Smooth Criminal
Yesterday afternoon, David and I made our way out to the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood, CA to see the new Johnny Deep/Christian Bale period gangster movie Public Enemies … a movie I have been looking forward to seeing for months now. In short, I loved it thoroughly … while David was pretty lukewarm about it:
But, around these here parts, it’s my review that matters ;) In all honesty, I hate period piece movies. I rarely find that they are believable enough to keep my attention and interesting enough to entertain. Neither was the case for Public Enemies. The careful recreation of Depression-era Chicago was well done and the story was wholly fascinating. I admit, I did not know much about the life of John Dillinger other than he was a “rock star” bank robber who garnered fame from his slick ways and his good looks. Johnny Depp really brought the man to life for me and gave a great performance. I was also very impressed by his fellow gangsters played by Stephen Dorf (as Homer Van Meter), David Wenham (as Harry Pete Pierpont) and Jason Clarke (as John Red Hamilton). They were Dillinger’s boys … and they did a great job. It seems that Christian Bale is incapable of playing a character where he doesn’t do funny things with his voice but he was pretty good in this movie. His performance in Public Enemies is much better than the one he turned in for Terminator: Salvation. Marion Cotillard (as Dillinger’s girlfriend Billie Frechette) and Billy Crudup (as J. Edgar Hoover) also gave very strong performances. I was bummed that Channing Tatum’s appearance in the film as Pretty Boy Floyd was nothing more than a cameo. He still looked hot tho :) I loved this film a lot … I found it wholly interesting and entertaining. If it had one flaw, I’d say it feels like a long movie. Even still, I give it two thumbs up.
The rest of the night was spent at home, together. David and I had a great, quiet night at home. We’ve been invited to a couple of parties this weekend but, honestly, I dunno that we’re gonna make it out. It’s just too fun being lazy, I’m afraid. Happy 4th of July, y’all! Enjoy y’all’s independence.
Tags: 'Public Enemies'
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July 4th, 2009 at 11:33 am
who is Johnny Deep? lol :)
July 4th, 2009 at 11:59 am
trent! i love your movie reviews. i always trust your opinion.
July 4th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
While I love you Trent and I am also a huge fan of Johnny Depp, this movie sucked the big one. Definitely worth waiting to see on DVD.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
“Smooth Criminal” LOL-I see what you did there!
July 4th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I haven’t seen it yet but I want too. I <3 Johnny Depp boatloads more than Christian ‘Temper Tantrum’ Bale – who I still like but am turned away from a little bit after hearing stories (and that audio of him yelling at someone) of his ‘Diva-ness’ on Terminator. Johnny Depp, on the other hand – I swoon. :-D He’s such a class act. <3
July 4th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I have been a fan of Johnny since 21 Jump Street days…I have to say, this wasn’t one of my faves for him. However he did do a great job overall, and is so handsoe still.
One question- did anyone else get motion sickness while watching? BLEH.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I have not seen the movie yet, but can’t wait….for one I LOVE Johnny Depp and for two, much of it was filmed in my homestate Wisconsin. I didn’t get to see any of the filming but a few of my friends were lucky enough to watch some of the filming. And a friend of mine got to wait on Depp at a restaurant, he was super nice and left an AMAZING tip….
July 4th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
I liked this movie as well, but was anyone else really annoyed that they didn’t cover up Johnny Depp’s earring holes? Every time he had a close up thats all I could see… seriously took away from the character.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I have to say I was lukewarm about it too. The movie really failed to pull me into what was going on. There was never a suspension of disbelief while watching, and not a real connection with either Depp or Cotillard’s characters. C-.
July 5th, 2009 at 10:35 am
I didn’t care for this film either…it felt too long.
I noticed the shakiness too Lisa. I was like, “am I watching the Blair Witch Project?” And the score? That was annoying!!! All of these unnecessary swells to add to the “drama” that was going on…
I heart Marion Cotillard check her out in “Love Me If you Dare”
I love me some Christian Bale and do not care about his tantrum and love Johnny Depp although some of his movie choices leave me feeling a love/hate towards him at times.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:54 am
these pics of johnny remind me of desmond harrington in ghost ship…totally creeps me out
July 7th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
[...] Smooth Criminal (pinkisthenewblog.com) [...]
July 8th, 2009 at 10:52 am
This has to be in the top ten Worst films I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen alot of movies! It was by far the worst film of the year. Such a waste of Depp’s, Bale’s and Cotillard talent!!! :-(