THEGAYUK

Tag: Move Genre Crime

  • FILM REVIEW | Baby Driver

    BABY DRIVER – The surprise hit of the summer, The UK’s very own Edgar Wright takes on the American car chase genre and makes an absolute film classic… all to an endless hit music soundtrack.

    FILM REVIEW | Baby Driver

    Nutshell – Baby is a 22-year-old driver for crime kingpin Doc and he does it all to pounding music to drown out his tinnitus hearing problem and he has been doing it since he learnt to wipe his own butt. He meets a love interest waitress and sees a way-out but escaping his crime world will prove a lot harder than he hopes… cue heists, exciting four-wheel action, plenty of gunplay and huge stunts and boy is it massively enjoyable.

    Running Time – 135 minutes; Certificate – 15.

    Tagline – ‘All You Need Is One Killer Track’

    THEGAYUK Factor – Jon Hamm is well known for allegedly having the biggest appendage in Hollywood and this is his best breakthrough movie. There are many scenes where you get to see this weapon of ass destruction in full view in all the action beats and boy is this one eyed trouser-snake distracting. There are some big firing weapons on show here but it’s obvious who has the biggest ‘gun’.

    Cast – Ansel Elgort stars alongside a mega supporting cast including Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Lily James and Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers & BigBoi from Outkast continuing this Summer of celeb cameos following David Beckham, Paul McCartney and Harry Styles elsewhere.

    Key Player – Edgar Wright does everything here including writing, directing, producing and choosing all the music. The Dorset born cinematic genius from his Spaced/French & Saunders beginnings through Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, TinTin, Antman & The World’s End has been leading up towards this his whole career – Simon Pegg will have to look for a new buddy now.

    Budget – $34 Million and boy it looks bigger than that on screen. So far in two weeks, it has made three times its costs with many territories still to be released in and this cult film will do mega-business on DVD, download and streaming which it is perfect for – A Hit Hit Hit!

    Best Bit – 0.05 mins; A tour de force of the most complicated very long running shot of all time as the lead walks around several blocks interacting with hundreds of extras all hitting exact beats of a Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Motown classic… very clever indeed and it sets you in the mood for a truly special experience.

    Worst Bit – 0.33 mins; The female lead, a waitress, who becomes the love interest has little presence, no back story and is the only weak link here. You don’t root for her or see what Baby sees in her… maybe a good looking lad like him should forget girls altogether and turn to the dark side… Originally this part was to be played by Emma Stone who bailed for Oscar glory in La La Land instead – good for her but shame for this film.

    Little Secret – Wright had this idea for years and first filmed it in a pop video for the band Mint Royale starring Noel Fielding. Noel appears in the clips at the start of the film and basically every clip on Baby’s TV as he flips through it actually details the final heist. There is so much like that for repeat viewing like all the vinyl records across the floor in the ransacked apartment are those on the film’s soundtrack and on and on the clever touches go here – this movie was not thrown together it was made with love.

    Further Viewing – Drive, Heat, Oceans 11, Snatch, Inside Man, Reservoir Dogs, The Italian Job, Usual Suspects and the greatest heist film of all time The Town.

    Any Good – This is simply f*cking great. Very funny, truly thrilling with more twists than a twisty turny thing and as entertaining as a pub lock-in with Graham Norton, Peter Kay and Lily Savage. In the midst of a sea of summer numbered sequels, this entertaining two hours in your local fleapit is a wholly fresh screenplay turned hip-as-hell movie.

    Rating – 91% out of 100.

     

    Order Baby Driver from Amazon | iTunes

     

  • FILM REVIEW: Faults

    A down on his luck cult expert is hired by a couple to deprogram their daughter in the new online film Faults.

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  • FILM REVIEW | A Most Violent Year

    ★★★★★ | A Most Violent Year

    Ok, a film that’s set in 1980 (my era) and stars Oscar Isaac (W.E. and Inside Llewyn Davis) and Jessica Chasten (Interstellar and Zero Dark Thirty), along with some killer outfits and one hell of a story – who wouldn’t want to watch this?

