The morning after we watched "Shoot 'Em Up" with Clive Owen and Paul Giamatti, I watched my rear view mirror as a woman put on her make-up in the car behind me. We were stuck in traffic, and she worked on it for about 10 minutes in start and stop traffic before we got on the highway. I don't know if she continued after she got on the highway.
Meanwhile, the guy in front of me kept flicking ash out of his window with his RIGHT hand???? and finally tossed the cigarette butt out too.
And I thought, "Man, I wish I were Mr. Smith right now."
I loved this movie. Fantastic escapist fun and very, very visually clever.
Owen plays Mr. Smith a mild mannered misanthrope who's catch phrase seemed to be, "You know what I hate..." When Mr. Smith sees a yuppie (is that still a term?) take a handicapped parking spot he steals the guy's car. He runs another off the road for not using his turn signals.
Obviously I don't really believe in vigilantiism and the body count is enormous in this with no one really bleeding or dying slowly in agony (well, except for the one guy who was shot in the buttock, but he doesn't really count as he wasn't dying, just whining a lot). Realistic violence takes me apart. Cartoon violence cracks me up--and this is a live action cartoon. Mr. Smith walks away (well, ok, limps away) from things that should have killed him--and the running joke is that Giamatti's character just won't stay dead. Plus Clive spends the movie chomping on carots (and disposing of people with them--in ways I don't think would pass Mythbusters). He even finally says, "What's up, Doc?" As you may recall, I blubbed my eyes out for "Children of Men."
Which brings me to my main point. This film is the META of all metas. Unlike in my post, I don't think I'm giving anything away by talking about COM now. In that, Owen must save the last pregnant woman on earth and then she and her baby from two factions that want the baby for their own ends.
In this, Owen delivers a baby by shooting the umbilical cord (the mother is later shot) and then spends the rest of the movie protecting the baby from two factions who want the baby for their own ends. You can't tell me they didn't cast Owen on purpose. There's some serious "Sin City" references. Giamatti says something about moving "SIDEWAYS," in a way that's too deliberate to be accidental. There's even a mad taxidermist from "Pacte de la Loupe," to pull in Monica Belucci, the sort of heroine. I'm sure that there are even more references I didn't catch. Oh, and the end credits sound like the Bond theme. You know, Clive Owen, who was almost Bond...
But it's the action sequences that make it, and it's pretty much all actioin sequences. Some were in the commercials, but the one falling from a plane with parachutes have to be seen and then watched in slow motion again.
Terribly good fun. Never has a film been so literally titled.
Oh, and it has Monica Belucci in it. Did I mention that? http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/5260/MonicaBell_Pimen_10881427_400.jpg.html?seq=8
(Spell check is not working for me--forgive me for that too.)
Meanwhile, the guy in front of me kept flicking ash out of his window with his RIGHT hand???? and finally tossed the cigarette butt out too.
And I thought, "Man, I wish I were Mr. Smith right now."
I loved this movie. Fantastic escapist fun and very, very visually clever.
Owen plays Mr. Smith a mild mannered misanthrope who's catch phrase seemed to be, "You know what I hate..." When Mr. Smith sees a yuppie (is that still a term?) take a handicapped parking spot he steals the guy's car. He runs another off the road for not using his turn signals.
Obviously I don't really believe in vigilantiism and the body count is enormous in this with no one really bleeding or dying slowly in agony (well, except for the one guy who was shot in the buttock, but he doesn't really count as he wasn't dying, just whining a lot). Realistic violence takes me apart. Cartoon violence cracks me up--and this is a live action cartoon. Mr. Smith walks away (well, ok, limps away) from things that should have killed him--and the running joke is that Giamatti's character just won't stay dead. Plus Clive spends the movie chomping on carots (and disposing of people with them--in ways I don't think would pass Mythbusters). He even finally says, "What's up, Doc?" As you may recall, I blubbed my eyes out for "Children of Men."
Which brings me to my main point. This film is the META of all metas. Unlike in my post, I don't think I'm giving anything away by talking about COM now. In that, Owen must save the last pregnant woman on earth and then she and her baby from two factions that want the baby for their own ends.
In this, Owen delivers a baby by shooting the umbilical cord (the mother is later shot) and then spends the rest of the movie protecting the baby from two factions who want the baby for their own ends. You can't tell me they didn't cast Owen on purpose. There's some serious "Sin City" references. Giamatti says something about moving "SIDEWAYS," in a way that's too deliberate to be accidental. There's even a mad taxidermist from "Pacte de la Loupe," to pull in Monica Belucci, the sort of heroine. I'm sure that there are even more references I didn't catch. Oh, and the end credits sound like the Bond theme. You know, Clive Owen, who was almost Bond...
But it's the action sequences that make it, and it's pretty much all actioin sequences. Some were in the commercials, but the one falling from a plane with parachutes have to be seen and then watched in slow motion again.
Terribly good fun. Never has a film been so literally titled.
Oh, and it has Monica Belucci in it. Did I mention that? http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/5260/MonicaBell_Pimen_10881427_400.jpg.html?seq=8
(Spell check is not working for me--forgive me for that too.)
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