Tag Archive: Mickey Rourke


SLAVES TO LOVE

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September 6, 2012

NINE ½ WEEKS directed by Adrian Lyne (USA, 1986)

IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES directed by Nagisa Oshima (Japan, 1976)

Basinger RourkeI know it’s a bit of a contrived exercise to write a post about these controversial sex movies together but since I’ve just watched them back to back I thought a carnal compare and contrast exercise might prove revealing.

In 9½ Weeks, we don’t get to see what Monty Python always used to call “the naughty bits” save for a brief glimpse of Elisabeth’s (i.e. Kim Basinger’s) “heart-shaped ass”. Anyone viewing this movie for technical tips on the art of ‘lurve’ might be led to believe that the removal of designer clothing is not necessary to have penetrative sex. Continue reading →

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GET THE REAL CARTER

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April 2, 2012

GET CARTER directed by Mike Hodges (UK, 1971)
GET CARTER directed by Stephen Kay (USA, 2000)

“What did you say your name was again?”

In the bona fide classic original 1971 version of Get Carter, the nearest Jack Carter (Michael Caine) got to America was to stay in a seedy back street guest house called the Las Vegas.

He has returned to Newcastle to uncover the truth behind what happened to his brother who, according to implausible police reports, got drunk and drove his car into the river.

Carter has no fake nostalgia for his home town, What he calls a “craphole” is full of squalid back to back housing, sleazy pub entertainment and brash bingo halls. A day at the horse races is about as exotic as things get. Continue reading →

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ANIMAL FACTORY – REIGNING IN HELL

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December 22, 2011

Is there any point in a prison movie if no-one tries to escape?  Probably not; which is why the climax of Steve Buscemi’s Animal Factory has a rookie prisoner making a bid for freedom in the back of a garbage truck.

This action gives the movie some semblance of a plot but narrative drive is not really its purpose. It works instead as a kind of dramatised documentary to expose what  life in US  prisons is really like. It is not a pretty sight.

The authentic quality comes from the fact that it is based on ex-con Edward Bunker’s real-life experiences behind bars. It is set in San Quentin and effectively lays to rest any woolly liberal notion that rehabilitation figures anywhere on the agenda.

Bunker somehow managed to leave his criminal past behind him and re-build a life as an actor and writer; he became Mr Blue in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. He is surely an exception as it’s hard to see how most people would be able to live normally after enduring a punishing prison regime in which buggery and thuggery are the norm.

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ANGEL GOES TO HELL

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May 6, 2011

Rourke & De Niro – angel and the devil

Review of ‘Angel Heart’,  a film by Alan Parker (1987)

“I don’t like messy accounts” Louis Cyphre tells private detective Harry Angel, a man who knows all about messy.

Louis ( an extended cameo by Robert De Niro) is pristine and precise, Harry Angel is a walking health hazard. His suit is permanently crumpled, his shirts sweaty, he is constantly unshaven and his hair  is unkempt.

Angel is also played by Mickey Rourke back in his pre-boxing days so he manages to make all this look stylish and sexy.

Alan Parker is a filmmaker who likes a challenge and always says he wants to try something new with each movie. The book on which this movie is based – Falling Angel by Willian Hjortsberg – appealed to him through its combination of hard-boiled Chandleresque noir and  horror.

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