The Eagle (2011)

Little bit Braveheart.  Little bit Gladiator.  And a little bit King Arthur.  Not as good as any of the above, but not a total waste of time.

Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell are good together but they make it work well enough to keep my attention through the whole movie.  Donald Sutherland and Mark Strong even make a few appearances


I watched the unrated version and figure there were really two scenes, both graphic and gruesome, but not overly gory or prolonged.  Who knows what else was slipped in the full version?


Watch this if you are into stories about liberty and honor.  Otherwise feel free to skip it.

Mister Foe

First let me say that this movie is not for everyone. But I liked it. A lot. Part of the reason is I liked this is the Scottish humor just under the surface. Very dark. Another reason I liked this was the supernatural performance of relative newcomer Jamie Bell. Was he really possessed? His character was surely haunted enough.

Other faces you will surely recognize include Ciarán Hinds and Claire Forlani but someone you may not be so familiar with is Sophia Myles. She is another reason to enjoy this movie. Maurice Roëves even has a charming role here as a career hotel dishwasher. He too is a very pleasant surprise.

The plot is not really as complicated as most the summaries suggest. You have a teenage boy who is distraught over the death of his mother. He is convinced his father's girlfriend committed the murder. He runs away from home and is forced to find a job to survive in the big city. He meets a woman who looks just like his mother and he falls in love. This trouble young man is finally able to make peace with all his relationships. No, I'm not giving anything away there. He is also a Voyeur, which plays prominently in the plot, but is really just a second tier story feature.

And as with so many well-done independent projects, this movie has a fantastically eclectic soundtrack with music by many Scottish artists you'll love once you've heard them.

If you can make it past the first 40 minutes of this movie, which I admit are pretty disturbing, you will be richly rewarded with a funny, tasteful ending. And I've seen way too many movies I can't say that about.

Watch this movie with someone who can handle the nudity and the psychotic teen angst.