Smashbomb

Watched #Bronson again recently. As a huge #NWR #fan you can 100% see a lot of his director traits and early work in it too (especially #Pusher) but there's also such an impeccable #ClockworkOrange esc aura/#influence that it makes it a #film so unlike any of his others that at times you'd be mistaken in thinking it was directed by a #British director. Such a #fascinating film not only as a character #study of Bronson himself but as a progression piece for Refn as a #director too.

Kudos Comment

Gaslight (1940)

8.0 (3 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

Gaslight is a 1940 British film directed by Thorold Dickinson which stars Anton Walbrook and Diana...

BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Gentlemen (2020) in Movies

Jun 27, 2020

The Gentlemen (2020)

2020 | Action, Crime

8.1

(34 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Clever and Inventive

Ever since he burst onto the film scene with back-to-back interesting British Mob movies LOCK, STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS and SNATCH, Director Guy Ritchie has had a "hit and miss" track record (including the Madonna-starring, Razzie-Award "winner" SWEPT AWAY). Fortunately, for us, we seem to be in a Guy Ritchie "peak" a this moment.

Following up to his surprise strong Directing turn in the live action ALADDIN remake (if you haven't seen this film, the BankofMarquis strongly recommends you do), Ritchie returns to his "British Gangster" roots with the violent, funny and original THE GENTLEMEN.

Starring Matthew McConaughey as a U.S. born and bred, Cambridge educated hustler who becomes king of the British Marijuana scene who is looking to get out of the business, THE GENTLEMEN tells the tale of the...ahem...gentlemen that are pursuing (both legitimately and illegitimately) his empire.

The way that this film is constructed, the most essential casting of this film is that of the central character of Michael Pearson. He is billed as an enigmatic, charismatic, violent and brilliant legend of the British drug trade, so Ritchie needed someone with all these qualities to inhabit that role. Fortunately, with McConaughey, Ritchie finds his man (I'm sure the backstory of this character needed to be tweaked a bit upon this casting to explain why an American is the king of British Weed). McConaughey is at his laconic best in this role, bringing star quality - and star power - that holds the center of this film together well.

He is joined by a strong cast that understands the type of film they are in and are game to join in on the (violent) fun. Michelle Dockery (DOWNTON ABBEY), Henry Golding (CRAZY, RICH ASIANS) , Jeremy Strong (THE BIG SHORT) and the always watchable Eddie Marsan (THE WORLD'S END, amongst others) all are strong in the limited moments that their characters are allowed to shine, but with McConaughey and 3 other actors I will speak to in a moment, they are relegated mostly to the background.

This is because Hugh Grant (4 WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL), Colin Farrell (PHONE BOOTH) and (surpisingly) Charlie Hunnam IPACIFIC RIM) almost steal the film from McConaughey, Each one of these characters could have easily been the centerpiece of their own film and I would be happy if Ritchie would spin one of these characters off.

Credit, of course, for all of this has to go to Ritchie who wrote and directed this film I was pleasantly surprised by the cleverness and inventiveness in storytelling and style as well as the restraint that Ritchie shows in the violence. He uses it (somewhat) sparingly and well, so the violence punctuates the action.

All-in-all a fun (though violent) time at the movies.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Hot Fuzz (2007) in Movies

Aug 3, 2019

Hot Fuzz (2007)

2007 | Action, Comedy

8.2

(54 Ratings)

Movie Rating

An instant classic

Hot Fuzz is a glorious film, plain and simple.

It's funny, it's crude, it's gory, it's just plain ridiculous at times, and it's very British...
Anyone who lives here in England can confirm - this country is full of little villages and towns where something just seems a bit...off. just like the films village, Sandford.
As Sgt. Angel starts to uncover a sinister conspiracy underneath the idyllic town, Hot Fuzz effortlessly weaves quick humour, with a creeping sense of dread, just like it's predecessor, Shaun of the Dead.

The fantastic trio of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and director Edgar Wright hit all the right comedic notes once again, and the film is riddled with famous faces from the British comedy scene.
It evens features once-James-Bond Timothy Dalton, just being generally awesome and villainous.

The climatic battle, (that likes fun at the silliness of the action genre) is good fun, but it doesn't quite hit the mark that Shaun of the Dead does.

It's still a great film though, I'd implore anyone to give it a go.

Kudos

La Jetee

Chris Darke

(0 Ratings) Rate It

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Chris Marker's La Jetee is 28 minutes long and almost entirely made up of black-and-white still...

The Shining

Roger Luckhurst

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Stanley Kubrick hailed The Shining as 'the scariest horror film of all time' before its release in...

Kevin Phillipson (10021 KP) rated The Death Of Stalin (2017) in Movies

Dec 31, 2019

Steve buscemi (1 more)

Michael Palin

Not enough Jason Isaacs (0 more)

Just watched on Netflix rather good comedy rather dark political comedy about the communism and the death of Stalin with a cast of well known actors a who's who of British and American greats to watch the likes of Michael Palin and Steve buscemi sharing screen time just great. needed more Jason Isaacs still good film