Starring: Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong, Toby Kebbell, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Chris Bridges, Jeremy Piven

Directed by: Guy Ritchie

Warner Brothers

The Official Site of RocknRolla

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RocknRolla is a tale of redemption. A story of one man’s journey back to the top after being beaten and bruised by following his heart. Of course, that’s not the story being told in the film, it’s the one of the film’s director Guy Ritchie who burst into the cinema and our heats with two monstrous, British, crime classics only to follow them up with a love story and a head trip that both had us scratching our heads wondering where this original voice of inspiration had gone.

I’m actually not so down on those two in-between efforts, 2002’s Swept Away and 2005’s Revolver, but I wanted a return to form as much as every passionate naysayer of those films. The storytelling and perspective of Snatch and Lockstock and Two Smoking Barrels was so explosive and just absent form theaters without Ritchie. We needed it back and we looked to RocknRolla for it.

It doesn’t quite reach that hype but RocknRolla’s gritty and stylish look at the new evolution of the England underground loses the goofy love story and twist endings in favor of the well told, well performed adventures of big bad badasses with charming accents. True British crime like no one else can do.

It would be nice if people were talking about the film for what it is but with an underdog story like Ritchie’s (and unfortunately the interest revolving his recent divorce to Madonna) the world seems content focusing on the creators adventure instead of the one on screen. Truth is stranger than fiction, even when the movie is filled with a fluffy scooter jacking, man on man slow dancing and a proper lesson on how to backhand your underlings.

In context those little nuggets may make more sense but RocknRolla is the kind of movie that moves so quickly, you won’t have too much time to stop and dwell on any one thing. Compared to Richie's other crime classics this one is easier to follow despite an equally large cast that seem to revolve in and out to the point where you're surprised to see them every 15 minutes when they pop up. "Oh right, I forgot that dude was in this." "I forgot he was narrating the whole damn thing.� You’ll be praying for a beat of down time every now and then, a music montage so you can run off and have a quick piss, but this adventure slows down for no man.

There are too many characters to properly explain, it’s just easier to tell you about what they’re fighting over. In this case it’s a painting. A source of luck for one man, a source of life for another and a source of revenge for someone else. It must be a pretty remarkable image to behold right? Well don’t get your hopes up – The elusive painting is elusive to no one as much as the audience. You’ll become more familiar with its ornate frame from behind then the image itself. I wonder if it’s a painting of the inside of Marsellus Wallace’s brief case... That’s how insignificant it is. What’s really important is what the painting represents to the characters and what lengths they’ll go to in order to obtain it. It’s a true testament to the fact that anything can be the catalyst for a good story. The item changes hands and people die in the most charming of ways, all over something we’ll never see.

The performances all around are great, though if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m easily charmed by violence and accents. Gerard Butler an The Wild Bunch are a fantastic new pack of criminals to add to cinema’s Smithsonian of crime, (As good as P.S. I Love You was, it’s nice to see Butler making a real man’s man movie again) and Thandie Newton will awkwardly dance her way right into your heart. But like any good crime adventure it’s the bad guy that stand out the most, this time represented by the effortlessly awesome Tom Wilkenson and Mark Strong who seems to be making a good case for being the kind of actor that should be cast in every movie ever. He’s able to take a villain and play them with a lot of charm, without losing any of the fear and intimidation that represent the character’s power. It’s amazing to admire someone that, if you knew him in real life, would probably be the guy that would ultimately kill you.

So, is RocknRolla Richie's big return? I couldn’t say for sure. It's certainly more in line with what people want from him. Good or bad that's what it is, and I left happy.

Rating: 7 out of 10 - I enjoyed Rocknrolla but in some respects it feels a little safe. It doesn’t take the same risks that Snatch did and as a result feels a little predictable. A little “light�. Maybe more people should have died, maybe the painting should have been a diamond, maybe (more likely) I should just throw my expectations of what a movie “should be� out the window and just enjoy it for what it is.

All I know is that RocknRolla didn’t challenge me the same way Snatch and Lockstock did. Those were movies I didn’t get at first and that I had to learn to love. I got Rocknrolla… so why don’t I love it?

I don’t know, all I know is I left the theater wanting more and sure enough there was a promise right there at the end that the adventure would continue. Who knows what kind of wait we’re in store for a RocknRolla sequel, but I think it's great Ritchie is taking time off from this gang to play with Sherlock Holmes for the fall. He'll come back with a new perspective and that usually yields strong results.

Definitely. A few weeks ago I was working on a strip and thought it would be fun to put in Guy Richie’s movie Snatch as my workin’ noise. Huge mistake. Snatch is complex and engaging to the point where it was truly distracting me from what I was doing. I had to turn it off after 45 minutes when I realized I had completely migrated from my pencil and drawing board to my couch and bag of potato chips.

In that respect none of Guy Richie’s movies are worth owning on DVD, except when you’re actually willing to give time to them. Background noise is a big factor in my DVD buying criteria, but so is the movie being worth blocking out the noise of the world to spend some time with. Like all of Ritchie’s films, including the one’s no one likes, RocknRolla should fulfill that need nicely.

Gran Torino - Holy hell, could someone please find the Fountain of Youth so Clint Eastwood can keep making movies like this forever?

The Official site has nice preview of the movies fantastic soundtrack of which the stand out for me was “Funnel of Love� by Wand Jackson. It’s also got a slew of video clip including a nice featurette on the film’s U.K Premiere. If you need some convincing to see this movie, head on over and explore for a few minutes.

I had a really nice weekend. Yeo and I went out of town to visit a friend of hers from high school, her husband and their 4-month-old daughter. It was a nice break from the city and a nice reminder of how adorable little kids can be. I can’t wait to see my niece and nephews over the winter holidays. I feel a lot of pressure to be the cool aunt and uncle, unfortunately Yeo doesn’t. Long story short – we’re not getting a pool. It’s for the best really. I have no idea where in 4th floor New York City apartment we would actually put it.

Short and sweet today guys but there will be more up before you know it.