In French also, we say that revenge is "a dish best served cold". I'm amused to see that my playlist this week is largely composed of female vocalists so somewhere I'm tacitly on their side, identifying with their desire for revenge. I've tried to balance the list out with Ghostface's 'Back Like That' which, despite being astonishing in its wrong thinking as to how relationships should work out [HE sleeps around, SHE finds someone else, HE is not happy that she's turning up with that someone else and threatens to tear her finger off with his ring on it] features a smooth philly-style vibe and vocals from Ne-Yo. I've given the girls the last word, though, with Chrissie Hynde visiting her friend in hospital "bandaged from foot to head", a victim of absolute and unexpected revenge.
Just a very quick, High Fidelity-style, top 5 of best films on revenge ("Can you see your name in that list, Laura"???)
- The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover - Peter Greenaway. I always have a desire to stand up and applaud at the end of this film. The final scene is so shattering, so perfect. Greenaway based the concept and structure on the Jacobean Revenge Tragedy in which the revenge had to be total and preferable very very poetic, as in this case. Apologies for them speaking Italian but the images carry the message.
- Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino. For me his best film. A member of the international viper squad band of elite hired assassins tries to "go civilian" and start a normal life. The others turn up on her wedding day and wreak total carnage on her and her wedding guests. "The Bride" survives the massacre to hunt them all down. One by one. Based on a graphic novel and mixing different genres of film-making, this is vintage Tarantino. And I still love Uma's yellow suit.
- Old Boy by Park Chan-Wook A South Korean take on The Count of Monte Christo. And part of a whole new wave of South Korean films based on the theme of revenge. Tarantino was President of the jury in Cannes the year this was presented. It blew him away apparently and blew me away too. O Dai Su is abducted and imprisoned for 15 years in a hotel room and his family murdered without explanation. Just who is getting revenge and for what? This fight scene caused a massive and spontaneous round of applause from the hard to please Cannes audience. Virtuoso stuff.
- Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. What saves Amélie from being a sickening goody two shoes is that she has the avenging angel in her soul, coupled with an alarming degree of creativity and imagination. When her local épicier laughs at her and is cruel to his assistant, Lucien, she exacts a meticulously planned revenge...
- Usual Suspects by Bryan Singer. [Don't watch if you haven't seen the movie]. Keyser Söze, Hungarian mafia supremo and criminal extraordinaire, exacts bloody revenge on those who seek cross him. Right. Under. Their. Noses...
77 comments:
How about The Sting?
To my great regret, I can't keep up with the world of film any more (and have to confess that I've never even seen Pulp Fiction the whole way through, let alone anything more recent). I did get taken to see The Queen as a birthday treat, but that's basically been *it* for the last 10 years or more - apart from the Harry Potter monstrosities, which I HATED (but which seemed to tick all the boxes for both Mr. & Miss debbyjr)
I'm not much cop on the Art front, either, but the one on the left has got to be Dali and I think is a re-working of a portrait of his sister after a falling out. I had many a falling out witn my Little Sis in my time, but we never got as far as brandishing paintbrushes...
(Will be posting this as Anon, can't get my account to work)
debbym
P.S. Any modern linguists out there with the faintest idea what the English equivalent of HEILERZIEHER or HEILERZIEHUNG could be? Very grateful for any suggestions!
Morgan Debbie! Spot on with Dali! Nice one. He fell out with his sister and so painted that very unflattering picture of her. Ouch!
Donds for The Sting with Robert Redford looking more beautiful than ever. And as to your question, would that be an alternative therapist trainer and alternative therapy training? Would that fit? Schönen Samstag noch! FP
Or even just therapist without the alternative? What field are you taking about?
Ma chére puce francaise,
Thank you for your thoughts. In a moment of madness, I agreed to do a translation for the local Fachschule, where they train a) HeilerzieherInnen and b) sozialpädagogische AssistentInnen (apologies to all non-Germanspeakers chancing upon this: they may be a lot of letters, but they WON'T hurt you!)
My daughter is mentally handicapped, so I have a vague idea of what the various carers do, but my panic at not having exact English equivalents for these professions is getting me nowhere fast. They have more to do with social education than alternative therapies, though.
