After watching Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine,” it was clear that the writer/director would be one to watch for the future, even if the anti-romance film wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. His follow-up feature, “The Place Beyond the Pines,” reunites Cianfrance with his “Blue Valentine” star Ryan Gosling, and though the movie is hindered by its own set of problems, the multi-generational crime drama makes good on the potential he showcased in his directorial debut. While it’s difficult to talk about the movie without wading knee-high into spoiler territory, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is an impressive piece of American filmmaking that’s every bit as compelling as it is annoyingly flawed.

The movie’s triptych structure is like watching three separate but interconnecting films, and Cianfrance kicks things off with what is easily the best of the bunch as we’re introduced to Luke Glanton (Gosling), a motorcycle stunt driver who reconnects with a former one-night stand named Romina (Eva Mendes) at the local fair where he plies his trade. When he learns that Romina has given birth to his son, Luke agrees to quit his nomadic job and stay in town, even though Romina has already moved on with another man. Determined to do his fatherly duties and provide for his son, Luke decides to put his unique skills to use and start robbing banks, placing him on a collision course with rookie policeman Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), an honest family man who gave up his promising career as a lawyer to serve on the force. After becoming privy to some dirty cops in the department, however, Avery must decide what’s more important: his integrity or loyalty to his brothers in blue.

Taking place 15 years later, the final act is predictable but nonetheless rewarding as Cianfrance’s story comes full circle to find Luke and Avery’s teenage sons (Dane DeHaan and Emory Cohen, respectively) become unlikely friends during a chance meeting, ultimately forced to deal with the actions of their fathers. The whole thing is incredibly ambitious, and unfortunately for Cianfrance, he seems to have bitten off more than he can chew. Though there’s not much to each story, everything that happens is necessary to telling the larger narrative, and that’s part of what makes “The Place Beyond the Pines” so frustrating. Cianfrance may be dealing with some familiar themes of fatherhood, consequences and destiny, but it’s such an epic undertaking that it ultimately becomes too much movie for its own good.

Gosling’s segment is the standout, not only because it lays the groundwork for the rest of the film, but because it provides the best balance of drama, action, and even a little comedy thanks to an entertaining turn from Ben Mendelsohn, who’s fast becoming one of the best character actors in Hollywood. The heist scenes are also well shot and add some much-needed energy to a film that moves at a rather leisurely pace, but the biggest reason for its success is Gosling’s magnetic performance. Covered from head to toe in tattoos, the bleach blonde bad boy may be a criminal, but it’s absolutely heartbreaking to watch as Luke grapples with Romina to let him be a part of his son’s life and give him the father he never had.

Cooper and DeHaan also deliver solid performances, but their segments are noticeably weaker. As a result, the movie feels a bit lopsided, although the first hour is so engaging (aided by a refreshingly unglamorous turn by Mendes) that it makes up for some of the more unflattering heavy-handedness that Cianfrance resorts to in the latter half. “The Place Beyond the Pines” isn’t perfect, but it’s a movie that demands a lot of respect for not only taking big risks, but the way that it resonates emotionally, because there just aren’t enough films that do that anymore.

This week’s Hidden Netflix Gem: “Bronson” (2008)

“My name’s Charles Bronson, and all my life I’ve wanted to be famous.” That’s the opening line of Nicholas Winding Refn’s fictionalized biopic “Bronson,” starring Tom Hardy as the titular character, a man who the press often refers to as the “most violent prisoner in Britain.” You may be familiar with Winding Refn’s best known work, 2011′s “Drive,” starring Ryan Gosling, and recognize Hardy as the guy who played identity thief Eames in “Inception” and most recently appeared as Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises.” While those two pictures might be better films, I don’t think Hardy as ever put in a better performance than he did in “Bronson.”

Charles Bronson is not as well known stateside as he is across the pond. In the UK, the man is something of a national celebrity, both famous and infamous for spending the majority of his adult life in solitary confinement (28 of his 34 years in prison). Bronson was first incarcerated in 1974, at age 22, after being handed a seven-year sentence for armed robbery (of just  £26.18) from a suburban English post office. That seven years quickly became 14 as a result of his starting various fights and hostage situations involving guards and fellow prisoners. Bronson was released in 1988, but spent just 69 days on the outside (during which he began a “career” as a bare-knuckle boxer) before being arrested again. He’s been in prison ever since and his antics haven’t ceased.

Part of Hardy’s preparation for the role came from phone conversations with the man himself. In interviews discussing these interactions, you can see what makes the performance so special. In this clip, Hardy re-enacts a conversation he had with Bronson regarding a recent break-up. It’s one man sitting on a couch, but Hardy’s impression is so good it’s almost as if the camera is cutting back and forth between the actor and his subject (see the full interview here).

