Monday 8 March 2010

(500) Films of Empire - Day 173

Looks like it is Brian DePalma day with a nice double bill of his work.

295 - The Untouchables - 3 stars
A thoroughly entertaining but possibly factually flexible gangster film, thanks mainly to a scene stealing performance by Sean Connery.
The Oscar was clearly a 'career achievement' award and at no point during the film does he come close to an Irish accent but it doesn't matter when he is clearly having a ball with the part, with great lines like "You're mucking with a G here pal", "Just like a dirty wap. Bringing a knife to a gun fight", the iconic speech "You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Capone".
The other iconic part of the film is the railway station shootout on the steps with the Battleship Potemkin homage, complete with pram and sailors. Tarantino often gets a bad rap for stealing from movies but DePalma has been doing it before Tarantino started work in the video store, as I witnessed in the next film I watched.
One major criticism of the film, one that goes against popular opinion and likely to invoke a backlash, is that I found Ennio Morricone's score to be overstated and intrusive to the action going on.

86 - Carrie - 3 stars
I have a feeling that this is another film that features so highly due to sentimentality and that fantastic jump moment at the end that spawned a thousand imitations. The first hour plays like a 70's version of Mean Girls with telekinesis before the shit finally hits the fan and it turns into the prom from hell.
I liked the execution of the prom sequence and the use of split screen and panelling helped to make it into a horror classic.
Not so keen on the Psycho rip-off music used whever Carrie was with her mother though.


Days remaining - 192 Films remaining - 247

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