Black Irish (2007)

Black Irish is something special.



I really picked this one up because I have Irish blood and family ties in Boston.

Also, I noticed that the main character is played by Michael Angarano, whom I remembered from Lords of Dogtown (although his role in that was quite deplorable - in his defense, the whole movie was).
His father is played by Brendan Gleeson, who you may recognise from In Bruges (note to self: I need to make a post about this one) or from any of the memorable roles his played (to name a few: (Braveheart, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York, The Village, Harry Potter).
What an amazing guy, what on-screen presence.

I suppose he must be quite "present" off screen too.

Anyhow, the whole thing happens in South Boston.
South Boston is an amazing place, one of the historic US East-Coast classic neighborhoods.
Dirty bricked walls, dirty wooden walls, dirty narrow streets. The whole thing reflecting the sun as its rays strike on the surfaces soaked by the recent rain.
At least that's what it looks like in my mind.

It's a tale of two brothers, raised in a poor traditional black-Irish-catholic family.
One of them is good.
the other, ...the other is less good let's say.

And shit happens.

7.5/10 seems fair



NB: Lords of Dogtown has a 6.8 on IMDB. This, is not a reflection of reality, and no, I don't mean that it deserved more.

Rescue Dawn (2006)

Rescue Dawn



the movie is from 2006, but got released to theaters in 2007.

it barely had any promotion

Yet, it's a fucking great movie.

Why it didn't get more recognition is beyond me.

I started watching the movie knowing NOTHING about it except for one fact.

the lead character was played by Christian Bale

He plays the role of Dieter Dangler, a US pilot, on a secret mission in Laos who gets intercepted, crashes, but survives.
The whole thing is a true story.
A story that blew my mind. especially the beginning of the movie, where right after the crash you follow him, in silence, as he moves through the Jungle, trying to escape enemy fire.
The whole thing with minimum special effects, very realistic. Documentary style, with a matte image (as opposed to glossy, nice production, lets make this look good thing).

I still don't understand why NO-ONE I know has ever heard of this movie.

What the fuck happened during promotion? seriously?
or am I completely wrong, is this a piece of garbage?
All I know is I loved it

Descent (2007) vs Irreversible (2002)

Last weekend I watched Descent



It's the story of a beutiful girl who gets raped and gets her revenge.

It's all quite dark, and calm.

Rosario Dawson is gorgeous.
Going from prude, to traumatised, to angry, to sensual, to angrier

Only a few elements saved this movie
-the photography and filmography are really good.
-Rosario Dawson is great, I mean, she looks great

However
-the acting is overall just horrible.
-the reason you don't notice that the acting is that bad is because there is very little dialog. the movie is really saved because of its soothing visuals.

This movie got an NC-17 rating. Sure there is no gore, and no explicit sexual content. However, the ending of the movie requires a rather "open mind".
I am surprised it didn't get an R rating to be honest.

I will give it a 6.0 (6 is my passing grade), just because it managed to keep me entertained enough to watch it all the way through.
It's a good movie to empty your brain on.



In any case, it reminded me of Irreversible
Another movie about a hot girl getting raped.



I had never been a fan of Monica Bellucci until I saw this movie.
This usually gets me into trouble with all my female friends as they all keep ranting about how horrible the rape scene is, and how horrible the violence is.
But "it's a movie !!", it's "fiction", and I have almost never seen a woman be so attactive EVER!

This being said,
-yes the level of violence is particularly spectacular.
-the opening scene got me so dizzy I almost puked (camera movement along house walls). And I felt nothing when I watched Blair Witch Project in a theatre.

And, Irreversible has one of the BEST soundtracks in history.
Composed by Thomas Bangalter (the better half of Daft Funk)
Listen to the OST Here

In short, Irreversible is a must watch.
but I will conceed that it is a "hard" watch

I give this one an 8.
for:
-it's original narration
-the crude style. mostly steady cams, long one-shot sequences.
-monica bellucci's dress
-the music (if you're intro electro/french touch that is)