the film was paced so slowly it fell to McAvoy to hold the audiences interest and he led the cast and the film with ease. 

Robin Wright is one of those actresses who pops up occasionally and she also very good as Mary Surratt.

The supporting cast of Tom Wilkinson, Danny Glover and Evan Rachel Wood also put in strong performances. 

The weak link in the film is Justin Long.  The how’s and whys of his casting are totally lost on me in all of the films he has appeared in but his surprise appearance irritated me and every time he was on screen I couldn’t stop the stomach clenching hate that is attached to him.

Norman Reedus’ role is tiny - so tiny he does not have many lines or much to do at all.  He does get a couple of scenes in flashbacks but mostly he sits in the courtroom and scowls at everyone.  The Daryl Dixon Stare is attractive and downright distracting in any era - there are few people I will stop watching James McAvoy to look at and he is one of them.  October cannot come quickly enough.  It does have to be said that with The Conspirator McAvoy was the reason and Reedus was the bonus.

The only way I could have loved Lewis Payne more is if he said something charmingly racist.... I am a flawed person........

The Conspirator is the first Robert Redford directed film I have watched although it is also the first which appealed.  I do like a good historical film and The Conspirator is just that.  It lacked a certain spark or that one big scene to tip it over into the lower end of the epic scale but it cannot be considered a shabby film.  It gets a very solid 7/10 and will most likely be picked up on dvd sometime down the line for a rewatch. 

Gossip

Gossip is a dvd I had always fancied buying not because of Norman Reedus but due to James Marsden and my love affair with X-Men.  Even though Gossip was a film I wanted to see it has taken me a long time to add it to my collection.

I go through phases people - it’s how I roll.

PLOT:  Three college flatmates Derek (James Marsden), Jones (Lena Hedley) and Travis (Norman Reedus) decide to team up and prepare a group thesis based on gossip.  They spread a rumour that two drunken students sleep together at a party in order to see how it develops.  Proceedings take a sinister turn whenever Naomi (Kate Hudson) realises she cannot remember sleeping with Beau (Joshua Jackson) and becomes convinced that she has been date raped.  The rumour gets out of control.  The friends begin to panic.  Things aren’t quite what they seem.  What harm can gossip really do as after all its just words…. END PLOT

The plot is pretty solid and once the rumour has been spread there are a few good twists and turns thrown in to keep things moving at a fast pace.  Contrary to its success, or lack thereof, at the box office Gossip is quite a strong thriller. 

A small flaw in the plot would be that the police involvement in the film never amounted to anything more than a short interview with Naomi.  There did not appear to be a medical examination which would have cleared up matters once and for all.  Although Naomi was the victim Gossip isn’t her story - the focus stays solely on the rumour and the three flatmates therefore any facts which came out of a police investigation may have been ignored by the masses in favour of a more juicy or controversial outcome.

Watching the rumour spread and grow is the most interesting part of the film as you know that in real life events could very easily take a similar turn. It was interesting to watch the student populace turn on Beau based on nothing more than a rumour only to then turn on others when the truth was finally exposed.

The cast were all fine.  James Marsden, best known for playing Cyclops, always got a raw deal in the X-Men films but he shows in Gossip that he can carry the lead role in a film.  Marsden oozes a charm he which can instantly flip into something much darker.

Norman Reedus was also good as the awkward art student - knowing that Reedus is an artist in real life really made me pay attention to all the artwork in the film as I knew it was all his - I loved the flatmates sofa throw!

The film must be considered a success for the fact that the queen of lazy rom-coms Kate Hudson isn’t annoying.  This is a rare achievement which deserves acknowledgment - that girls career took a swan-dive the minute she met Matthew McConaughey.

Gossip was filmed in 2000 which was just before the outbreak of social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter.  It would be interesting to see just how different the film would be if it was made in 2010 as so much more could have done with the idea. 

I think that Gossip should have been much more successful than it was - it is ironic that a film about gossip and rumour couldn’t muster up the word of mouth to give it some of the success it deserved.  It is a very good 90min thriller that can easily be rewatched. 

