I feel that we, and by we i mean the film industry, have had a great run of movies pretty much every weekend since late 2011. I don't know, maybe they finally let the creative people out of the broom cupboard under the stairs and figured out they are magic. Who am I to speculate? I'm only an uneducated critic. Though I have yet to give a bad review to a movie. Maybe I'll make the next one a movie I couldn't stand. Hmm..... Anyone up for the Twilight series?? :-D
Ok, on to the fun...
Seven Psychopaths: (2012) - R (Comedy/Crime)
Starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, and Christopher Walken
Overview - A screen writer (Farrell) is good friends with an admitted dog thief. He (Rockwell), and his partner (Walken) kidnap dogs, wait for a reward to be posted, then return the dogs for the cash. A brilliant scam, granted. That is, until they mistakenly kidnap a mobster's dog. Hell is likely to break loose.
Review - I have been pretty psyched about seeing this psycho flick ever since I saw the first psychotic trailer. I haven't seen a movie with Christopher Walken, or Sam Rockwell, in it that I haven't liked. Especially where they are a bit off their rocker. Then again I am a borderline lunatic myself. I talk to myself, I yell at motorists instead of using the horn, and I have genuine concern for my stuffed animals if they're stuffed into a plastic bag. Because a plastic bag has no air holes, so they will suffocate. I'm going to give you some time to let that sink in............Ok, can we move past it now? Thanks. This flick is a bit of a copy of the director's (Martin McDonagh) earlier movie called "In Burges", that he filmed in 2008. My brother in-law says that "In Burges" was a much better movie. I haven't seen it, so I will use the information at hand. I will start off by saying that the dialogue is incredibly funny! I would not be surprised if the majority of it were improvised on the spot. Though Martin McDonagh is apparently famous for writing strong witty dialogue. The banter between our heroes, if you want to call them that, is so funny I nearly spit my drink repeatedly. The way Christopher Walken delivers straight-faced comedy blows me away. And Rockwell should be nominated for an award with his performance in this movie. He was the perfect cast for his role. No one could have played it better. Woody Harrelson is also in this movie, as the "bad guy". I have no reason to dislike him, but every time I see his name on a movie poster, it deters me from wanting to see it. But every time I give in and see it, he makes me laugh. He does just that in "Seven Psychopaths". His crazy antics, and perfectly times mannerisms made me just about split my sides a few times. Now that I have established that the movie is funny, let's touch on a few other elements. First off, they filmed a large portion of this film in the desert. I am always confused when you see grown men in a desert wearing jackets and hats and NOT sweating. If I put clothes on, I start sweating (are you thinking of me naked now? .... sinner). Ok, and the violence. Alright, I have no problem seeing someone get gunned down, or being stabbed by a 6' sword on the field of battle. However, when you have to watch someone slice their own neck open....... yea, not so much. The violence was needed for the story to really have effect, but the close up shots on the blood and gore were completely unnecessary. If they had shown the same scene from just above the cut line, it would have had the same effect, and not made you want to revisit what you had for lunch via a pile of vomit. On top of that they had a scene where a hooker walks out of the bathroom and is exposed from the waist up. Again, Martin McDonagh, you could have had the VERY same effect without letting everyone see what she's got to offer the world. Alrighty, enough talk of breasts (a sentence most men never say). Let's talk about the camera work. This feature used mostly artistic steady camera shots, which I very much prefer. I get annoyed with the world's obsession with this hand-held shaky camera nonsense. The whole point of watching a movie, at least for me, is to lose yourself. When you use elements to make it more real, you're pulling me out of my fantasy world and making me feel like I'm just looking out my own window. If I wanted to do that, I'm sure I could just open the curtains. But then the glare from the sun would ruin the ambiance of my movie, so forget that! Who needs the outdoors when you have a Samsung 60" LED TV with a Sony surround sound system, right? ...... Anyway ......The crew does a very good job at simply telling a fun story, and holding your attention throughout the whole movie. Most of the "twists" are predictable, but it doesn't make you dislike the film. It still entertains, even through the predictability. The swearing is also a bit over the top. The violence, boobies, and swears are my biggest beef with this motion picture. Again, I believe if they had simply toned it all back it still would have held your attention. Now I am starting to sound like a broken record. A broken record. Record. Record. Record.
Overall I would give it a 3 1/2 out of 5. I can deal with the swearing, and I can deal with the blood. The boobs I can see coming, so I can just skip that part. The comedy and perfectly-timed antics would make revisit this one again. I would recommend it to anyone who can handle all the above problems I mentioned.
Things to watch out for in this movie....
1) Gritty/Bloody violence. You see 2 people cut their own throats. You see a man's head being sawed off blurry in the distance. There is a shot of a bloody headless man with his head on the dresser. I also believe you see 3 people burn alive.
2) There are boobs. A hooker walks out of the bathroom and kind of bounces around a bit. The scene lasts about 30 - 60 seconds. It doesn't sound like long, but when you're watching it with someone it feels like an hour.
3) There is a decent amount of swears. The F-bomb is dropped quite a bit. As well as descriptive variations of feces, our Lord and Savior, and references to a child of a female dog.
-- Want to hear me rant on your favorite movie? Or maybe you are mad at your girlfriend for making you watch "The Notebook" under the guise of it being a great film, and you just want someone to side with you? Email me at entertaindave@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @entertaindave
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