The film, which has been certified fresh and sits at 77 percent on the Tomatometer, is a clear homage to “A Clockwork Orange” (for reasons beyond the plethora of ultraviolence). “Bronson” begins with and includes many scenes of Hardy speaking into the camera and addressing the audience directly. The move allows the film to break the fourth wall, but also includes its own in-universe explanation: Bronson is performing a one-man play, narrating his life to a theater audience (sometimes while dressed in clown make-up). Alternatively (and more likely), he’s just imagining that’s the case, because in his mind, Charles Bronson is the most famous, best-loved man in the universe. The film is a biopic, but it’s highly fictionalized. It’s less about telling Bronson’s life story as it happened and more a character study. When the film’s events break from reality, it can be explained away by the fact that we’re getting Bronson’s version of the story. There’s no mendacious play at objectivity. Rather, we’re allowed to understand and perceive Bronson’s reality, for however brief a time, and thus try to figure out if Charles Bronson is really a crazy person or just far more sane than the rest of us. Either way, the answer might surprise you, and then being surprised might surprise you.

As mentioned, the thing that really separates this film from the pack is Hardy’s performance. He perfectly captures the comedic delirium that is being Charles Bronson. Frankly, I’m glad I saw “The Dark Knight Rises” first, because Tom Hardy and Charles Bronson were one and the same in my mind for a few days after watching this movie. I’m not sure how seriously I could have taken Bane after seeing Bronson/Hardy strip down and command a kidnapped guard to rub him down with grease, all the while yelling “Put on my armor! Everywhere, get it everywhere! Put some on my ass. Not in my ass ya faggot!” as the guard whimpers. To me and you it sounds like insanity, and it is, but for the 92 minutes “Bronson” is running, it’s his world, and we’re all just living in it.

 Check out the trailer below and follow the writer on Twitter @NateKreichman.

Bullz-Eye: I was able to check out “Snowmen” – they sent me a screener – and it was a great little movie. My highest praise is that I’ve got a 6-year-old daughter, and I’d be comfortable with her watching it with me.

Ray Liotta: Yeah, it’s really a good movie, and it definitely…it’s more than just entertaining. It definitely touches on a lot of issues for grown-ups or kids.

BE: How did you find your way into the film?

RL: It just so happens that the producer has a kid in school where my kid goes, and they were gearing up and had cast all the kids, and they were thinking about the adult roles, and my name came up. We talked, he gave me the script, and I loved it and decided to do it.

BE: So how much of the character was on the page, and how much were you able to bring to the character?

RL: It was all on the page. All of it. It was really well written. I mean, my job is to make it as real as possible and try to add as much depth and dimension to it as I can. To pretend that I was a dad whose son was sick and thinks he’s going to die, the bills that I have to pay, the guilt that I have from just working too much to pay those bills, maybe missing some of the things that are going on in his life.

BE: How well did you and Bobby Coleman get on? You seemed to have a pretty strong father-son dynamic going on.

RL: Yeah, he’s a really special kid. He’s a really nice kid, and he’s been acting for awhile now. He’s just serious about the work, so he was very committed to every scene. He had done his homework and knew his lines, and he was raring to go. He was in the pocket. So it was easy. One of the great things when you work with a kid is that you really realize something that, as an  adult, you sometimes forget: you’re just playing pretend. He pretends that I’m his dad, and I pretend that he’s my son. You just play pretend, and that’s it. It’s nothing more or less than that.

BE: A film like “Snowmen” is one which may surprise some, since you’re not generally perceived as Ray Liotta, Family-Friendly Actor, but you’ve been doing family-friendly films as far back as “Corinna, Corinna” and “Operation Dumbo Drop.” Does that get frustrating, that people try to put you in a particular niche?

RL: Yeah, within the business, it gets frustrating. But then something like this comes along and you get a chance to do it. I did a movie with Tobey Maguire called “The Details,” and that’s a little more…I’m not a nutjob in that one. [Laughs.] See, what happens is that even if people see the movies – and I think it’s true with any actor who plays good guys and bad guys –  the bad guys just tend to stand out in people’s minds. You can’t expect everybody to see every movie you’ve done. I had one woman come up to me at the gym the other day, and she said, “Oh, my gosh, all you do is play bad guys. Why are you always such a bad guy? You scare me!” And I’m…I mean, I’m not going to sit there and list the movies that she hasn’t seen. It just kind of goes with the territory.

BE: Bullz-Eye is definitely a guy-centric site, and “Goodfellas” is certainly a film that ranks high  with our viewers. What was the experience like of doing that film? Were you a fan of the mob genre when you stepped in?