P.S. More of a Paul Newman girl myself!
debbym
Aaaahh Paul Newman. Now there's a man who makes GREAT salad dressing tee hee. Agree with Carer in the context. Quite right. And socio-pedagogical assistant would be correct, if rather heavy. Give the wee' un a big cuddle from me.
FP: Agreed on 'Bill' parts 1&2, debbym get thee to a video rental! Also Usual Suspects, both on my favorites list. Suspects was filmed in large part very close to where I lived in S.Cal, San Pedro.
When I was a film student at UCLA in the '60s I had a very good friend there, David Ward, we'd hang out together a lot. He, like most of us, always carried a notebook with his 'screenplay' in it, he didn't like to talk about it. Immediately after we graduated I saw in the trade papers that he'd made a deal with Paul Newman , the resultant film was 'The Sting', a student film project!
ps; That picture at the top right of the front page of the G, that's exactly what the coast of Sonoma county looks like.
Film-wise I'd add Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, and Takeshi Kitano's Sonatine.
Debbym, just googled out of curiosity, and found this description:
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/other/19439-heilerziehungspfleger.html
Given the pretty shonky quality of a lot of english you see here, especially in public spaces, trains, etc, I wouldn't be too hung up about getting it 100% right- communicating the sense of the text is probably more important.
hey FP were the paintings both censored?
I know Masaccios 'expulsion' had fig leaves painted over.. not sure 'bout Dali.
GF: Very cool insider storyline there. Who'd a thunkit as Darce would say....
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Nilpferd - two steller movie suggestions there. And have you copyrighted that word shonky or can I use it too? Love it!!!
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Shane - no idea - she could do with a fig leaf between her posterior and that humongous dildo-like object. You want to yell - "IT'S BEHIND YOU!!!" at that picture. You got the expulsion from the garden of Eden spot on. Adam and Eve suffering divine wrath because she took a bite of the apple. My favourite writer Saki did a draft of a very funny short story imagining what would happen if Eve DIDN'T bite the apple and was too well-behaved to do so. You get Saint Michael blustering up to her and telling her about "painters in the future who will work very hard on depicting this".
hmm, am no good on the paintings, but one of the classic revenge films is Point Blank, with Lee Marvin double crossed by his partner at the start and then remorselessly destroying every obstacle in his way to taking revenge.
FP- why not? after you nicked my avatar, go ahead! ;-)
I think a uni friend coined shonky, for anything well-meaning but essentially crappy and totally inadequate.
How about 'And Justice For All'? One of Al Pacino's greatest performance, and, not wanting to spoil the ending for those unfortunates who have never seen it, surely the greatest 'YES!' moment in film history.
Donds to The Sting - watched it with the LittleMissToffees a few months ago - all part of their cultural entertainment and an attempt to wean them off Big Brother...
and talking of The Sting - a large chunk of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is about Mr EH Harriman pursuing our (anti)heroes in revenge for their robbing his train twice.
I'm in the Redford camp btw.
@FP - love the music, of course, but the film list is basically unimpeachable. That is one hell of a good (and varied...) evening right there.
I can't think of any more revenge ones right now (except Memento, but its a twisted form of revenge), but I'll offer one heck of a literary one:
The Marabou Stork Nightmares, by Irvine Welsh. Anyone read it? Anyone know why I'm not mentioning the ending right here?...
Just back from the cinema - thanks for your posts! Thanks Nilpferd - owe you one! Toffee - don't know that one but Pacino is IN. Cheers El Derino - duly noted. And donds for Butch Cassidy TFD!
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Just back from the cinema. If you have kids and even if you haven't.. GO AND SEE WALL-E. It's utterly stunning and the most beautiful animation I've seen in many years. The GU film journos raved about it and quite right too
Cheers Snadfrod. I've heard a lot about Memento and have it on the 'to see' list. Glad you enjoyed the playlist!! FP
Donds for Wall-E!!
Don't forget to recycle.
Double donds to Wall-e--one of the few movies scarier for adults than children, because we know it could happen! (Have you SEEN Staten Island?) We were on a road trip somewhere and passed a place where there was drive-through dunkin donuts next to a drive-though bank. It's only a matter of time...
I'm drawing a blank on revenge movies, but has anyone seen Dead Man's Shoes? I like Shane Meadows, but it looks like that movie might be too much for me. THere is somet film, in the back of my mind, with a violent revenge that you almost feel glad for, even though part of you says "no, violence is never the answer!" what could it be?
