Do PizzaBots Dream of Electric Guitars? review
Posted : 6 months ago on 15 November 2023 06:44También hay que recalcar como sutilmente es una metanarrativa a la misma serie al presentar en el primer minuto al nuevo homero de los 90 y concluir que los medios cambian con el tiempo. No soy del todo partidario que utilicen la linea de tiempo flotante, cosa que ya hacia desde su época dorada, pero lo que si diré es como a largo plazo la lógica sera de menos por tratar de compensar en crear nuevas historias.
Pero para esta ocasión, esta historia ha sido convincente.
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Mona Lisa
Posted : 10 years, 2 months ago on 16 March 2014 10:12Other than this one problem, all of the necessary components are running at their highest capacity to make a great film. The film’s script smartly reveals its many twists and turns through small hints and slowly evolving relationship dynamics between the two main characters. Neil Jordan and David Leland’s dialog is also a thing of beauty, taking the British gangster vernacular and twisting it around into a street-tough poetry. The way the arguments unfold between this low-level British gangster and the high-class hooker he’s tasked with driving around and protecting are wildly entertaining. Once they understand how much they’re entertained by and look forward to their squabbles, they’re finally on the same page as us.
Jordan, who also directs, uses his camera to tremendous effect. His moody lighting creates an atmosphere that surrounds the goings on and makes for interesting viewing. Think of way Michael Caine’s dangerous gangster lit to look like the king of the underworld. Caine’s features appear distorted like Satan himself, here to charm us with promises while concealing ulterior motives behind the smile and eyes. He also exhibits tight control over when and how information unravels to the audience. We begin by thinking Mona Lisa will be about these two characters learning to appreciate each other, but it slowly develops into a frantic search for a long-lost friend from the hooker’s past.
I watched this and The Long Good Friday back-to-back, and I came away with a deeper appreciation for Bob Hoskins as an actor. In Good Friday, he’s a ruthless gangster who stares in vain as his empire crumbles before his eyes, and here is a more innocent, boorish character. He’s the lowest level in the British mob that one can be, fresh from a stint in jail and desperate for any job that will take him. It is here that Caine extends a helping hand, and arranges for him to become the driver to Cathy Tyson’s call girl. It’s not a surprise that Hoskins got an Oscar nomination for his role, but what is a shock is that it was his lone nomination before retiring in 2012.
For her part, Cathy Tyson is elusive and mysterious. Projecting a cultivated aura that is supposed to be enigmatic and alluring, Hoskins stands no chance once we learn that he is falling in love with this woman. She was performing a siren call to him from the very beginning. When we learn the truth about her, everything we’ve seen happen before takes on the appearance of a character performing to get a desired outcome. It’s a tricky character, and Tyson excels at it. This feels like a star is born role, but alas, Tyson only sporadically appeared in films after this.
And now we must end where we began, with that happy ending. After getting thrown into the deep end, the neat and tidy ending doesn’t work. Everything seemed to be leading to an ending of tremendous ambiguity and power. Instead, we’re given something that neatly ties everything together and then ties it all up with a bow on top. It stood out as a discordant tone to the rest of the film for me. And it is here that the film fails to deliver. It doesn’t stick the landing, and so points must be deducted.
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A very good movie
Posted : 12 years, 6 months ago on 12 November 2011 05:05Since I'm a huge fan of Neil Jordan, I was really eager to check out this movie. First of all, to be honest, I have to admit that it had been a while since this director really blew me away with one of this movies. Fortunately, I was eventually pleasantly surprised by this flick. Basically, it was one of those movies where a man and a woman are stuck together against their will but, eventually, they get some connection. The difference here was that the characters were so well written and played, they were quite fascinating to watch. Furthermore, I really enjoyed the directing providing precisely the right amount of humor, drama, romance and suspense. Of course, the fact that Michael Caine had a small part didn't hurt either as he once again gave another strong performance. Bob Hoskins, for once playing the lead, was also really good here. Eventually, the whole thing turned out to be a simple tale but it was very well told and just plain entertaining. To conclude, even though it is rather forgotten nowadays, I really liked the damned thing and I think it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Neil Jordan's work.
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