violence
06/08/2007
American Gangster: This Year's Departed?
I haven’t seen very many of Denzel Washington’s more recent movies, but I feel like in every trailer he’s wearing a suit. My first thought when I started watching this one, therefore, was “Oh jeez, what is this, Man On Fire 2?”
Well, by the time Denzel walks towards the camera in silhouette as the Kanye West-produced beat kicks in, I’m sold. This is the (apparently true) story of an African-American Mafioso named Frank Lucas (Washington), costarring Russell Crowe as the cop on his tail. I’m pretty excited, and the fact that it’s coming out in November probably means that it doesn’t completely suck.
Now, the big question is: will Ridley Scott redeem himself after Kingdom of Heaven and A Good Year? We’ll see in a few months.
06/06/2007
Shoot 'Em Up
So, if you had to cast the ultimate action movie, would you cast Paul Giamatti and Clive Owen as kickass, gun-happy adversaries? No? Then you are a poor, misguided fool, because Shoot 'Em Up has done just that, and it is AWESOME. Mark the date, my friends, because it's here -- that elusive Holy Grail of movies, the film with something for everyone. EVERYONE.
You've got Owen for the ladies, Monica Belucci for the guys, Giamatti for the film geeks... but wait, there's more. Sexy bullet talk for the gun fetishists, quirky violence humor for the Tarantino buffs, explosions for the Bay fans. Wait, I'm not done. Pratfalls for the slapstick aficionados, double-fisted-flying-shooting for the Woo lovers, and, last but not least, a baby. For people who like their movies to have feelings and meaning and, you know, babies.
Watch it. Watch it now.
