Memento
Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix) shine in this absolute stunner of a movie. Memento combines a bold, mind-bending script with compelling action and virtuoso performances. Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, hunting down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The problem is that "the incident" that robbed Leonard of his wife also stole his ability to make new memories. Unable to retain a location, a face, or a new clue on his own, Leonard continues his search with the help of notes, Polaroids, and even homemade tattoos for vital information. Because of his condition, Leonard essentially lives his life in short, present-tense segments, with no clear idea of what's just happened to him. That's where Memento gets really interesting; the story begins at the end, and the movie jumps backward in 10-minute segments. The suspense of the movie lies not in discovering what happens, but in finding out why it happened. Amazingly, the movie achieves edge-of-your-seat excitement even as it moves backward in time, and it keeps the mind hopping as cause and effect are pieced together. Pearce captures Leonard perfectly, conveying both the tragic romance of his quest and his wry humor in dealing with his condition. He is bolstered by several excellent supporting players, and the movie is all but stolen from him by Pantoliano, who delivers an amazing performance as Teddy, the guy who may or may not be on his side. Memento has an intriguing structure and even meditations on the nature of perception and meaning of life if you go looking for them, but it also functions just as well as a completely absorbing thriller. It's rare to find a movie this exciting with so much intelligence behind it. --Ali Davis
Snatch
Usually it might seem a tad unfair to begin a review by referring to the director's missis. But then the missis in question wouldn't usually be Madonna--a woman whose ability to reinvent herself several times before breakfast seems in marked contrast to that of hubby Guy Ritchie. Certainly, this follow-up to the filmmaker's breakthrough film--the high-energy, expletive-strewn cockney-gangster movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels--hardly breaks new ground being, well, another high-energy, expletive-strewn cockney-gangster movie. OK, so there are some differences. This time around our low-rent hoodlums are battling over dodgy fights and stolen diamonds rather than dodgy card games and stolen drugs. There has been some minor reshuffling of the cast too, with Sting and Dexter Fletcher making way for the more bankable Benicio Del Toro and Brad Pitt, the latter pretty much stealing the whole shebang as an incomprehensible Irish gy! psy. And, sure, people who really, really liked Lock, Stock--or have the memory of a goldfish--will really, really like this. The suspicion lingers, however, that if the director doesn't do something very different next time around then his career may prove to be considerably shorter than that of his missis. --Clark Collis
Product Description
SNATCH (FEATURE): When jewel thief Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro) takes a slight detour to London on route to delivering a huge stolen diamond to his boss in New York he unwittingly sets off an avalanche of sinister and comic events that wind their way through the rough and tumble worlds of bare-knuckle boxing Irish gypsies pawn shops pig farming and... a stray dog. SNATCH Guy Ritchie's brilliant follow up to his critically acclaimed Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels exposes us to his hip and helter-skelter view of London's gangster underbelly. Ritchie's characteristic fast-paced and constantly twisting story features a madcap ensemble cast of larger-than-life characters including Jason Statham an unlicensed boxing promoter; Stephen Graham his bumbling Sidekick; Alan Ford the local underworld kingpin; Dennis Farina Franky's no-nonsense boss; Vinnie Jones a legendary thug; Rade Sherbedgia a psycho double-crossing Russian; and Brad Pitt in a hilarious turn as a fast-talking gypsy bare-knuckle boxer.MEMENTO: Point blank in the head a man shoots another. In flashbacks each one earlier in time than what we've just seen the two men's past unfolds. Leonard as a result of a blow to the head during an assault on his wife has no short-term memory. He's looking for his wife's killer compensating for his disability by taking Polaroids annotating them and tattooing important facts on his body. We meet the loquacious Teddy and the seductive Natalie (a barmaid who promises to help) and we glimpse Leonard's wife through memories from before the assault. Leonard also talks about Sammy Jankis a man he knew with a similar condition. Has Leonard found the killer? What's going on?Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 043396005556 Manufacturer No: 00555
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