Drenched in 1970s California sun and a haze of pot smoke we are introduced to Larry ˜Doc' Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) the private detective with huge sideburns who is the heart of the latest Paul Thomas Anderson film Inherent Vice. Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon, it is a hard-boiled private detective genre given a contemporary spin by Anderson. … [Read more...]
Review: Son of a Gun (2014)
Part of a growing movement of gritty Australian thrillers comes Son of a Gun starring Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites. It marks the directorial debut of wirter Marcus Avery. … [Read more...]
Review: The Drop (2014)
Puppyhead [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=0349140723][/pullquote] What a shame that The Drop stands as actor James Gandolfini's final film, being that he barely stretches himself in this by-the-numbers crime thriller. There's ˜gangsters' all clichéd and grim, a quiet normal protagonist and a series … [Read more...]
Review: Nightcrawler (2014)
If you had to describe Dan Gilroy's first film Nightcrawler in one word, it would be sleazy. A contemporary take on the voyeuristic films of old like Psycho and Peeping Tom this brings the action to modern day Los Angeles, a city in decay where news networks vie for the most shocking footage available from freelancers called nightcrawlers. These people have cameras, cars and … [Read more...]
Review: Stand-Up Guys (2012)
Scarface has not returned for Fisher Stevens' Stand Up Guys. Al Pacino may be the star, but this time he's in no physical state to churn out the line ˜say hello to my little friend' before firing left, right and centre. … [Read more...]
Review: The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013, Danish)
Scandinavia is the home of gritty crime drama these days. Crime writers seem compelled to play their parts in exposing the seedy underbellies of the apparently socially just Scandinavian countries, showing that it's not all IKEA, saunas and socialism, but murder, squalor and misery too. … [Read more...]
Review: 22 Jump Street (2014)
Spring Fakers [pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B00JWSVLJK][/pullquote] Ladies, nobody cared about the Jump Street reboot, but you got lucky so begins a expositional speech that lets the audience know, with a cheeky wink that they're aware just how fortunate they are. The same speech references the … [Read more...]
Review: Zodiac (2007)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B0013BCWEW][/pullquote] Arguably one of the most sensational real-life crime, man-hunt procedurals of all time, The Zodiac Killer is the subject of David Fincher's supremely rich and engaging thriller Zodiac. Based on a book of the same name by Robert Graysmith it … [Read more...]
Review: Sleepers (1996)
[pullquote cite="" type="left, right"][amazon text=Amazon&template=carousel&chan=that film guy&asin=B004JRQ0V8][/pullquote] Following the staggering success of The Godfather films, mafia-themed, New York-set dramas became something of a sub-genre themselves in the late 1980s and 1990s. Sleepers, which owes a fair bit to Francis Ford Coppola's magnum opus is one of … [Read more...]
Review: Out of the Furnace (2013)
It's just too tempting to say Out Of The Furnace and into the fire to describe Scott Cooper's slow burning thriller which sees two brothers in a downward spiral which sees their lives go from bad to very much worse. It's a film that takes its time, perhaps too much time, to tell its story but we stay with it thanks to compelling performances from Christian Bale, Casey Affleck … [Read more...]