The Movies

Over the weekend I saw some films. First up, Dead Man's Shoes (4/5) A violent revenge thriller than draws parallels with Death Wish and Get Carter among others. However it's not typical of that genre. Paddy Considine's character Richard isn't your standard typical good guy. He's menacing in a villainous kind of way. His performance is very subtle. Having written the script alongside director Shane Meadows he could have gone for the big speeches and flashy set-pieces that a lot of films in this mould go for. But he doesn't, he certainly has his moments, but his dialogue is minimal and perhaps more effective for it and the most gruesome pieces of action take place off camera.

The film provides a very unsettling feeling throughout right up until the end and it's certainly not for everybody, but it's definitely something I'll see again. Special praise must go to former boxer Gary Stretch who puts in a fine turn as Sonny. Perhaps he should have thrown the towel in on his fight career years ago.

I also saw Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (4/5) A pretty amusing documentary that's being touted as 'The Real Spinal Tap.' Some of the highlights for me were the band therapist Phil practically becoming a member of the band, Lars Ulrich's odd looking, but pretty cool father and Dave Mustaine, former Metallica guitarist sacked about 16 years earlier, bleeting in a therapy session about how he's a loser compared to the rest of them. His band Megadeth being only a moderate success compared to Metallica's massive success. Very funny, if you like watching bitter people complain about their lot in life, which I do. Despite his straw not being particularly short.

Drummer Lars Ulrich comes across as a decent guy, despite his petty lawsuit against Napster. I think the films sags a little bit toward the end and if you can avoid seeing it with bellowing Metallica fans in the audience all the better.