My little Empire Review

Ill Manors is a great directorial debut form plan b, Ben Drew. This is one of the best British movies that i have seen in years. It is in the same vain as kidulthood and 4321. There is some great acting and great music all the way through from plan b himself. I think it is a though movie to watch but well worth a look at. Should win baftas and lots of other awards.

Amazon Review

He may be better known in some quarters as hip-hop musician Plan B, but Ben Drew opened up a fresh career for himself as a movie director with his confident debut, Ill Manors. Drew also wrote the script for this crime drama, which follows the lives of eight characters across seven days in a violence-infested London. That’s a lot to balance for an established director, which makes Drew’s achievement with Ill Manors all the more impressive. He juggles intertwining stories with real confidence, and finds interesting angles on themes that have been explored many times before in cinema. It’s not an easy film to watch at times, mainly because of its refusal to flinch, but it is a very impressive one.

The disc is bolstered by the inclusion of two further short films, as well as a piece looking at the making of the movie. A series of deleted scenes are included as well. It’s a good mix of material here, and there’s a lot to explore.

But it’s the film that lingers in the mind long after the credits have rolled. Without giving anything away, Ill Manors has its ups and downs, but its confident, impressive and engrossing at its very best. A strong debut from a real talent. –Jon Foster

Ill Manors Trailor

My Little Empire Review

The Raid or The Raid Redemption is one of the best action movies of the year. Yes it is subtitled but you can also watch it with English audio and it certainly does not take any thing away from it. Basic story is a swat team decide to go after a drug lord who lives on the top floor of a building and they are in for a surprise. There are some great close quarter contact fighting (the the buildings hall ways) all the way through. There is bomb, guns, machetes and hammers used as weapon and not to overlook the great hand to hand fights. who will survive? The music was put togeather by linkin park mike shinoda. So you know it sound good. This is a serious action movie. A must for any action movie fan.

Amazon Review

Deep in the heart of one of Jakarta’s most deprived slums stands an impenetrable high-rise apartment block. To most it is 30 floors of Hell to be avoided at all costs but for many of the city’s most dangerous killers and gangsters, including the area’s most notorious crime lord, it is a fortress-like safe house protecting them from the law. Even for the bravest and most experienced police officers it is considered a no-go area.

In a desperate bid to flush these violent criminals and their leader from their haven once and for all, an elite SWAT team is tasked with infiltrating the building and raiding the apartments floor by floor, taking out anyone who stands in their way. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness, the SWAT members make their move and enter the block not realising that this is the easier part of the mission. Once inside, it soon becomes terrifyingly apparent that the real problem at hand is surviving long enough to be able to get out again. – read more on amazon.co.uk

The Raid Trailer

My Little Empire Review

Inside Job is a great movie and looks at how the global financial crisis affected the worlds economy and how greed nearly took down the worlds banks. This documentary is narrated by Matt Damon. This looks at all the “bankers” and where there were then, during (when they took the bonus) and where they are now (still in charge of banks). Its a very good documentary and well worth a watch and it explained sub-prime mortgages and CDO’s as well. Enjoy 

Amazon Review

As he did with the occupation of Iraq in No End in Sight, Charles Ferguson shines a light on the global financial crisis in Inside Job. Accompanied by narration from Matt Damon, Ferguson begins and ends in Iceland, a flourishing country that gave American-style banking a try–and paid the price. Then he looks at the spectacular rise and cataclysmic fall of deregulation in the United States. Unlike Alex Gibney’s fiscal films, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Casino Jack, Ferguson builds his narrative around dozens of players, interviewing authors, bank managers, government ministers, and even a psychotherapist, who speaks to a culture that encourages Gordon Gekko-like behavior, but the number of those who declined to comment, like Alan Greenspan, is even larger.

Though the director isn’t as combative as Michael Moore, he asks tough questions and elicits squirms from several participants, notably former Treasury secretary David McCormick and Columbia dean Glenn Hubbard, George W. Bush’s economic adviser. Their reactions are understandable, since the borders between Wall Street, Washington, and the Ivy League dissolved years ago; it’s hard to know who to trust when conflicts of interest run rampant. If Ferguson takes Reagan and Bush to task for tax cuts that benefit the wealthy, he criticizes Clinton for encouraging derivatives and Obama for failing to deliver on the promise of reform. And in the category of unlikely heroes: former governor Eliot Spitzer, who fought against fraud as New York’s attorney general (he’s the subject of Gibney’s documentary Client 9). — Kathleen C. Fennessy — read original on amazon

Inside Job Trailer

My Little Empire Review

The Dark knight rises, I went to see this on the opening night and thought is was very good but not as good as the dark night. There was too much plot line and it intrupted the action at some points. The action was great with all the bell and whistels you would expect from a batman movie. There was alot of loose ends tied up but i don’t think we have seen the end to the Batman. 

