Well, imagine that sense of utter hopelessness extended for over two hours......
Gomorrah: A film so different from "Burn After Reading" that it seems scarcely credible that they belong to the same medium and compete for the same awards. It is a long and distressing snapshot of how lives in a Naples housing project are dominated, and often terminated by the Cammorra (the Neopolitan equivalent of the Cosa Nostra). The film examines the impact of organised crime at every level: juvenile look-outs; ambitious young men trying to make a name; burnouts just trying to get by until retirement. The suited and sauve face of the Cammorra brokering EU-wide waste disposal deals that result in toxic waste being transported by children and dumped on farmland. There's no real narrative; the stories don't intersect in any cleverly pat manner. Instead there's a building sense of pity, distress and anger. As an insight into modern organised crime, in all it's tawdry, unglamorous horror, Gommorrah is well worth watching. But, it's not an easy ride and I would hesitate to describe it as "entertainment". Its essence is this: remember the ending of "City of God" - the only sympathetic character is dead, and you see children committing a murder and starting anew the cycle of violence? Well, imagine that sense of utter hopelessness extended for over two hours......
Saw Pineapple Express last night after Burn After Reading sold out. What a total gong show! This is one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. Don't touch with a very long barge pole. Potentially funny in places but constant tales of dope heads and aimless antics for a full 2 hours destroy any merit it may have had.
Can't wait to see Day Watch (although it's supposed to be less good).
Best fantasy film I've ever seen. My head is still reeling from it
Quote from: lagerstarfish on October 28, 2008, 11:01:10 pmCan't wait to see Day Watch (although it's supposed to be less good).Tis true I'm afraid. The lass int video shop reckoned there's a third film to come although I always thought there was only two.Quote from: lagerstarfish on October 28, 2008, 11:01:10 pmBest fantasy film I've ever seen. My head is still reeling from it Have you seen Pan's Labrynth?Has Wanted been mentioned? Saw it last week and it made me laugh out loud. Not sure whether it is trying to be funny but it certainly got me. I think that someone had been overdosing on their imagination pills and bullet time special effects. Avoid if you like your action slightly believable.
Twilight Watch - It is being filmed in the US and will alegedly be in english
I liked Pan's Labia, but not as much as Night Watch.
In Brugeshttp://www.uk.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/A black comedy about two hitmen hiding in Bruges: bad-temperedly enduring the tourist-trail whilst awaiting instructions from the boss. A bizarre hybrid of Sexy Beast style scabrous low-life gangsterisms and Father Ted-esque whimsy ("you can't give a dwarf ketamine...begorrah!"). I really liked this film, the two leads play-off each other entertainingly with the hangdog Brendan Gleason dragging the sulky unwilling Colin Farrell to examine medieval architecture when he just wants to pull and get pissed (though not on "gay" Belgian beer!). Despite their professions, past deeds, and predilliction for violence the characters are sufficiently likeable that I almost wanted it to play Odd Couple style for the entire duration. However, I guess a film must have a plot so events escalate in tragi-comic fashion with the whimsy partly sacrificed for action. Still, it's a very entertaining ride and probably the best film I have seen at the cinema for a good few months; deliberating on its faults has made me realise just how much of it was right. The acting is generally top-notch, as whilst Fienne's gangster cameo isn't entirely convincing Brendan Gleason is predictably superb and Colin Farrell's portrayal sufficient that it actually makes amends for "Alexander". Which is high praise indeed, as rereading a review of mine for that travesty on this thread made me realise . His character is sulky, impulsive and basically bad, yet also funny, sensitive, and oddly rather sympathetic. Strange that really... who would have thought that Farrell would make a better Dublin gobshite than a 330BC Macedonian tactical genius?! If only that had occurred to Oliver Stone... the pain that might have been saved... I reckon in the future Alexander will be the subject of filmmakers' ire in the same manner Vietnam was for Oliver Stone ("Alexander is hell: the first casualty of Farrell is credibility").
Now that's a coincidence - I watched In Bruges on saturday afternoon too. Thought it was excellent for all the points given above, apart from thought the ending was slightly contrived.
Caught a trailer last night on Film 4 that they are showing a series of five Argentinian films that looked interesting. Starts next Tuesday with El Aura.
