Eastern Promises
September 26th, 2007
I’m behind the curve on David Cronenberg’s Russian mobster tale of sin and redemption, so I’ll make this short. At any rate, I can’t discuss the narrative slights-of-hand I admired most without spoiling the film — so let’s just say that the acting by Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, and Armin Mueller-Stahl is top notch, the violence and spilled bodily fluids are uniquely Cronenbergian, and the script is a wonder of tightly wound efficiency. You can tattoo that on your kneecaps.
Eastern Promises. David Cronenberg, 2007. ****
- Eastern Promises on Rotten Tomatoes
- Jordan and Kerry on David Cronenberg
- The trailer
Bound
April 24th, 2007
Movies about The Money are always about Trust, too, and the unofficial theme song of the heist thriller is Bob Dylan’s Absolutely Sweet Marie:
Well, six white horses that you did promise
Were fin’lly delivered down to the penitentiary
But to live outside the law, you must be honest
I know you always say that you agree
But where are you tonight, sweet Marie?
The double-cross isn’t just a staple of the gangster film, it’s built into its DNA in a way that few screenwriters seem to be able to resist. Therefore, it’s a pleasure to see criminals who don’t screw each other over for the loot. For a movie that got attacked for its perceived cynicism, The Ice Harvest put a particularly nice spin on the problem, and Bound surprised us in this regard, too.
You see, trust becomes the central problem in the developing love affair between Gina Gershon and gangster moll Jennifer Tilly when mobster Joe Pantoliano steals a bunch of money, they steal it from him, somebody gets shot, and so forth. A tight, sexy, and violent chamber play, the first feature by the Wachowski brothers has enough clever moments and directorial flourishes to stay entertaining while it lasts. In the long run though, I don’t expect to remember much aside from what the poster rightfully promised: fetishistic images of women in black leather, all tied up.
Bound. Andy and Larry Wachowski, 1996. ***
- YouTube has several home-brewed music video remixes
- Movie Screen Shots has more movie screen shots
The Ice Harvest
April 13th, 2007
It’s the night before Christmas in Wichita Falls, and John Cusack plays a crooked lawyer who runs off with two million in mob money in the first scene of the movie. During a very long night in a very odd town, he has to navigate overly solicitous cops, dangerous strip club owners (Connie Nielsen), an untrustworthy partner (Billy Bob Thornton), and the drunken friend who ran off with his wife (Oliver Platt.) The brisk screenplay by Richard Russo and Robert Benton, based on a novel by Scott Phillips, keeps the movie swerving between outright hilarity and Cusack’s increasing desperation. One of the sharper and more entertaining crime/heist/noirs I’ve seen in a while, The Ice Harvest may earn itself a spot on our list of Christmas movies for cynics.
The Ice Harvest. Harold Ramis, ***
