Last night, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up to enjoy some cool refreshing Chicago tap water and flip through Direct T.V.
And what was on? A movie that perfectly encapsulates my taste in movies and books. A movie that was modern and fascinating, and introspective, and focused on people and intrigue. A movie that was both normal and glam. A movie that was creative and sexy and violent and thoughtful.
A movie that probably nobody in the world has seen. But if you want to know what my ‘taste’ is…it is:
Croupier.
Fantastic. The story of a writer who becomes a dealer in a London casino to glean material for a novel.
Brilliantly written, acted, directed. I was sad to find it was over.
I just read Roger Ebert’s review, Jars, (three stars) and it does sound really good. I’m always on the lookout. “Sugar & Spice” was also recently recommended to me; it looks like smart comedy.
Not only did I see it - I saw it in a movie theater!
I gotta admit the main reason I went was because MIke Hodges directed it, and I love “Get Carter.” But the Ebert review Ellen talks about helped me along, too. I’m just glad we’ve got a theater in Atlanta that showed it. I’ll bet many cities served only by Multiplex, Inc. never got the chance.
I enjoyed Croupier. I guess I am kind of slow; the ending left me unsure of what had really happened. So I was glad that our local reviewer did a spoiler-filled opinion piece on it–I saved it to read after I had seen the movie.
Good flick. Desson Howe of the Washington Post mentioned this movie several times in his online chat, so I was eager to see it. Thanks to my 1 zillion movie channels, I was able to see it a few months ago. The lead actor was incredible.
I also saw this great movie in the theater - a little art house that also gave me Run Lola Run, Memento, and Sexy Beast, among others. It’s the only place that I will go and see whatever movie they show w/o knowing anything about it first.
In case you didn’t know already, the actor from Croupier - Clive Owen - is in all the BMW iFilms. If you’re bored, they’re worth checking out. Not great, not terrible.
Croupier was very good. It was that rare thing these days, a film made for adults instead of something for the teens to bop out to see and forget the minute it was over. I’ve been telling everyone I know about it, hoping to spread the message to get people to rent it.
I’ve never been a big fan of Get Carter, maybe I should try watching it again since it has been several years since I saw it. But I did see another film Mike Hodges did with Michael Caine called Pulp. It’s not perfect, but it’s just odd enough to be interesting. I actually think it would be a good candidate for a remake.