Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another duo of reviews. We've covered both MOTORCYCLE DIARIES and DEAD MAN'S SHOES on the site and both sound like kick-ass movies. DEAD MAN'S SHOES is a British flick and hasn't had as much press, so I'm gonna give the floor to that one first! Enjoy!!!
hi harry.
i've always been an avid reader of your site, you and the boys r doing a great job keep kicking major butt.
i've never sent anything in b4, just content to read and then get updates. but i haven't seen much on your site about a powerfull british flick i caught out here, it's called "Dead Man's Shoes" and it's now on wide release. it's directed by Shane Meadows ( once upon a time in the midlands) and stars Paddy Considine ( if u don't know him, write the name down now!) who also co- wrote the script with Meadows. the plot on the surface is extremely straight- forword, Considine plays Richard an ex-army guy who returns home to wreck vengeance on some local drug dealers who have done some pretty nasty things to his kid brother Anthony, who happens to have major learning difficulties.
the terror starts off pretty tame with Richard basically taunting the thugs on their very own home turf and then things get pretty nasty. the weird thing is how calm Richard manages to remain through the whole ordeal, this is really a testament to what an actor Considine is, a guy who in my opinion was the best thing about "In America" but others got the credit, but that's another story. when you watch this film u will realise why Empire magazine r calling this guy the new De niro ( he's just that good! ) back to the film now, a point i would also like to make is for u guys in america if you ever get to see this film ( i don't know if it has a U.S release date yet ) you might find yourself wondering, why the thugs don't just go grab some guns and go medieval on Richard's ass, after all he's just one guy. what u need to remember is guns are not as popular over here and besides this movie is set in the deep country where such things r rare.
there are no good or bad guys in this movie which i thought was very clever, infact midway through the movie as Richard picks off the thugs one by gruesome one i began to ask myself whether they really deserved to die, but the director cleverly reveals through flashbacks ( which r shot in black and white ) the ordeal that Anthony goes through. this all makes for a very fullfilling and revealing ending ( which i will not spoil 4 you ) where even the killer finds redemption, well sort-of. One particular scene sticks out for me, where Sonny the leader of the thugs confronts Richard in the middle of the street for the very first time about the mayhem thats going on, b4 he's even able to make a point Richard tells him point blank "yeah it was me" totally bringing the upper hand in the conversation back to Richard and then striking fear in Sonny's heart, again the beauty of this scene is in Considines acting, he never loses his temper or raises his voice and this unnerves Sonny.
This was a great movie overall my only gripe was in the language cause i'm African it was a bit difficult to grasp at times, but once you get over this little hitch it's a great movie.
The opening line in this movie perfectly sets it up, Richard is heard saying "God will forgive them, he will allow them see heaven and i cannot live with that", pure Genius!
if you use this just call me, Dayo F.
Now here's The Fly, taking a break from puking acid on donuts, with his look at Walter Salles' THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES. We've gotten a lot of word on this flick and it has all been very, very positive. It's out in limited release in the States, but keep an eye out at a theater near you. I can't wait to see this one!
Hi Harry,
Just call me The Fly. I've read a couple of comments about the Walter Salle's flick "The Motorcycle Diaries" at AICN and decided to send in a review since I've seen the film in Mexico with a Latin American audience and it's interesting to see how two sides see the story of Ernesto "Che" Guevara. I was very much shocked at Roger Ebert's review of the film where he essentially discarded most of it based soley on Che's politics (not at all the proper behavior of a critic who gave this flick a thumbs down and "Fahrenheit 9/11" three and a half stars). I attended a screening of the film at the brand new Cinepolis in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which is the biggest and most popular movie theater in the city (they even have a VIP section where you can watch the film in sofas and be served oriental food by waiters), walking out of the theater I was ready then and now to name this as one of my top 10 movies of the year. "The Motorcycle Diaries" is a heartfelt, exciting film about discovering yourself and discovering new places.
Gael Garcia Bernal (of "Amores Perros" fame) does a wonderful job portraying Ernesto Guevara as a medical student hungry to discover Latin America and it's people and who ends-up re-discovering himself as a result (Bernal also does a great job with his Argentine accent). Rodrigo De La Serna is also awesome as Ernesto's best friend Alberto Granado, who is the hornier of the two and is more interested in the adventure and women and scoffs at Ernesto's ethics and honesty. Walter Salles films their journey with a rich eye for the landscapes of places like Chile and Venezuela, and as someone who has travelled extensively to South and Central America I can say he captured the cultures of these areas dead on. But what we really get from the film is the sense of Ernesto being a thinker and idealist who begins to transform through this journey into the revolutionary he later became.
I think Ebert's main flaw in his review is that he didn't like the fact that many people idealize Che as a heroic figure because he was a Communist guerrilla in the end, but obviously he is not well-informed on the status and people of Latin America and doesn't realize that the reason many people, Hispanic and American, admire Che Guevara is because he was very much the opposite of the false guerrilla movements in Colombia and El Salvador who just kill ranchers and run drugs. Salles gives us Che as a man who really believes in his cause and really gives a shit about people. The film also has a nice poetic aspect when it uses Guevara's actual diary entries with the rich dialogue in his descriptions of people and places, thoughts and hopes.
But if politics isn't your thing than the movie will be an entertaining, funny road trip with two buddies who find themselves in some wild, unpredictable scenarios. Salles really captures that untamed feeling a lot of Latin America has. The Mexican audience I viewed the film with laughed and cried and received the film very well. There was a brilliant touch at the end of the movie I won't reveal but all I can say is, wow, that's how you end a movie like this! "The Motorcycle Diaries" is a rewarding experience and really has a lot to say about staying true to yourself and your beliefs. I think this applies today a lot when we're now facing a new election and wether you're a Republican or Democrat, you should always stay true to what you cherish in your beliefs and "The Motorcycle Diaries" captures that perfectly. I don't know if you'll use this, but this was one of those movies where after watching it I just had to write something about it.
Sincerely,
The Fly.