In City of God, I think Seu Jorge's whole character transformation starts with an act of revenge. But that's not the one I was t hinking of.
"Once Upon A Time In The West" would be my addition to the list. Can you get Deezer to play movies?
Hi FP ... are you waiting to be told to " bugger off"?
Oooh this is like 'Round Britain Quiz' Heheh ...
As for cinematic vengeance Clint's Unforgiven was the first that sprang to mind ... Nilpferd obviously hippo to the same groove ...
http://votetruth08.com/
My favourite film ever - as I write ;-) - is les Enfants Du Paradis - don't ever watch it on television, make the effort and get to the cinema. A complicated web of desire and misogony resulting in Lacenaire's vengeful knife crime.
By the way ...
Where is Wall-e ?
Well, nowhere in the US, Tatanka, cos he's called Waldo there!
@ tfd ... I had a weekend in Broadstairs, Kent (UK) earlier in the year. A regular pilgrimage for the fabulous Morelli's ice cream parlour.
http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/places/united-kingdom/broadstairs/index.jsp
Looking down on the beach from the high level promenade was the first time I've ever felt like I was in a Where's Wally book, a fabulous mass of humanity having fun in the sun ... before the British summer kicked in, obviously ;-)
The German prequel; if we'd looked after Wald-0 then Wall-E might not have been needed.
mmm...ice cream...Have you ever been to Criccieth, TY? because there, the stuff to get is Cadwallader's. They don't open the shop till the ice cream is ready, by which time there's a queue right down the street. And when they run out, they just close the shop again. But the beach isn't usually crowded enough to get a Wally moment.
@ tfd ,,, and there was me thinking that the only things that came out of Criccieth yonder, were ...
'All sorts of queer things,
Things never seen or heard or written about,
Very strange, un-Welsh, utterly peculiar' ...
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/55.html
If you ever travel London to Birmingham ... take the Chiltern Rail line from Marylebone to Moor Street, 'cos there's a third branch of Morreli's two minute's walk away in Selfridges ... the other one's in Harrods ... but Broadstairs is the best ... and the train fare is a lot cheaper, the countryside much prettier en route, the carriages less busy ... and the extra 40 minutes journey time really give you an appetite .. :0
Morning my friends. Steenbeck - spot on. There were lots of children in the cinema last night and I couldn't help but wonder what they were getting out of the film. Did you take your boys to see it? Did they understand the deeper message? A truly horrifying film in that sense. Xan Brooks called it 'the bleakest piece of animation he has ever seen'. But I loved the 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest' group of maverick defective robots who get the hell out of the 'hospital' as soon as they can. I loved everything in fact. Think I might have to see it again....
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Hi Shoey - deezer doesn't play movies but I'm chuffed to see that they have clearly linked up with youtube. When you look for a song now, you get the deezer music version but there's also a 'video' tab if you want to see the vid - which plays within the deezer site. Good, eh?
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Tatanka - well bugger me! Ha Ha. Could be the alternative title of that painting...CRICCIETH!!! Oh my God. Great childhood holiday there. It rained every day and I got my name on the tank shoot out video game (white lines on black screen) in the amusement arcade out of sheer practice. I still count that among my greatest achievements so far. And sure I've had some of that blessed ice cream. Happy Days.
Off to see the new Wong Kar Wei later so shall report anon.
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Nilpferd - looks like we're getting better weather today than yesterday.....
FP you missed out Point Blank, surely the greatest, tautest revenge movie made. It was all about the principle, and Lee Marvin got angry when he was offered *too much* money.
Kill Bill is rubbish, it's not even a movie. The whole thing is Tarantino thinking 'wouldn't it be cool'. Anything he thought would be cool got shoehorned in. Bruce Lee jumpsuit? check. 'Pussy Wagon' - check? Sonny Chiba? check. pure self-indulgent crap.
@ lukethedrifter - if you think something that someone's suggested here is 'rubbish' please either keep your opinion to yourself or make it clear that you're fully aware that it is simply an opinion and nothing more. We expect better manners around here...
@ fp - fantastic list by the way - how did I not know The Wedding List? Kate Bush is one of the few artists from that era that grow on me the more I hear...
