Category Archives: Violent

Dead Man Down (2013)

From Netflix:

This taut crime thriller stars Colin Farrell as a brutal gang enforcer who falls for a woman bent on exacting revenge on his boss. Via seduction and blackmail, the woman persuades the gangster to help her achieve a bloody payback.

Do not be put off by the opening violence that makes the film look like every other shoot-em-up Hollywood knockoff. Only at the end is there another explosion of exaggerated destruction. In between, the largest segment of the film by far, the interplay between Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace (Oh my gosh! It’s the Swedish Lisbeth Salander of the Millenium trilogy!) is downright poignant. What makes the give and take so appealing is the silence and hesitancy. As part of that, Colin Farrell says very little. My cynical comment here is that a clever acting trick is to keep your mouth shut and let the audience think for the character. So let’s just say that Farrell’s tortured facial expressions effectively substitute for a lot that goes unsaid.

Colin Farrell grabbed a very suitable script for himself. Not bad!

Sunshine (1999)

From Netflix:

A single actor portrays father, son and grandson in this epic historical tale that follows a Jewish family as they struggle to survive anti-Semitism, war and corruption in Hungary. Each man deals with the prevailing regime in his own way.

Istvan Szabo, the director, presents us with a wonderful three hour epic that leads us through many periods in Hungarian history: Austria-Hungary, World War I, Communism after WW I, Nazi occupation of Hungary in World War II, Pro-Stalin Communism after WW II, and finally the fall of Communism.

For a detailed account of the film see the Wikipedia article.

For those of us in Massachusetts please note that “Sunshine” was written by the director Istvan Szabo and Israel Horovitz. Horovitz is Founding Artistic Director of the Gloucester Stage Company in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Kathy and I have seen several of his plays.

Although there are too many wonderful actors to mention, clearly the film was a tour de force for Ralph Fiennes who plays parts in three generations of the family. Jennifer Ehle as Valerie Sonnenschein was strikingly beautiful.

Warning: there is one ugly scene when Fiennes as the character Adam in a concentration camp is tortured to death. Szabo makes it quite clear that the villains in this piece are not Nazis, not Germans, but HUNGARIANS who are very anti-Semitic.

Three hours may seem like a long time, but this film is worth every second.
DO NOT MISS!

Shallow Grave (1994)

From Netflix:

Ewan McGregor stars in this grimly comic tale of three roommates who find their enigmatic new flatmate dead in his room with a stash of drugs and a suitcase full of cash. What will they do with all that money — and the corpse?

Basically the plot is that the suitcase full of cash little by little corrupts each of the three friends. Suspense builds as their increasingly paranoid behavior leads to conflicts and more. Be prepared for violence along with the good acting. Ewan McGregor almost never appears in an unworthy film. But this film is also a bit strange.

And who will win the cash competition ?

Jack Reacher (2012)

From Netflix:

When ex-military cop Jack Reacher investigates an elite sniper charged with killing five people, he teams up with a beautiful defense lawyer — and they soon find themselves drawn into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game in this exciting thriller.

Of course you can expect car chases, beautiful women, sinister villains, and an omnipotent Jack Reacher who never loses a physical fight.

Tom Cruise was 50 years old when he made this film. Not bad! For such a film he need not be a great actor, more the strong and silent type. For those of you who read the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child, just be prepared: Jack Reacher in the novels is a BIG man, Tom Criuse is not!

At the very least the story is clever with a bit of mystery: who is behind all the shenanigans! Want to bet you suspect the wrong person?

Just a bit of the usual violent fun.

The Call (2013)

From Netflix:

When an abducted teenage girl makes a frantic call from the trunk of a serial killer’s speeding car, she connects with a sympathetic 911 operator who’s dealt with the perpetrator in the past.

Hold onto your seats! Halle Berry leads us through one of the most suspenseful film trips I have ever taken. Trying to catch a serial killer who has just abducted his latest victim leads from one exciting episode to another. This panicked killer is not squeamish so there is a fair amount of ugly violence.

Poor Michael Imperioli (who played Christopher Moltisanti in “The Sopranos”) tries to help the abducted girl. Oops!

Morris Chestnut plays Halle’s police officer boyfriend. He played Ryan Nichols in the 2011 TV version of “V”.

Michael Eklund’s portrayal of the serial killer is one of the more original such portrayals that I have seen. He is anything but calm, cook, and collected.

Do not watch this thriller too close to your bedtime!

A Good Day To Die Hard (2013)

From IMDB:

John McClane travels to Russia to help out his seemingly wayward son, Jack, only to discover that Jack is a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist, causing the father and son to team up against underworld forces.

