Layer Cake (2004)

Matthew Vaughn  (Director of Stardust & Kick-Ass) made an impressive Directorial debut with Daniel Craig in the lead for the first time in his career in Layer Cake, a British movie.Craig, portrays a successful cocaine dealer at the top of his game, and he's planning to get out while he is ahead. His boss has one last assignment though, to find the missing daughter of his old pal. Caught up in a major ecstasy deal, a brutal Serbian gang and everyone trying to double cross each other, Craig has go against his own rules and outwit the lot of them.
The movie packs on the machismo and revels in the outlaw's contempt for the "straight" world without ever losing track of the menace and danger of the outlaw way of life. The plot is full of twists and turns and may take more than one viewing to take in, which is good for movie fans who like their films "chewy".
Layer Cake runs a fairly brisk hour and forty some odd minutes. It's well paced and has great narration. The lead character played by Daniel Craig (aka the next/future James Bond) is interesting as sort of someone obviously greedy but smart enough to know he's in the wrong business. There's an excellent mixture of fear in his character's actions/dialogue which is well placed earning believability.The supporting cast, on the whole English produce polished snappy dialogue with cool, collected energy. The editing is fast paced, but thankfully the director has chosen a fairly linear storyline.
Layer Cake is based on a novel by J.J. Connolly, who wrote the screenplay for the movie.  Originally Guy Ritchie was due direct but he had to put out because of scheduling conflicts. This was a blessing really because we all know that Ritchie would have just made Layer Cake a comical mockery fair. What Vaughan did was he played the material as straight as possible, keeping comedy to a minimum and a made an good example of a British Gangster film. Vaughan shows that he could handle the material and do some stylist directing trick like a pro, fitting in with the film.

My Rating 8/10

Ray (2004)

This is the true story of the great pianist and jazz singer/legend Ray Charles (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe winning Jamie Foxx) telling how he became one of the most loved souls of  Music that people of America ever saw .  He was born in a poor African American-town, and he went blind at 7 years old, but with his skills of touch and hearing, this is what would later in life would lead him to stardom. By the 1960's he had accomplished his dream, and selling records in millions, and leading the charts with songs and albums. But the story also showed his downfalls, including the separation from his wife and child, because of his affair with a band member , his drug and alcohol use, and going to prison because of this.
It is a great story with a great singer impression, the songs, including Hit the Road Jack, are the highlights due to which the movie is must watch for any music fan.
Also starring Regina King as Margie Hendricks, Kerry Washington as Della Bea Robinson, Clifton Powell as Jeff Brown, Harry J. Lennix as Joe Adams, Bokeem Woodbine as Fathead Newman, Aunjanue Ellis as Mary Ann Fisher, Sharon Warren as Aretha Robinson, C.J. Sanders as Young Ray Robinson, Curtis Armstrong as Ahmet Ertegun and Richard Schiff as Jerry Wexler.

Talking about supporting cast, Kerry Washington is superb as the understanding and long suffering mother and wife, Della Bea Robinson as are the rest of the supporting cast. While Foxx does some of the singing, we mostly hear the voice of Ray Charles from his hit recordings. But Foxx is so good we have to remind ourselves that it isn't really him performing them live.
The ending feels a bit raffled, as if they were saying Hey the movie is 2 and a halve hours long now, lets put an end to it. But yet the movie covers that needed to be covered, so I tend to forgive them makers for that.

A good biopic movie. You don't have to be a fan of Ray Charles or his music to like this movie.

My Rating - 8/10