Mafiascum Film Group: thestatusquo

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ining

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Sleuth is kinda meh.

I liked the wit of the dialogues and I liked Jude Law because of wow hot, but the story was kinda a let down and there just wasn't chemistry of the erotic kind between the two actors (with the notable exception of the scene with the mirror - that scene is great in the borderline grotesque fascination it exalts and with Caine at his best, just so oddball funny).

I think one of the big mistake in this film storytelling wise is that the sincerity of Wyke's proposition is kept too ambiguous too long, one doesn't have clue as to whether he is serious or not till the very end, whether he is veritably smitten, which diminish greatly the emotional impact of his final gesture and makes the punchline flabby.

Something about the cinematography, it looks polished enough, but the careful good-tasteness irritated me. Ultimately the result doesn't serve the story in any way and makes for very uninspired and generic visuals. Made me think of Ikea/luxury appartements ads during the whole film.

Oh yeah one last thing I disliked, the number of times you see the actors switching lights/tv screen/every random electronical devices and their mothers on and off with that little remote control. Pointless and gadgety.

But yeah, Jude Law is way hot.

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Why you say that? Because I think Jude Law is hot? :p

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My problem with Caine's character is in the third act, when he starts to attach himself to Law/Milo and offers him the guest room and his companionship. I felt that that was too honest, too soulbaring a move right after they agreed to play the last set after Law/Milo's comeback. I didn't feel the probably intended doubt of whether it was honest coming from Wyke or not, because I didn't see how Law's character was to be fucked by accepting. Possibly a long-term plan, but I saw it as unlikely.

Wyke's offer is pretty obviously offensive IMO, he basically asks Tindle to whore himself out in exchange of material comfort. But I agree Law's acting wasn't very good in third act and he didn't get Tindle's motivation as a character across very well.

The way I read it, Tindle is basically a loser - your male hairdresser variant of the vaguely pretty but already ageing waitress who pretends they still have a chance at making it big in Hollywood. On the opposite, Wyke, who may lacks physical charms, has succeed very well in life; and in this way Wyke's offer is very humiliating to Tindle as it rubs Tindle's failure squarely in his face.

The poignancy of Tindle's character (at which one can guess based, if not on Law's acting, on the dialogue) and indeed what gives to the whole story its (potential) tragic dimension, is the fact that Tindle is, I think, genuinely tempted by Wyke's proposition, and in return Wyke's admiration for Tindle's spirit is also veritable (which is also genuinely appealing to the later). You see, the obvious happy ending to the story would have been for them both to just get the freak on and forget about the woman.

But pride, doubts about the others sincerity, and the appeal of one-upmanship happen, and none get what they want.

Gadgety maybe, but not pointless. Whomever had the remote had the power and the control of the "game".

The third act is more ambiguous as to who is winning because nobody has the prop.

Good spotting, I think you are probably right. Annoying nonetheless. Also, I think no one has the prop because they both lose control of the game in the third act.

ITT is In This Thread. Works for most of it, srsly.

The twisted kind of attraction the two protagonists exercise on each other is the hinge of the story imo. So yeah, the lack of chemistry between the two actors is a big failure.

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/in, though I can´t start actually watching recommeded films until after January 21st.

My suggestions for first film are The Royal Tenenbaums and The Professional

If you liked The Professional (I assume you are referring to the Luc Besson movie here), you need to watch Nikita by the same director.
1)Reno's character in Léon (original title) kinda originate from his role as 'le nettoyeur' in Nikita.
2) If Léon does cool very well, the characters in it are somewhat bidimensional and unrealistic because of it. This inscribes it definitively in the cartoon/comics inspired 'film de genre' category which, if Léon was pretty original and ahead of the curve at the time, kinda does the film a disservice now as movie theatres have seemingly been flooded by them since. Nikita is less extreme in its genre, but the attachment to the characters who are depicted more subtly is by contrast what makes the film looks fresh still.
3)In a one on one, Nikita kicks Léon's ass.

That said, one of my all time favorite film is a Besson. It's 'Le Grand Bleu'. But I think it is kinda sacrilegious to recommend it so I won't.

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I hate Ben Stiller's gut. He wears the same moronic insufferable expression in all his films.

Gwenyth however you spell it Paltrow was good in this film. Nice pout, eminently likeable character. The wood finger gave me a good interiorized chuckles. The apex of this film. No, actually I liked the scene when she drops the cigarettes then deny it's hers too. Very touching and bittersweet.

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I haven't gotten around to see the film but I like this thread, don't let it die!

