Highly Overrated But Still Good

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Comes a Bright Day (2012)Give this a chance. It starts oddly, and there a couple of actors who give pretty thin performances in the opening scenes. But eventually you'll end up in the main situation of the movie, which I hate to even say. For now, there is a small group of people trapped together and in the process of figuring out what to do, a romance is born. It's all so unlikely and yet so warmly believable--the romance part of it the story--you end up glad you made it to the end.Along the way there is a mix of storytelling and desperate thuggery. It's a bit contrived and in a way unlikely, but you end up focussing on the people and their characters more than the larger plot. This is where is shines. The director, Simon Aboud, has a short history and it shows here. (From his web site he also fancies himself a contemporary photographer, but his work is wobbly there, too.) In the movie, something doesn't click as it goes. The story, too, is oddly one-dimensional despite the characters being so full-blooded. And there are moments of really high drama (with the police) that are mere glances in the movie (probably to avoid distracting us) and moments of tenderness that are too few. The cast saves the film. Most interesting might be the quirky main character, played by Craig Roberts, who has mostly television behind him but who is just coming of age as an adult actor. His love interest is played by Imogen Poots, who is a more established young actress and who is clearly good, in fact probably better than the director realized because she doesn't always penetrate except by being likable.

The imbalance caused by the reviewer from New york is a shame. He talks about IQ over 70, but he obviously didn't understand this movie. It is robust and well acted and there certainly is chemistry between the leads. Don't be put off by this American misery. Well worth your time! By the way I have an IQ of 149 and couldn't fault it.The pace is consistent, the locations are excellent, and any appearance by Timothy Spall is a bonus. I feel the Brits do this sort of caper far better than Hollywood, especially considering the low budget, you don't need bucket loads of cash thrown at a project to make sure it's good, or a "star name". Let's appreciate it for what it is and leave the criticism for those megabucks movies from USA that leave you cold, and waste your time!

I suppose this qualifies as a movie, but as for any redeeming qualities it doesn't have any unless you consider the music playing throughout. Two bungling crooks set out to rob a jewelry store and must have decided murder was a good addition to their plan since they kill a customer 20 seconds into the robbery. A hostage setting ensues and then complete boredom and ridiculous dialogue follow. After watching this I convinced the writer and director realized they were in a quagmire 10 minutes in, but just decided to plug away absent a plan. It doesn't help that Roberts and Poots have no chemistry at all, and the sequence of events makes no sense in relation to what has gone on before. Poots is essentially cast as the beautiful girl who has been hurt before. Roberts as the love sick puppy with no courage other than to stand up for this girl he just met. Throw in the defiant store manager and the two bumbling crooks and everything goes according to script. Pretty comical really.All in all a dreadful mess that forces events to happen for purposes of moving the train wreck forward, but anyone with an IQ over 70 will realize it is forced. If I found out they made this with no script and in one afternoon I would not be surprised.

I wouldn't use any extreme words to describe this film. It's not 'fantastic' or 'hysterical' or 'must see'. But it is interesting and unusual.The story of a jewelry heist gone very wrong and the three hostages awaiting resolution in the rarefied atmosphere of an elite London antique jewelry shop , it is fairly quiet, reserved,occasionally funny ;and occasionally jolting, stressful,violent.Except for a few scenes, it all takes place in one interior ,so it feels very much like a play.I wasn't familiar with any of the actors except my hero, Timothy Spall, but they were all spot on.And it was very interesting to me that the five main actors all pretty much had equal time. There was no one person that 'made the picture.' For me, the story and the characters all felt very authentic and believable, and the pace never felt lagging or forced. The unexpected elements were the romantic interludes- a grief struck gentleman remembering the love of his life,a fairy tale-like story told to distract a worried hostage; a psychopath mesmerized by an opera aria; and they all contributed to making a heist/hostage film something quite different and out of the ordinary.I really enjoyed it.