Cheers Toffee! Over on the mother ship Scudder kindly posted a link to an utterly barking video for the song. She's marvellous, if eccentric.
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@ Luke: I know that many people who know a bit about cinema revile Tarantino as being derivative, unoriginal and....crap. I love him because he's the über-geek. He's abnormally bright and learned how to make films just by watching them when he worked in a video rental store. And your analysis of "wouldn't it be cool if" is spot on. That's EXACTLY how he makes movies. It's like the brightest kid in the class opening the forbidden toy chest and going "Ohhhh! Look what I can do with THIS!!!" It's that sense of the whole thing being an enormous plaything that I love. Cinema is entertainment after all. And he's the one film maker I know who can make me cry and laugh a second later. The moment when The Bride feels her empty stomach on waking up from the coma and realises she's lost her baby is gut-wrenching and yet you chuckle 2 seconds later (or earlier?) when she taps the metal plate in her skull - clunk! clunk! I have seen him present films at Cannes - been in the room with him. It really is a BIG DEAL for him. You can see he's wound up and hoping that it will come good, while thoroughly enjoying the party atmosphere of the whole thing. We all had a great night when he presented 'Death Proof'. But it's personal choice, I know. one man's meat etc.
FP: Re. Tarantino, totally agree, he's in the same league as Scorcese in his knowledge and understanding of film history, he's totally self taught and he's probably the most creative director out there. It's so easy to present a simplistic critical appraisal of his films which is usually based on 'all that violence etc' without appreciating the genius that he brings to the process. I took my 60 year old sister to see Pulp Fiction after seeing it myself twice, "What a load of rubbish that was, and that awful language!" was her response when we came out; so we talked about it for a couple of hours and she started to waver, I suggested we go back the next day and see it again. We did and she became a total Tarantino fan.
The last time I was in UK we watched 'Bill part one' on the telly together and she was long past her 'distaste for violence' phase, she appreciated it for the creative work it is. Plus Uma was great!
Couldn't have said it better myself, GF. I took my Mam to see Pulp fiction and she insisted that.. we had to go and see it again....
I like Tarantino too...including Kill Bill and Deathproof, which I saw in the proper way, in the Grindhouse double bill. Terrific stuff.
TY, it's a bit far for me to go to Broadstairs these days, but here in Kirkcudbright we have Cream o'Galloway ice cream just down the road - you can go and watch them making it, then eat as much as you can!
If I eat an ice cream when I go to the cinema, I hope you
all feel responsible.
Top five ice cream parlours
- Franchi in Strasbourg
- The Café Beeg just opposite the thermal baths in Baden Baden. Their Schwarzwaldbecher is to die for
- Mr something or others opposite the Kings Theatre in Edinburgh. Needing help on that one
- A 99 from the rendez-vous cafe in Whitley Bay
- Any real Cornish ice cream maker in Cornwall. St. Ives is a good bet.
I swear I get listy-er as the years go on. Must stop watching High Fidelity.
I did my O and A levels at the tech college in Broadstairs..
Lunch was in the smugglers pub half way up the cliff (now a Aussie theme pub) they left musical instruments in 'Our' corner and ignored the fact we were 16.
Then a fuzzy pitch and putt..
and yes Morelli's ice cream parlour at least three time a week, ever day for nearly two years.. it must be brain food as it's the only place I've ever passed any exams.
Ack, another Tarantino debate. I'm staying out of this one!!
Yes, we took the boys to Wall-e. I don't think they picked up too much on the very real danger...it was so fantastical. They seemed to really respond to the friendship between Wall-e and Eve. One of my favorite aspects of the movie was that for most of the first part there was very little action and NO dialogue. That's a huge gamble for an animated film--people tend to think that if there isn't constant frenetic noise and action, the kids will tune out, and, in fact, I think the opposite is true.
Ice cream in Edinburgh? It has to Luca's of Musselburgh:
http://www.s-luca.co.uk/
or Di Rollo's, also of Musselburgh.
Just the names bring me back to my childhood...
Great playlist, FP. I love These Boots, of course, and the Eurythmics' sound is so evocative for me. I also liked the Diana King and the Cake, though I'm not sure I'm understanding the lyrics of that particular song. As for Bob Marley--he's really a can-do-no-wrong artist for me, but there's something about that song...I think maybe CLapton ruined it for me. Does anyone else have songs like that? Covers so bad they ruin the original?
