★ 7 / 10
***Quirky black comedy/crime thriller about three hardcore thugs
Wuchak
***Quirky black comedy/crime thriller about three hardcore thugs in Cleveland*** Directed by the renowned Paul Schrader, this stars Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe…
***Quirky black comedy/crime thriller about three hardcore thugs in Cleveland***
Directed by the renowned Paul Schrader, this stars Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe & Christopher Matthew Cook as the friends who are in-and-out of prison and get gigs from mafiosos, including one that smacks of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
Schrader's films are often preoccupied with Christian religion and sexual obsession (porn, strip joints, prostitution, nudity, etc.), as verified by "Hardcore,” "Cat People" (1982) and "Auto Focus.” You can expect the same with "Dog Eat Dog" except that it mixes dark amusement with its urban drama, sleaze and crime thrills.
The movie's brutal, funny, ugly and quirky, but with a spiritual thread underneath it all. The three protagonists aren’t people you’d want to know and yet the film fleshes them out as human beings. For instance, Mad Dog (Dafoe) does something horrible, even unforgiveable, right out of the gate, but an hour later there’s an effective sequence that reveals how the crime has impacted him. He may be a rash overemotional fool with low-impulse control, but he’s not coldhearted.
Comparable movies include crime drama/thrillers from the ’90s like "Pulp Fiction,” "Mojave Moon" and "The Way of the Gun.” It's not on the level of "Pulp," but it's more entertaining than the other two. With Schrader, there’s more to the movie than meets the eye. Then again, it may be wannabe hip/edgy tripe, which is evidently how it struck most viewers (in light of its bad reputation). You make the call.
It runs 1h 33m and was shot Oct-Nov in Northeast Ohio, specifically Cleveland & Sheffield Lake, as well as Tampa, Florida for the restaurant scenes, street scenes and night skyline. Edward Bunker wrote the script based on the novel by Matthew Wilder.
GRADE: B/B-
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★ 6 / 10
RELEASED IN 2016 and directed by Paul Schrader
Wuchak
RELEASED IN 2016 and directed by Paul Schrader, “Dog Eat Dog” chronicles events in the greater Cleveland area when a trio of loser ex-cons (Nicolas Cage…
RELEASED IN 2016 and directed by Paul Schrader, “Dog Eat Dog” chronicles events in the greater Cleveland area when a trio of loser ex-cons (Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe & Christopher Matthew Cook) is employed by a Mafioso to abduct the infant of a rival gangster.
Schrader’s films are often preoccupied with Christian religion and sexual obsession (porn, strip joints, prostitution, nudity, etc.), as verified by “Hardcore” (1979), “Cat People” (1982) and “Auto Focus” (2002). You can expect the same with “Dog Eat Dog” except that it mixes black amusement with its urban drama, sleaze and crime thrills.
The movie’s brutal, funny, ugly and quirky, but with a spiritual thread underneath it all. Think 90’s crime drama/thrillers like “Pulp Fiction” (1994), “Mojave Moon” (1996) and “The Way of the Gun” (2000). It’s not on the level of “Pulp,” but it’s more entertaining than the other two. Knowing Schrader, I suspect there’s more in the movie than meets the eye and I may up my rating with repeat viewings. Then again, it may be wannabe hip/edgy tripe. You make the call.
THE FILM RUNS 1 hour & 33 minutes and was shot in Northeast Ohio (Cleveland & Sheffield Lake) and Tampa, Florida (Restaurant & street scenes and night skyline). WRITERS: Edward Bunker wrote the script based on the novel by Matthew Wilder.
GRADE: B-
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★ 5 / 10
_Dog Eat Dog_ ain't too trash, but it
Gimly
_Dog Eat Dog_ ain't too trash, but it is pretty hard to believe that this came from the same dude who made _First Reformed_. There is absolutely not so much as…
_Dog Eat Dog_ ain't too trash, but it is pretty hard to believe that this came from the same dude who made _First Reformed_.
There is absolutely not so much as a single character in this that the audience can be expected to like, and though of course no filmmaker is obligated to make enjoyable characters, it is pretty tough to slog through a >90min runtime of back-to-back bastards.
_Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._
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This movie is GREAT! Don't get the reviews, like come on! 9 out of 10