What can I say? You will see the usual car chase mayhem. Possibly the father and son theme adds a little (very little) something.

Jai Courtney, who plays the son Jack, played Varro in “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”.

There are at least two plot twists as a reward for actually sitting through this B film.

Top of the Lake (2013)

From Netflix:

When pregnant, 12-year-old Tui tries to kill herself in a freezing New Zealand lake, Detective Robin Griffin has plenty of questions for the girl. But when Tui suddenly disappears, Griffin finds herself knee-deep in small-town secrets.

Just about everything happens in this gritty, tough TV series taking place in a remote location in New Zealand. To name just of the few features:

  • An amoral, cruel hillbilly family that kills, rapes, manufactures illegal drugs, etc.
  • A cult-like compound for women who have had bad experiences and are sometimes completely naked.
  • Child molestation
  • Gang rape
  • A mother dying of cancer
  • Self-flagellation
  • Dishonest police officers
  • A very capable woman detective (played by Elizabeth Moss) trying to get on with her life while dealing with her troubled past
  • Quite a few nude sex scenes
  • A not quite civilized society
  • Several murders

Yes, this is one crazy TV series. Elizabeth Moss, who played Peggy in “Mad Men”, does a terrific job. But all the actors do wonderful jobs.

You might not want to eat a full meal before watching. Nonetheless, for me at least, in the category of gritty this series is a DO NOT MISS!

The Fall (2008)

From Netflix:

When his loser brother is accused of killing a priest, Frank (Scott Kinworthy), a hotshot lawyer with lofty political aspirations, steps in to defend him. But as Frank digs up the truth, he uncovers damning revelations from the past that could ruin his future. Written and directed by John Krueger, this suspenseful drama follows the conflicted attorney’s difficult choice between saving his sibling or himself.

If you are ever teaching a course in film writing or acting and you need an example of really bad writing or acting then have I got a HORRIBLE film you can use to great effect!

Only the (somewhat farfetched) plot kept me watching. Not that it would have cost me anything to stop watching this film streamed from Netflix. At times I sat watching in open mouthed wonder that anyone could act in such an amateurish and exaggerated manner. Think high school actors (although I have seen better acting in high school plays).

If the acting seems bad, wait till you learn the plot. Although I will spare you the gory details, this film manages to dredge up plot lines involving a hotel for gay encounters, a priest who commits a theatrical suicide, adultery, a psychotic gay prisoner, attempted murder using the AIDS disease, sadistic prison guards, a completely amoral and ambitious wife of a lawyer, and the list goes on.

Do not claim that I did not warn you! On the other hand, aren’t you really curious to see just how bad this film really is?

Deadfall (2012)

Netflix:

On the run after a casino heist, siblings Addison and Liza split up. When Liza gets a ride from a prison parolee heading to his parents’ home for Thanksgiving, unexpected events lead the two families toward a collision in this suspenseful thriller.

You might expect good things from a film in which Kris Kristofferson, Sissy Spacek, Olivia Wilde, and Treat Williams appear. In fact the film offered a good plot, good acting and well-done suspense. Note that the film is violent and gritty.

Essentially the story brings together a brother and sister who recently robbed a casino, a young man Jay recently released from jail but estranged from his father who together with his wife expects his son for Thanksgiving, and a young woman police officer whose police captain father does not respect her choice of career even though she is very competent. Eventually they all converge at the Thanksgiving dinner table with lots of guns in sight.

Liza and Jay’s falling in love is unrealistic. Jay could possibly be a better actor. Nevertheless …

Really not bad at all.

Parker (2013)

From Netflix:

Parker is a thief who lives by a personal code of ethics: Don’t steal from people who can’t afford it, and don’t hurt people who don’t deserve it. But when his crew double-crosses him, Parker teams up with an unlikely partner to even the score.

If you like Jason Statham then you will like this film since it is pretty much like all his other films: much violent action, unconvincing romantic touches, and an amoral philosophy.

This last note bothered me: the film for the most part condones and makes attractive stealing and killing. “Don’t steal from people who can’t afford it, and don’t hurt people who don’t deserve it.” What nonsense! It is OK to kill crooks because they are nasty people. It is OK to steal jewelry from other crooks have already stolen the jewelry – but wait: did not that jewelry originally belong to someone? At least Jennifer Lopez gets to live happily ever after with the proceeds from selling those stolen gems.

Is there something wrong with Nick Nolte’s throat ?

If you are not a solid Jason Statham fan, don’t bother with this film.