A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Liam Neeson is an amazing actor! And this movie is a testament to his acting prowess! One of the best Neeson movies ever!

AWAtT keeps you guessing. Even if it's only,"Who, or what genre, was that a shout-out to?" or, "Did they make this up as they went along?" Matt Scudder (Neeson) is an ex-cop, a Philip Marlowe-esque, Mike Ehrmantraut-ish, Liam Neeson-ish, paid-up AA(A) member who does the odd private job since his Captain Beefheart days when it was whiskey for breakfast. The barman is shot as robbers strike; At that, Matt grabs his gat, two hoods go splat, and another never walks without a limp again.8 years later, he discusses Raymond Chandler with a black 14-year-old street kid in the library, and takes him for a vegeburger. WHOAH! I don't like where this is going. He forgets his promise to the librarian to clean up the toilets. What a rogue! A gangster's wife has been kidnapped. At this point, the scriptwriter was too, it would seem.The Goodies are Russian drug dealers, so y'know, only Liam Neeson will do. Being Irish, Liam trumps everything but English, and English is always trumped by American, so the Americans actually win without actually being rude to the Russians and at the same time being nice to the Irish (which annoys the English). Because even bystander-killing alcoholic US ex-cops are better than deviant sadists. I think I have that correct.A van is resprayed. by Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.There's a couple of women, who never meet: the blonde has duct tape over her mouth and gets dismembered, and the less neurotic brunette, of whom I remember little more than a surreal "Red Riding Hood" scene with rock music. The Feds turn up and the plot goes to pieces. There may be another female character who is ransomed from: - Chief Baddie Ming the Merciless, who could be construed as 'where the Russian from the Sopranos went', except he has a goatee beard and he's skinny. From one angle he looks like John Malkovich. The twist being that we all thought he was The Guy We Thought Was Chief Baddie's Sidekick until well over half way. What a character arc put through a EXOR gate would be like.Oh, and aforementioned magic black character kid. who is homeless at 14, has sickle disease, and draws superheroes. Doesn't get cured of either. He at least gets to fall asleep before the end, which is more than I did. Matt Scudder doesn't stay awake for the credits.In the end I was left guessing that 50p in a boot fair works out at 25p an hour to be kept not entertained, but guessing. Awake, basically. Which is cheaper than watching Jeopardy, and there are no ads, apart from the trailers at the beginning for more brainless, unimaginative, overproduced nonsense. I'll look out for Liam Neeson in, 'Awake!' The story of a a man who buys a movie studio and finds it was all a dream.

Though I haven't watched a lot of them yet (I've mainly devoted my time, of late, to catching up on 1920-1970s cinematic milestones), I have a profound respect for the new roles Liam Neeson has taken on in recent years. It makes me think of what would have been had my favourite actor ever, James Cagney, hadn't basically retired for the quiet life in the early 60's, when the perfect storm of 'great actors in B-movies' hit the fans.My lady is more a horror aficionado, and of recent vintage films, so it was nice to throw this on for a spin and show her its neo-noir tendencies, almost as if going through a 'make your own movie' template, checking them off one-by-one. I don't mind that sort of rote predictability if it's done right, and, though heavily flawed, for the most part it does. By the climax, I basically only cared for four things: that the kidnapped girl, Matthew Scudder and TJ were alive, and that the two kidnappers/murderers got their just desserts, whether it be lengthy incarceration or murder, anything so their crime spree would be ended. The film was well-made and a very enjoyable experience, so considering the relatively minor flaws (especially the one-dimensional aspect of the antagonists), I would definitely recommend at least a watch for most cinephiles out there, especially those interested in 'true crime' type of contemporary American cinema.

Ratings: 6.5/10 from 79,852 users… yea right… The films is probably 6 /10 at the best case scenario. I just hope a dark atmosphere and some nice action. Everything else, will be a pleasant surprise.3 minutes – and a nice action is already rolling. This is what I like, straight to the point~! 18 minutes – holy smokes~@! It's strong, I like it 31 minutes – if you like films about detectives this one should get the job done. It is quite pleasurable to watch 50 minutes – it reminds me of 8MM (1999), which I loved~! 1h 12 minutes – nothing extraordinary here, but it is not bad either~! I can honestly say, I am positively surprised with this one 1h 29 minutes – and it's getting betterWhat a pleasant surprise~! I got everything I wanted and some more with this one. Ladies and gentleman, it is genuine solid film.tgchan's rating: 7 /10