    The storyline follows Abel Morales (Isaac), an honest and hard working man, as his ethics collide with brutal violence at a time when New York is facing an unexpected and unprecedented spike in violent crime. Abel is building his business, following the American Dream, over-stretching himself in order to expand in what appears to be a sensible way.
    Having borrowed heavily to fund this expansion, his business is hit by opportunistic thieves, and he finds himself taking matters into his own hands in order to protect his interests. Alongside this, his wife, from a very distinctly NY “family”, is itching to get in there and sort the matter out if her husband can’t!
    While searching for those responsible for these crimes, he attracts the attention of an ambitious Assistant District Attorney (David Oyelowo – Interstellar and Selma) who is out to make a name for himself and needs a victim to do it.
    This film has the look and feel of a classic thriller from the Serpico and Godfather era, the use of language and mannerisms are spot on. The colours and settings echo the early ’80s perfectly, with the costumes showcasing power dressing NY style. Chasten has some killer outfits and hair-dos and knows how to work ‘em!
    With a strong supporting cast that includes Alessandro Nivola (American Hustle and Coco Before Chanel), Albert Brooks (Drive) and Elyes Gabel (World War Z and Spooks), this film showcases the underbelly of a city, pitting good men against what can seem impossible odds.
    Director JC Chandor did an amazing job on this film and I for one was dumbfounded that it didn’t generate any interest at the major awards – showing how unfair these shindigs can be.
    This is a perfect pizza and beer movie and a distinct 5 stars, I paid good money to see this first time round and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again.
    Buy on Amazon

  • FILM REVIEW | Hyena, Slick and Brutal

    The ‘hyena’ in this slick and brutal crime thriller is a burly bent copper called Michael Logan who plays so closely with fire, he is definitely going to get more than his fingers burned if things turn out as badly as they probably will. ★★

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  • FILM REVIEW | Inherent Vice, Expecting Boogie Nights, you will be disappointed

    ★★★ | Inherent Vice, Expecting Boogie Nights, you will be disappointed

    The reclusive writer Thomas Pynchon is known for his dense and complex novels which he has never allowed to be adapted into movies, until now that is. When ‘Inherent Vice’ his seventh novel was published in 2009 the dust jacket proclaimed that it was ‘part-noir, part-psychedelic romp’.

    The piece is set in 1970 and unkempt Doc Spotello a Private Eye sporting big mutton chops and as usual in a dope-fuelled haze, is in his Gordetta Beach hangout when Shasta Fay Hepworth one of his ex-squeezes turns up unexpectedly to ask for his help. She wants him to track down her secret lover, big-shot land developer Mickey Wolfmann, who’s vanished. Shasta is worried that Mrs. Wolfmann who has her own lover, wants to commit her husband to a loony bin but before Doc can even start investigating, Shasta disappears too.

    When Doc gets on the case he heads out to Channel View Estates, Wolfmann’s latest cheesy housing development, and en route pops into a sex parlor there looking for one of the owner’s bodyguards who he thinks will be able to help him. As he gets ready to leave Doc is knocked out, only to wake up much later next to the body of the dead bodyguard, a burly Nazi-loving biker, and he is instantly accused of murder by the cops.

    Doc gets out of this particular mess as his old nemesis Det. ‘Bigfoot’ Bjornsen knows he is innocent but nevertheless he and the FBI press him into helping them locate Wolfmann and a missing musician Coy Harlington who they all want to talk to as well. And looming over everything is the ‘Golden Fang’ that Doc has been warned to avoid. What this is he is never quite sure, and neither are we. At first it appears it is maybe a blacklisted movie star’s personal sailing vessel, or one that belongs to an Indo-Chinese drug cartel. Or it may even be the name of a syndicate of tax-dodging dentists fronted by a coke-snorting Dr. Feelgood.

    Both Wolfmann and Hartigan are found but by this time the plot is so convoluted that we have no chance of making head of tale of it unless we are as perpetually stoned as Doc is. What makes this ‘haze’ so enjoyable however is the inspired and zany delicious humor that is always a strength of Anderson’s films, plus some rather wonderful performances from a fine cast led by Joaquin Phoenix as Doc. Phoenix brings his hallmark manic manner to the role and is excruciatingly wonderful as he totally lives a part that is so tailor-made for him.

    Fine turns too from Josh Brolin as Bigfoot, a barely recognisable Benicio Del Toro as a Lawyer, Owen Wilson (who is always happy when he is stoned) as Coy, and delightfully over-the-top performance by Martin Short as Dr Feelgood.

    If like me you were expecting this to follow on from Anderson’s 1997 breakthrough movie the sensational ‘Boogie Nights’ set in this same period, you will be disappointed as it’s simply not in the same league. It is however still a joy to watch and appreciate his highly personal stylised approach to filmmaking as he revels in a period and culture that he has such empathy with. Just make sure you read the novel first, and maybe take a puff or two as well.

  • FILM REVIEW | A Most Violent Year, Playing it straight can work – Sometimes

    Abel Morales wants to pursue the ‘American dream’ the right way. However, his pushy wife Anna thinks otherwise. She is the daughter of the Brooklyn mobster who sold his small Heating Oil business to Morales in the first place, and Anna is well aware that if they are to be successful they will first have to effectively deal with thugs who run competitive businesses by far means and foul. Mainly the latter.

