Monday, March 19, 2012

I watched two and a half movies this weekend

I loved this charming film about a close knit Irish family dealing with the pregnancy of their oldest daughter. It's based on a Roddy Doyle novel, it's part of his Barrytown trilogy.

When the news hits that their eldest daughter is with child and unmarried, the family closes ranks around her and the section of town they live in doesn't much care. But when it becomes an open secret who the father is things start to go haywire and the daughter is ostracized. The family fights back to reclaim their good name and in the end everything is put to rights.

As I said it's all very charming. It's heartwarming without being treacly. Colm Meany turns in his usual solid performance and the gal who plays the pregnant daughter is fine as well, although she can be a little abrasive. But I really loved Ruth McCabe in this movie. She sexy as all get out and the one scene with her and Meany in bed is sweetly funny. She's the prototypical Irish MILF in this film.

I highly recommend this one.

This film about the IRA's struggle to establish a republican Ireland in the days after World War 1 is an intense and at times uncomfortable film to watch. It tells the story of how the Irish fought back against the hated Black and Tans, the British regiments sent to quell the uprising and how after a peace treaty was hammered out between the IRA and the British government the republican soldiers broke into two camps, those who supported the treaty and those who did not, and began fighting amongst themselves.

I really liked this film because it tells a story about the Irish experience that not many Americans know. I really loved the scenes where an IRA court hands down a verdict against a greedy business man who is gouging local people with his high interest rates but then the man walks scot free because he helps the IRA pay for their guns and the one in the church where Cillian Murphy's character gives the priest hell for supporting the pro treaty side because that's the side that has the money behind it. Both sides show how insidious capitalism is and how it chokes off justice and true freedom.

I found the film as a whole to be a bit long, they could have easily cut 30 minutes off of it, which would have made it much tighter. But overall, I really liked the film. Murphy is very good in it, as is his love interest Orla Fitzgerald. As the brother on the other side of the peace treaty fight, Padraic Delany is very good as well.

I highly recommend this one.

When My Name is Nobody came out in 1974 it was an oddity, a parody of the spaghetti western. It was played for laughs and it was thought of a cute and funny. And I remember seeing films with Terrence Hill in them, the Trinity westerns, and loving them. But after seeing a little over half of this movie the other night, I can honestly say I hated it.

I know they were going for cartoony comedy but most all of it falls flat. It's not funny it's just dumb. Some of the problems I had with it were:
  • It took place in some netherworld version of the American west where New Orleans is just a hop skip and a jump away from the desert southwest.
  • There were fires in pits and other sundry places that no one was tending or benefiting from. They were there for the sake of atmosphere I guess.
  • Little people, black folks, and Native Americans were the butt of many 'jokes' and sight gags.
  • Terrence Hill seemed like he was brain damaged through most of the film.
  • The dubbing was atrocious, at times there was dialogue when no ones mouths were moving.
  • The slang was laughable.

I hated this film but I'm sure there are others out there who would like it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen the other two, but I'd have to agree with you about My Name is Nobody. My dad would start watching this, or that other crapfest Once Upon a Time in America, and then fall asleep. The minute one of us kids went to change the channel, he'd tell us to change it back, then fall right back asleep. Hated this movie and the others like it.