My Review of Filth, the movie that wasn't that filthy after all. just predictable.


Glib Reviews of Movie Recently released on DVD, Blu Ray

Filth
- Directed By Jon S. Baird

Filth is one of the few Irvine Welsh books I haven’t read. But I feel like it is safe to say the  book has a bit more visceral “filth” than the movie, which tries (and doesn't quite do it) to capture the frenetic yakkety yak and horrorshow stuff that usually fills up a Welsh novel, and hopefully the movie adaptation.

Trainspotting for example is a great adaptation, but strays further from the source material. ( as I said I haven’t read Filth, but other reviews seems to say that this flick doesn’t stray so far in terms of the story. If that’s true: then, it’s too bad.) There is very little flare, guts to this supposed depravity. It's to my mind, a pg 13 version of an Irvine Welsh novel. But then again so was Trainspotting, actually. So maybe I am being too critical. Like a friend of mine said in his review, the movie pulls it’s punches more than revels in its depravity, as the book no doubt does.

All the tropes are there to make for a good Cop going round the bend, crossing the line etc, kind of flick, but none of the supporting characters, save his “best mate” who he treats like dirt have quite enough screen time to really grab hold of the types they are playing. McAvoy is ‘givin’ ‘er,’ but it is not enough. The beats are all predictable in an eye rolling way. Especially from my point of view, the Transphobic bits at the end. The only way anyone is a cross dresser, or Trans* in movies like this is always the same: they are insane. Sigh. The climax was a CSI (some of the most transphobic characters in TV or anywhere, all on that show) level cliche, with a “dark ending” that left me wanting to spit.

It had potential, and some great actors, all of whom except the lead James McAvoy weren’t much more than plot devices. The pace was weird and it was very paint by numbers as far as the Direction went. Almost a pilot for a horrid Scottish Cop show. Meh.

















4.555  transparently expositional, racist, sexist rants that have no weight and no teeth outta 10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nerd-Sploitation Weekend continues

Image
Glib Reviews of New Releases NerdFest Day 2 Continuing my Nerd-Sploitation festival with the almost traditional tale of of the out of control Game Master. Earlier examples of this sort of the tiny Nerdsploitation genre includes Gamers, (and it’s sequel) or any of those movies that I don't watch, that involve video games. Zero Charisma - Directed by Katie Graham , Andrew Matthews Is a surprising solid portrayal of the aging Nerd, or Fan. The main character is in many ways a painful reminder of what its like to be so obsessed with a game (or any fantasy) that it ruins the rest of your life.  Scott The GM in question ( Sam Eidson ), may in fact be a triggering presence for many gamers, or ex gamers. Be warned, the interplay of the players and GM struggling through a ridiculously overlong campaign is more realistic than the things the players do ‘in game.’ People being talked over, outside noise causing havoc with the flow of the game, the omnipresence of snack
Read more

Review of Tangerine!

Image
Glib Reviews Of Recent DVD Releases Tangerine - Directed By Sean Baker Tangerine is one of those films that ‘feels like’ it was shot chronologically. The first few scenes are a bit rough, the acting is a bit iffy, but as the characters of Sin-Dee and Alexandra walk endlessly through their drama filled Christmas Eve Day in L.A. The picture gets more gripping, the cinematography, the acting and the script all get better, more polished in a low budget way. The locations give a nice grimy seventies feel to the whole thing. Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is especially unlikeable at the beginning of the film, her single mindedness in finding her pimp/boyfriend and the girl he ‘cheated on her’ with while she was doing a month in jail, is not terribly nuanced. The buffer of the her best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) trying to keep her from all the drama she is creating, while trying to hustle tickets for a show she is doing that night keeps the whole thing from being one note.
Read more

My middling review of "Night Moves" by Kelly Reichardt

Image
Glib reviews of recent DVD/Blu Ray releases. Night Moves - Directed by Kelly Reichardt This is not your father’s ‘Night Moves,’ that one is an under appreciated Arthur Penn flick with Gene Hackman. Both do crucially involve boats though. I wanted to like this film a bit more than I did. As a big fan of Reichardt’s films in general, I was looking forward to this quite a bit. It may be though my least favourite of the bunch, but that by no means says it’s a bad film, just not quite as good as the previous three films. If you like creepy atmospheric slow paced gorgeously shot in Oregon kind of movies, you will dig this. Jesse Eisenberg is at his broodingest best, here, you barely ever see under his hooded eyes, he only ever really expresses emotions over the things he perceives with horror, like the dead deer he moves from the edge of the highway to save the dead doe the dignity of not getting run over again and again, at least. The basic plot has Jesse (as Josh, commu
Read more