-
Posts
-
@Sgt Pepper wrote:
@toybulldog wrote:
going back some…………’Heat’……the long awaited De niro / Pacino scene…..
Now it could be just me, I’ve seen many say how “electric” it was but somehow I remain dissapointed ? I believe that this momentous dialogue was somewhat lacking in the writing department and the actors involved did the best they could with what they were given. When you consider the quality of the godfather films and that. The directors miami voice vibe seemed to permeate the film anyway at the expense of something unique.
Maybe I ‘m too picky but does anybody know what I’m getting at ?
Curiously enough, the pairing of the diminutive cinematic giants rekindles this week with the release of Righteous Kill.. a film that’s receiving less than favourable reviews :?.
On the subject of This outstanding scene from HEAT, well, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I’m a major fan.
If the new film points towards what many see as the nadir of the De-cino/Pa-niro coupling, then the famous cafe scene above is certainly it’s zenith.
For me, it sums up in many ways the acting revolution that these guys exemplified. A brave new world pioneered by the likes of Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift – brought forward by dear old Al and Bobby – and masterfully maintained by the uber talents of Daniel Day Lewis and the late great Heath Ledger.Much is made of the whole Method Acting gig with it’s apparent emphasis on complete metamorphosis and character immersion, but for me the great reward this particular school grants us is the brilliant gift present in all great art.. ie the notion of the epic in the commonplace. The noble in the everyday.
One need only look towards Joyce’s Ulysses to see this very much in motion, where the simplest of themes is advanced in the most elaborate fashions.
Heat – with all it’s style, urban musings and backdrops takes two seemingly disparate protagonists and curiously connects them with regard to the morally grey area of.. well.. cops n robbers. Their very dysfunction defines them, and ultimately binds them, albeit in the flip side way that Bobby DeNiro alludes to. Their dream descriptions are also utterly significant and similar – weaved into a superbly understated conversation that flows seamlessly towards a recognition of mutual respect.
Exceptional, vibrant cinema 8)A faultless synopsis as ever, Sgt. It’s interesting to note that HEAT was the first film in which Pacino and De Niro shared screentime, despite appearing separately in The Godfather.
For me, De Niro is the secondary talent when thrown into juxtaposition with Pacino, but then I’ve been an admirer of the little guy with the big eyes and the enormous passion, since his SERPICO days.
“When a role is right for him, he’s peerless,” the film critic Pauline Kael wrote in 1977. “Newman is most comfortable in a role when it isn’t scaled heroically; even when he plays a bastard, he’s not a big bastard — only a callow, selfish one, like Hud. He can play what he’s not — a dumb lout. But you don’t believe it when he plays someone perverse or vicious, and the older he gets and the better you know him, the less you believe it. His likableness is infectious; nobody should ever be asked not to like Paul Newman.”
Another one gone.
R.I.P Cool Hand Luke
“We are such spendthrifts with our lives,” Mr. Newman once told a reporter. “The trick of living is to slip on and off the planet with the least fuss you can muster. I’m not running for sainthood. I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer, who puts back into the soil what he takes out.”
when I saw him in Somebody Up There Likes Me, in the role ear-marked for James Dean, I thought I was looking at old pictures of me dad.
But in the Silver Chalice he looked more like me mum.
“Sexiness wears thin after awhile and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh everyday, ah, now that’s a real treat!” —Joanne Woodward
Henry Gondorf couldn’t possibly be dead; you’ve all been stung and only Robert Shaw could think such a thing. Cue some Scott Joplin. Yeah class bloke, superb career, great actor. Well he had to be to resist the opulent beauty of Elizabeth Taylor in ‘Hot Tin Roof’.
Perhaps I could name two other films I liked him in very much………’Fort Apache, The Bronx’, and the one he always said he had the most fun making, the under-rated ‘Slap Shot’.
“I always believed it was the things you don’t choose that makes you who you are. Your city, your neighborhood, your family. People here take pride in these things, like it was something they’d accomplished. The bodies around their souls, the cities wrapped around those. I lived on this block my whole life; most of these people have. When your job is to find people who are missing, it helps to know where they started. I find the people who started in the cracks and then fell through. This city can be hard. When I was young, I asked my priest how you could get to heaven and still protect yourself from all the evil in the world. He told me what God said to His children. “You are sheep among wolves. Be wise as serpents, yet innocent as doves.”
