Unofficial Finchy Friday?

[Cop]

Is this the man himself?

Can somebody please confirm? It does looks like Chris...

 

[Joanna]

OMGGGG, it's Finchy Frankenstein!! LOL, Paul!

xx Joanna xx

 

[angel clare]

Gotta be.

Kev

 

[Cop]

Is this him too... if so what production is it? It's not BarStewards

Are you sure its him?

 

[Joanna]

Is this him too... if so what production is it? It's not BarStewards

Well, only if it is him, mind....Sommersby?

xx Joanna xx

 

[Cop]

Is this him?

If it is, its the only picture of him smiling out of all the Finchy Friday pics so far...

I don't think its him?

 

[Joanna]

Is this him?

Maybe....It could be....Think I'd need to see 'him' without his cap to know for definiite one way or the other.

xx Joanna xx

 

[Booth]

The hat budget for that film alone is legendary

 

[Joanna]

Ah, Michael, so you can indeed confirm for us all whether it really is 'him' or not?! Do tell....

xx Joanna xx

 

[Booth]

I think, but don't quote me on this, it's a home movie. Chris likes to wear that kind of gear so that he can go about his business without being mobbed everywhere he goes. He got the idea from Eminem who can often be seen down Brooklyn way dressed like Henry Tudor.

 

[Joanna]

Chris likes to wear that kind of gear so that he can go about his business without being mobbed everywhere he goes.

Looks like we've got a prankster in our midst, folks! *sigh*

xx Joanna xx

 

[LegolasG]

Evening Folks!

Fran found this link a little earlier that she thought you might like to see.

"THE" scene from Dead Man's Cards!

Thanks Fran

LG

 

[Fran]

Thank YOU LB What would I do without you!

 

[LegolasG]

Thank YOU LB What would I do without you!

No problem Fran, glad to be of service.

LB

 

[angel clare]

What a great scene.

Kevin

 

[Joanna]

Thanks so much, Fran and LG. How wonderful! So that seems to be Chris's whole scene in DMC, then...hee hee! Really enjoyed that (duhhh! )....lovely 'muscles', Chris!

And I know I probably shouldn't have, but I just had to laugh at that screaming of yours, Chris: it WAS very funny, after all!

xx Joanna xx

 

[Fran]

What's good is that when you read through some of the reviews so far, Chris's scene doesn't go un-noticed!

CHRIS DOCKER - EYE FOR FILM

This being an age of political correctness, they undergo one of the legally required courses in non-violent restraint, which provides more opportunities for grim humour as Paul shows the instructor how to get out of his judo holds.

RICH KLINE - ARTHOUSE FILMS 06

Amid the script's attempts to establish street cred, there are cleverly astute touches--such as the self-defence class Paul and Tom are required to take.

ROBERT MONK - ENTERTAINMENT WISE

In one grimly funny scene the new best mates are at a security guard’s training seminar when Paul shows the instructor in wince-inducing detail exactly how he would get out of a headlock. The film is packed full of such typically British violent humour.

 

[Joanna]

Ooh, thanks, Fran! Btw, where you go in that link to see those reviews...I went into the reviews section and I can only see reviews from Sight and Sound and Empire?

And that Eye For Film review, I'd seen that before.....DOH, you can tell I didn't read it very thoroughly, can't you?!

Lol, why are we in the Unofficial FF thread, wonderful though it is?

xx Joanna xx

 

[Fran]

I didn't get the reviews through the link, I just found them on a search for things about DMC's.

And we're here, cos as the Official Finchy Friday thread is a bit quiet, (*cough* *hint* *cough* ), LB thought this might be a good place to post the link, until we get the real Finchy Friday stuff..

 

[Joanna]

I didn't get the reviews through the link, I just found them on a search for things about DMC's.

*does a bit of googling*

Ah, the Arthouse Films O6 review, you say (with Chris mentioned in their cast list!).....

This Liverpool thriller is set in an underworld of nightclubs, drug dealers and territorial gangsters. In other words, it's yet another gritty, violent British crime movie. And while it has its moments, it doesn't really add to the genre.

