Drama > W Drama > 18 years and over > up to 5 GBP

Advantages: Denzel Washington acting his socks off, brilliant story
Disadvantages: none (maybe Dr Dre's acting)

Training Day is a film directed by Antoine Fuqua (director of 'King Arthur' and 'Shooter'), following 24 hours in the life of LAPD 'by the book' officer Jake Hoyt (Eathan Hawk) as he spends an evaluation day with charismatic narcotics officer and highly decorated detective Alonzo Harris (the superb Denzel Washington). As Hoyt quickly finds out life with LA's narcotics division isn't quite what he expected and he is thrown into a mixture of dangerous ...
...than just pictures. Parts of Training Day were shot on a dead end street called Palmwood Dr where the Black P. Stones Blood gangmembers were seen on the rooftops. Cle Shaheed Sloan, the gang technical advisor of Training Day, managed to get on screen real-life gang members from Rollin' 60 Crips, PJ Watts Crips and B.P.Stones Bloods. The soundtrack is excellent and fit's perfectly in with the decorum of the film, with mostly hip-hop tracks. Movie ... Read review

Advantages: some great music
Disadvantages: alot of drug taking

London 1964, The film is based around rival gangs of Mods and Rockers and in particular a young mans struggle on coming to terms with growing up. And his best mate (Ray Winstone) turning out to be a Rocker. Jimmy (Phil Daniels) is the young man; he believes there has to be more to life, than being an office junior. He doesn't want to be like his council tenant, TV watching parents. Jimmy spends his time being part of a scooter riding Mod gang, ...
...release his frustration. It portrays the Mods as snappy smooth dressers, Parka coats and neatly styled hair, and the Rockers as scruffy leather clad thugs. Not always the case in reality though, my mother was a Hells Angel in years gone by, and was always clean, tidy and dressed superbly. Jimmy's gang head of to Brighton for their annual bank holiday weekend break, where a clash with rival Rockers is inevitable. All hell breaks loose as to be ... Read review

Advantages: Epic in scale; fantastic attention to detail; engaging and powerful; sensitive
Disadvantages: Not long enough -- uneven and lacking in places; misses out on crucial character development

...bigger, more ambitious films. Indeed, Once Upon A Time In America was a project ten years in the making, and the results wouldn't be fully appreciated until the four hour version of what had been cut down to a two hour film, would be released. While the late Sergio Leone had made a ten hour film, of which half the footage he considered essential, the four hour version is far more superior to its 1984 two-hour predecessor, and allows the film's issues ...
...Jewish quarter of New York. Once Upon A Time In America follows a complex plot that unravels as the film stretches out. The basic premise is that the film has three storylines interwoven within one another; Noodles' childhood, Noodles' time as a criminal, and Noodles returning to New York as an old man to face his fate. Leone opens the film enigmatically, with Noodles being pursued by a group of mobsters as revenge for Noodles tipping off his friends ... Read review

Advantages: Entertaining, Fun
Disadvantages: Silly

...week; as security agent for the president and his wife it is his sole responsibility to protect their safety. However, after a string of threats and attempt to take the presidents life he begins to believe that there is a mole in the CIA, until he is framed for the attacks and forced to go on the run. Having to rely on his skills, with no-one to trust, Garrison has to unravel the intricate web of deceit and murder, and clear his name, before the ...
...away. The Sentinel is a swift, silly and ultimately extremely enjoyable thriller with all the style of a modern day pic and a dash of old style Hollywood which makes most of its flaws fairly insignificant. This is helped by some pretty decent characterisation, a familiar but interesting story and an exciting finale. Sure the writing is predictable and the direction is less-than-perfect but it's instilled with such pace and authenticity and lit up ... Read review

Advantages: A riveting central performance from Wood and a deliciously spiky script
Disadvantages: A trite ending

Spoilt rich kid Kimberly Joyce is the queen bee of her exclusive private school; head of all the best societies, star of the school play and ever so popular. She loves being the centre of attention and will do anything to maintain her spot in the limelight. Even if that means convincing her best friend Brittany and new girl Randa to wrongfully accuse one of their male teachers of sexual harassment. She figures that all the media attention will help ...
...the case ignites a media frenzy and Kimberly lies and manipulates herself to notoriety with a little help from a female reporter whose interest in the schoolgirl is more than professional. With "Pretty Persuasion", director Marcos Siega has created a deliciously spiky black comedy in the vein of "Election" or "Cruel Intentions". He delights in his morally despicable central character that lives in an over-privileged world where celebrity is the ... Read review