    It’s obvious from the start of the movie when yet another of Morales’s tankers are hijacked and the driver is badly beaten that whoever is behind these incidents means to put the Morales out of business. As Anna keeps nagging to remind him, they are effectively at war. The trouble is they are not quite sure who with.

    It’s the 1980s and in a crime-ridden New York City it is tough for a business like Morales not to have to resort to play dirty tricks to survive. He has signed the biggest deal of his career to date when he agrees to buy an Oil Terminal from a group of savvy Hassidic Jews, and if fails to complete the purchase on time he stands to lose everything, including the oversized ‘macmansion’ he has just bought in the suburbs. When news of the deal goes public, then the campaign of terror against him is stepped up to try and ensure that he will not have enough funds to close the deal.

    If that is not enough trouble, the Assistant D.A. is out to make a name for himself and be seen to be cleaning up the ‘dirty’ oil industry and is looking to charge Morales with multiple offences. This includes fraud and cooking the books, the latter being one of Anna’s more accomplished talents.

    This taut multi-layered tale of corruption and treachery is the third feature from writer/director J.C. Chandor who made such a splash with his debut movie Margin Call in 2010 that became a sleeper hit. Chandor keeps the tension packed until the final credits roll when Morales, determined to keep to the moral ground, realises he has to be tougher than both the thugs out to ruin him but also his wife who has no problem at all resorting to whatever it takes to keep her family together and the business in tact.

    With a really compelling performance from Oscar Isaac looking more like a new George Clooney matinee idol in every movie he stars in, who with his heavy Brooklyn accent is perfectly cast as Morales. He has such a commanding presence and its clear to see how he has jumped up into leading man status since his breakthrough performance in Inside Llewyn Davies. Plus Jessica Chastain forsaking her copper tresses and going bossy blond, is splendid as the matter-of-fact tough cookie Anna.

  • FILM REVIEW | Beauty

    Francois is a middle aged white Afrikaner family man who is unable to reconcile his inner desires with the values of his contemporaries.

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  • FILM REVIEW | Our Paradise

    Despite its lack of motive, this film nurtures a disturbing subculture of achieving status by taking what’s not yours to take.

    Something deeply dark and disturbing yet visually enticing awaits viewers for this French drama about a 30-something hustler whose neurosis about ageing is, we assume, turning him to a motiveless murderous monster. After finding a younger man (Dimitri Durdaine) lying dazed, damaged and suffering from memory loss in the cruising grounds of Bois de Boulogne, Paris, Vassili (Stephane Rideau) shrouds his new muse, becoming a hybrid of pimp/lover figure to his new squeeze. After a client, who Vassili believes he had murdered, is discovered living in Paris, the two lovers and now accomplices are forced to go on the run.

    Our Paradise is an enigmatically beautiful piece of cinematography with much thought given to ensuring that the characters are either corpulently grotesque or fallen angelic beauties, not in equal measure, however. Angelo is the fallen angelic beauty – both inside and out. Vassili’s world is full of these gross, bloated and aged individuals who, one imagines used to be paying trade, now, with fresh blood, and Vassili’s burgeoning potbelly hindering his prospects; the fallen angelic beauty reignites business. One odd scene, Angelo is examined by a doctor, ostensibly to see whether the boy was raped shoves a camera into the boy’s anus and describes his findings ‘smooth as silk.’ This is, however, as far as character probing goes. Uncomplex and a little two dimensional in some respects the characters are more animalistic in their pursuits. Durdaine is almost entirely detached from his character, which adds to the rather chilling but lonely portrayal of Angelo.

    Durdaine plays an almost perfect twink to Rideau’s inflated frame and the audience is given many opportunities to revel in his nakedness, which of course is wonderful and does distract from some the many questions that the film’s lack of motive throws up.

    One of the key issues explored is the often mismatched relationships between younger gay men and their respective elder partners. The narrative doesn’t judge, but merely outlines the possible issues faced by such relationships, most notable replaceability for a younger, newer, fresher model and the power struggle between the monied and the beneficiary.

    The supporting cast is superb, their performances loiter in the mind as an uneasy feeling engulfs you. Sterling performances from supporting cast Béatrice Dalle and a young Mathis Morisset who shows acting promise far beyond his years.

    The brilliantly translated subtitles really draw you into the action, distracting the audience from analysing our anti heroes’ intentions. Why the film is called Our Paradise remains, annoyingly elusive, as paradise is unobtainable for Vassili and Angelo. The ending makes the film feel a little pointless and if you’re looking for a bow to wrap up the little details you certainly won’t find it in this film.

  • FILM REVIEW | Party Monster

    This week I want to introduce to you, one of my all time favourite movies. This movie sees the return of Macaulay Culkin as a club child of the 80s along with his creator/mentor/muse – Seth Green who plays James St. James

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