Shock to the System
A 1990 effort from a mostly obscure director, starring Michael Caine, and based on a Simon Brett novel. This black comedy sees a put-upon ad executive begin to see murder as the solution to his problems.
I really liked this. Ebert in his review says that one of the best things about the film is that's unpredictable. You never know quite how it's going to go. That's true and is something I value about it. Caine's performance is also great, and his antagonist is hate-able enough to make you squirm.
A fun, easy watching, slightly unusual film with an ending that I particularly liked.
Croupier
This now mostly forgotten 1998 British neo-noir helped boost the early days of Clive Owen's career. He plays a struggling novelist who takes a job as the eponymous croupier in a casino.
This film reviewed well at the time and is still talked about fondly. It didn't work for me, however. I found the writerly trappings, chiefly in the form of a narration by Owen, pretentious, and the story itself falls apart for me in the latter half. Owen's character's cool, almost sociopathic detachment from proceedings translated almost too well to the viewer, in that by the time the third act rolled round I really didn't care what happened.
A 1990 effort from a mostly obscure director, starring Michael Caine, and based on a Simon Brett novel. This black comedy sees a put-upon ad executive begin to see murder as the solution to his problems.
I really liked this. Ebert in his review says that one of the best things about the film is that's unpredictable. You never know quite how it's going to go. That's true and is something I value about it. Caine's performance is also great, and his antagonist is hate-able enough to make you squirm.
A fun, easy watching, slightly unusual film with an ending that I particularly liked.
Croupier
This now mostly forgotten 1998 British neo-noir helped boost the early days of Clive Owen's career. He plays a struggling novelist who takes a job as the eponymous croupier in a casino.
This film reviewed well at the time and is still talked about fondly. It didn't work for me, however. I found the writerly trappings, chiefly in the form of a narration by Owen, pretentious, and the story itself falls apart for me in the latter half. Owen's character's cool, almost sociopathic detachment from proceedings translated almost too well to the viewer, in that by the time the third act rolled round I really didn't care what happened.
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