“The Sweeney” is one of those series that hasn’t lost any of its flavor or edge, even though it’s racked up the years and suffered the slight scorn of obscurity. Though many will insist series like “NYPD Blue” and “The Streets of San Francisco” were the more hard edge police series, “The Sweeney” is also a valuable contender for this list. Soon to be remade with the great Ray Winstone, “The Sweeney” is one of the rare police series to feature older men in the role of our two heroic cops that find themselves wrapped in intrigue and street toughs in the investigation of a vicious criminal.
Tag Archives: Foreign
Three…Extremes (Saam gaang yi) (2004)
I can’t tell you how long it’s been since we’ve had a great anthology horror film. It’s been a while, because I really can’t remember the last great anthology film we were given in theaters or home video, but “Three… Extremes” is a surefire breath of fresh air for the horror genre, and one that thankfully did not go unappreciated. I’ve waited a long time to finally see this film, and apparently the wait was utterly worth it, in the end. Take three excellent Asian directors, and let them go hog wild on-screen with rarely a step back into discretion. Fuck “Masters of Horror,” these three directors take you to school. In these three incredibly directed tales, we’re taken through the ringer of the three extremes of humanity.
The Warrior (2001)
It’s a shame that not many people are even aware of this film, because what “The Warrior” offers audiences is much more entertaining, meaningful, and engrossing than most modern thrillers can muster. “The Warrior” is the journey of a man through a life of violence, and his realization that what he does has horrible consequences that comes too little too late. I enjoyed this film, and I wish more people could experience what it offers. But sadly, even with Anthony Minghella presenting the film, “The Warrior” has remained an obscure suspense thriller that’s soaked in a sense of dread and horror that many thrillers can’t mimic.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Boksuneun naui geot) (2002)
Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention, or perhaps I was just falling asleep after the first hour of nothing, but I couldn’t understand about sixty percent of what occurred in “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.” Whether or not Park actually tells the story jumping from different time to time, I’ll never know, because characters I thought died pop up later, and events that suddenly never happened, leads to something unexpected. Park’s story is awfully disjointed to the point where I couldn’t even catch up.
Rosario Tijeras (2005)
Flora Martinez, aside from being absolutely beautiful and incredibly sexy, also provides a very good performance for “Rosario Tijeras” as the tragic and sometimes despicable Rosario who objectifies men the way she was objectified all of her life. She’s a being incapable of genuine love, and also seems incapable of finding true love. She’s someone who is used for her body, and carried around like a trophy, thus leads her own downfall in the face of her diminishing personal welfare. Her constant manipulation of her male counterparts is often achieved through her irresistible sex appeal, and this will often leave male audiences at a crossroads. The surefire draw should have been the lovely and vivacious Flora Martinez, who is an interesting choice for the lead of this snake of a woman. But then, at the end of it, I was pretty anxious to shut it off and move on.
Trouble with Men and Women (2003)
Okay, so last month, I finally saw “London.” I mean, I’d heard from folks that it was an awful and grueling movie to sit through, but sometimes you just have to experience it. There’s something in us that, even though we’re told being stung by a bee hurts, inspires us to seek out that bee and have that experience. It was the same thing with “London.” People were talking endlessly about this film that was utterly awful, and yet I sought it out. And it still stings. Suffice it to say, “London” was an awful and dreadful relationship drama that sought out to be such an edgy glance at romance between two fuck-ups.
Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973)
Allegedly one of the many influences for Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” series, “Thriller” or “They Called her One Eye” is an awfully uneasy and chilling bit of savagery involving one of the primary themes for grind house cinema: Victimizing. Like many before and after it, we watch a simple girl terrorized by corrupt and violent forces that drive her to the brink of violence and revenge in a hail of blood and bullets. Sure, thanks to many of its fans, “Thriller” is hardly a rare movie anymore, nor are reviews of it hard to come by, but where else will you find my own wry commentary?