Vas Blackwood Movies
- 2007
Using the chaos of the World Cup competition as their cover, a crew of crackerjack bank robbers scheme to steal millions of pounds in used bank notes from a London bank before the cold hard cash is incinerated as scheduled. After checking in early for a flight to Germany in order to establish their alibi, the thieves quickly sneak out to the airport parking lot, pile into a van, and stealthily drive towards their target. Their plan to smash the van into the building and grab the cash before catching their flight goes suddenly awry, however, when a member of the gang is badly injured in the crash. With the clock counting down before their flight takes to the sky, the group is soon forced to alter their plan as police attempt to negotiate with the crew through the crumpled van. The negotiations are quickly staled when the robbers refuse to negotiate, leaving the police with no other choice than to hatch a plan to storm the bank. When the police do finally gain entry into the bank, the sight they find leaves even the most sharp-minded law enforcer hopelessly speechless. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vas Blackwood, Geoff Bell, (more)
- 2006
Not to be confused with the awful 1988 Chris Columbus picture of the same name, the Swedish-language comedy-drama Heartbreak Hotel gently explores the nuances and gradations in the blossoming friendship between two women. The film opens with a bitter, ugly and comically vulgar argument between gynecologist Elisabeth (Helena Bergstrom) and parking attendant Gudrun (Maria Lundkvist), who meet and immediately engage in a nasty dispute in a parking lot while Elisabeth is en route to her son's wedding. Such is their one and only interaction, until Gudrun experiences severe lower stomach pain and, ironically, winds up on the examination table at Elisabeth's office. The women quickly find that they have a great deal in common - specifically, both are recent divorcees and single parents. In time, a fast bond develops between them, and they become inseparable friends. Elisabeth enables Gudrun to open up to the outside world, carting her to the titular dance club and enabling her to have fun for the first time in years. But when Gudrun's ex-husband Ake (Claes Mansson) turns up and espouses a desire to reunite with his wife - kindling jealousy in Elisabeth - and Elisabeth's ex-husband Henrik (Johan Rabaeus) also seeks reconciliation with his former wife, it threatens to move the friendship onto decidedly shaky ground. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helena Bergström, Maria Lundquist, (more)
When a London modeling agency booker dozes off while waiting for the midnight subway train, the subterranean terror that awaits her in the underground tunnels will send her screaming for her life through a dark labyrinth in this horror entry directed by Christopher Smith and starring Run Lola Run's Franka Potente. Awakening to discover that the midnight train has passed and she is locked in the station, Kate (Potente) reluctantly steps onto a mysterious empty train for a ride she will not soon forget. As the train grinds to a stop in the pitch black tunnels of the London Underground, Kate realizes that she is not alone in the darkness and if she has any hope of surviving until dawn she'll have to fight for her life against an unimaginable horror too terrifying for the light of day. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Franka Potente
In this gangster farce from first-time writer/director Ky Mo Lab, a pair of Irish pals become embroiled in a murder mystery upon their move to London. When Kenny (Glen Mulhern) arrives in the big city, he's dismayed to find his mate, Byron (Brendan Mackey), on the dole and boozing it up. But he's even more horrified to learn how Byron supplements his dole checks: by working as a rent boy in a gay pub. Despite his trepidation, Kenny soon embarks on a parallel career. But when a rich couple named The Queen (Michael Praed) and Golders Green (Simon Godley) turn up dead, Kenny and Byron think they've found the solution to their financial woes. Rumor has it that Golders Green kept a wad of cash squirreled away in his mattress. Unfortunately, several other colorful low-lives have their eyes on the prize, from The Desperate Dwarf (Raymond Griffiths) to The Iron Lady (Karen Sharman). As the queer corpses continue to pile up, Kenny and Byron wonder whether they'll ever locate the loot -- and whether their newfound occupation has deeper implications. Screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival, Nine Dead Gay Guys marked the feature debut for both Mulhern and Mackey. The character Golders Green is named after the neighborhood where he lives, a historically Jewish area of London. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glen Mulhern, Brendan Mackey, (more)
Still reeling from his recent break-up with the women who left him to experience life in America, a serious-minded British man finds that true love may be closer than he ever expected in first-time writer/director Tony Fisher's intimate romantic drama. Abandoned by his former girlfriend and desperate to grasp the intricacies of the fairer sex, Matt (Joseph McFadden) falls subject to the lager-soaked advice of his philosophizing mates before embarking on a string of failed love connections. Just when it seems that all hope for romance may be forever lost, the revelation that the relationship between his best friends Vinnie (Matthew Delamere) and Susie (Kate Ashfield) is on the rocks leads the lovelorn London twenty-something wondering if his future isn't sitting right there before him. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph McFadden, Kate Ashfield, (more)
