raidernation-20472 About a family of cops and the black sheep of the family who Run a Club that's dirty in the series of events happens that turns the bad brother gun amazing action packed moving with a stunning cast of Joaquin Phoenix Mark Wahlberg Eva Mendes and Robert Duvall

Martin Bradley The theme of brothers on opposite sides of the law is nothing new in movies so if you are going to make another movie on the subject you better make it a good one. Thankfully James Gray's "We Own the Night" is very good indeed. This time it's the Russia mafia who are the bad guys and Joaquin Phoenix is the brother who is caught up with them. The 'good' brother, Mark Wahlberg, is a New York cop, (the title, 'We own the night' is the motto of the New York police force), and when he's gunned down, Phoenix changes sides.It's a smart, old-fashioned movie that, minus the sex, swearing and extreme violence, wouldn't have disgraced Bogie or Cagney back in the day and Phoenix in particular is splendid in his role. There's also a very good performance from Robert Duvall as their father, who also happens to be a cop while Joaquin Baca-Asay's location photography of, mostly night-time New York, is outstanding. See it.

Tones Vette This film drags. After a few fits and starts when you hope if finally gets going, another dull, irrelevant scene that could have been left on the cutting room floor sucks you back down. Donny Wahlberg barely gets a supporting role. Joaquin shines enough you want to suffer to see it through. But the way the action goes down is SOOO unlikely, you wonder who the heck was advising the writers and director. They've obviously never worked a club or scored on a connect. And by the end, all the characters just fall flat.The first scene is the bomb. You can catch that on Youtube and save the next two hours for something worthy.

FatMan-QaTFM James Gray, also a tea brand, is your typical writer/director, as in he needs to pick one or the other and focus on it. For Jimmy G, I'd definitely point him in the direction of the typewriter. Although I could blame poor casting, I think the real issue is that Gray could be replaced on set with a poster that read "Act Angry" that was just waved at the actors before each scene shot. I've never seen such limited range purposely put onto film. Everybody knows how to act angry. It's what you tell actors NOT to do when they need to be "emotional."My other issues with the movie could probably be blamed on Joaquin Baca- Asay, the DP, but if the director walks up and accepts an award for a film, he takes the fall as well. Plus Baca-Asay DP'd Thumbsuckers and Super Troopers. To the point: far too many stylized shots mixed in with a very standard shooting style. The one that really stood out was the cool looking shot of Man-jaw Mendes walking down a hallway smoking a cigarette. It was excellent in the trailer, but was completely out of place where they decided to cram it. Another pointless Hollywood moment, one of many in the film.I'm also going to question Gray's sanity as a writer with is bizarre choice to set We Own the Night in 1988. Who sits down and writes a period piece based 20 years ago? I might have been more okay with it, but there's nothing significant about that year that would be a compelling reason for a crime/drug drama. They only indicators were typical 80s Buicks, and a few big hair women. Beyond that, it didn't matter and you didn't notice it was anything besides now. I guess that's an achievement. Nah.Overall, a very slow, predictable story. I enjoyed the absolute bleakness of it all, but the performances were weak, and the cinematography average. Better luck next time!