The Devil's BackboneAnother emotional fantasy/horror film from the perspective of children. TVC was right: it really does a good job of presenting childhood situations that feel realistic. While it wasn't scary in terms of horror I was impressed by the portrayal of the horror of war, as well as what a true monster can be: in this case an orphaned man who's childhood was taken away. It wasn't as breath taking as Pan's but I thought the The Cowboys-esque revenge climax was fuck awesome
8/10American Gangster (director's cut)Seems like this movie was hyped all through late 2006/early 2007 but once it came out the talk died. What went wrong? I thought it was a pretty damn good crime flick. Like I said last night, I really didn't like the buddy buddy ending, which seemed too out of place for a guy who killed thousands of people; although I suppose one could argue that he righted some of those wrongs by helping bring down the corrupt cops. Washington's performance was mainly calculating and cerebral*, although when he snapped things got awesome. I thought it was interesting how during drug transaction scenes his character was always looking away form his dirty work, as if he was somewhat ashamed at what he was doing so he attempted to simply ignore his actions. If that was meant to make him a sympathetic character I thought it was a pretty bad job. As a big brother myself I resonated with the scene where his mom mentioned that his brothers would have all become doctors, police, or lawyers if he had chosen those paths instead. Overall it's not nearly as flashy as some other crime flicks in terms of camera work, but it did the job. Great performances from the main and supporting cast.
*am I the only person who really got a Godfather feel from the movie? I'm not suggesting that the movie is as good as the two Godfather films, but it definitely struck me as a far more political gangster film than the more gritty, street level hustling of something like Goodfellas. And like Michael, Frank Lucas' calm and calculation slowly devolves to paranoia and recklessness
8.5/10The ThingWow how did I miss out on this movie for years? Pretty badass. It reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode where a van full of people discovers that one of them is an alien, and then slowly attempt to figure out who it is. Psychological horror/sci fi? Kurt Russel omg. <3
spoiler (click to show/hide)
the scene where the guy's hands get chopped off by that dude's stomach=fuck fuck fucccck
Holy fuck, what a badass movie. The stylization and over-the-top-everything was laughable at times, but usually it was entertaining. It's a very loose film, like Death Proof, more style than substance but it didn't strike me as pretentious. Plus the score was FUCK AWESOME. I need to look that shit up to see just what RZA did. The entire film is basically a "homage" (or rip off) of kung fu films, and the score sounded like a Morricone homage. Simply badass. How's the second one?
Later tonight (or tomorrow if I'm tired): Escape From New York