Tom (McMartin) is an ex-boxer who gets a job as a bouncer at a down-and-dirty bar owned by Billy (Bell), who dresses like a cowboy. Tom's wife (Janus) is not pleased, especially when he keeps coming home drunk. And she doesn't know about his fellow doorman Paul (Barber), a tough guy who likes to fight with the local street hoods, or the slutty barmaid (Parry) who keeps buying Tom presents. But the real problem is the vicious gangster (Russell) who wants to take over the bar.

The title refers to a story Billy tells about Wild Bill Hickock and a handful of aces and eights. What that has to do with this film is never clear, but the movie does feel like a Western as everyone grabs their guns and heads for a series of increasingly violent showdowns. Marquand (son of Return of the Jedi director Richard) directs with considerable style, using lush colours and witty camera angles to cover the extremely low-budget production values.

Where the film falters is in the somewhat awkward dialog, which anyone would have trouble delivering convincingly. Some of these actors keep their dignity, while others never make their characters believable. Fortunately, McMartin is solid in the central role; he's the only person we have any sympathy for. Everyone else is so annoyingly cocky that you almost hope for an apocalyptic finale.

Amid the script's attempts to establish street cred, there are cleverly astute touches, such as the self-defence class Paul and Tom are required to take; but when the story starts circling through a series of attacks and counterattacks, each trying to be tougher than the last one, we feel the strain. There's just no point at which we can become involved in the story on any level, which leaves it feeling jumbled and a little silly in the end - despite some flashes of real skill.

Don't like what it says at the top of the page containing this review....

Films unlikely to be showing at your local multiplex...

Anyway, and the Entertainment Wise review, you say.......

Coming on like a Peckinpah-flavoured Scouse western, Dead Man’s Cards, is a masterful slice of (low) life set in the clubs, bars and boxing gyms of Liverpool.

James Marqand’s debut feature follows the trials of Tom (James McMartin, also sharing writing credits), an ex-boxer forced through age and circumstance into taking a job as a doorman at a dilapidated bar. Under the guidance of grizzled head bouncer Paul (Paul Barber, best known as Only Fools and Horses’ Denzel) Tom rapidly becomes initiated into the underworld of the city's nightlife and learns how to handle himself accordingly. In one grimly funny scene, the new best mates are at a security guard’s training seminar when Paul shows the instructor, in wince-inducing detail exactly, how he would get out of a headlock. The film is packed full of such typically British violent humour.

The bar, owned by time-warped Billy the Cowboy (British screen veteran Tom Bell in his last role), becomes a home from home for Tom, especially when his wife Kris (Samantha Janus, in an undeveloped role) leaves him after one too many boozy lock-ins and his newly discovered infertility. This secure, if down-at-heel, environment is rocked when Paul angers local gang boss Chongi. The two rival factions get locked in a deadly battle of wills involving plenty of grittily realistic ultra-violence. In this setting, Tom has to question his loyalties and whether he has enough fight left in him to go through with the job.

Dead Man’s Cards effortlessly breathes new life into the seriously struggling Brit crime genre, which since the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels has seen a deluge of poorly scripted and poorly executed movies. While the violence may prove to be a bit much for some, the harsh vision of Liverpool’s mean streets is neatly balanced with warmth, humour and some wonderfully realised scenes. One of these, in a fine piece of surrealism, sees Billy standing in his club listening to country music on headphones blissfully unaware of the track-suited scallies hopping along around him to ear-shattering techno.

The main players of the piece all perform admirably well. James McMartin, who has real life experience as a doorman, brings a plausibility and realism so often lacking in other Brit gangster flicks. The late Tom Bell adds humility and some much needed light relief to a world that few cinemagoers will know or choose to venture into. If one character sums up the whole, however, it is Paul Barber’s battle-hardened bouncer. His sudden shifts from good-humoured blokeishness to tired desperation to outright blood lust hits the right note on every level. It is his presence and, more worryingly, what devastation a knuckleduster can cause, that will stick in the head after the credits roll.

As an unpretentious and hugely entertaining walk on the wild side of British street life, Dead Man’s Cards is a great success. Marquand has some of the style and verve of early Scorsese and uses it to tell a uniquely British story of life at extremes. There are no Oscar hungry close ups here, no worthy messages or subtexts – just a tight script, impressive performances and a lot of excitement. What more do you want? Go and see it.



xx Joanna xx