END OF WATCH: good cop movie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1855199/

if you don't like shaky-cam i can't recommend it, mind: the conceit is that it's all verite footage by jake the cop, and some gang members, and some other law enforcement. yes it cheats a little bit

my problems with it are mostly ideological -- there's a million things to say about uh masculine virtues and sentimentality, plus, you know, cops -- but dramatically and technically i liked it a lot.

gyllenhaal is good and michael pena is really good. america ferrara makes something out of a minor role. anna kendrick doesn't have much of a character but eh

Yeah, it's great.

The trailers dont really do it justice, just make it look like a movie where jake & mike say 'bro' and 'dude' a lot while waving guns

turns out it owns

i'm not in a position to judge its verisimilitude but the attitude, bearing and lingo of the police is (i hear) right on. and it treats race as a real thing that matters in people's real lives

imo You have to love any movie that contains this exchange:

"so why do they call you Big Evil?"
"cuz my evil's big."

like i'd recommend this to michael mann fans, but to john sayles fans too

to get back to 'ideology' tho, it's def one of those movies where i'm watching and wondering, why do conservatives complain about hollywood?

xp yeah and the "LaLa" character was crazy compelling: her first movie! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4580975/

yeah the way it deals with race is great. and its funny as fuck. features my favorite of the david ayer players, former blood cle sloan, who directed the great documentary Bastards Of The Party

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455913/

the lapd is basically the biggest street gang in LA in this film

huh, i didn't know who david ayer was, after looking it up, damn i've seen all this guy's movies

except for 'harsh times', the hell is that

I've only seen the one he only directed w/ Keanu and have avoided the others like the plague.

haven't seen that one either. but thanks for your input!

William Friedkin ‏@WilliamFriedkin
End of Watch is a great film...may be the best cop film ever
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William Friedkin ‏@WilliamFriedkin
Not kidding. I don't know these guys...just in awe of what They've captured about cops' lives
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yeah, ive never seen a buddy cop movie that actually makes the relationship between the two cops feel so human and real - 99% of the time you get the mcbain diner scene from The Simpsons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIxzGG2eKjs

it also has a lot of thrilling parts, including the best running-into-a-burning-house sequence ive ever seen.

'harsh times' is sort of the weird, uncommercial precursor to end of watch

the script was really well constructed. on a surface level it is just one call after another, very episodic and unconnected and repetitive (a cop's life) but all of these details and characters steadily keep recurring and by the end it's all built into some shit.

screenwriting 101, chekov's "pistol on the mantle" type stuff

so i expected almost nothing from this and it turned out to be pretty damn good. never really been much of a David Ayer fan but he nailed this! who the fuck knew

It's good, but it relied almost completely on the likeability of and chemistry between the two leads - luckily they had both in spades. There wasn't really anything as old-fashioned as a plot. Also in the post-Wire world I found the depiction of the miscreants a little one-dimensional.

i just end of watched this, p tite

"so why do they call you Big Evil?"
"cuz my evil's big."

― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, October 1, 2012 12:14 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sick

except for 'harsh times', the hell is that

― goole, Monday, October 1, 2012 12:22 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dude i hope saw this, so harsh

i liked when they encountered the super cop who wouldnt tell them who he was and they looked like little kids next to him

I missed this thread! I had no interest in seeing this but I will def watch now

yeah the way it deals with race is great. and its funny as fuck. features my favorite of the david ayer players, former blood cle sloan, who directed the great documentary Bastards Of The Party

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455913/

the lapd is basically the biggest street gang in LA in this film

― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, October 1, 2012 12:17 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bastards of the party is amazing

Best/most unexpected moment in this: Anna Kendrick dancing to "The Birdie Song"

I just started watching Bastards of the Party -- goddamn this is some amazing shit

Kinda wondering if it needs its own thread

is Jake nude in this

i think he might get shirtless once or twice

this on netflix

This is really good even if I was a little sad that it got a little more conventional at the end. Probably my favorite Gyllenhaal performance and Michael Pena is A+ as are all the supporting cops and Bone.

Need to go back and rewatch Harsh Times.

I should watch this

the lapd is basically the biggest street gang in LA in this film

― turds (Hungry4Ass), Monday, October 1, 2012 9:17 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM. Also, I don't think I've ever been so truly terrified of the guns in a movie. the shaky cam was effective.

is the mexican drug cartel stuff inspired by breaking bad? has it been in the plot of many prior movies?

I think it's inspired by paranoia among some in the Southwest and SoCal that it's only a matter of time until cartels start operating more heavily in the US.

also by cartels being shockingly, absurdly evil and thus making excellent unseen villains with their trafficking and slaughterhouses and etc.

yeah that stuff was next level evil.

