buffychik

This film flew under the radar, and did not get the credit it deserved, both for its originality, and for its unique style. Not perfect by any means, Nick Love directed a movie that not only touches on current issues, but adds a post-apocalyptic "V For Vendetta" flair to the London setting.

The story centers on a handful of characters as they deal with being victims of various crimes: Danny comes home from Iraq to find his wife in the arms of another man, Gene is brutally attacked after an accidental fender-bender, and Cedric finds himself on the receiving end of some very real and vicious threats from a court case he's dealing with. These just name the main points. Danny, in his search for normalcy, finds himself at a seedy motel managed by a security guard named Simon who himself has a seedy past. Together, these characters find common ground and decide to act against the criminals that seem to be owning London (or one in particular).

This film really investigates who exactly is the criminal and who is the victim.

So yes, there are downsides to this film...it's not big on the budget. Primarily, the film does appear to be done with hand-held cameras, although the special features show otherwise, giving it a more "student" feel. Due to its low budget, action scenes are subtle and not all that overdone, which gives it a bit of a slowed plot. Aside from that, the script is solid, and the story is quite possibly the most original I've seen in a while.

If you're a fan of those films that may not always make it to the big screen, that may not have the multi-million dollar budget; a film that, instead, focuses on developing a decent story, then give "Outlaw" a watch. It will be worth it.

Brought to you from the Aussie indie underground, we have Gabriel, a seemingly typical battle between good and evil for the souls of humanity still trapped in purgatory. What you actually get is a highly stylized film filled with well scripted lines and extremely well done action sequences.

Filled with a cast of virtual unknowns to us Americans, Andy Whitfield leads as the noble and somewhat stubborn Gabriel. He has been sent to the seedy purgatory to finish the job that the six "Arcs" (archangels) before him were not able to succeed at: to finally shift the balance between good and evil back to the "light". Whitfield brings an amazing sex appeal to the role, along with extreme untapped talent and heart. Starring as his love interest and fallen angel Amitiel is Samantha Noble. She has a lot of natural beauty and skill in her role that makes her extremely believable as the soulful-eyed hooker, Jade. But, the best role lies with the leader of the "dark", Sammael, played by Dwaine Stevenson. His subtlety and damaged past, along with his brutally evil looking eyes make him truly a formidable "bad guy". For a cast of unknowns, they all had talent.

Filmed on an extremely low budget, Gabriel incorporated skilled gunfights, with a lot more subdued special effects and stunt work. What resulted was a much more solid script. As the director, Shane Abbess talked about in the DVD special features, the low budget only meant that the script had to be solid. Low budget doesn't necessarily mean a bad movie, it just means that the story doesn't have glamorous special effects to hide any excessive plot holes. The film had all the style of "Underworld" without all of the excessive over-the-top action.

This film will be overlooked by many, since there's probably all of one copy at your local video store. Pick it up, and you might be surprised.

Wow. Ben Affleck has really outdone himself in this directorial debut. His skills as a screenwriter and as a director make him a true Hollywood talent. To make a movie on such touchy subjects as drugs, kidnapping, child endangerment, and pedophilia as his debut was needless to say, a huge risk for him. He came out of it with what ended up to be an extremely beautiful and touching film.

Casey Affleck deserves every award coming to him. His skills as an actor are only getting better. (He's personally my preferred Affleck brother to watch on the screen...) He was fantastic as Patrick Kenzie the private investigator investigating the kidnapping of little Amanda McCready. He showed amazing heart and passion. Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman, along with the ever-amazing Michelle Monaghan headed a huge supporting cast that helped further portray the issues and controversy behind the law when children are involved.

Based on a book written by Dennis Lehane (of Mystic River fame), this film will bring out a lot of emotions, from anger at every person who didn't pay attention to these disappearing kids, to sadness and empathy for Patrick as he uncovers what happens to these unfortunate children and why.

Watch it.