Just Cause (1995)

[Movie 225 / Day 238]


Sean Connery is a lawyer that hasn't tried a case in years, now spending his time as a college professor. Until he is coaxed out of retirement by the case of a young black man that is thrown onto death row after confessing (under duress) to brutally murdering a young girl.

It's clear what the twist is going to be two thirds of the way through the movie, but it's very watchable nonetheless.

Ed Harris is brilliant as another death row inmate, Blair Sullivan.

My rating: 6.0 / 10
IMDB rating: 6.1 / 10
Running time: 102 mins
IMDB link

Apollo 13 (1995)

[Movie 162 / Day 173]


Space rocket takes off on moon-landing mission; breaks; "Houston, we have a problem"; aborts mission; gets home.

Based on real life, you know what's going to happen - yet the film manages to hold you in suspense and makes you really root for the characters stuck on board the stricken craft.

The actors are all as good as you'd expect really.

We should go back to the moon, it's been over 35 years.

My rating: 7.7 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.5 / 10
Running time: 140 mins
IMDB link

A History of Violence (2005)

[Movie 158 / Day 171]


Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen) is a normal man living in small-town America with his wife and two kids, he owns and runs a small diner.

One day, two murderers walk in and hold the place up. Tom defends his property and in doing so becomes a local hero and a minor celebrity in the news for a few days.

Unfortunately, some mobsters see him and think they recognise him as an informant hiding under the witness protection act. They pay him a visit and all sorts of secrets come out.

It's a simple plot, but one that I haven't seen done before. Mortensen and Ed Harris are both excellent. Well worth a watch, although it is violent in places.

My rating: 7.5 / 10
IMDB rating: 7.6 / 10
Running time: 96 mins
IMDB link

Cleaner (2007)

[Movie 133 / Day 117]

Distinctly average movie about an ex-cop (Samuel L. Jackson) who now runs a cleaning company that specialises in cleaning up after somebody dies inside a house - ie, mopping up bodily fluids and disinfecting.

He's set up when he's hired to clean a murder scene and unwittingly remove evidence.  With the help of his former partner, Ed Harris, he starts tracking down the murderer and trying to clear his name.

This could have been much, much better - both Samuel L. and Ed Harris are brilliant with the right script.  Unfortunately, it turns out to be a bit boring and obvious.

Eva Mendes is hot as the widow of the murdered millionaire though.

My rating: 6.0 / 10
IMDB rating: 6.1 / 10
Running time: 88 mins
IMDB link

Appaloosa (2008)

[Movie 95 / Day 59]


Ed Harris directs and stars in this western. It starts off brilliantly, Ed Harris's character is a total bad-ass and Viggo Mortensen sports a marvelous moustache. However, it seems to bog down in sub-plots and actually gets a bit boring in places.

Uncouth I may be, but I was left hoping for much more in the way of shoot outs.

Still, it's pretty good.

My rating: 6.2 / 10
IMDB rating: 6.9 / 10
Running time: 115 mins
IMDB link

National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

[Movie 79 / Day 47]


For pure enjoyment, the National Treasure movies are hard to beat. It's like Indiana Jones met The Da Vinci Code in a dirty bar, had a knee-trembler in the back alley by the dustbins and 9 months later, Nicolas Cage was cast as a treasure hunter extraordinaire.

Following on from the first movie, Book of Secrets deals with another hidden treasure, this time a Native American 'City of Gold'. Cage has to clear his great-great-(great?)-grandfather's name and in order to do this, has to find the fabled City to prove his ancestor was a stand up guy after all. In the course of the hunt, we visit Paris, break into Buckingham Palace and the Oval Office and kidnap the president.

All of the original cast return and we get a shiny new bad guy in the gruff form of Ed Harris.

It's nothing special, and yes there are bits that stretch the suspension of disbelief you need for a movie like this (mostly technical things in my case, like a traffic camera taking a massively high resolution picture, or the zoom on the model helicopter). Having said that, it's much, much better than Indy 4 and it's one of those movies that's just fun to watch. I hope they make a third (and they left it open for one with the mysterious 'Page 47' chat with the president).

It's a pity that George Lucas didn't sit down and watch the National Treasures before he sat down and ruined the Indiana Jones movies.

My rating: 7.1 / 10
IMDB rating: 6.6 / 10
Running time: 124 mins
IMDB link