Archive for the ‘gangster’ Category
Author: Colin
Flat Beat
I got this movie for €5 in amongst a slew of other rare finds. I think I paid around €4.75 too much for it. Naturally, I was excited to get this critically acclaimed film for an absolute steal of a price and in the original, non-dubbed format. Joy. The only slight problem I have with the film having watched it, is that it’s just about the most boring and pointless films I have ever seen. And I mean that. I can’t think of one that comes close to this in the tedium stakes.
Author: James
An offer you still can’t refuse…
It’s ‘re-release city’ in the UK at the moment – Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal The Godfather (1972), an adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel, has also returned to big screens in recent weeks.
Author: Colin
Something wicked this way comes…
Another outing from the seemingly ‘can’t-lose’ stable of writer-director Shane Meadows. If you enjoyed This is England (2006), and are tempted to view some of his back-catalogue, you may well heed my warning – this is a genuinely unpleasant watch.
Author: James
‘You’re a big man, but you’re in bad shape. With me, it’s a full-time job. Now behave yourself.’
Wonderful things, weekends – you have time to yourself, time to devote to paying due respect to what is simply the finest gangster film ever made. Take it away, Jack…
Mike Hodges’ seminal, Chandleresque study of society’s sickening criminal underbelly, Get Carter (1971) has endured not only as a sublime account of its time’s crimes, a marvellously grimy tale of just how far a well-dressed heavy will go to get even and a stark warning about not messing with family, but also, in much the same way as Bruce Robinson’s Withnail & I (1987), as a treasure trove of supremely quotable quotes that sum up the film’s mood and mores impeccably.
Author: James
Dilligent on Dillinger
He’s one of America’s finest directors, but his previous film, Miami Vice (2006), was a huge disappointment. So, how has the collaboration of Michael Mann with two of the younger generation’s leading actors, Johnny Depp and Christian Bale, worked out in Public Enemies (2009)?
Author: Colin
Heartache and a thousand natural chocs
Having made my home here in the sunny city of Brussels, I was naturally curious to find out what sort of film Martin McDonagh (Six Shooter (2004)) had made involving Bruges (it’s not that far from here), as well as because a friend of mine lives near there, and reckons that everyone found Colin Farrell “down-to-earth and charming”. Of course, this may be a biased viewpoint – for a start, she’s female.
Author: Colin
Beast at bay? Er, no…
Jesus Christ! What got Ghandi in such a bad mood? Sexy Beast (2000) was a film I came to very late (eight years late, in fact) and only watched on the insistence of James, who would ideally like me to see every film in the world, as he seems to have, but sometimes I do heed his recommendations, if only to stop him banging on about them. It turns out he was right about this one, though. (Thank you, Colin – J).
Author: James
Vive Mesrine!
Let’s face it – no one does Real McCoy, well-’ard gangster flicks like we Europeans. Of course, Stateside, you can cite Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990) or Casino (1995) and, at a pinch, Coppolla’s The Godfather (1972) but sorry, when it comes to what violence, fear of violence and callous characterizations are really all about, we have (among many others) Get Carter (1971). We’ve got The Long Good Friday (1980). Frankly, you’ve never really had a glass smashed into your face unless you’ve had it this side of the Atlantic, and there is a gritty, seamy, downright dirty side to the 70s gangster look and feel that only European pubs, bars, clubs and strip-joints can effectively convey.
Author: James
Classic Cronenberg
He can seemingly do no wrong; Canadian David Cronenberg, responsible for some of the finest examples of films that really do hit you where you live, has crossed the Atlantic to the UK for his first effort ever to be filmed completely outside his home country.
And his adoption of Viggo Mortenson, as Scorsese did with De Niro in the 1970s/80s, is proving to be perhaps the finest modern director/actor partnership – you only have to go as far back as the superlative A History of Violence (2005) to see the potential that David Cronenberg so obviously saw in the Lord of the Rings star.
Author: James
Game for anything
Tom Ripley (John Malkovich): You’re not planning on singing me through the door, are you?
Reeves (Ray Winstone): I’ve got the Carregio in here.
Tom Ripley: Well, you’re not coming in.
Reeves: I’m fucking coming in.
Tom Ripley: No, because it’s not a Carregio, it’s a Correggio. Just like it’s not tacco but ta-a-cco. Not pasto but pasta, see? Your entire education comes from classic car magazine and you dress like you’re on a condom run for the mob. By the way, it isn’t a Correggio, it’s a fake Rembrandt and until you know that, you’re not coming in with me.
Reeves: Don’t fuck me over here, pratt.
Tom Ripley: Don’t threaten me. I’m not the one wearing an earring.
- Colin: Mike: the Matrix was utter toss. Don’t go there. Anyhow, I’m right with you on Aliens –...
- Colin: James: Why not do ten more and see if you can avoid putting the god-awful travesty that is Independence Day in...
- CD: The Day the Earth Stood Still (it’s about an alien who is Jesus…but better than ET) Soylent Green...
- James: Hello Chris, and welcome to Picturenose!
Many thanks for your comment – I thought, in fact, that... - James: Colin, good points, both on Westworld (which should really have been included, I know, I know) and otters.