Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (5000)

Content

Awix (3310 KP) rated Queen & Slim (2019) in Movies

Feb 6, 2020

Queen & Slim (2019)

2019 | Drama, Romance

6.5

(6 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Another powerful film about racial tensions in America; this one is unusually subtle and sophisticated, too. A young couple are forced to kill a racist cop and go on the run from the authorities, falling in love as they go. The subtext - that the bias in the system inevitable ends up criminalising decent young folk - is obvious, but the film finds nuance as well. There are decent white people and corrupt black people, while the protagonists have no interest in bigger political issues - but find themselves being claimed as symbols or representatives of some dubious political movements.

The film seems to be suggesting that in a conflicted and corrupt world, the best thing is to find joy where you can, and the developing romance between the two leads is as memorable as any of the political or dramatic content. Possibly a bit overlong at two and a quarter hours, but an engaging, intelligent and moving film from the first moment to the last.

Kudos

Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Miller's Crossing (1990) in Movies

Mar 3, 2020 (Updated Aug 6, 2020)

Miller's Crossing (1990)

1990 | Drama, Mystery

8.2

(5 Ratings)

Movie Rating

In a word: Style. Note, in the picture, how Gabriel Byrne’s posture in the chair reflects that of Micheal Corleone in The Godfather! Knowing Joel and Ethan Coen, that is not a mistake. This is a movie designed to the millimetre. The clothes, the furniture, the guns, the cars, everything is meticulously chosen, creating nothing less than a moving work of art. Even the language is poetry, using a vocabulary, largely invented, to highlight the rhythm of the wiseguy era that is entirely romanticized, but so perfectly consistent we wish it was history. It steals knowingly from the best in the genre at every turn, weaving a tale so nuanced and detailed that it demands several watches to truly mine every multi-layered meaning. In every way, a rich feast, about loyalty, weakness and humanity. The film on this list I am mostly likely to keep watching at the drop of… a hat!