I've been watching some movies lately. Usually late at night, or on nights where there isn't anything good on TV.
CHARLEY VARRICK: If I told you that Walter Matthau made a cool crime movie, would you believe me? Well he did. In this movie he's in a gang that rob a bank out in the sticks. The problem is that bank is where the mob was hiding their cash. Cash that was about to be sent out to be laundered. They want their money back and they're going to kill anyone they have to in order to get it back. I read about this movie in the back pages of one of the issues of the comic, CRIMINAL. I managed to get my hands on a copy awhile ago, and it took me until last week to actually sit down and watch it.
Amazon link: CHARLEY VARRICK on DVD.
THE ANDERSON TAPES: Between quitting the James Bond movies and then going back for one last movie as 007, Sean Connery made this 1971 heist movie. Fresh out of jail, Anderson (Connery) is a con who decides to rob the wealthy apartment building that his girlfriend has been living in as a kept woman. The catch is, Anderson and everybody he's working with are all being watched and recorded by various law agencies. Sounds like that heist might not go so well, huh? This movie is also notable for being one of Christopher Walken's first movie roles.
Amazon link: THE ANDERSON TAPES on DVD.
21: I finally got around to watching this movie last Saturday. I remember having a teacher that tried to teach us card counting in Jr High, as a math exercise not to set up some sort of gambling cheaters ring like in this movie. I never could wrap my head around that since I'm a gigantic dummy when it comes to math beyond it's day to day usage. For me, this is definitely one of those, "watch it once and maybe watch bits of it again if I pass by it on cable" flicks. It's nothing all the remarkable, but it's not terrible either. It's worth seeing once if the subject matter interests you. Unlike the rest of these crime movies I've watch recently, the main characters in this one pretty much get away with it unscathed.
Amazon links: 21 on DVD or 21 on BluRay
CHARLEY VARRICK: If I told you that Walter Matthau made a cool crime movie, would you believe me? Well he did. In this movie he's in a gang that rob a bank out in the sticks. The problem is that bank is where the mob was hiding their cash. Cash that was about to be sent out to be laundered. They want their money back and they're going to kill anyone they have to in order to get it back. I read about this movie in the back pages of one of the issues of the comic, CRIMINAL. I managed to get my hands on a copy awhile ago, and it took me until last week to actually sit down and watch it.
Amazon link: CHARLEY VARRICK on DVD.
THE ANDERSON TAPES: Between quitting the James Bond movies and then going back for one last movie as 007, Sean Connery made this 1971 heist movie. Fresh out of jail, Anderson (Connery) is a con who decides to rob the wealthy apartment building that his girlfriend has been living in as a kept woman. The catch is, Anderson and everybody he's working with are all being watched and recorded by various law agencies. Sounds like that heist might not go so well, huh? This movie is also notable for being one of Christopher Walken's first movie roles.
Amazon link: THE ANDERSON TAPES on DVD.
21: I finally got around to watching this movie last Saturday. I remember having a teacher that tried to teach us card counting in Jr High, as a math exercise not to set up some sort of gambling cheaters ring like in this movie. I never could wrap my head around that since I'm a gigantic dummy when it comes to math beyond it's day to day usage. For me, this is definitely one of those, "watch it once and maybe watch bits of it again if I pass by it on cable" flicks. It's nothing all the remarkable, but it's not terrible either. It's worth seeing once if the subject matter interests you. Unlike the rest of these crime movies I've watch recently, the main characters in this one pretty much get away with it unscathed.
Amazon links: 21 on DVD or 21 on BluRay
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE: This is probably one of the best pieces of old school film noir that I've watched. A bunch of criminals plan a jewel heist and things go really badly for them after they pull it off. Bad as in in, nobody gets away with it. Grim stuff for 1950. Shockingly, the heist itself is a very short part of the movie. Most of the movie concentrates on setting up the plan and the various double-crosses and bad ends that the characters come to. I thought this would be something I could use as a bedtime movie to knock myself out, but this movie sucked me in. Next on my old noir/heist movie "to watch" list is Kubrick's THE KILLING.
Amazon link: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE on DVD
Moving away from the crime genre and onto two things that aren't out on DVD (yet)...
MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN: Lionsgate took a gigantic dump on this movie by releasing it in a handful of theaters, and then it went straight to cable. Seriously, this movie was just in theaters a few months ago and it's already on free FEARNET OnDemand. So I caught it in HD on Friday night. The trailer and descriptions made it sound appealing, but after watching it, I think it's just alright. This is one of those times where the idea is cooler than the execution. There are some cool bits, but overall the movie drags a bit. Vinnie Jones, as always, does menacing very well.
Z-ROCK: This isn't a movie, it's a TV show on IFC. I've been watching it via OnDemand. Conceptually, it's a blend of rock and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIAM. It's a comedy about a struggling rock band by night who play children's parties during the day. Naturally, they're more successful with the kids music than the music they really want to be playing. The band, ZO2 is a real band from New York, playing themselves. (What I've heard of their stuff I like.) I think this show is really funny, and I got my brother into it too.
Amazon link: THE ASPHALT JUNGLE on DVD
Moving away from the crime genre and onto two things that aren't out on DVD (yet)...
MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN: Lionsgate took a gigantic dump on this movie by releasing it in a handful of theaters, and then it went straight to cable. Seriously, this movie was just in theaters a few months ago and it's already on free FEARNET OnDemand. So I caught it in HD on Friday night. The trailer and descriptions made it sound appealing, but after watching it, I think it's just alright. This is one of those times where the idea is cooler than the execution. There are some cool bits, but overall the movie drags a bit. Vinnie Jones, as always, does menacing very well.
Z-ROCK: This isn't a movie, it's a TV show on IFC. I've been watching it via OnDemand. Conceptually, it's a blend of rock and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIAM. It's a comedy about a struggling rock band by night who play children's parties during the day. Naturally, they're more successful with the kids music than the music they really want to be playing. The band, ZO2 is a real band from New York, playing themselves. (What I've heard of their stuff I like.) I think this show is really funny, and I got my brother into it too.
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