Tough Luck

Despite all the best efforts of Her Majesty’s Royal Mail my self created Norman Reedus season is still ticking over nicely.  This evenings dvd of choice was Tough Luck

PLOT:  Archie (Norman Reedus) is a petty thief who fails to pull off a con at a travelling fairground and is given a job by the owner Ike (Armand Assante). Archie falls for Ike’s wife Divana (Dagmara Dominczyk) and the two begin an affair.  After Ike offers Archie $25,000.00 to kill his wife things get complicated as the usual game of who’s playing whom begins.  Archie gets screwed.  Archie screws Divana.  Archie gets screwed by Divana……and the winner is…..END PLOT

Tough Luck follows the same basic plot of most con films and it’s up to the audience to figure out who is leading the hustle.  The film pulls this off quite well but doesn’t add anything new to the genre as the story isn’t particularly original.  Tough Luck does pick up the pace in the last act when all the cons and scams come to a conclusion head. 

The cast are fine - Norman Reedus is able to pull off the likeable everyman with ease.  If you could kindly ignore the fact that this sentence is the second worst sentence I have ever written I do mean it.  Reedus season is only just starting but I have yet to see him play a character I haven’t fallen in love with - the man could out charm Bradley Cooper without even trying.

I can't pretend to recognise any of the supporting cast but Dagmara Dominczyk is absolutely stunning and was a more than capable co-star.

Tough Luck has that Independent look about it which I am really warming to.  It is dusty, natural and lacks the Hollywood shine - although it looks all the better for it.

Tough Luck is a good film which suffers due to the people that made it.  This is the director, Greg Ellis’ first and only directorial effort and I think if he ramped up the tension and suspense slightly he would have created a much stronger film.

The frustrating thing is that on another day this film could have been more successful as it offers no more or less than other thrillers that are knocking around.  I suppose it really is just Tough Luck……….kindly ignore the fact that this is the worst sentence I have ever written......

The Boondock Saints

As a general rule I find myself rocking up late to all bandwagons but when I arrive I tend to jump on board these underground unstoppable juggernauts with gusto.  I don’t think there has ever been a cult classic that I have been a part of since its creation but I have spent my entire life being about four steps behind the general populace and my discovery of films has followed the same pattern.

We are on film two of my Norman Reedus phase which has taken a short hiatus due to the good Queen’s postal system not seeing fit to deliver the dvds ordered over a week ago but I digress……..

Due to my general incompetence I have lost and found my old natty dvd of The Boondock Saints on several occasions but in order to embrace the Reedus season which is taking place in my living room I splashed out and bought a fresh copy on Bluray. 

PLOT:  Irish twins Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) creatively kill a couple of Russian gangsters in self defence after a St Paddy‘s Day bar-room brawl gets out of hand.  After a dream sequence (affectionately known by me as the orgasm scene) they realise their calling in life is to kill all the criminals in Boston.  Detective Smecker (Willem Dafoe) is sent to Boston to bring an end to the vigilante killings.  There is Billy Connolly.  There is killing.  There is Willem Dafoe in a dress. There is bloodshed. There is a lot of destroying evil so that the good may flourish.  END PLOT

The plot of The Boondock Saints is fine - two decent god loving brothers killing the scum of the earth to make the world a better place - I can get on board with this notion quite easily.  The film maintains its heavy religious undertones without turning into a preachy self-important mess. There aren’t many times in life when you find praying cool but it happens several times in The Boondock Saints.

There is plenty of humour - mostly due to the brothers bickering and some witty one lines thrown in for good measure.  As a cat lover I never thought watching a sleeping cat being shot at close distance could be amusing but this says more about me than the film.

If you look hard enough into any film that isn’t made by Guillermo del Toro you can find faults - the only fault in The Boondock Saints I care enough about to mention is St Patrick’s Day itself.  I have never in my twenty-five years of being Irish referred to the day of St Patrick as St Patty’s Day. In Ireland we keep the “D’s” thank you very much.

The Boondock Saints is an independent film and the budget at times is noticeably low but it doesn’t matter.  Sometimes keeping things simple works for the better and the opening scenes with The Blood of Cu Chulainn has become one of my favourite opening credit sequences.  

A film is only as good as its cast and Flaney and Reedus are great in their roles as Connor and Murphy.  After watching several convention videos on youtube and seeing that these two guys are friends in real life it actually makes me like the actors, their characters and the film even more - there is something genuinely likeable about all the people involved.