I want to play fuzzy pitch n' put in Broadstairs!!
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Cheers Steenbeck - that kind of confirms what I suspected that children would get out of the film. And all the critics seems to say that the first third of the film was the most successful. Glad you liked the music!
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Toffee - you're the expert but I'm still not finding the name of the ice cream parlour opposite the Kings Theatre. It was Charlies something or other. Great ice cream.
@fp -it's not there anymore, i'm afraid.....
Oh no! I'm in Edinburgh on Wednesday, and I was going to look for it.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! We used to take the actors we liked there when I jobbed on for the Festival. We took a couple of very nice actors from the Schillertheater - one was called Robert Tillian I remember and they thought the place was cool!
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On the revenge front I thought I was going to see a NEW Wong Kar Wei film. But no. It was a re-release of The Ashes of Time. Glorious and all about revenge!! Just coming in at number 6 in the list therefore. If you like WKW then I very much recommend it. Just occurred to me that Park Chan-Wook did a film with 'Lady Vengeance' in the title which I shall watch this week. Hope you all have a successful and happy week.
As this thread was going all filmic and literary I thought I'd throw out a couple of 'revenge' books I read many moons ago and have lodged in my head.(Far more so than any Shakespeare/Jacobean classics I'm sorry to say)
Feet and other Stories by Jan Mark. Here's the blurb to jog memories.
"Nobody looks at feet. But after being spurned by the school's tennis hero, Jane does look at feet, and makes a surprising discovery."
The Stone Arrow - Richard Herley "Tagart, last survivor of a nomadic tribe living in the south of England in neolithic times, whose family and friends have been wiped out by the local farmers. Tagart, with nothing else to live for, decides it is his duty to destroy the village"
Anyone else read these?
PS. fp, didn't realise your German was top notch too. Rumour has it you've mastered Geordie. Now that's astounding.
Ice Cream in Edinburgh? I was more of a baked potato man. My main memories of ice cream vans in Niddrie and Wester Hailes in the early 80s would make your hair currrrrl.
It was Mr Boni's fp! It was great, though I'd have to dond toffeeboy's mention of Luca's as the best ice cream in Edinburgh (or just outside it).
The WKW film sounds good - might have to add that to my sofacinema list.
Eyup, lukethedrifter's been in the house. Long time no see, fella.
@ ToffeeBoy: from memory Tarantino is a bit of a bête noire with LTD, and he certainly isn't otherwise an abusive kinda bloke ...
In fact I've been missing his grunge/troubadour support over on RR, but if he's still in Africa and hasn't managed to find an internet upgrade, then after this week's GU u*grades, I'm STILL going to be missing his input!!
And talking of being slow on the film uptake, I'm with DebbyM ... apart from taking the girls twice, the last film I went to the cinema to see was The Truman Show !!!
I've actually missed Everton's struggle past Stoke on MotD2 tonight because I've FINALLY seen Daniel Craig's Bond after a friend lent me Casino Royale (and even then I've had the disc for two months before getting round to it).
Hmmm, jury's still out ... no problem with DC; the action was a bit up&down (spectacularly good Aston crash and fight scenes - not so good shoot'em ups), but the script was a bit ropey and the plot had more holes in it than those Venetian flotation balloons.
But then what do I know?
After a rave review by a knowledgable friend we we went to see 'Dark Knight'.
About 10 minutes in Gina Leaned over and said "Do you want to leave" which is what I was wanting to ask her, We split and asked for our money back. Forget it, don't waste your money ...
Last film I actually saw at the cinema - we don't get out much, for some reason - was Francois Ozon's 8 Femmes. Good for this theme, in fact, since it's got a bit of revenge and a lot of simmering resentment, but notable above all for having eight famous French actresses, some of them exceedingly decorative - Emmanuelle Beart in maid's outfit, anyone? - trying to act one another off the stage with occasional catfights *and* each one gets a musical number. Wonderful. Much better than all that noisy Hollywood stuff.
