After a long drought I've watched 2 movies
The Brave One - Didn't Neil Jordan used to make idiosyncratic, interesting movies? The Company of Wolves, Mona Lisa, The Butcher Boy etc? Well not any more - this is a total honker, like Death Wish 3 without the humour and insanity old Winner brought to proceedings. Here's a movie that wants to be a serious exploration of vigilantism yet uses every cliche in the book - they're all here - the grocery store shooting, the subway car shooting, the wise black lady, the ridiculous punk gang. No evidence of this being used in a knowing way - just lazy lazy scriptwriting. The guy who plays the assistant cop gives the most wooden performance I've ever seen. Avoid this like the plague.
Valhalla Rising - Mixed feelings from me on this one - loved the ambition, the music, the images, the central mute performance, the sheer alien-ness of it all. Hated the cgi blood which totally took me out of the carefully created world, just as it did in Drive - why can't this director hire a decent SFX team? What was wrong with blood bags anyway? seemed to work for Tom Savini OK. Still, something brave and different - I'II watch it again.
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