tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-991803860372006625.post7630018069162686592..comments2024-03-20T06:13:43.116+00:00Comments on Joy and Forgetfulness: Gangster Squad: A ReviewConrad Kinchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15683395740934527502noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-991803860372006625.post-32029547044394942362013-03-06T10:36:30.143+00:002013-03-06T10:36:30.143+00:00That is a fine review Kinch - informative, well co...That is a fine review Kinch - informative, well considered and argued. How did I miss this? I particularly enjoyed your comments in respect of civilization vs barbarism, and the implications for those who rather too eagerly accept the notion that the ends justify the means.<br /><br />It does sound as though there is a potential for social comment in this movie, or perhaps I should say, that a viewer might well infer some such comment from it.<br /><br />I am reminded of a reviewer's remark in respect of 'The Unforgiven' that he felt the ending - the shootout in which the protagonist defeats his enemy - was a cop out from the build up that exploded the myths of the old West, in which heroes and villains swapped roles and were almost indistinguishable from each other anyway; in which consequences didn't care whether you were a good guy or a bad guy.<br /><br />But I felt that the ending made this point. The myths of the Old West were bunkum, the creation of over-imaginative 'fans' from the east, all right. But every now and then, just occasionally, once in a long, long time, the myths were true.<br /><br />I like that. Archduke Piccolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15533325665451889661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-991803860372006625.post-10248764418264303232013-01-22T18:34:59.511+00:002013-01-22T18:34:59.511+00:00You liked it far better than A.O. Scott in The New...You liked it far better than A.O. Scott in The New York Times. I wanted to see it until I read this review. You are making me reconsider my boycott.Mad Padrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00410143683610813671noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-991803860372006625.post-82258121517558186192013-01-18T23:16:03.517+00:002013-01-18T23:16:03.517+00:00This is a rather good review, Kinch, old man. Perh...This is a rather good review, Kinch, old man. Perhaps a forward-looking Garda hierarchy could create the post of 'Service/Force Film Luvvy' ? I don't watch 'movies' anymore (my brain is a funny old thing and dislikes disturbance), but I take it from your review that I am a lot better off with my much-loved Chandler accounts of California in the days of trilbies. Chandler was more than willing to finger the LAPD, and sometimes in very funny ways, as in the scene where two cops are compared to Hemingway for the richness of their dialogue! On a slightly different note, the opening scene you describe reminded me that the very reason that I have hitherto avoided the Peninsular was being told, by a Prussian classicist and Bonarpartist, of the similar fate (only using trees) of captured French officers in the campaign. Dam' foreigners..AlFronthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03309612957773750838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-991803860372006625.post-37512675480570701072013-01-18T22:46:39.775+00:002013-01-18T22:46:39.775+00:00You need to do more film reviews.You need to do more film reviews.fireymonkeyboyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05833974263127787678noreply@blogger.com