Brawl in Cell Block 99 (26/12/17)

[Foggy]

For a decent price of £9.99, probably a barebones release from Universal but I'll be picking it up at that price.

[derek_1999]

Originally Posted by Foggy

For a decent price of £9.99, probably a barebones release from Universal but I'll be picking it up at that price.

Really want to see this - I loved Bone Tomahawk (the Director's last film) and I actually enjoyed Vince Vaughn in True Detective 2, so I think this might be an interesting mix.

I nearly caved last night and rented this from Amazon Prime, but it's 5.99 for a HD rental and I'd hooped the Blu-Ray wasn't going to be that much more expensive. Off to pre-order now - thanks for listing!

[Laserdisk]

Amazing flick

[Gerby]

My favourite film of the year so far, it has that same slow deliberate style of Bone Tomahawk that I loved.

[Steedeel]

Originally Posted by Foggy

For a decent price of £9.99, probably a barebones release from Universal but I'll be picking it up at that price.

This is def English language right? It’s not a import? It says dubbed French polish but it normally states English track in the description?

[Sky_Captain]

Eh?

It's a UK release from Universal lol

[1990ge]

This movie looked like a parody to me. But maybe it's only me

[AUS1969]

The US version will be released in 4K. I just ordered it on Amazon.

[derek_1999]

My copy arrived from Amazon today. Looking forward to watching this - really loved Bone Tomahawk so have high expectations

For the slip-inclined, it arrived with one.

[Shingster]

Lower your expectations to save disappointment. It's good but not in the same league as Bone Tomahawk plus it's a pretty ridiculous film, spent most of it wondering whether it's supposed to be a comedy or at least very tongue-in-cheek or not!

[IanSchultz23]

It also looks terrible aesthetically like a bad VOD film

[Shingster]

Yeah it's a really, really ugly film, but then Bone Tomahawk looked like crap as well and the generally drab, grey, hyper-digital aesthetics don't exactly look out of place given the setting of Brawl, they did in Bone.

[UltraMario9]

Originally Posted by Shingster

Yeah it's a really, really ugly film, but then Bone Tomahawk looked like crap as well and the generally drab, grey, hyper-digital aesthetics don't exactly look out of place given the setting of Brawl, they did in Bone.

That was really disappointing. I would've loved Bone Tomahawk if it had been shot like a western of similar scale, Seraphim Falls, which is a gorgeous film but not as interesting story wise as Bone. Oh well.

[DefLeppard]

One time view only but it had some moments ;noticed the similiarity in theme to that of 'Machete' / 'Hobo with a shotgun' to consider as a grindhouse film with 'Sin City' styled cinematography or should I put this as 'Contraband' meets 'Grindhouse'

[Show spoiler]with sad ending

.

[IanSchultz23]

I think Bone is a far better looking film but given the landscapes that’s not very hard

[Shingster]

Definitely.

[Foggy]

Agree with what's being said on here, enjoyed it a lot but a bit mystified by the abundance of positive reviews. It started off very self-serious as a strange character driven crime film and wound up a very self-aware prison exploitation film. I did find the way it was written pretty clever but in the end it was almost twisted into a missing instalment from Grindhouse.

I liked the characters, tone and look from Bone Tomahawk more, but I can't help but find myself having a bit more fun with this, despite it's inconsistencies.

[stepeanut]

I’ll stick with Riot in Cell Block 11.

[derek_1999]

Well, watched it last night and, contrary to most opinions here, I really enjoyed the movie! Perhaps I was in the mood for it

I loved the relentless downward spiral, as Bradley just goes from one bad choice to another - before situations/events overtake him.

In terms of look, it was shot on a Red Epic camera (as was Bone Tomahawk) and both had a similar look. It's really down to how you grade this type of material - and also the amount of $$$ you can spend on production design/sets/art direction (Godless on Netflix was, for example, shot on the same camera as Block 99 - but it had a lot more money in front of the camera).

In terms of Block 99, loved the fights played out in long takes - it just made the action seem more brutal (rather than a bunch of crazy 2 second shots edited in a frenzy, as in most modern movies) - even though it wasn't necessarily realistic violence.

So, for once, it pretty much hit the mark for enjoyment and expectations... my other half, however, whilst she enjoyed it too, said it really wasn't what she was expecting (she thought it was going to be a more traditional prison movie).

2018 will bring S. Craig Zahler's Dragged Across Concrete - starring Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. So, hoping for more of the same, but (maybe) with a slightly increased budget

[Kamelot121]

Yep, didn't expect much but really loved this movie!