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Niffla



Registered: 06/09/08
Posts: 46,483
Loc: Texas
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Capone (New Tom Hardy film) 1
#26673095 - 05/15/20 05:08 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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No, this apparently is not your typical gangster film.
Which is a good thing, right? I love gangster films with all my heart, but we've all seen the formula over and over -- the rise of said gangster, said gangster at the top of the world, and then the inevitable fall. We've seen that before. A lot.
This new Capone film focuses only on the final year of Al Capone's life. When Capone (true story) had mentally descended into madness (thanks to late stage severe syphilis) and was barely even a shell of his former self.
Now let me preface this with the fact that the reviews have been largely negative (very negative actually ). It was described by one critic as a hybrid of The Joker, Black Mass and The Shining (lol). It has also been described as Stanley Kubrick-ian.
Some critics even said it was more horror film than gangster film, as Capone is mostly alone in his mansion, haunted by morbidly violent memories, vivid nightmares, and ghostly hallucinations.
That from a critic I read earlier:
https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2020/05/12/the-grotesque-ballad-of-alphonse-capone
Quote:
No, CAPONE will not be for everyone. In fact, CAPONE will not be for most people. But I suspect a certain subsection of film geekdom will love this movie. It's the same crew that went to bat for MOTHER! or THE COUNSELOR or THE NEON DEMON, films which challenge and provoke their audience and subvert expectations with a determined grin plastered across their faces. CAPONE has the feeling of a cult classic in the making, in other words, and in this context I offer that as a high compliment. Many of you will not enjoy it as much as I did, but those of you who do are going to be blown away.
And this from the director (Josh Trank):
Quote:
“We’re exploring the side of somebody’s life that is really uncomfortable,” he said. “This is not a wish fulfillment gangster movie. There’s no glorification of bootlegging and gangster enterprising. This is a film that, in a very ugly way, is deconstructing an iconic masculinity from the moment the movie starts and until it ends. Is it hard to watch? I don’t know. It’s not hard for me to watch. … It’s either, you get it and you’re in for this ride and you’re a part of it and you also embrace the fun, crazy schlock factor of it, which is incredibly intentional, or you don’t and it bothers you and annoys you. And I’m fine with that.”
Okay so let me recap with a TLDR.
TLDR: A Stanley Kubrick-ian movie about Al Capone, locked away for the final year of his life in a state of despair and complete trippy madness. And starring one of the most supremely gifted actors of this generation (IMO anyway...Tom Hardy).
I am a thousand percent in.
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HAIL OUR NEW OTD KING
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Niffla



Registered: 06/09/08
Posts: 46,483
Loc: Texas
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Re: Capone (New Tom Hardy film) [Re: Niffla] 1
#26673098 - 05/15/20 05:09 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Oh and here's the trailer btw. It's also already streaming for rent.
I'll watch it this weekend and check back with a review.
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Seriously_trippin
Cosmic Guru Ganesh



Registered: 07/12/13
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Re: Capone (New Tom Hardy film) [Re: Niffla]
#26673121 - 05/15/20 05:16 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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I'll have to find it somewhere that isn't 20 bucks
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Niffla



Registered: 06/09/08
Posts: 46,483
Loc: Texas
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Quote:
Seriously_trippin said: I'll have to find it somewhere that isn't 20 bucks
I'm going to rent it for like 6 bucks or whatever on Amazon. I'll probably watch it sometime on Saturday and I plan to be lit as fuck

I'm sure most wanted a traditional Al Capone biopic but I live for this weird, super surrealistic shit on TV & film. The fact that it's Al Capone makes it even that much better for me.
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Niffla



Registered: 06/09/08
Posts: 46,483
Loc: Texas
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Re: Capone (New Tom Hardy film) [Re: Niffla]
#26681739 - 05/19/20 07:35 PM (3 years, 8 months ago) |
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Just wanted to mention my Capone review (saw it this past weekend on a couple of blotters):
Completely bonkers. Most, especially those who go into it expecting a typical gangster film, will hate it.
As mentioned up above it has nothing to do with his rise to the top of the Chicago mob.
It picks up in his final days where he has completely lost his mind. It's basically Al Capone on acid. I mean it may as well be because most of the film he can't tell what's real and what's not. He sees ghostly visions. Has waking nightmares. At one point he ends up down in his cellar where he opens the door into an old 1920's ballroom and party (very reminiscent of the scene in The Shining where Nicholson's character finds himself at a full blown party in an empty hotel). He's haunted by a past snitch that he brutally killed. Has fleeting visions of children walking the halls of his mansion who aren't there. Who were they -- maybe Capone himself when he was a child? Or illegitimate children that he left behind (which is alluded to in the film). He has conversations with people that aren't there. Hell he even goes fishing with someone who you find out has been dead...for probably decades.
Oh and poor ole Al is so far gone that he can't even hold his body fluids in anymore, which the viewer gets to see on display multiple times.
Surely of all the Capone films ever made, this has to be (by far) the most bizarre vision of all.
It's a hell of a fun ride if you go into it in the right frame of mind. Like on acid. Or at the very least stoned. And do not expect a look into Al Capone at the peak of his powers. It's a journey into the head of a once powerful gangster who has descended into complete and terrifying madness.
There is a backstory besides just him having lost his mind, though. You see Capone may or may not have buried $10 million dollars somewhere at or near his property. Problem is, he doesn't remember where. But there are people around (like the feds and former associates) who are obviously very interested in finding out if he can remember.
Anyway if you're into the weird & bizarre, Al Capone at the end with full blown dementia and living in a nightmarish dreamscape that it is his mind, and you don't care about the actual story of him as a gangster, then I give it high marks. Really had a fun ride watching it.
But if you're wanting the story of Al Capone as a gangster, then it's a 1/10. Because you get none of that outside of some fleeting, haunting memories.
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HAIL OUR NEW OTD KING
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