It's been weeks of heavy reading and watching and I wanted to watch a good movie - not a movie that made me think or analyse. Simply entertain me without insulting my intelligence. you know - the mythical space between Kurosawa and Adam Sandler; Matchstick Men and Fargo seemed to fit the bill.
Matchstick Men
Starring Nick O'Cage in possibly the last movie before he outsourced film selection to a retarded Bonobo in Africa, watch this movie simply for Ol' Nick. Nick's expressions are so funny that its a meme by itself; In this movie he gets to play a character plagued by tics and behaviors induced by OCD, resulting in some truly laugh out loud moments.
I won't give away the plot but to say that I don't think it'd stand up to close scrutiny. Still - It's a fairly enjoyable movie that thoroughly deserves an above average rating and if you're planning on vegetating in front of TV on a Monday night you could do lot worse than watch Matchstick Men - 3 Apples & a grape / 5 Oranges
Fargo
One of the reasons the review for Matchstick men is short is because the very next day I watched Fargo!
I really didn't know what to expect when I started watching Fargo, but was unprepared for the romping ride it took me on; Only after I watched the movie and found out that its a Coen brothers movie did I go - ahhh... that explains so much.
The casting of the movie is near perfect with William H Macy as Jerry, the classic bungler who triggers the tragedy of errors that ensue as he hires a couple of small time crooks to fake kidnap his wife, but really the show belongs to Frances McDormand as Marge - the police chief of a small town in the mid-west. Oh - and yes, the obligatory casting of the ever stellar, Steve Buscemi (really - why is he not in every movie?).
Based on true events, the movie is set in mid-west, USA and the Coen brothers make full use of this happy occurrence. The residents of a small town have their comfortable routine of shoveling snow - which, going be recent reports, is pretty much all one does in Minnesota - disturbed by a triple homicide by out of town criminals. Disturbed is an over statement as it doesn't bother them enough to even spit out the gum that they've been chewing for a week; Led by the heavily pregnant police chief - Marge. Oh Marge - Luckily this movie was before Christopher Waltz came and was not made by QT else Chris would have been all over the role even it meant being a pregnant man, but I diverge - Luckily, Marge is played by Frances who knocks it out with aplomb. All charm and ma'am but cold steel when required.
The Coen brother tradition of characters dying unceremoniously out of turn is celebrated in Fargo as well. See, this is what i like about Tarantino and Coen brothers type of movies - not only are they memorable in whole but even their constituent pieces are individually remarkable. There is a sense of celebration of the art of making cinema; It has an artistic purity. But - I diverge again. Where were we ? Ah yes - The camera work is fresh and the dialogue indulgent with some hilarious extended exchanges conducted only in varying intonations of the word - "Yeah". Even if you haven't spent time in Minnesota, as I strangely have, it is still bloody funny to watch.
This then, truly is a delicious concoction - parts Coen brother zaniness, parts Tarantano'ish violent indulgence, on a base of a Guy Ritchie plot of criminal incompetence, completed with superb performances and inspired casting.
Rating: Scrumptious / Masala Dosa
Starring Nick O'Cage in possibly the last movie before he outsourced film selection to a retarded Bonobo in Africa, watch this movie simply for Ol' Nick. Nick's expressions are so funny that its a meme by itself; In this movie he gets to play a character plagued by tics and behaviors induced by OCD, resulting in some truly laugh out loud moments.
I won't give away the plot but to say that I don't think it'd stand up to close scrutiny. Still - It's a fairly enjoyable movie that thoroughly deserves an above average rating and if you're planning on vegetating in front of TV on a Monday night you could do lot worse than watch Matchstick Men - 3 Apples & a grape / 5 Oranges
One of the reasons the review for Matchstick men is short is because the very next day I watched Fargo!I really didn't know what to expect when I started watching Fargo, but was unprepared for the romping ride it took me on; Only after I watched the movie and found out that its a Coen brothers movie did I go - ahhh... that explains so much.
The casting of the movie is near perfect with William H Macy as Jerry, the classic bungler who triggers the tragedy of errors that ensue as he hires a couple of small time crooks to fake kidnap his wife, but really the show belongs to Frances McDormand as Marge - the police chief of a small town in the mid-west. Oh - and yes, the obligatory casting of the ever stellar, Steve Buscemi (really - why is he not in every movie?).
Based on true events, the movie is set in mid-west, USA and the Coen brothers make full use of this happy occurrence. The residents of a small town have their comfortable routine of shoveling snow - which, going be recent reports, is pretty much all one does in Minnesota - disturbed by a triple homicide by out of town criminals. Disturbed is an over statement as it doesn't bother them enough to even spit out the gum that they've been chewing for a week; Led by the heavily pregnant police chief - Marge. Oh Marge - Luckily this movie was before Christopher Waltz came and was not made by QT else Chris would have been all over the role even it meant being a pregnant man, but I diverge - Luckily, Marge is played by Frances who knocks it out with aplomb. All charm and ma'am but cold steel when required.The Coen brother tradition of characters dying unceremoniously out of turn is celebrated in Fargo as well. See, this is what i like about Tarantino and Coen brothers type of movies - not only are they memorable in whole but even their constituent pieces are individually remarkable. There is a sense of celebration of the art of making cinema; It has an artistic purity. But - I diverge again. Where were we ? Ah yes - The camera work is fresh and the dialogue indulgent with some hilarious extended exchanges conducted only in varying intonations of the word - "Yeah". Even if you haven't spent time in Minnesota, as I strangely have, it is still bloody funny to watch.
This then, truly is a delicious concoction - parts Coen brother zaniness, parts Tarantano'ish violent indulgence, on a base of a Guy Ritchie plot of criminal incompetence, completed with superb performances and inspired casting.
Rating: Scrumptious / Masala Dosa
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