The robbery goes ahead but not without its problems and they manage to get away. However things get nasty when it emerges that a Soho porn king/gangster also has incriminating evidence in the vault and things turn nasty as he tries to get it back.

The Good:

The script is based on a true story which always makes interesting viewing. It briefly made headlines and then disappeared due to a Government D notice, gagging the press for 30 years. This gives the film an air of mystery about it as we know we are watching things the Government and police would prefer us not to know about and a bit of scandal involving the Royal Family is always a winner and this (apart from Jason Statham) is what I think will mainly appeal to American audiences as they always seem interested in things to do with the British Monarchy.

The characters are fun and well liked. Jason Statham is in a role he seems very comfortable with. It is rather similar to the parts he had in Lock Stock and Snatch which had a down to earth realism about them. There are some rather heart warming scenes between him and his little girls including one where he is dancing with one at a friend's wedding. We do also get to see him in action as well and although his character is likable he still has that manly quality that appeals to both male and female audiences.

The other characters are also good, particularly the rather comedic Dave played by Daniel Mays and Saffron Burrows is well cast as a former model who gets caught up in scandal.

The film has a fun retro feel taking us back in time to 1970s London and its T-Rex theme tune will instantly catch you.

There are some pretty tense moments mixed in with some pretty good one liners that make the movie what it is. It isn't overly violent or over the top nor is it a comedy but what we do get is pretty well balanced.

The Bad:

As much as we love to see Jason Statham's fight scenes the one in this seemed a little silly as he was fighting someone a lot bigger than him and it was as if it was written in the film just because of who he is. There will be those on the other hand of cause who don't care who he was fighting, again because of who he is.

There was a sex scene between Jason Statham and Saffron Burrows cut from the film. This wouldn't have been a problem really if it hadn't been for a scene later on in the film when them having sex is referred to and the audience is meant to assume it happened after a kiss which we do see.

My View:

All in all The Bank Job is an enjoyable film which works well on many levels. It is pretty much a man's film but is not overly violent enough to put women off who will be attracted to the drama and scandal as it is a true story.

“American Gangster” is a true story about Frank Lucas-a poor black kid from the south who comes to New York to work for Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson a gangster from Harlem. It's a story about determination, ingenuity and yes, even honor. It tells of Frank's determination to make sure his mother and siblings get to have the things they never did growing up. It's the story of how he uses his brain and imagination to come up with a plan to cut the “middle man” out of the drug trade… buying directly from the source….and thereby selling his dope for considerably less, and still making a ton of money for himself (a million dollars a day, to be exact)! And it's the story of how Richie Roberts, while battling his own demons, still does the “right thing”, no matter what.

Frank Lucas himself said about Denzel Washington, “If you can find better…I want to know”. And having seen the movie, I have to agree…there is no one better to play this man than Denzel Washington. And no one better to play the cop turned prosecutor who brought him down than Russell Crowe. Both actors put forth an exceptionally believable performance. Not an easy feat when dealing with historical figures.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this film a solid 9. Only because it's not exactly kid friendly. There is lots of violence, some nudity, and the subject matter is not what I would want to expose my 11 year old son to. But for anyone over the age of 17, I highly recommend it!

The only down side to the film was it's length (over 2 hours), but I cannot think of a single scene that could have been left out in the interest of brevity, so it is well worth the missed hours of sleep.

So, why would a New York cop turn in a million dollars worth of unmarked, untraceable bills? Well, you'll just have to go see the movie and find out!

The Pursuit of Happiness is based on the true story of Chris Gardner. It’s about a man who was struggling to support his family. He sells bone density machines to doctors. He doesn’t make much money at it. The bills are starting to pile up so he decides to take an internship as a stockbroker. The movie takes you on his journey to finding happiness.

Questions/Comments:

Will and Jaden were cute together.

For those of you who didn’t know, Will’s real life son played Christopher. I thought they worked really well together. They were so natural together it was as if they weren’t reading from a script. I wonder if this is how they act towards each other in real life. It was a refreshing change to see a father and son together onscreen actually caring about each other. Despite all of the trouble they were having in the film, they still loved each other.

Was the movie fair to Thandie Newton’s character?

Thandie Newton played Chris’s wife Linda in the movie. She was written up as being very unsupportive of Chris. She also seemed distant towards their son. She leaves Chris and Christopher because she wasn’t happy anymore. She initially takes Christopher with her, but Chris demands that he stay with him. She didn’t even fight him on it. It’s as if she didn’t even care about him anymore. Once she leaves for New York, she’s written out of the movie. We never even find out if she calls to check on Christopher. Here’s why I think the movie is unfair to Linda. Her reasons for leaving are never developed. The audience never sees what pushes her to the point that she wants to leave. She decides out of the blue that she is unhappy and leaves Chris. I’m curious as to whether she is as cold in real life as she appears in the movie.

I felt sorry for Chris and Christopher.

It seemed like everything was going wrong. He went through quite a few bad things in the movie. He was robbed a couple of times. He had to deal with being evicted. He was arrested. It’s hard not to feel sorry for someone who was going through all of that especially since he was working so hard to support himself and his son. I could have lost it when he was crying in the bathroom about the way his life was turning out. You’ll have to see this scene to know what I’m talking about. I even felt sorry for him when he stiffed a cab driver earlier in the film. I know he was wrong to do this, but I found myself rooting for him to get away from the cab driver.

Why didn’t Chris look for a better job?

Chris is written up to be an intelligent man so I don’t understand why he settled for a non-paying internship. He was flat broke so his decision made no sense to me. His only source of income was to sell the bone density machines. People weren’t really buying them that much or he wouldn’t have had to take the job. I don’t think he should have relied on this when he was raising a child. He took a risk taking the internship when there was no guarantee that he would have had a job when it was over.

Where was Chris getting money?

There were times in the movie when Chris is supposed to be broke yet he always had money in his wallet. He had money to keep his son in daycare. The daycare cost $150 a month. He also had money for them to keep eating out. He really knew how to make what little money he had stretch.

Maybe Chris should have called Linda.

When things were really bad for him and Christopher, maybe he should have called his wife and let her have their son until he got back on his feet. I know he loved his son, but he was having too much trouble supporting him. Luckily he didn’t end up losing his kid. In real life, he might have lost him.

Final thoughts:

I really enjoyed the movie. I thought the movie was well written and well acted. Will Smith gives an Oscar worthy performance in my opinion. I thought Jaden did a really good job considering this is his first movie. I also thought the other actors and actresses did a good job too.