DVD OF THE WEEK

ROCKNROLLA ****
Starring: Gerald Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong
Dir: Guy Ritchie

Guy Ritchie is back. He made a disastrous misstep by directing his wife in Swept Away and his following film – metaphysical gangster outing Revolver – fared so badly that it has yet to be released here. But with RocknRolla Guy Ritchie is back to what he does best and is firing on all cylinders again.
In fact, for those who dig Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, RocknRolla will seem almost like the third part of a London gangster trilogy, opening as it does with slick visuals and a wide-boy voice over introducing the themes and some very unsavoury characters. But despite its mish-mash of competing story lines and familiar shaggy dog structure, this new outing has enough to set it apart and make it an equal pleasure to those adrenalin-fuelled tales.
This time the action, and the huge cast, are all orbiting around a dodgy real estate deal between London kingpin Tom Wilkinson and a billionaire Russian property developer. Things go predictably pear-shaped when the Russian lends his 'lucky” painting to the Englishman. It is then stolen by his errant son-in-law, a drugged out rock singer. At the same time a devious accountant (Newton) arranges for the Russian's payment money to be stolen. From there on things get considerably more complicated.
RocknRolla moves along smartly and is anchored by another great turn from Mark Strong (recently so impressive in Body of Lies). Guy Ritchie's direction has picked up a few more tricks and he tells the story with uncommon verve. The characters and plot twists might come at you with the ferocity of a shotgun blast but Ritchie keeps things under control and serves up a high and wild ride, less violent than previous outings but none the worse for it.

Mirrors (**) is an extraordinarily silly film that is nonetheless quite involving and very atmospheric. In it Kiefer Sutherland is an alcoholic ex-cop who takes a job as night watchman in a spooky burned out department store. Where strange things happen in the night. Mixing a good deal of predictable clichés with a plot line that only gets more and more bonkers as it goes on leads to a conclusion where the filmmakers seemed determined to throw everything possible (and impossible) at the audience. I don't think any of it really made sense but there's so much going on by the end that I guess they hoped no one would notice.

The directing debut of writer Alan Ball, best known for American Beauty and Six Feet Under, is Towelhead (***). And a strange and disturbing piece it is too, once again rooted in dysfunctional American suburbia but with none of the gentle humour that lightened those previous projects. Taking place during the first Gulf War it follows a thirteen year old Iraqi girl trying to get to grips with a strict overbearing father and various other neighbourhood lowlifes (Aaron Eckhart's paedophile army vet particularly standing out). So, serious stuff. It caught flack in the States for depictions of underage sex but there is nothing gratuitous here, just a rather worrying portrait of teen alienation and an uncaring society.

Simon Pegg seems to be stuck in increasingly dire American comedies. After Run Fatboy Run we get How to Lose friends & Alienate People (**), a film about a young Englishman hired to work for big US celebrity journal Sharp magazine. But he's a rebel, not to mention a complete dork, and things don't go smoothly. Pegg mugs frantically to make up for not actually having a coherent character to play, while Kirstin Dunst and Jeff Bridge are potentially much more interesting and completely wasted. There are gags but, like the plot, most of them are so predictable as to raise groans rather than laughs. Shame.

The Dinner Guest (***) is another predictable comedy but, being French and starring Daniel Auteuil, it slips down much more easily. He is a middle-management hack who, along with his equally vacant wife have to impress the boss at diner to get a promotion. Their neighbour, a company consultant, helps by coaching them in business diner etiquette. It's by-the-numbers stuff, a light comedy of manners with a little farce thrown in, but those French have a way of turning even the most obvious trick with style.