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I agree with Fritzler. This film didn't age well with me. I remember having been very impressed the first time round, but re watching, most of the film feels pretty theatrical, and little of it rings any true.

Norton's character does feel two dimensional, even a bit of a Mary Sue. Badass Nazi Antichrist one moment, clean and clear caring son the next. The fact that buttrape was the event in his life that set him on the way of redemption seem singularly artless and cheap. You can tell it's supposed to be the character's fast food ticket to securing the audience's sympathies for the second half of the film, and for the manipulation to be so evident it is quite insulting.

Ironically it also plays into one of the themes the film is supposed to expose, which is inequality of treatment: if you paused the film at that point and asked it "What are the lives of 3 black guys worth?" it would answer you "Three very short fictional years in prison and one buttrape." Here, the choice to make Norton's char sympathetic at all turns him into a sort of anti-hero with his terrible actions nothing more than a kind of "charming quirk" such char are allotted to have. And had the film ended right there, it would have been pretty crappy indeed.

In that regard, the bullet through Danny's head is the only logical and intelligent ending, and the one single move which saves the entire film from outright hypocrisy. Although maybe I'm not giving the director enough credit, maybe Norton's character's charmed return to normal life was destined to be taken as a parody, with the actual ending a sadistic - and brilliant - subversion of the audience's expectation. Maybe, but I think the filmakers' intention was more along the line of showing the infernal engrenage of violence and hate, which is one step above happily ever after, but still quite the cliché melodrama, and a little to tearjerky for my taste now.

A note on the cinematography. The violence which was very impressive to me in memory seems very tame now, and some of choices look even ridiculous. The filming of the rape scene is showered in clichés, right down to the shot of the corrupt guard leaving. The only way they could have made it more cliché would have been for Derek to actually drop a bar of soap (though I'm not really complaining, every skinhead in this film is ripped, and that scene is actually a little hot). Then there is the supermarket scene. It seems almost slapstick by today's standards with its shots of violence on bananas and other food stuff. The one effective scene is the curb, still as horrific.

On the acting. I don't know if I buy Norton's portrayal, but I don't think the char makes much sense the way it was written to begin with. Someone said that his performance was better than Benigni's in La Vita, I don't agree. Norton's character may be potentially more impressive, it get to shout more for one, but ultimately it leaves me cold, the undeniable magnetism of the character residing more in tight white singlets and licentious tattoos upon muscled pectorals than anything else. Benigni, he was touching and had and something truly original in what he brought to his character. But yeah, Edward Norton. Hot.

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Oh but I saw this. For some reason they called it 'Morse' in French, but I think the original title resonates much more. I enjoyed it a lot. A heady mix of gore, romanticism (much more so than romance) and childhood innocence with multiple layers of meaning. All this done in great understated elegance, and with a distinctive scandinavian touch: bright silent snow and inner darks. And brilliant acting.

And half the fun is to talk about it afterward:

Personally I didn't read it like a vampire film at all. To me the girl Eli is a metaphor of the violent and terrible rot taking place, beneath the boy' angelic and subdued exterior, inside Oskar's soul. A seductive allegory of the aspiration for sadism and bloodshed originated in his loneliness and repressed anger to which the boy progressively surrenders to by inviting it into his heart (hence the title). And which will, as foreshadowed by Eli's first companion, eventually lead him to become a monstrous butcherer.

That's why she is not a girl. That's way she tell him she is like him: she is him.

What's memorable in this film is that it succeeded in transcending a process to absolute evil - Oskar correctly identify Eli as a killer before the end of the film, so no attenuating circumstance for him - into an achingly (and chillingly) tender act of love.

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Once you realise that and see Eli as the villain instead of the Deus Ex Machina that makes Oskar's life better, the movie becomes thoroughly chilling and you actually watch the whole thing over again in your head and shudder

Is Eli really a villain? You never actually see her enjoying any of the things she does. Oskar though is positively delighted in a quasi orgasmic fashion when he first strike back and slash his bully's ear.

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I'd like to point out it is strongly emplied Eli is a male eunuch. That's what you see when he peeps on her while she's changing and everything is all fucked up down there. And she's always like would you like me if I wasn't a girl. It's not just about being a vmapire, but about really being a dude/

I took that scene as meaning Eli to be sexless. IIRC Eli doesn't have a penis. Castration typically entail removal of the testicles only. And then, if Eli is indeed a male who got the whole package removed, arises the open question of whether 'he' would still qualify as a dude.