Comments on: Short Take: In Bruges

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:29:25 +0000

Nick — Cool. I’m looking forward to seeing what you think.

Whitney — the trailer was weird, wasn’t it? I don’t know what they were thinking … perhaps to minimize the rather black humor of it all. I’m not sure such dark humor does well in the general shiny happy crowds that throng our theaters.

By: Whitney

Whitney — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:49:21 +0000

I remember seeing the trailer for this and thinking it looked awful. It seemed long and hokey. But then I talked with some friends of mine who had seen the and they thought it was awesome. Horrible marketing, I guess.

By: Nick Plowman

Nick Plowman — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:03:55 +0000

I have to review this one sometime, then I will read yours.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:28:34 +0000

Again, I think Scorsese was aiming to do just that: piss you off. Or to put it more generally, to mess with your head.

By: Fox

Fox — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:41:40 +0000

Good point about the Sheen swan dive. Also, the DiCaprio head getting blown off in the elevator kinda pissed me off. I remember feeling pretty angry towards Scorcese at that moment.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:52:56 +0000

Fox, I think you’re have a point. When Gleeson fell, I got a sinking feeling in my gut, a feeling that it was going to be really messy. I think that it didn’t need to be that way, with the sickening sound effect and the splashing blood.

Of course, it can be argued that it was exactly the effect McDonagh wanted us to have, which then brings up the question of why? What does it gain a filmmaker to do that, what does it add narratively to the story?

By the way, what it reminded me of was Martin Sheen’s similar swan dive in The Departed.

By: Fox

Fox — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:59:35 +0000

Rick-

I’m with you on the performances… all great, but what did you think of the ending, or, the final 20 minutes?

While I started cooling to the film overall after the first 30 minutes or so, the ending really pushed me away. Granted, I’m not too keen on pessimism these days, but it was more than that… maybe it was just the tonal shift as you mentioned.

When Gleeson takes that dive from the church tower it kinda made me ill.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:25:18 +0000

Pat, good to hear from you. Thanks for the comment!

Rachel — I don’t think it ever opened here in the wilds of Alabam either … although I did see the trailers for it in the theater. Kind of odd, don’t you think?

Let me know what you think of the flick.

Geez, Daniel, you’re right . . . it was nice hearing Farrell in his “native tongue.” By the way, I got the idea for “Short Takes” from your “In 300 words” pieces. I’m nothing if not a copycat!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:17:19 +0000

Great little teaser on this one, Rick. I’m with you through to the end – I found the finale a bid disappointing, too gift wrapped. I also liked hearing Farrell not try to be American.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:01:42 +0000

I know I’m way behind the crowd here, but I will finally get it in the mail today. Never made it to a theater near me, which was very annoying after seeing the trailer for it for 3 months.

Anyway, I have a positive feeling I will certainly enjoy it. I just get so jealous of reading everyone else’s reviews:(