British gangster

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British Gangster Joel Griffiths

Transcript of British gangster

British GangsterJoel Griffiths

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

A botched card game in London triggers four friends, thugs, weed-growers, hard gangsters, loan sharks and debt collectors to collide with each other in a series of unexpected events, all for the sake of weed, cash and two antique shotguns.

Director: Guy RitchieWriter: Guy RitchieStars: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is like Tarantino crossed with the Marx Brothers, if Groucho had been into chopping off fingers. It's a bewilderingly complex caper film, set among the low-lifes of London's East End, and we don't need to be told that the director used to make TV commercials; we figure that out when a cook throws some veggies into water, and the camera shoots up from the bottom of the pot.”

“The actors seem a little young for this milieu; they seem to be playing grown-up. Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs'' had characters with mileage on them, played by veterans like Harvey Keitel, Lawrence Tierneyand Michael Madsen.”

“I also liked the movie's sense of fun. The soundtrack uses a lot of rock music and narration to flaunt its attitude, it keeps most of the violence off-screen, and it's not above throwaway gags. While Eddy plays poker, for example, his three friends go next door to a pub. A man on fire comes staggering out of the door. They look at him curiously, shrug, and go in. The pub is named Samoa Joe's, which seems like a sideways nod to "Pulp Fiction'' (Big Kahuna burgers crossed with Jack Rabbit Slim's restaurant). The guys sip drinks with umbrellas in them.”

“I sometimes feel, I confess, as if there's a Tarantino reference in every third movie made these days. "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' is the kind of movie where you naturally play Spot the Influence: Tarantino, of course, and a dash of Hong Kong action pictures, and the old British crime comedies like "The Lavender Hill Mob.''

Whole Film Review: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lock-stock-and-two-smoking-barrels-1999

Get CarterA vicious London gangster, Jack Carter, travels to Newcastle for his brother's funeral. He begins to suspect that his brother's death was not an accident and sets out to follow a complex trail of lies, deceit, cover-ups and backhanders through Newcastle's underworld, leading, he hopes, to the man who ordered his brother killed. Because of his ruthlessness Carter exhibits all the unstopability of the android in Terminator, or Walker in Point Blank, and he and the other characters in the film are prone to sudden, brutal acts of violence.

Director: Mike HodgesWriters: Mike Hodges (screenplay), Ted Lewis (novel)Stars: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland

"Get Carter" is a tense, hard-boiled crime movie that uses Michael Caine, for once, as the sure possessor of all his unconscious authority.”

For one thing, "Get Carter" has the sure feel for the underbelly of society, like the good American detective novelists have always had.”

“Carter moves through a world of working-class pubs, boardinghouses managed by sad-eyed and warm-voiced widows and off-track betting parlors. This sort of proletarian detail is unusual in a British detective movie. Usually we get all flash and no humanity, lots of fancy camera tricks but no feel for the criminal strata of society.”

“The movie has a sure touch. Very early, during the titles, we see Caine taking the train to Newcastle and reading a paperback of Raymond Chandler's 'Farewell My Lovely.' This seems audacious at the time, as if director Mike Hodges were deliberately inviting comparison with the American masters. ”More Detailed Review:

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/get-carter-1971

44 Inch ChestColin is in agony, shattered by his wife's infidelity. However, he has friends who do more than stand by -- they kidnap the wife's French lover and hold him prisoner so that Colin can restore his manhood with revenge. A kangaroo court takes place and as the situation escalates Loverboy's life hangs in the balance as Colin wrestles with revenge, remorse, grief and self pity, all the while egged on by his motley crew of friends who just want him to get on with it so they can get down the pub.

Director: Paul McGuiganStars: Malcolm McDowell

In their script for Sexy Beast, screenwriters Louis Mellis and David Scinto gave us a Brit-crime classic, and created career-gold parts for Ray Winstone as a reluctant robber, Ben Kingsley a psychopathic bully and Ian McShane a charismatic kingpin.

Tourette-yelping of the C-word - and it's sometimes very funny: a crunchy mix of Pinter, Mamet and Tarantino.

More Detailed Review: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jan/14/44-inch-chest-film-review