Gangster Squad

As part of my LoveFilm subscription, I watched this merry little cops-and-gangsters tale centred around Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) is tasked by L.A. Police chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) to take down Cohen and his gang.

What might otherwise have been a run-of-the-mill, and more violent, Untouchables clone is enhanced by a half-decent plot and good supporting cast. It's Penn and Brolin's movie, though, and you can feel every punch in the final showdown as they take each other apart. A decent, if undemanding, pizza movie.

Mob City, a series just started in the U.S., covers much the same story, but seems to have a more ambiguous tone:

A few years ago, I read (or tried to read: it's fairly heavy going) City of Quartz, a social, political and cultural history of Los Angeles by Mike Davis.

Despite it's style, it's a fascinating book on a fascinating subject.

P99:L8:W11	P241:L35:W1	P225:L18:W6
P163:L11:W13	P60:L26:W9	P130:L2:W2

Parker

No, nothing to do with Thunderbirds.

After being double crossed and left for dead following a daring robbery, thief and robber Parker (Jason Statham) plots his revenge.

What could have been an ingenious crime and revenge thriller is let down by the meandering plot, mediocre direction and Statham's lack of enthusiasm, as well as being outclassed by supporting actors like Nick Nolte, Michael Chiklis and Wendel Pierce, who are woefully underused. I'd like to say it's better than nothing, but it isn't. Watch something else.

The (Second) Long Weekend - Movies, RPGs and Luck

The second long weekend started, as the other, with movies. I finished watching Pandorum:



Not bad, but I've never been over-enamoured of horror/sci-fi. Whether it's just natural squeamishness or my rather Utopian view of the future, I don't know. I think Mr. Glitz might like it as a good pizza movie, but it wasn't to my taste. Dennis Quaid was in it, though, so it wasn't a bad movie and he is better than Nicolas Cage.

Next up was Inside Job:



Not a heist movie in the precise meaning of the word, but no bank robber ever got away with billions like these guys have. Thanks to this movie, I now know what CDSs and CDOs are and why the executives at Goldman Sachs are being asked awkward questions by the U.S. Congress (but not by the British Parliament it seems. Funny, that).

A Day Out in Northfields

I decided to go to the Shadow Warriors Role Playing Game club meeting in West London, which is the only one I know of that play on a Sunday. It took quite a while to get there from BasVegas, well over two hours, and I forgot my dice (the height of embarrassment: I had to borrow two D10's and a D6! Me!). We played a D&D type game of the GM's devising called UnBound (link is to a PDF). The people were very pleasant, mostly blokes with two women, one an American, who crocheted a lot, which seems to be in vogue. It was an entertaining few hours, if a little slow at times: six players is about the limit.

Luck

A new TV series has started in the States which seems to be a cut above the norm:



I won £75 at a dog track a few years ago, so I've got a bit of interest in this, plus it has Nick Nolte in it who is always worth the money. I look forward to it over here soon.