the Bad Lieutenant, the Prince of Persia, or The Ghost?

I'm playing catch up here, but over the last 2 weeks I have seen the three above films. I enjoyed all of them but Bad Lieutenant stole the show.

Prince of Persia, based on a video game, is essentially a god awful, blockbuster film - but - I shamefully enjoyed it. This naturally was in so small part due to Jake Gyllenhaal who should definitely wear less clothes more. Aside from obviously being on a protein based diet for the last 6 months, he is so charismatic and I am a big fan of his performance in Donnie Darko so he can do no wrong in my eyes. The plot is based on the video game, which follows an adventurous prince who teams up with a rival princess to stop an angry ruler from unleashing a sandstorm that could destroy the world. Gemma Arterton is also pretty good in it and nice to look at so something for the boys as it were. In a nutshell, its pretty exciting, some good action sequences but essentially shit.

The Ghost ->

A Roman Polanski film based on a novel by Robert Harris who also wrote the screenplay, is about a public figure, accused of being a war criminal, much of whose time is spent bunkered in a chalet working on an autobiography that he hopes will salvage what’s left of his reputation. Ewan McGregor plays an unnamed ghostwriter who bags himself a commission to complete the memoirs of former PM Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), currently in freefall after being accused of giving the CIA free rein to kidnap and torture four Pakistani terror suspects. Despite some questionable accents from both Ewan M and Kim Cattral, and some pretty ridiculous twists - its enjoyable, tense and engaging. Worth a watch.

Bad Lieutenant -- >

Terence McDonagh (Nicholas Cage) is a drug- and gambling-addled detective in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating the killing of five Senegalese immigrants. German film-maker Werner Herzog has taken Abel Ferrara's 1992 saga shifted it from New York to New Orleans and cast Nicolas Cage in the old Harvey Keitel role. Out of the three cinema visits this was far and away my favourite! Partly as this much more kind of film - dark and seedy and weird - but also as it sees Nicolas cage back to form! This is the role he is best at playing - someone fundamentally fucked up. I actually think its the best I've seen him since Leaving Las Vegas. It is a Werner Herzog film (who I also love after watching Grizzly Man) so it had all the expected eccentricities of a Herzog film - cue sporadically appearing iguanas for example.

Herzog's Bad Lieutenant is mesmerising and wonky - in a good way. Herzog takes one of the oldest genre cliches in the book (the Maverick Cop Who Gets Results) and then sees how far he can twist it before it snaps. Def go see it!!!

NEXT PRIORITY -- >