American Gangster

Cast
Denzel Washington
Russell Crowe
Josh Brolin
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Carla Gugino
Common
TI
RZA
Ted Levine
John Ortiz
Yul Vazquez
Roger Bart
Screenwriter
Steven Zaillian
Director
Ridley Scott
Running Time
156 minutes

The true story of Frank Lucas (Washington), a ’70s Harlem crime lord who took on the Mafia by importing uncut heroin directly from Thailand, then selling it cheaper. Enter Richie Roberts (Crowe), the one clean cop in a sea of filthy fuzz, assigned to stem the drug flow and put Lucas behind bars.

It has a great visual style to it which goes without saying with a Ridley Scott picture but it does and there's the real sense of a long stretch of time being covered. The two leads are excellent and it held my absolute attention throughout.

Beowulf

Cast
Ray Winstone
Angelina Jolie
Brendan Gleeson
Anthony Hopkins
Robin Wright Penn
John Malkovich
Screenwriters
Roger Avary
Neil Gaiman
Director
Robert Zemeckis
Running Time
114 minutes

6th Century Denmark, and the domain of King Hrothgar (Hopkins) is under attack from a hideous demon named Grendel (Crispin Glover). The heroic Beowulf (Winstone), a Geat warrior, arrives and vows to defeat Grendel. But if he manages that, there’s Grendel’s angry and seductive mother (Jolie) to contend with…

I did not see this in 3D as there was nowhere nearby to do so and had I, I probably would have given it an extra star. It was good and the animation technique is interesting but still a work in progress. Characters who are shouting or very animated with the actor giving a big performance seem to work best at present, whereas say the Queen acted by Robin Wright Penn who presumably was giving the role a subtler playing seemed not to register with the computer because the face was an unmoving mask.

Death At A Funeral

Cast
Matthew Macfadyen
Rupert Graves
Alan Tudyk
Daisy Donovan
Kris Marshall
Andy Nyman
Jane Asher
Keeley Hawes
Peter Vaughan
Ewen Bremner
Peter Dinklage
Thomas Wheatley
Peter Egan
Screenwriter
Dean Craig
Director
Frank Oz
Running Time
90 minutes

While an eccentric British family mourns over their father's death, a mystery man threatens to reveal secrets about their father unless he is compensated.

Some mildly funny parts.