Hi peeps. It's gone all COOOOOOOLD. 12° here today. Brrrrrrrr!!!! Thanks for those book tips, Proudfoot. A baked potato fetched from Wester Hailes and consumed on the Meadows sounds good to me today. And Geordie is my mother tongue, like, pet. Mr Boni's THAT'S IT!!! Cheers El Derino. Name from my past. Darce, Daniel Craig in a speedo is to me what Emmanuelle Beart in a maid's outfit is to you lot. "It's beyond my control". My critical faculties just mist over. GF: I loved The Dark Knight but I love the whole batman thing so I was going to love it anyway...Abahachi - Ozon is very talented. Did you see 'Swimming Pool'? Marvellous...
Number 1 is Old Boy for me, because as he's out for revenge to find the one who imprisoned him, revenge is being acted on him. And what a horribly cruel and sickening revenge! Perfectly describes this post's title for me.
I'm in the pro-Tarantino camp, for the exact reasons FP stated. Yes it is "wouldn't it be cool if", and it ends up being cool indeed. I don't know if I'd call him a genius but hes definitely brilliant at what he does. Pulp Fiction was my favourite film for along time, simply because , as an early teenager, I'd never seen anything like it. I wouldn't enjoy an all-QT diet, but he's part of my Recommended Yearly Intake.
For The Dark Knight, I had the same issues as Batman Begins (although I was grateful for no Katie Holmes). I just can't stand that voice he uses when he's the Batman, and there was a bit too much low level philosophising, but that's expected in a lot of Hollywood films. BUT, the Joker is amazing and scary as shit. He saved the film as far as I'm concerned. Give it another go GF and see how the Joker heroically works so hard at giving us chaos.
@ tfd ... there's a branch Of Luca's on Morningside Road (no 16) if you are on that side of town on Wednesday and just down the road in Bruntsfield Place is the fantastic Falko, the fabulous German Konditormeister
http://www.falko.co.uk
@ fp so were you thinking of a specific link between the two paintings or was it just the general theme of revenge, God's on Adam & Eve & Dali's on his sister?
Ejay: It's the 'low level' philosophising that drove me out, plus the very high level noise of explosions, guns, traffic etc, I realised at about the 10 minute point that I hadn't understood a single line of dialogue.
I do love Tarantino, as I just adore Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown is a very beautiful film. The suit that she buys in the mall is one of my most coveted outfits in film. However, I don't like Tarantino so much when he's being insincere, and I found Kill Bill deeply unsatisfying because of it. I don't much like Mia in Pulp Fiction, though almost everything else I do like. The whole "I'm driving, but we all know I'm not really driving, so here's a fake background" thing annoyed me verily. I've avoided Deathproof just in case, I really don't want him to disappoint me again.
Dark Knight, now that I loved. You can keep the philosophising, the performances were very good and the whole chase sequence where there's NO MUSIC AT ALL felt amazingly daring to me. The Joker absolutely made it for me too. Gary Oldman's looking old, inne?
You know I didn't even notice there was no music in that chase scene. That's how gripped I was. And poor Heath Ledger was amazing. He lifted the film with every scene he was in. But I do have a sneaking liking for Christian Bale and I was blown away by Aaron Eckhardt who is usually the golden boy, period. In short, I admired it immensely.
Tatanka: I know that German Konditorei in Bruntsfield place so very well. You kidded yourself it would make your German more fluent if you had a cake there...
@ darce
I'm not having a good night on the PC - another message of mine has just disappeared into the ether - I may have to exact some sort revenge.
Anyway, regarding lukethedrifter - I thought I'd seen the name and of course any friend of yours...
But it still annoys me when people say that something they happen not to like is crap or rubbish as if their opinion is somehow superior to that of the original poster. Sorry, it just bugs me and it's not in keeping with the spirit of RR.
A-men to ALL of that last comment, TB!
;o)
Tracy: Your comment re. 'no music at all', I didn't see that scene but in California there's a law that theaters must provide wireless headphones for the hard of hearing, I'm not h-o-h but I always request them because the audio is much clearer. In Dark Knight on the headphones there was constant music that was played very low, I checked and couldn't hear it on the monitors.
Total agreement re. Jackie Brown.
On the suject of icecream, there is no finer in the world than Jelberts by Newlyn Bridge in Cornwall, especially when served with a huge dollop of their clotted cream on top, both home-made.
Still on the subject of Cornwall, would "The Straw Dogs" count as a revenge film? Hate it myself but I know it's been admired by others.
