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French Connection

2/22/2015

25 Comments

 

B-
2.83

  • I can remember two things from this movie - the car chase and cleaning out the bar - Bryan
  • I think the only actor anything's really asked of is Hackman, and he delivers as the single-minded Popeye - Jon
  • Hackman's hair is HORRIBLE - Blair
Initial Review by Riley

You ever pick your feet in Poughkeepsie?  I think it’s safe to say that’s an early nominee for best line next year.  The problem is what does it mean.  Theories… my initial thought was Popeye was referring to a prison in Poughkeepsie and was asking if they had a criminal record and had already served time, therefore could strong arm them more.  Adding to that I figured the picking feet part had something to do with getting bent over for some prison rape.  After a google it seems I wasn’t the only person who made that assumption.  Apparently, however, it was based on an actual good cop bad cop routine the real detectives the movie was based on used.  One cop would ask direct questions then the other would chime aggressively with a nonsense question to confuse the perp into actually answering the real question while trying to figure out what the hell was just asked.  I choose to believe that it’s a little of both.

Anyway, on to actually reviewing the movie… I think I learned a lesson and it’s that not all classics hold up the same way.  I don’t say that to imply The French Connection wasn’t a good movie but for an action movie it was incredibly slow by todays non-stop blow shit up standards.  I think I wanted/expected something in between the pace of the movie and todays action movies that don’t have enough time between explosions for character and plot development.  There were long slow stretches that were just too much, 95% of the time in Marseilles in the beginning was just showing how pretty Marseilles is.

Couple things I did love were seeing so many of the cop movie/show things we see today be used to great effect.  The detectives begging the captain for a longer leash to go after the bad guy, kissing captains ass to for him to get a court order, FBI and local cops hating each other, etc.  I don’t have knowledge of cop movie/show to know when that started but it felt very much like Law and Order copied 90% of their plots on things that happened in French Connection.

You can’t talk about this movie without mentioning Popeye’s car chase in pursuit of the train.  I’ve known about this scene for years as what’s considered among the top car chases in movie history and it didn’t disappoint.  I loved the fact that his car got beat the fuck up and he wasn’t somehow Michael Shumacher and drove 100 mph through tight traffic with no problem. 

Hackman and Scheider were fantastic with Hackman clearly the Jordan to Scheider’s Pippen.  No real female parts in the movie so no nominees. 

New York in the 70s was a shithole

Overall the pacing and the stretches where nothing happened (damn stakeouts) hurt the movie for me.  Of the older “classics” we’ve watched together this felt like a distant 3rd to Taxi Driver and The Good the Bad and the Ugly.  To confirm my grades lined up that way I went back and saw I gave a B- to GBD so I read my review, I had B+ in there but wanted to bitch about a few things, hindsight says B+ was right.  So I’ll go B for French Connection. 

25 Comments

Horns

2/11/2015

24 Comments

 

C
2.00

  • This movie is chock-full of symbolism and I love it. - Ashli
  • I wanted them to stay dark comedy and not go the route they ultimately went. - Riley
  • It's a movie that wants to be dwelt on, but the more you dwell on it, the more you pick apart the structural issues and lose the message of perceived evil it's trying to convey - Phil
Initial Review by Ashli

I'm sure it's pretty obvious that the main reason I chose this movie is my love of Harry Potter. Plus I think Daniel Radcliffe seems like a pretty rad, normal dude in real life. I enjoy watching him take on other projects besides Harry Potter. His American accent in this film though? Awful. And super distracting. I think Radcliffe is always a great actor, and I admire is willingness to take on parts in all kinds of films ("What If" last year was a romantic hipster comedy type and "The Woman in Black" a few years ago was a decent horror movie).

This movie really plays with the perception of what's real and what isn't. Are the horns actually there? Some people can see them, some can't. And those who can seem none too concerned. The movie also has a "Gone Girl"-esque quality to it...I spent most of the movie wondering whether or not he actually killed Merrin. I wanted to believe he didn't, but the evidence (and the horns on his head) seemed to be piling up against him.

This movie is chock full of symbolism, and I loved it. Everything from the snakes that carry out Igg's dirty work, to the placement of fire in the forefront of certain scenes to the name of the diner with the batshit waitress ("Eve's" with an apple logo). And obviously the wings he sprouts at the end (which were kind of ridiculous). All a juxtaposition of good and evil. Heaven and hell. And who expected Heather Graham to pop up in this sort of movie? Oh and Dexter's dad too!

I guess what kind of irked me the whole time is why did Igg get the horns when Lee was the one who actually killed her? Igg was made out to be the devil the entire time even when he was innocent, and throughout the film he slowly is transformed into the devil because of the horns. He starts using his power to commit terrible acts (torturing his brother, etc). And why did Merrin's cross protect Lee from seeing the horns and inevitably end of saving Igg (for a hot minute)? Is this another sort of symbolism in which Merrin is the God/Christ-like figure who sacrificed herself? The quote "Love made devils of us both" stuck out at the end as kind of an explanation for everything that went on...in the end both Lee and Igg were transformed into monsters because of love- Lee through his unrequited love of Merrin and Igg through his willingness to do anything and everything to clear his name and bring justice to Merrin.

The twists sprinkled throughout were unexpected and elevated the movie from a "typical" horror/thriller. I didn't see it coming that she had terminal cancer and was pushing him away on purpose to save him. I didn't see it coming that Lee was actually the killer, and Lee had me convinced that Merrin was actually in love with him when that wasn't the case at all.

They lost me at the end when he sprouted wings and turned into the devil...got wayyyy too hoky. They should have saved the money they used on that crappy CGI. Ok maybe they lost me when he came out of the burning car alive. I think the movie could have ended about 30 minutes before it actually did, it got a little long winded/far fetched at the end (I mean I guess the whole thing is pretty far fetched...he did sprout horns). Oh and the guy getting his head blown off with the shotgun? Awesome. But pretty B horror movie kind of stuff that lowers the quality of the film overall.

All in all...I'm going C+ on this one. Had some unexpected twists, good acting by Radcliffe. Definitely not your typical horror movie (is this a horror movie? thriller? I'm not sure what to call it...)
24 Comments

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