Broken City & Glengarry Glen Ross

I received this through my LoveFilm subscription. After resigning from the N.Y.P.D. due to a shooting in suspicious circumstances, private investigator Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) is asked by Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe) to investigate his wife's suspected adultery.

Both actors are too good to just phone in the part, but Wahlberg is outclassed by Crowe here, although the latter is somewhat miscast I think. The supporting cast is pretty top notch, especially Alona Tal as Taggarts' assistant. The thing that lets the movie down, however, is the plot, which you can see coming a mile-and-a-half away. Maybe a better scriptwriter would have introduced a few twists and turns to ramp up the tension. Not a bad movie, but an opportunity missed.

Glengarry Glen Ross I'd never seen before, despite it being over twenty years old, and I spotted it amongst the freebie's we can't sell at the shop, so I snagged it. Four salesmen (Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin) at a real estate company and their manager (Kevin Spacey) are presented with a problem when their superior (Alec Baldwin) calls with a new monthly "incentive":

Originally this was a stage play by David Mamet, which he then wrote as a film script, but it still has that feel. It's an excuse for everyone to give 150% and they don't disappoint (even Alec Baldwin shines and he's only on for twenty minutes), but it's Jack Lemmon's film, playing a worn out desperate man looking for one last success. Highly recommended.