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I just watched this last night. (on demand via fios)
Descriptives; edgy, sexy, beautiful, ugly, sunny, depressing, horrific, brutal. A cautionary tale for those who might be tempted to get into bed with a Mexican drug cartel.
The movie cast is all A-list.
Michael Fassbender
Penelope Cruz
Carmen Diaz
Javiar Bardem
Brad Pitt
No shortage of talent here.
The film centers around a successful attorney who gets talked into becoming involved in a scheme that ultimately hi-jacks a cocaine shipment from a notorious Mexican drug cartel. It is not like he wasn't warned before it becomes too late. But...
The film is more serious than the movie trailers suggested. This is not an adventurous, flashy caper flick. Cinematography is glorious at times. Dialog is catchy, intelligent and propelling. The main players speak philosophical about death and dying while they engage in lavish parties, take pet Cheetahs out into the desert to hunt jack rabbits, and bed each other. But watch close or you might miss some important bit of double-crossing.
I should add that toward the movie climax there is one of the most brutal and efficient killing scenes imaginable.
I can't say that I recommend it. I was looking for a new movie to watch when I saw the trailer. If you are looking for something to uplift your spirit, this isn't it.
I'd rate it R for sex, but X for violence.
-Steve
Follow Ups:
and found Fassbender's and Diaz's performances not holding up over time. Bardem was still entertaining and Cruz was great while the rest of the cast did well. I realized how fast the dots were being connected from the very beginning with McCarthy's dialog. Lot's of "tell's" going down. Fassbender is better than this performance and perhaps Ridley was over-directing both him and Diaz. Poor Cameron looked fine in the first viewing but strained and out of her depth upon audit.
Edits: 03/13/14
N/T
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" - Michael McClure
...
" Poor Cameron looked fine..."Yes, especially while doing the splits, wearing no undies, on the windshield of that yellow Ferrari. And Bardem's retelling of it (from his perspective in the passenger seat ;)was even more graphic than the camera angle the movie audience was allowed to see. The imagination can easily fill in the blanks, but Barden's description does so admirably. Over the top but maybe it fits. It's the sort of thing that would not surprise any of these characters. But was that really Diaz or a body double?
On another note I think it is fair to say, given as much conversation this film has generated in this thread, that this is a "good" movie. It tells its story without sacrificing itself to a formula ending. All events play out logically and with a pace that describes actions and then consequences to those actions.
If it makes some audience members uncomfortable, perhaps it should. Given the subject matter here. And as much as recent news headlines have given the US public tiny glimpses into the Mexican drug biz, we should not expect a pleasant experience.
-Steve
Edits: 03/13/14 03/13/14
Even appreciated Pitt's world weary button man. Lesson learned, when it's time to vanish take a cab to the terminal.
Ridley Scott has been a master of the whole gratuitous violence thing. Something he shares with Cormac McCarthy and to a certain extent the Coen Bros. You can't stop what's coming. Lol
Just about all the violence was off screen. Look at it again.
--------------------------
"I'd like to own a squadron of tanks"
Pretty sure the Alien bursting out of the dude's chest was not off camera. Look at it again.
Movie makers have been trying to duplicate the horror of that moment, unsuccessfully, ever since.
--------------------------
"I'd like to own a squadron of tanks"
that it was using humans for hosts. Much of the violence in "Alien" is offscreen, the camera moves at the point where the attack occurs, all you experience is sound.
Nt
at least we figured it was her brother, sitting in front of us. About the time baby alien popped put of John Hurt's chest the kid just screamed bloody murder, started crying, loudly, and was hollering at his sis, "TAKE ME OUTTA HERE!!!!". Very loudly. This continued at various times throughout the movie. It's just occurred to me, you were that kid, right?
--------------------------
"I'd like to own a squadron of tanks"
It was at the Uptown Theater in Washington, DC, a grand old place sporting a balcony and big, curved screen. Anyway, when the "chest-popping" scene occurred, about 1/4 of the audience jumped up and began streaming for the exits, some holding their hands over their mouths as though to keep from vomiting. The guy directly in front of us yelled "Jesus, God!!" and joined the rest of the crowd leaving. I busted out laughing.
I had never seen behavior like before and certainly never since. That movie scared the livin' shit outta folks...
-RW-
'The Exorcist'.
Nt
--------------------------
"I'd like to own a squadron of tanks"
Nt
Films can be an art form and this film was a landmark film in the sic-fi, horror genre.
Edits: 03/12/14
to the humans after being attacked by said Alienses. One would think, from the first movie, the humans were dead meat after Alien attacked them. Far, far, from it. I'm pretty sure the "Quantum dots/clever little clock" dude saw a different movie and just got confused,
--------------------------
"I'd like to own a squadron of tanks"
instead of relying on wit and guile.
Nt
fd
Nt
"No Country for Old Men."
Nt
Saw it once in theater and would never see it again. I'd add 'repulsive' to your descriptions, describing the lifestyle and behavior and not the movie.
As far as Mexican-drug-business films go, it's as opposite a farce such as 'Two Guns' as can be. Seeing Fassbinder sob over the DVD brought tears to my eyes, and then I thought 'tough shit, dummy--YOU fucked up when you went into business with those assholes'.
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Tin-eared audiofool, large-scale-Classical music lover, and damned-amateur fotografer.
William Bruce Cameron: "...not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
Watched it all the way thru. ONLY ONE redeeming character (played by Cruz) in it.
And I felt the same way watching Fassbender sob over the DVD--that being 'tough shit, Mr. Greedy'. This is a modern morality tale, and ALL the badguys but one, Diaz, get their just desserts.
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Tin-eared audiofool, large-scale-Classical music lover, and damned-amateur fotografer.
William Bruce Cameron: "...not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
The film has much more gravitas than the trailer. Though it has received some pooh-poohing for being overly violent I saw it thrice at the walkie. I really like it and enjoyed Bardem's over-the-top character and the dialog.
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