Empire review

Plot – Eight years after Batman disappeared, blamed for murder, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a wounded recluse, but Gotham is vibrant — until masked maniac Bane (Tom Hardy) decides it’s high time to bring the city down. Facing this new threat and mysterious cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), Wayne decides the Dark Knight must rise, once again.

Verdict -With spectacle in abundance and sexiness in (supporting) parts, this is superhero filmmaking on an unprecedented scale. Rises may lack the surprise of Begins or the anarchy of Knight, but it makes up for that in pure emotion. A fitting epitaph for the hero Gotham deserves. – read more

The Dark Knight Rises trailer

My Little Empire Review

Act of Valour is one of the better action movies you will see this year. The acting is not great, it is a bit wooded. I know they are real Navy seals but the action alone makes up for it. The sound of the bullets is great and the gunboat gun are very loud are they are real bullets. Check out the extra’s on the DVD as some of them are very good (real sub in particular). For all you War Movie fanatics this is a must see.

The below poem is from the movie so i figured it would be nice to include it. 

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and Demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, Beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and Its purpose in the service of your people.” – Chief Tecumseh

Amazon Review

Act of Valour aims to capture the experience of Navy SEALs as they combat the schemes of a Chechnyan jihadist who wants to send suicide bombers into American stadiums and shopping malls. Their efforts take them all over the world, from Costa Rica to Somalia to the South Pacific. For added authenticity, eight real Navy SEALs have been cast in the lead roles. In terms of tactics and equipment, Act of Valour is rigorously authentic. What marks this as fantasy is the perfection of the missions (there are no civilian casualties; every sniper takes out his target in a single head shot–there are a lot of exploding heads in this movie) and absolute moral clarity (the wild-eyed jihadist and drug cartel foot soldiers are unquestionably evil; one of the main characters carries his grandfather’s folded flag from World War II).

The performances of the SEALs, though well intentioned, make you appreciate the complexities of Arnold Schwarzenegger. What’s smart about Act of Valour is that it doesn’t waste much time with setups or dialogue, but heads straight into the missions. However, much of these missions are filmed like a first-person-shooter video game, which lends a sense of immediacy but undercuts the sense of reality. Still, all in all, Act of Valour is a sincere attempt to express admiration for the men and women risking their lives in the military. –Bret Fetzer — read original

Act of Valour Trailer

My Little Empire Review

This is the story of a man on a ledge. He is an ex-cop who wants to clear his name but while the police try to talk him down there are other thing going on else where that he is involved in. This movie is in the stlye of Phone Booth, The Inside Man, Dog Day Afternoon and The Taking of Pelham 123. This is well worth the watch and an action packed ride. It was filimed mainly on location on the side of the Roosevielt Hotel (making of the ledge is not a bad making of either). With a cast of Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks, Ed Burns Anthony Mackie and Ed Harris this is an allstar cast.

Amazon.co.uk Review

A well-cast thriller with style to burn, Man on a Ledge can’t quite decide if it wants to be a hairpin Hitchcockian exercise in suspense, or a more linear action movie. The script by Pablo F. Fenjves promisingly wastes little time in getting the two nouns of the title together, with the opening scene depicting a mysterious man (Sam Worthington) checking into a swank New York hotel, ordering an expensive meal, and then stepping out of his window for a stroll. But why the choice of this building, in particular? Or his specific request for a boozily disgraced negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) to talk him back inside? And what’s with the clumsy couple attempting to break into the office across the street? All will be revealed, rather unusually quickly.

To his credit, director Asger Leth (a former documentarian) does manage to capture some of the city-as-an-organic-entity vibe that powered such seminal NY films as Dog Day Afternoon and The Taking of Pelham 123. Unfortunately, his gritty sense of style ultimately can’t do much with the increasingly straightforward plot, which telegraphs its curves way in advance. Still, if the narrative shortcomings keep the film from being top-notch escapism, the actors compensate for a lot, beginning with the palpable chemistry between Worthington and Banks and continuing with a wonder of a supporting cast, including Ed Burns as a disgruntled cop, The Hurt Locker’s exceptional Anthony Mackie as an investigating officer with ties to the main character, and especially Ed Harris, as a gazillionaire real estate tycoon who takes visible joy in crushing the spirits of his underlings. If you’ve ever wondered what Scrooge McDuck would look like in human form, here you go. — Andrew Wright on amazon.co.uk

Man on a Ledge Trailer

My Little Empire Review

Machine Gun Preacher tells the true story of Sam Childers ( played by Gerard Butler). He is a former drug dealer who found god and went out to build an orphanage for the children of Sudan. This is a very good movie because all i saw was the trailer and then as the movie started i found myself wondering how in the hell did he go from here to what we saw in the trailer. The acting is quiet good and the movie in general is well worth a watch even just to educate yourself. This is a true story and Sam Childers is still working for the children doing what ever it take to keep them safe. Good luck to him in this endeavor.

