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The Untouchables, a review by Jon

The Untouchables
5 out of 5



The critics and public agree Brian De Palma's THE UNTOUCHABLES is a must see masterpiece - a glorious, fierce larger-than-life depiction of the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago...and the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down. This classic confrontation between good and evil stars Kevin Costner as federal agent Eliot Ness, Robert De Niro as gangland kingpin Al Capone and Sean Connery as Malone, the cop who teaches Ness how to beat the mob: shoot fast and shoot first.


If The Untouchables was released today, chances are you’d ask what comic it was based on. A serious historical story, played with an exuberant panache for audacious entertainment, it is possibly Brian De Palma’s finest work, with him channelling cinema heritage to produce a modern Gangster movie, in the way L.A. Confidential would do for Film Noir ten or so years later.

You might accuse it of naivety, which would be fair in several respects, but it’s played so smoothly and without a shred of shame that you get swept up in the enthusiasm of setting a Western in Chicago and there are moments that are truly magnificent. This is old school cinema.

De Palma is being rude, really. He has at least three iconic moments in one film, which is just greedy! Not least the baby’s pram and the train station steps, which prove the magic of unpredictability in film. That scene was supposed to be a big train crash, but running low on cash, they needed a quick replacement. One tribute to Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin later and we have an exhilarating lesson in action cinema.

Everyone is well cast, with Kevin Costner finding a perfect role for his movie star image in Elliot Ness, Andy Garcia with the world at his feet before Godfather Part III (oops) and Charles Martin Smith having great fun as Wallace. He said to De Palma that he wanted to embody the audience. As a shotgun wielding accountant, whooping as he rides horseback into a gunfight on a bridge, he definitely did that! Sean Connery rounds out Ness’ Untouchables in his most memorable non-Bond role. He is fantastic and the best of the lot, despite his wavering accent! Of course, Robert De Niro was born to play Capone. The “baseball” scene at dinner is just incredible.

It is sporadically violent throughout and I miss this sort of Brian De Palma film because he demonstrates such old fashioned skill in building these set-pieces that the violence is never gratuitous. He balances the brutality with suspense to make Hitchcock proud. The station steps, again, are a perfect example of this. The way the pram wheels squeak, pulling our attention during Costner’s slow-mo gauntlet run is very clever.

The whole production is brought together by the brilliant Morricone score. Brilliant though the film is, the music is half the winning formula. The four Untouchables, striding into a post office on a liquor raid, brandishing shotguns, while the music swells like a fifth member of the team, is an abiding memory.

(From Jon's Alphabet Marathon 2010 on July 29th, 2010)

Man of Steel, a review by addicted2dvd

Man of Steel (2013/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Warner Home Video Director: Zack Snyder Writing: David S. Goyer (Screenwriter), David S. Goyer (Story By), Christopher Nolan (Story By), Jerry Siegel (Original Characters By), Joe Shuster (Original Characters By) Length: 143 min. Rating: Rated PG-13 : Intense Sequences of Sci-fi Violence, Action and Destruction, and for some Language Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Mandarin: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

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Stars:
Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Kal-El
Amy Adams as Lois Lane
Michael Shannon as General Zod
Diane Lane as Martha Kent
Russell Crowe as Jor-El
Antje Traue as Faora-Ul

Plot:
A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Digital Copy

I decided to watch this one today. I been looking forward to seeing it for a long time. Over-all I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Sure there was things I disliked about the film. But there was a lot more good then there was bad. I liked the cast... thought they all did a good job. I didn't care much for the updated Superman costume. I much prefer the classic costume. I also not sure how I feel about how much Lois knows about Clark right from the beginning like this. Or how the fight between Superman and General Zod ends. Though it was kind of nice seeing a Superman movie that don't involve Lex Luthor.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on January 8th, 2014)

The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon, a review by Tom

05. Friendface (2008-12-19)
Writer: Graham Linehan (Writer)
Director: Graham Linehan
Cast: Chris O'Dowd (Roy), Richard Ayoade (Moss), Katherine Parkinson (Jen), Matt Berry (Douglas), Claudia Harrison (Delina), Suzie Toase (Alison), James Tovell (Terry), Lewis Macleod (Friendface Voice (voice))

A great episode making fun of Facebook. I enjoyed it.

Rating:

(From The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon on July 31st, 2009)