Films That Matter
A Law Unto Themselves
The front door to an apartment swings open... an unseen figure walks through the living area and approaches a beautiful blonde woman wearing a robe as she walks around the bathroom... he then deliberately empties the barrel of his revolver into her – this is the jarring cold opening to the film noir Illegal (1955), and one thing is for sure, it knows how to grab your attention. Funnily enough, this was the third adaptation of the 1929 play “The Mouthpiece” by Frank J. Collins, following Mouthpiece (1932) and The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940) – and they say movies are remade too much today. Flash to Victor Scott (Edward G. Robinson), a district attorney who is wise to all the angles and is graced with a silver tongue. With an unyielding desire to win (he got it from growing up and fighting his way out of the slums), he argues every case like it is his last.
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Love at First Fight
First LoveMarch 15, 2020Coming off a bit like an Asian version of a Quentin Tarantino/Guy Richie feature, First Love (2019) finds iconic Japanese director Takashi Miike (now with over one hundred films under his belt) in his favourite playground, fusing violence, comedy, crime, and romance together in a most entertaining way. An intricate ballet of characters shot at the pace of a hockey game, Leo (Masataka Kubota) is a lonesome boxer. . . an abandoned young man whose only skill is being a pugilist. Taking a limp-wristed punch during a bout, he unexpectedly crumples to the ground like a baby who has just realized that he can walk for the very first time. Medical investigation shows a tumour on the back of his brain – a death warrant. Seeing a street fortune teller (Bengal) soon after, he is frustrated at the man’s two views: one – that he is a healthy young man; and two – that he needs to have a cause and help people.
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Not Your Typical Mob Movie
The Lavender Hill MobJanuary 21, 2020Ranked as the 17th greatest British film of all-time by the British Film Institute (and perhaps a bit more surprisingly, finding itself on the Vatican’s top 45 “great films” – in the “art” category), 1951's The Lavender Hill Mob, written by T.E.B. Clarke (winning him the Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay) and directed by Charles Crichton (A Fish Called Wanda), is a clever send up of the crime caper. Setting out to write an authentic crime story, Clarke actually went to the Bank of England, looking for advice. The Bank formed a special committee, the screenwriter asking numerous questions as they basically laid out the only way such a heist could work (by today’s standards, this seems absolutely ludicrous), meaning that, what we see in this 1951 feature is an accurate portrayal of what it would have taken to rob this iconic institution.
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Star Pick with Robert Sheehan
Rough RoughDogmanJanuary 17, 2020When I first started watching the excellent British series Misfits (somewhat scarily, about a decade ago), I was completely impressed with their lineup of talented young stars (all playing delinquents forced to do community service – who also happen to have superpowers). I expected many of them to go somewhere, and I have not been disappointed – Joseph Gilgun is arguably the most entertaining part of the American show Preacher (as Cassidy); Iwan Rheon scared millions of viewers as the vile Ramsay Bolton on Game of Thrones; Antonia Thomas is a main player on the hit series The Good Doctor (as Dr. Claire Browne); while my favourite character on the series was brought to vivid life by Robert Sheehan (who played the hilarious Nathan). A man of many dimensions, I then followed him to the Irish series Love/Hate, a role that showed his range as a very serious young man working in the Dublin underground crime scene. Also, over the years, he has had some promising roles in films such as The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, The Messenger, Geostorm, Mute, Mortal Engines, and, currently has found his groove in North America on the acclaimed Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.
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An Irishman in an Italian Landscape
The IrishmanDecember 8, 2019Oh, how times flies – first they were Goodfellas. . . now they’re old fellas. Martin Scorsese re-teams with Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and adds Al Pacino (shockingly, the two had never previously worked together) to the mix in the 2019 film The Irishman. All kidding aside, it is fascinating how time changes things. Twenty-nine years ago the triumvirate mentioned above worked together on Goodfellas, three forty-something’s on the top of their game. . . arguably still on their respective games, they are all now north of seventy-five.
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French Kiss… Of Death
So Dark the NightNovember 15, 2019An overtly cheerful vacation romp to the French countryside. . . until it isn’t, 1946's So Dark the Night, directed by Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy), transforms from unexpected romance to film noir murder mystery in the blink of an eye. Following famous Parisian detective Henri Cassin (Steven Geray), the man is finally getting his long awaited vacation. Though those within the station talk about his recent stress level, the portly, closing-in-on-retirement detective seems in very good spirits.
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Stranger Than Pulp… Fiction
PulpJuly 2, 2019Just a year after making one of the greatest crime pictures ever to come out of the United Kingdom – 1971's Get Carter, the film’s three Michaels, producer Michael Klinger, writer/director Mike Hodges, and star Michael Caine reunited for a rather eccentric mishmash of genres and ideas – Pulp. Bringing together an all-star team of creative minds, on top of the above mentioned Michaels, the film is edited by iconic director of five James Bond flicks John Glen (his first, 1981's For Your Eyes Only, his last, 1989's Licence to Kill), cinematographer Ousama Rawi (perhaps best known for his excellent television work on shows like The Tudors and Borgia), while the music was composed by famed Beatles’ producer George Martin (often nicknamed the fifth Beatle).