Scottish filmmaker Gillies MacKinnon directs the revenge thriller The Escapist. Escaped convict Ricky Barnes (Andy Serkis, Gollom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) breaks into the house of commercial pilot Denis (Jonny Lee Miller) and kills his pregnant wife, Valerie (Paloma Baeza). The baby survives but Denis is too distraught to care for it, so relative Christine (Jodhi May) steps in to take over the parenting duties. Denis then stages an elaborate plan of revenge by faking his own death and turning into a criminal. After being caught and convicted, he makes several failed attempts at escaping prison in an effort to mimic his enemy, Ricky. Denis is taken to increasingly higher security prisons until he is at the same one as Ricky, leading to a violent conclusion. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jonny Lee Miller, Andy Serkis, (more)
The classic Burt Reynolds football-behind-bars flick The Longest Yard crosses the pond and gets an appropriate British accent in the process in this rough-and-tumble mixture of sports and action-comedy. Danny Mehan (Vinnie Jones) was one of the biggest stars in British football (what Americans call soccer), until he was caught rigging a game during a championship tournament. In the wake of this scandal, Danny's career takes a nosedive and his life spins out of control, until he finally ends up in prison for three years on an assault and battery conviction. Danny discovers there are a number of football fans behind bars who still hate him for fixing the game, but Danny has one powerful fan in this prison. The warden (David Hemmings) is a devoted football supporter with a taste for gambling; he's been trying to assemble a semi-pro team comprised of the prison's guards, but Danny is just smart enough to know this would seal his fate with his fellow prisoners. Instead, he offers to put together a team of inmates, who can play practice games against the guards. A new inmate, Sykes (John Forgeham), gets wind of Danny's idea and arranges an exhibition match between Danny's new team and the guards, though Sykes' motivation is more than just good fun. A powerful bookie, Sykes lost a fortune on the game Danny threw, and expects betting to be heavy for this game. If Danny and his men win, Sykes could make back the fortune he lost, but if the guards come out ahead, Danny's goose is cooked. Can Danny turn a gang of losers, misfits, and violent psychopaths -- including muscle-bound lunatic Monk (Jason Statham), creepy but loyal Billy the Limpit (Danny Dyer), tough guy Massive (Vas Blackwood), pyromaniac Nitro (Robbie Gee), and enthusiastic but out-of-shape Raj (Omid Djalili) -- into a proper team with a fighting chance of winning? Mean Machine was produced by Matthew Vaughn, who was also behind Guy Ritchie's tough-but-stylish crime comedies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Star Vinnie Jones, by the way, enjoyed a career as a professional footballer in Great Britain before turning to acting. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham, (more)
- 1998
- R
- Add Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to QueueAdd Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to top of Queue
British writer Guy Ritchie made his feature directorial debut with this crime-caper comedy-drama set in London's East End and heavy on the Cockney dialogue (with one scene in subtitled Cockney rhyming slang). A big-bucks scheme goes awry: Cardsharp Eddy (Nick Moran) and pals Bacon (Jason Statham), Tom (Jason Flemyng), and Soap (Dexter Fletcher) scuffle to pile up enough money to put Eddy at the card table opposite gangland porn lord Hatchet Harry (P.H. Moriarty). Unfortunately, the whole plan backfires, leaving Eddy owing Harry a huge sum, payable within the week. In truth, Harry hopes to acquire the bar run by his rival, J.D. (Sting), who is Eddy's father. To raise the cash, Eddy sets out to steal from a marijuana business run by Winston (Steven Mackintosh), but the inevitable gunplay doesn't make for an easy heist. World premiere at the 1998 Edinburgh Film Festival (Focus on British Cinema). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, (more)
- 1998
- R
In this drama, a woman tries to balance her personal responsibilities with her budding career as a musician. Anita (Anjela Lauren Smith) wants to make a career as a reggae singer. She has talent, drive, and a solid vocal group with her friends Sharon (Caroline Chikezie) and Yvette (Jocelyn Esien). But Anita also has two kids, and trying to raise her children while following her dreams and struggling to get out of the projects is no easy task. Byron (Wil Johnson), the father of her children, doesn't approve of her musical ambitions, and while mourning the death of her mother, Anita makes the shocking discovery that she wasn't really her mother: Rose (Suzette Llewellyn), the woman she grew up believing was her big sister, was her biological mother all along. Despite her personal crises, Anita refuses to give up on her desire to make it in music, and she meets an agent (Diane Bailey) who wants to help her achieve her goal. Babymother was the feature debut for writer/director Julian Henriques. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anjela Lauren Smith, Wil Johnson, (more)