Watch the interview with Sam Childers at the bottom of this page as well.

Play.com Review

Machine Gun Preacher is the inspirational true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing transformation and finds an unexpected calling as the savior of hundreds of kidnapped and orphaned children. Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance as Childers, the impassioned founder of the Angels of East Africa rescue organization in Golden Globe-nominated director Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) moving story of violence and redemption.

When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region’s vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it’s most needed-in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens.

But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA’s intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives – and eventually his own. The explosive, real-life tale of a man who has rescued over a thousand orphans from starvation, disease and enslavement, Machine Gun Preacher also stars Michelle Monaghan (Due Date), Kathy Baker (Cold Mountain), Madeline Carroll (Mr. Popper’s Penguins), Academy Award® nominated Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and Souleymane Sy Savane (“Damages”). see more on play

Machine Gun Preacher Trailer

Machine Gun Preacher Visits the Sunshine Coast, Australia

My Little Empire Review

If you want a great fighting action movie look no further than Warrior. The acting is really good. Tom Hardy is back to his nasty self like in Branson and Joel Edgerton gives another great performance akin to the one he gave in animal kingdom. Nick Nolte is even back to his best. All together this is well worth a look for all MMA fight fans and all action movie fans in general.  

Amazon Review

Warrior stars Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises) and Joel Edgerton (The Thing). An inspirational and exhilarating rollercoaster of a film, Warrior centres around Tommy (Hardy) – an ex marine haunted by a tragic past, who enlists the help of his estranged father (Nick Nolte) to train up for the fight of his life. A former wrestling prodigy, Tommy blazes a path towards SPARTA – the biggest ‘winner takes all’ Mixed Martial Arts event in history. His brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), an ex-fighter-turned teacher, also returns to the ring in a desperate bid to save his family from financial ruin. So when Brendan’s unlikely underdog rise sets him on a collision course with the unstoppable Tommy, the two brothers must finally confront each other – and the forces that pulled them apart – in the ultimate face off. – click here to read more.

Warrior Trailer

My Little Empire Review

“Cataleya is a young woman who has grown up to be an assassin after witnessing the murder of her parents as a child. Turning herself into a professional killer to get her revenge on the mobster responsible for her parents’ deaths”. Add to this lots of guns and the very sexy Miss Zoe Saldana. What more could you ask for. Basicly it’s better than “Salt” and has great action from start to finish. Enjoy  

Amazon.co.uk Review

As a producer, Luc Besson (The Transporter series, Taken, District B-13) has made extremely profitable B-movie hay out of a fairly strict formula incorporating whisper-thin femme fatales, parkour, Gaultier, and guns. Colombiana, another Besson collaboration with director Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3), doesn’t exactly blaze new trails, but the combination of Zoe Saldana’s fierce performance and a dash of oddball surrealism sure makes the running time zoom by. Purportedly beginning as a sequel to The Professional, the story follows a beautiful South American assassin bent on rubbing out the murderers of her parents. Unfortunately, the closer she gets to her drug lord prey, the more her own loved ones (including Michael Vartan and an amusingly hambone Cliff Curtis) are put at risk. Things go boom, frequently. Director Megaton handles the action with the rapid-cut, blue-filtered zing common to the Besson factory, but things receive a definite boost via the efforts of Saldana, whose performance combines the intensely physical with an appealing soulfulness.

Whether slithering through air ducts in a skin-tight cat suit or using a toothbrush as an impromptu weapon, she somehow manages to maintain an air of beyond-the-call gravitas. Also of note are the scenes of the heroine plying her lethal trade, some of which bear the funky logic-defying influence of Mario Bava’s great fugue-state caper movie Danger: Diabolik. Ultimately, although the story elements and secondary character motivations rarely hang together, Colombiana’s distinguishing marks help place the film somewhere above the level of guilty pleasure. When pitted against the likes of a mobster with a glass-paneled shark tank for a dance floor, reality can take a seat, frankly. –Andrew Wright - read more

Colombiana Trailer

My Little Empire Review

 I am a fan of the inbetweeners and i have see most of them. I liked the movie and i thought it stayed true to the tv series. But i feel it has stayed too true to it. It has some funny bits but it was more like a long episode than a stand alone movie. It works but i think it would only work if you saw the original. Its good so enjoy it.

Amazon Review

The multi award-winning Inbetweeners return – in this critically-acclaimed film, Will (Simon Bird), Simon (Joe Thomas), Jay (James Buckley) and Neil (Blake Harrison), have finished school forever, and are off on their first lads holiday.

They‘re looking forward to two weeks in Malia with no parents, no teachers and little chance with the ladies. From disastrous holiday accommodation, to Simon’s heartache, to Neil’s spectacular dancing, to Jay falling asleep in an ants nest, it’s a real coming-of-age film – where 4 boys become men… or at least try to. And with the chance for holiday romance the boys pull out all the stops! – read more

The Inbetweeners Movie Trailer