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tcarvelo14
Reviews
The Butcher (2009)
Brilliant throwback style action movie!
This is a world of granite faced crusty badass mothers! These guys aren't pretty, in fact nobody in this movie is pretty. But they are tough, and what they lack in looks they more than make up for in ferocity of action.
Robert davi is fantastic as the pock marked faced lee j. cobb mob boss, he doesn't like Earl, Eric Roberts' character, but like all the people in this movie they don't give away what they're thinking or who they like, or even what side they're on, and when the chips are down and they're in trouble, they all offer to join the other team to save their bacon, anyway. The only character with any real shred of discernible decency at all is Eric Roberts, and he is at the losing end of a run of seriously bad luck - see the movie.
This film was constructed strangely, it was really slow, and it bugged me a bit, then I realized I really enjoyed the slow build up, because, brother let me tell you, when this movie goes bang, it takes large gruesome fragments of the san fernando valley with it. In glorious old school no CG style. The guns are real and sound real, the guts and splatter seems gruesomely real, too.
I don't normally write on these boards, most people with the time to write don't share my opinion anyway. But a complete miscreant made a comment about the guns, I had a sudden flash of wanting to use a 1897 shot gun to flatten his head, like Earl does in the movie. The firearms in this movie are cool, there are no modern guns at all, they are all beat up old collectors items (like the characters, i guess), the gun in the stripclub is a Browning 1919 BTW, wasn't in WW1 at all, and no bayonet on it, - but like I said, I'm as pathetic as him for getting annoyed about his review.
This film is uncompromising and fresh, the style is gritty and almost messy, Eric Roberts is stand alone, a fantastic actor, and Davi battles him good for the scenery chewing awards. Michael ironside gives a small speech on gangster etiquette at the beginning and I can now quote it verbatim, it's a small part but it stays with you!
earl's car deserved it's own credit in the titles, as it's a character unto itself.
The bottom line. As i watched this film, it felt interesting and new, but a little slow getting to it's point, then the shooting happened and a divine light came over me and it all made sense. I have watched it three more times and most assuredly get it now.
This is a blistering individual film, a head and shoulders above most of the steamy crXp in the theater. This film isn't about the plot, or the suspense or any of that stuff, it's about the characters and the world they live in and boy i enjoyed it.
Terry. C.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Great looking, self congratulatory fetishism.
A splendidly photographed, tremendously art directed, pat on the back to the filmmaker. Borderline insulting to anyone who has any vested interest in the struggle that took place in Europe during the second world war. Look at me I single handedly changed history and made the Jews the victors, love me, adore me, I'm a film buff and copy the music pacing and composition of far better films, love me more.
The soul of this movie is a vacuous teenage boy desperately trying to find acceptance, desperately trying to prove he is more than he actually is. The average reviewer is now a teenage boy with painfully little knowledge of cinema beyond ten years, so this film will find itself a loving audience.
But the real story was stunning, heartbreaking and tragic enough, there was more than enough bravery and heroism during WW2 to make a movie that at least had some basis in truth, this mythical garbage was just infuriating, and amateurish storytelling, yes, yes, the production values, acting and star power was great. but the film was lacking in the most profound way imaginable. It had no soul whatsoever!
The film within a film was an opportunity for something interesting, instead we see a private Ryan rip off with explosive body hits, to boot, BTW they didn't have them in the 1940's, they didn't exist, small point but, a telling one, for a film so supposedly rich in detail there was nothing here that eight minutes on wikipedia wouldn't provide, and better.
Bottom line: if i was a member of the french or Jewish resistance during WW2 or had family or even a passing interest in their history, I would find this film arrogant, insulting and disrespectful. No matter how pretty, noisy and well executed.
Watch the Dirty Dozen a more accomplished film by a better director.,
T.