Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.99

So this is a film about (WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!) a couple of low life criminals that (WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!) rob a poker game and get their come uppance. It´s also about (WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!) the guy going after the two low life (WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!) criminals that robbed the poker game. It's also about a guy with glasses (WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!) who screws hookers and drinks a lot and serves (WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!) no other purpose. It's also about another guy with glasses who (WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!) sits in a car most of the time.

Beautifully shot, sometimes funny, sometimes very violent film that keeps screaming in my face that it has a message instead of making that message relevant.

(WE'RE IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS!!)

brad sweetie honey baby you know i love you but if you could stop making movies about the economy i’d really appreciate it. they’re so boring and i’m so tired brad

those mobsters sure do listen to a lot of talk radio

"Why are you being so fucking strident?
"Strident?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Um, you should leave."

first time i saw this i was all, "lay off the horn, i get it with your neat little analogy." but on a rewatch that's quantitatively so little of the whole. instead, focus on the relentless momentum (both of words and actions), the efficient translation of Higgins' gangland socioeconomy, the ostentatious formal flourishes, and the idiosyncratic performances. yeah, smugly makes its themes thuddingly obvious, but compared to the current glut of AmerIndie crime thrillers this might even be another THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, quite the novel jewel. using the Velvet Undergound's "Heroin" over the scene of the guy shooting heroin is simultaneously an incredible and incredibly mistaken set of balls.

In spite of the central message not fully gelling with me, Killing Them Softly is a mesmerizing work of genius musical ques, powerhouse dialogue that flows like lava, and performances that are as subtle as they are deeply potent. It's a film that is the equivalent of a spider crawling around in your room at night. It moves slowly, but surely; focused on one goal as it crawls inevitably towards a knockout conclusion. This is one film that deserves to be called a 'gem'.

And the set-piece moments are absolutely nuts.

Vu au Gaumont Opéra.

Fun and awesome movie.Definitely a must watch.

came out exactly 4 years too early

It was a different kind of movie

Great direction, dialogue, and performances (especially from Scoot McNairy), with a simple story that is truly carried by interactions and relationships between characters.

People say the biggest flaw of this film is it’s “Obviousness” but to me it’s often part of its charm.

One of those few movies I've watched where it was nearly impossible to assign a proper rating to. It somehow managed to feel like every other gangster film I've seen while also feeling like no other gangster film I've ever watched.

The plot was interesting, engaging and occasionally intense, with some way to lengthy dialogue scenes and a message that was so hamfisted that you'll either find it annoying or intriguing.

The acting was pretty great, as were the interactions themselves, but i felt after a decent 30 minutes at the start the pace begins to wear down and the film doesn't really pick up again until the last 20 minutes or so.

It still appears to be one of the most polarising films out there and it'll be interesting to see how this movie is viewed 5-10 years from now.

Drawing a clever parallel between low-rent crime and the American economy, this movie is brilliantly conceived in its own right; the style and substance of the film have a very healthy symbiosis, which yields some of the grittiest and unflinching scenes you’ll find in a mob movie.