its definitely not Goodfellas league but its the best he's done since Casino IMHO (although I do also like Departed and Bringing out the Dead too).

Back to crime drama recommendations in a bit. Although dont know what you mean by GOAT off the top of my head. 

some you would have probably seen. Some better than others but all at least good.

13 Tzameti(2005)
El Aura (2005)
A Bittersweet Life (2005)
Exiled (2006)
Inside Man (2006)
American Gangster (2007)
Eastern Promises (2007)
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
The Lookout (2007)
Mad Detective (2007)
The Chaser (2008)
Gomorrah (2008)
In Bruges (2008)
Sin City (2005)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
This is England (2006)
Zodiac (2007)
No Country for Old Men (2007)

And although I havent seen it yet, I have heard very good things about the french 2 parter Mesrine (2009), parts 1 and 2. 

Being italian, I'm really curious about what you foreign guys think of this. I personally thought it was brilliant, if a little detached from what you'd expect from a movie...

Anyone care to elaborate? Nitin? 

I didnt think it was brilliant overall, I just didnt think the 5 stories meshed well together, but it was definitely at least very good and contained a number of excellent scenes some of which were quite distrubing I thought (little boy's initiation and the 2 youths with weapons come to mind).

Adn definitely anti-Goodfellas/Scarface in style, theres no glamorising going on here. 

... Maybe my judgement is a little bit biased by the disturbingly real description of facts, which are as close to a news documentary as can possibly be.

I completely agree about the disjunction of the stories, but I took it as intentional, as a real life mirror, where stories are not necessarily connected, yet, when put together, tell a lot about the social environment where they grow and breed.

And, for sure, the effect of the movie is severely diminished by translation, given the very strict dialect spoken throughout. In fact, this is another point that gets me curious: has it been dubbed at all, or only subtitled? (I found the trailer, I see it's subtitled, which is a good thing).

Speaking of Italy, crime(on a much higher level) and Toni Servillo, you may want to check out "Il divo", another very good "true" story about one of the most controversial political figures in Italy. Servillo is just amazing. 

the disjunction was deliberate but I just didnt think it worked that well. I can see why it was done but I just didnt find it effective personally.

Its not dubbed, whatever unusual dialect of italian they are speaking (its not like any italian I have ever come across) remains intact.

Il Divo is already on the "eventually to watch" list :) 

Defendor (2009)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1303828/

A mixture of happy and sad like all those "dumb person movies". Very likable characters. Slow and careful. I laughed and then I was super sad. Overall a feel good movie that makes you think. Bit thick at times. Soundtrack good with some bad parts.

Recommended.

I wonder why Michael Kelly felt so familiar, none of his movies ring a bell to me. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0446672/ 

He was in Generation Kill. 

Anyone seen Pursued (1947)?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039737/

Recommendation or should I pass? Please say if it ends depressing or something. 

no.

Any particular reason for your interest though?

If it's because of Raoul Walsh, I'd suggest strating with White Heat or The Roaring Twenties.

If it's because of Robert Mitchum, I'd recommend Out of the Past, The Big Steal, Night of the Hunter, Crossfire or Cape Fear.

If it's anohter reason, ignore the above :) 

Oh, it just "became available" if you know what I mean. Don't know any of those names or movies. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0295640/

Opinions? I really like some his other movies. 

very good first half, below average second half, above average on the whole. 

Seen Tropic Thunder from a few years back? ;) 

no, but its in my monstrous unwatched pile though... 

Oh, leave it there, it is awfully bad. 

Kicked many of the butts. Mwh commmented he was grinning the whole way through - I was exactly the same.

It's nowhere near as controversial as some have made out. If you wrote down some of the things that happen in the film it would sound pretty extreme, but the overall tone is very comic book.

The real great thing about the film is that it's the first 'superhero' film i've seen that doesn't have that smoothed-over, focus-group friendly hollywood gloss. You can be pretty sure of that if a 9 year old girl is kneecapping people and calling them cunts.

Other things that were good - Nicolas Cage's voice he puts on when he's in costume, which is classic Adam West Batman. The main dude does a good job, likeable guy, I hadn't seen him before. His love interest is smoking hot. MArk Strong is a great baddie as always.

Can't think of anything too negative to say, it's really a good ride and a lot of fun. Minor things... McLovin isn't great in it. The main romantic plot is a bit shaky, although it's possibly referencing lots of comics I haven't read.

Anyway, awesome. Might pick up the comic. 

Book of Eli

Bit odd, this one. Some of it is vaguely interesting post-apocalyptic stuff, the fights are _extremely_ comic book and, well, as an atheist I found it a bit hard to care about carting a bible around.

Moon

Quite good, thoughtful film. Probably a plane isn't the best place to see it.

State of Play

A good thriller, although it looks like it's going along very predictable lines for about three quarters of its length.

Sherlock Holmes

(A repeat viewing) I enjoyed this. It's probably not best to stop and think about it too much, but after 20 hours on planes, I wasn't very inclined to do that... 

although will wathc again some other time.

Liked State of Play, although it probably had one twist too many.

Sherlock Holmes is also in the pile, although I'm really not expecting much. 

High Plains Drifter (1973)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068699/

Not very good. Awful music/noise. Definitely not watching again. 

although dont remember the music/soundtrack.

Not great but I thought it was definitely very good and well worth watching. 

Kiss Kiss Bang Band
What nitin said: http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=3545&start=1447&end=1447

Really bad. 

Loved it. Awesome action scenes, particularily the scene where Nicky Cage shoots up a load of gangsters in a warehouse.
Also had some good twists in it, and some very funny parts.

Also was very inpressed with The Uninvited (american version ?), the twist at the very end blew my mind. 

Tale of Two Sisters remake?

And spirit, I think I saw that again some two years afterwards and actually thought it was ok, probably because I knew what was coming and didnt have any expectations. 

L4D2 film yaaaargh. Good fun, plenty of humour and good zombie action, but the bit in the middle especially Bill thingies house dragged on and felt like filler, could have gone for more action and more dark humour there.