The Boondock Saints is very Connor heavy and he gets most of the scenes and lines although this by default makes Murphy my favourite.  There are a few scenes were it’s just Connor and Rocco (David Della Rocco) and I always, without fail, get this weird sense of “Yay Murphy’s back” when he wanders back from praying somewhere just off screen.  The screen time is a bit more even in the sequel. 

Every actor in the known world will at some stage play a role with an American accent but it’s only on the rarest of occasions that an Irish accent will be required and this usually goes down the road of the typical Oirish “top O the mornin’ to ye” leprechaun accent that I’ve yet to encounter on this Island.  Flanery and Reedus fair well with the accent and thankfully keep any Oirish tendencies to a minimum.

The action, violence and language are all there - it has its rating for a reason but by today’s blood splattering standards it isn’t as extreme as more recent films.

The Boondock Saints does get a bad rap from film critics who are paid a large wage to write about film.  I get that opinions are opinions and I have no interest in trying to change the minds of  those who don’t like The Boondock Saints.  What I will say is this -  I think that there is a certain amount of snobbery that comes with all film fans (myself included) and I believe that it is as trendy to run down The Boondock Saints as it is to gush about how breathtakingly wonderful The Shawshank Redemption is - when push comes to shove I know which film I would rather watch. 

The circumstances in which The Boondock Saints was pulled from the cinema are obviously unfortunate, however looking at it from the films point of view it probably saved it from being forgotten in a long line of Boston gangster films. 

The success of this film isn’t due to any amount of Empire Magazine gushing and fanfaring it is due to the word of mouth advertising by the fans to the new fans and this has turned The Boondock Saints into a cult classic which has spawned a sequel and if rumours are to be believed a tv show which is more than most mainstream films will ever achieve.

The Boondock Saints is a film that shall forever be loved.
Here endeth the gushing.

Amen

Six Ways To Sunday

 It is only Monday but I already know that the chances of me making it to the cinema at the weekend are slim so I am stuck for something to blog about.  For reasons unknown to myself I don’t tend to review dvds but I am in the middle of my own self-created Norman Reedus phase so why the hell not?

Tonight’s dvd of choice was Six Ways To Sunday.  Tomorrow nights dvd choice depends on the Royal Mail and it's casual postal system.

PLOT:  Harry (Norman Reedus) lives with his overbearing mother (Debbie Harry) in Run-Down-USA.  He along with his friend Arnie (Adrian Brody) are hired by the mob in order to collect debts.  Harry discovers a hidden talent for killing and quickly makes his way up the employment ladder.  Harry falls for his Iris.  Harry’s mum isn’t happy.  There is an awkward meet the parents dinner.  There are bloody murders.  There is incest.  There is suicide. There is a wonderfully twisted and dark happy ending. END PLOT

I have to admit that I knew little about Six Ways To Sunday other than what I read on its IMDB page and that it starred Norman Reedus and this, quite frankly, is the sole reason I bought the film.

Where to start with the plot? It’s your typical coming of age story of a slightly crazy hitman with a manipulative mother.  The story had the potential to be ridiculous but it worked because at the core of Six Ways To Sunday is really dark and twister humour along the lines of Very Bad Things and The Cable Guy (two films I really like).

Norman Reedus manages to play Harry with such naivety that Harry boarders on being a likeable simpleton but at the same time you wouldn’t dare piss him off as there are flashes of dangerous anger (note - don’t say anything about his mother).

Debbie Harry is great as Kate Odum, Harry’s mother.  There are some fantastic moments between the two - the sex talk is uncomfortable to watch and I loved her constant manipulation of Harry in order to get him to stay with her and split up with his new girlfriend Iris.

Adrian Brody appeared to be channelling Ali-G about two years before that character was created but he was also fine.

Six Ways To Sunday will not be to everyone’s taste.  I have always liked dark humour so I knew I would have no problems with the content.  It transpired that I liked the film a lot more than expected. I thought my blog would be full of fangirly Norman Reedus gushing in a desperate attempt to hide the fact that Six Ways is a bad movie but I don’t need to go down this road as after only one viewing I know tonight's is going to be the first of many. 

On its first viewing Six Ways To Sunday gets an 8/10 but I know the film needs to be rewatched to fully appreciate it although next time I will NOT be watching it with my mother. Christ……..