Ive watched this film three or four times now and it just oozes with style. Clive Owen can ride the subway and still look like bond. This guy beats the pants off any american actor i know (bar Kevin Spacey).
shareHollywood is tripe. It has nothing to do with what an American "can" do in a film, but what large corporations think that they can make money off of. Don't judge American cinema by Hollywood.
shareI just want to say, thank you everyone for turning this into some brits vs yanks debate. Even when others do 'side' with others. Hell I never looked at this as a UK movie, nor do I look at American releases as US (whatever) movies. Damn you guys, they both have good movies and bad movies. WTF are you comparing the good UK releases to the good US releases for? Their all just frikkin movies. I didn't start writing this post pissed off, but rather disappointed, but the more I think about how you guys are comparing yanks to brits and "they cant make a movie comparable to this one" "oh but you dont have the style that this country does" etc etc... it's all just so... ah, I can think of so many words, but I doubt anyone wants to here them. Nor will I get into this any further. I wont even check this board again, because I can care less who replies with what. I just had to get in my two cents, and hope some other people might come to realize movie making is not a game about which country can beat who's. Think more deeply please. =P
This reminds me of my favorite quote: Arguing on the internet is like running in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded.
At the end of the day, it was the Americians who discovered that Croupier had potential of being a brilliant film which it is. Without the Yanks this film wouldn't had resurrected Mike Hodges career of even discover Clive Owen.
In Britain, the distribution didn't give it the time of day until it was hit in American art audience.
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I'm Australian. Which means we get a pretty good mix from both the US and UK.
The way I see it, both make good films, its just that Hollywood makes such a vast number, that a lot are bound to be crap, and sometimes some of the good ones can get lost in the noise, as the rest of the world tend to get most of the films made in Hollywood.
On the other hand, smaller film industries like those found in the UK, Australia, Japan, France etc generally have much tighter budgets, with a lot less production money flying around and I think in general this acts as a filter which prevents a lot of crap movies being made. Also, the lack of budget means less special effects/cg/action, which can mean these films often need to be propped up by something more, which usually means good plot, acting, or both.
Another thing to consider is that the market for these films outside their country of origin is often fairly limited, which means that only a few, and often only the "best" films are picked up by international distributors. This often only happens after they gain popularity in the country they were made, or perform well at a film festival.
The US, because of the sheer volume of films would produce the most films of high quality. As for the higher proportion, thats a different story all together.
:)
I don't know if it has been mentioned, but not all other countries see the more quality films that Americans make. It tends to be the Hollywood stereotypical films that make it over unless it is a mainstream indie film, which seems almost a contradiction. So I don't know if that is an American issue or the fact that other countries pay to watch these films and thus continue their import. I think people need to realize that many of the "American films" they see are actually only part of the spectrum. Even though I have seen many foreign films I don't except them to be a complete representation of their country.
shareI love British film, but this one didn't rock my world. I knew he was being set up, and I admired his character, but I found myself stopping listening to the voiceover and getting tired of the rather sarcastic tone. Also the death of his girlfriend couldn't have had less impact - on me, on him, on anything. Sometimes movies like this have a lot of hidden metaphor wherein if you don't get it it doesn't matter, it still resonates. Clive is fun to look at and the story was entertaining enough, but on a deeper level this movie just didn't resonate somehow. The sound and production values were also spotty, but that's forgiveable. It was a great vehicle for Clive Owen.
shareThis whole board is ridiculous.
American movies suck.
British movies suck.
I only watch German porn.
Open your mind.
There's a lot of other countrys that made good porn too.
Oh, my God it's the revolutionary war all over again!
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I just saw this film for the first time on Starz in the wee hours of this morning, and was so impressed I went to its IMDb page to read the credits.
Clive Owen is an excellent actor and makes his character an extremely compelling. In fact, the whole cast does a good job. The plot is superbly crafted. Great script, brilliant dialogue. (Is the script online anywhere?) The cinematography rocks, from git-go. In the opening credits shots, they don't let you LOOK at the roulette wheel that is drawing your eye long enough before flashing back to another credit. Back/ forth/ back/ forth. It's deliberately unsettling. And it works.
How can somebody compare this to ye typical American mega-budget action / blockbuster flick? Totally different genre. Not sure what you'd CALL that genre -- perhaps an Anglo neo-noir?
Of its type -- small, clever indy-type that makes you think -- this one was one of the best. I'm going to buy a DVD and pick it apart, shot by shot, plot twist by plot twist, sort of like taking apart an elegant applicance to figure out how it's constructed.
For the record, I'm an American. But I did live in the UK for 13 years, and left to come back to the US in 1996 -- only 2 years before they shot this film, so there was lots to identify with -- and a lot of British cultural references that perhaps someone who's not lived over there wouldn't get. But apparently enough of an American audience DID appreciate the film, which is good. It richly deserves it.
-- Kathryn C.
King George VA USA
(formerly of North Lambeth - but estate agents called it "Kennington" because it sounded more posh....)
PS -- so who DID run over Marion? A hit and run driver? Psycho Bella, either through jealousy or thinking that she had shopped her to the club authorities? Or someone involved with the failed heist who put 2 and 2 together?
Just f'ing remember that the majority of the Brits stayed away from this movie and American audience loved it. And when someone who mentions that one nation is better than the other in film making obviously has been living under a rock, still giggles when they see womens' breast on screen or just got off breast feeding from their mom.
Maybe in your next life, you'll believe the Zodiac when it tells you to cut the red wire.
Comment is remarkably oblivious to the fact that Croupier was written and styled specifically to emulate American film noir. So yes, Americans have made movies like this as the style was invented by them
shareThe mention of Kevin Spacey has not aged well!!
shareIronic that Kevin Spacey is now more known for beating the pants off people than he is for acting.
share