RL: No. That was only my fourth movie, and before that I’d done “Dominick and Eugene,” which was a sweet movie, and “Field of Dreams.” In my first movie, “Something Wild,” I was an edgier kind of character, but that was the first time I had ever stepped into the mob world.

BE: Was it intimidating to work with a major director like Martin Scorsese so early in your career?

RL: No, I was just excited. I didn’t do my first movie ‘til I was 30, so by the time I did “Goodfellas,” I was 34 and I’d been studying for years. So when the opportunity came along, I was just chomping at the bit. I couldn’t wait. My mom was really sick at that time, too, so it really put the playing-pretend and her illness in perspective. So it was more exciting than anything. And they were all such nice people, you know? What you guys see is the end result, but the day to day, from rehearsals and setting up the shots and what goes right and what goes wrong, it’s just a whole world that happens before they see the movie.

BE: I usually ask people about their projects that didn’t get the love they deserved. You were in a series in the ‘80s called “Our Family Honor” that I can’t believe more people don’t know about, given the cast involved. It was you, Michael Madsen, Eli Wallach…

RL: Yeah, that was a really good series! I also did a series a couple of years ago called “Smith” that was really good and barely saw the light of day. We did a couple of shows, and that was it. But with the way things are with television, now if the numbers we were doing then were compared to what’s considered a hit now, we’d surely still be on the air. [Sighs.] It’s a crazy business.

BE: So would you still be willing to delve back into television?

RL: Yeah, but I’d probably want to do something more on the cable side, where it’s 13 shows as opposed to 26. I like making movies, but it’d be nice to have a series where you’re working three or four months out of the year. Then the rest of the time, you’re still able to do movies.

BE: Speaking of movies, do you enjoy the opportunity to mix it up between lead roles and parts in ensemble films?

RL: Yeah, you know, it’s really all about what’s going on in my life, the movies that are coming in…you never know. Some days you think, “Holy shit, what’s going to happen? I haven’t worked in awhile,” and all of a sudden two or three movies come along. There’s a lot of movies you turn down and there’s a lot that you do, and you hope that they work.

BE: You turned up somewhat unexpectedly in “Date Night.” How did that come about?

RL: You know, that was one of those things that my agent had somebody who was in the movie – I think it was James Franco, actually – and…I don’t know, when it came along, I wasn’t doing anything, they were shooting it in New York and I hadn’t been to New York in awhile, and it was only a couple of days of work. So I figured, “Why not?”

BE: I mentioned your underrated TV work, but are there any films in your back catalog that you think are worthy of reevaluation?

RL: Well, “Dominick and Eugene” was a really good movie that a lot of people didn’t see. I don’t have a list of the movies that I haven’t made, so I don’t know offhand. I’ve made a bunch. [Laughs.] “Operation Dumbo Drop” was a really good movie with a horrible title. There’s also a movie I made called “No Escape” that didn’t really get big play, and that was a really good action-genre film. And hopefully this movie! It’s not a big distributor getting us out there. It’s a true independent movie, but…I just think this movie is beautiful. What it says, what it’s about, and the questions that can arise from a kid’s point of view. How do you live a good life? How will you be remembered? What’s really important and what’s not? I think it’s a beautiful movie.

BE: When you worked on “Narc,” you were also a producer on the film. Do you enjoy getting behind the scenes once in awhile on films?

RL: I do! It’s nice to have a say, and as an actor, if you’re not producing it or doing anything behind the camera, you tend to just show up and do what you have to do and leave. And that’s fun, because sometimes who needs the headaches? But it’s also nice to have some say with the casting and how the director wants to make the movie. You can add things and take away things with the edit, and it’s always nice to be a part of it and see the movie in its initial stages. So, yeah, I do enjoy it. I’d like to do more of it, but it’s just so hard right now with independent movies. It’s a whole different world just from a few years ago.

BE: Lastly, I know that you’ve got plenty of films in the pipeline, but is there anything in particular on your slate that you really think people should look out for?

RL: Yeah, there’s a few. There’s “The Details,” the one I mentioned with Tobey Maguire. Laura Linney’s also in that. There’s one I did called “Cogan’s Trade,” with Brad Pitt, that’s really a nice movie. There’s another one…God, I can’t even remember them all. [Laughs.] Oh, yeah, I just finished one with Derek Cianfrance, the director who did “Blue Valentine.” It’s with Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling.

BE: “The Place Beyond the Pines”?

RL: Yeah, that’s it. So, yeah, all three of those are coming up, and they’re all really good.

BE: It definitely doesn’t sound like you’re resting on your laurels.

RL: Absolutely not. [Laughs.]