This opening monologue to Ben Affleck’s extraordinary directorial debut sets the stall out for one of the most compelling and atmospheric thrillers of recent time. Based on the novel by MYSTIC RIVER author Dennis Lehane and set in a similar, tough, uncompromising Boston locale, GONE BABY GONE has arrived on DVD almost one year after it’s cinema release in the US. The film deals with the search for a missing four-year-old blonde girl named Amanda McCready. In her name and physical appearance, the fictional Amanda resembles poor Madeleine McCann in the most spooky of ways – and Disney, the film’s distributor in the UK and Ireland, apparently felt it insensitive to push any quick release in the aftermath and furore of that particular tragic train of events.
The above intro is spoken by Casey Affleck, brother of Ben, who plays Patrick Kenzie, a private investigator, who along with partner Angie Gennaro (the naturally beautiful Michelle Monaghan) live together and know the neighbourhood. Both are hired by Amanda’s concerned aunt and uncle to knock on ever suspicious local doors immediately closed to the police in the hope of getting some manner of lead on the missing child.
Amanda’s mother Helene (Amy Ryan) is a drug-addicted single parent, a human wreck of desperation, at times riddled with guilt for neglecting her child, yet also selfishly far removed from any true realistic grasp of action and consequence.
Throw in shady local hoods and personalities, compromised police practices having to be applied to necessitate any form of judicial progress (with two excellent performances from veteran legends Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris in particular) and we have a bracing, thoroughly thought provoking piece of cinema.The other remarkable performance comes from the director’s younger brother, playing the unlikeliest, least conventional of movie heroes – a wiry, pallid individual who reveals an unexpected toughness and determination that belies his boyish appearance and relative inexperience. A noble character with a strong, painful sense of good.
There are a few narrative lapses along the movie’s unpredictable route to resolution, but these are minor and pardonable in a thriller as brooding and edgy as this.
The much talked about similarities to the McCann case are indeed notable, and at times this is not easy to watch – not so much in any graphic sense, but in it’s exploration of the depths of human tragedy and misunderstanding.
Emotional and ethical quandries abound, and it is Affleck’s naturalistic treatment of these morally complex scenarios, together with his love for authentic locations in keeping with the spirit of the city where he was born and raised that truly elevate this film to greatness.Please, give it a watch.
=D> =D> =D> =D>
Excellent review of an outstanding film Sgt :D
In Bruges..
In Bruges is a dark comedy set in the beautiful medieval town of Bruges, Belgium.
An Irish duo of hit men have been ordered by their boss to hide out in Bruges after a hit in London goes terribly wrong. Their instructions are to keep a low profile, sightsee, and generally avoid trouble until further notice.
I have to admit when i first heard of this film i was a tad dubious. Films about hit men/gangsters are not really my sort of thing, but i must say i was pleasantly surprised.
Colin Farrell who portrays Ray, is a deeply complex young man. Wracked with guilt, he is dark and brooding at times, and at others, has an almost childlike quality about him you would find hard not to find endearing. Brendan Gleeson who portrays Ken, is almost a father figure type, trying and failing to get Ray to see the beauty of Bruges. He has a deep sense of what is right and wrong despite his profession. Both are extremely well cast. Their dialogue is witty, delivered with perfect comic timing and had me laughing out loud on numerous occasions. Both actors are extremely natural, and i found myself quickly warming to both of them. Alas, the same could not be said for Ralph Fiennes who plays Harry. For some reason i found him to be totally out of place in this film, although i can’t put my finger on why.
This film is not for the politically correct, but its humour is the wicked kind, you know you shouldn’t laugh but you just can’t help yourself. The location is stunning, and the music fits the overall mood perfectly.
If you like comedy films that have depth, then this is the film for you. =D> =D> =D> =D>
Good review Cymorill 8)
Personally , I loved Fiennes in it. Totally OTT, menacing , madcap stuff from him.. Shades of Ben Kingsley in SEXY BEAST!
Anyway, glad you liked it :)
a clip from one of my fav films………
Get involved in this discussion! Log in or register now to have your say!