I'm definitely in the Redford/Craig camp. Always had a weakness for a well-muscled blond (married a Swede, didn't I, and he was a dead ringer for Redford in "The Way We Were").
Can't believe it's taken this long for me to think of this but as this remarkable thread has somehow brought us the twin themes of revenge films and ice cream I can neatly bring them back together again by recommending Bill Forsyth's film about the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars, Comfort And Joy.
Not quite up the standards of Forsyth's other 80s classics, Gregory's Girl (Clare Grogan anyone?) and Local Hero but packed with turf wars and all sorts of revenge.
Do you want a flake with that?
The Hive on the Quay at Aberaeron in mid-Wales serves some wonderful honey ice cream. Even better is our home-made chocolate and chilli ice cream - but the weather's been so miserable this year that we haven't actually made any...
toffee you're spot on about Comfort and Joy. It's dead good and unfairly neglected. Clare Grogan looked pretty foxy in it too I recollect.
65 comments, FP--Good post.
I finally saw Be Kind Rewind, and I loved it! It's like they were consulting a list of things I like about movies and proceeding accordingly. My only criticism is that at the end they started explaining more than they needed to and it got a little heavy-handed. Other than that, though--brilliant.
Utter respect for keeping the ball in the air, guys!! Donds for Mnemonic's Swedish hubby. You look a bit Swedish yourself, if I may say so. It's a compliment! Toffee, I loved Comfort and Joy - that's a great trilogy he came up with. Abahachi - I feel a chill coming on and need a large portion of your choc n' chili ice cream. Steenbeck - thrilled you saw the film. Isn't it great? I know you're a Mos Def fan so you must've enjoyed his acting. Jack Black was...Jack Black as always. Great movie.
toffeeboy said
>do you want a flake with that?<
Aye, in a poky hat wi' a squirt o' tally's blood. :)
From the van outside the Kelvingrove Museum Of Transport
http://travelandmixpix.fpic.co.uk/p38464562.html
Or The University Cafe on Byres Road ... following a plate of mince ... and prior to Van Der Graaf Generator at the ABC on Sauchiehall Street
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3222/2304290051_b882dbb703.jpg?v=0
FP, funnily enough I just saw Oldboy for the first time last night. Virtuoso stuff? Yeah I'd go along with that. It involves you enough so that the preposterousness of the plot doesn't get in the way (imagine a Hollywood re-make - oh wait, tell me there hasn't been one… and if there has, let it not have Nicolas Cage in it…).
I think my top 5 revenge films list would find a place for Manon Des Sources.
As for Tarantino, Jackie Brown's my favourite.
tatanka yotanka said:
"Aye, in a poky hat wi' a squirt o' tally's blood"
I am sorry, I am from Edinburgh and do not understand your coarse Glasgow vulgarities. ;-))
Lovin' the Scots ice cream wars...! Mr DNA I did remember reading somewhere about US remake but don't quote me on it... It WOULD be the kind of film Nicholas Cage would do, wouldn't it? Be afraid....
Although I loved him in Wild at Heart
No ice cream for me today...didn't have as much time for exploring as I'd thought. The meeting I was at was hosted by Health Scotland so it was fruit and cheese for pud - no ice cream there. (Nice though)
Re Nicolas Cage - Raising Arizona is one of my favourites.
Treefrog: If you love NC, I have pictures of him aged about 8 when we called him Nicky.
Wow, Abahachi, I was considering putting a word forward for Aberaeron's legendary honey ice-cream, very fond memories of sitting on the quayside with my girly uni chums on our reunion weekends admiring the ice-cream pastel houses along the hillsides! Another goody in Wales is Joe's in Swansea, though my own fave remains Don gelato on the Pier in Aberystwyth, where we'd often wander after the usual below-par hall meal. There's a very good parlour on the Bailgate here in Lincoln, shoudl you ever want to visit the cathedral, it's opposite the White Hart hotel and I can highly recommend the honeycomb or rhubarb!
gf: oh yes, I remember you saying you knew him...no, don't love him especially, but DO love Wild At Heart and Raising Arizona.
John Dahl's The Last Seduction is by far the best revenge movie I've ever seen. Linda Fiorentina is an absolutely perfect b*tch, exacting revenge on her fella for a relatively minor offence. She also uses and removes a couple of other male obstacles along the way.
The best dark humour there is.
(I am now numberless.)
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