*SPOILERS*:

the night vision camera shot of the hit being ordered was next level. was the smaller mexican american gang dealing in the states part of the cartel? they didn't seem to be. I'm a bit surprised at how the end went down. I was looking for the cartel to handle it directly. I don't think I fully understood the cartel-gang connection. there was probably some chatter in the minivan that I missed.

i guess it was just a large sum of money offered to any gang that took them down

The locals were involved with the cartel - selling what the cartel supplied, etc.. - but not a part of its hierarchy, AFAIK

yeah, the local gang was sort of 'contral labor' for the larger cartel, and eager/desperate to show they could play on that level.

ya the local gang were talking abt how they were gonna level up if they did they hit good

er, 'contract' i meant, whoops.

This was really frickin' great... like "Adam-12" goes to hell.

fuckin A+ movie

everyone is great in this. I was worried the shaky cam verite thing would be tough to deal with (not really) and i think the first person shooter video stuff was a little OTT (i thought when that one dude came popping up with a "curbside, motherfucker!!" near the end when he popped up from behind the truck and Pena capped him that a little **~1000~** would come floating up out of the exit spray) but I loved that touch too. Characterwise this was compelling, nice scenes from all the supporting players (Nathalie martinez's drunken rant abt marriage was top notch) and it was the best cop friendship movie (not "buddy movie") that I've seen.

yeah calling it a buddy cop movie kinda feels insufficient, like it doesnt really do it justice. michael pena was insanely good

I knew this movie was otm when Taylor and his bride turned their romantic first dance into a choreographed routine, a lesser film would have gone for the straight corny slow dance. Plus I loved sarge's depressing monologue we got dropped in on. Bit o' foreshadowing.

yeah a good movie

this was terrible!

more like DO NOT WATCH

wut

huh, had no idea this was rated by anyone. i guess i'll try it.

Sarge: My boy Garcia? He's a fucking beast, man. Right? I've seen this motherfucker knock an asshole out with one punch. Yoked assholes, man. Yoked assholes from the joint when they had weight piles. You know what I'm talking about? You don't know what I'm talking about, you're fucking twelve years old. Cops like him... Like soldiers. He took a bullet for me. My bullet, man. He took my bullet. He took my bullet. That's what he was. That's what he was to me. It should have been me, cause he was a good guy. I was shit. Fuck it, man.

different speech but

yeah the whole wedding sequence was next level

i have ~many thoughts~ about this movie and "conservatism". one of those movies that i'm surprised (not really) that conservatives haven't latched on to.

i liked this movie. the time frame was confusing at first, it seemed like each scene was just the next day and so they were constantly doing heroic things and having crazy adventures. michael pena is great, he should be in more good stuff.

I have a thought re harsh times which ive seen a few times and is rad and anyone who liked this one should check out

***********SOPOLIWRZ***^^^€^

the wrong guy dies at the end, like obvs Pena should get shot and the final scene should be bale reporting for duty, it doesn't even make any sense where pena is falling into his girlfriends arms, like hes a minor character, it all feels like a 'rewrite' and kinda ruins a sick ass film

also bakes accent is just next level

'white guy who hangs out w mexican americans'

a lot of this movie reminded me of curb your enthusiasm to the point where the action sequences feel especially awkward,
the beginning car chase was really good though in how quiet it is -- maybe a serious reno911 is possible?

this was fuckin great

Otm

this was really good!

okay i'll watch this. i always see it when searching netflix stuff and i wasn't sure if i would like it cuzza the herkyjerk camera stuff but you guys have sold me. i've never seen harsh times or street kings they look cool too. i loved training day. i really did. a movie i didn't think i would love. and i like his other screenplays too: s.w.a.t., dark blue, the fast & the furious.

Just adding to the chorus, this was good. Would never have watched it if not for ilx

Same here. Started last night, it's fun. I'm never esp convinced by JG in anything, but he's never actively bad.

yeah i liked this. watched it last night.

thumbs up from me too, great recommendation

Would never have watched it if not for ilx

for sure

the ending to this flick is so devastating

lol

i was a little devastated they didn't follow through.

got abt 20 mins into this and was like end of watch? more like end of me watching gtfo

haha i see this joek has already been made itt

Haha rofl. Lmoa

lm actual bo

finally saw this last night. had high expectations bc of this thread but it totally delivered.
this thread = otm

mr veg was kind of 'yawn this is boring I've seen this movie before' and on the one hand he's right. but it does 'this movie' so much better than 99% of those other similar movies. he pivots the whole story on that 'brotherhood' concept that you always hear so much about, but in this case he actually succeeded in showing what that could look like 24/7.

that last shootout was scary as shit.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/fury/

^^^ new ayer flick

end of watch was unexpectedly good when I saw it!

I think I've mentioned it elsewhere on ilx but I went to Harsh Times with a date on a whim when it was in the theaters and, while it is some crazy shit, it is not recommended for chill dates :o

its called harsh times guy

truth in titling

i never saw sabotage!

i was so psyched to see sabotage but it came and went in a flash. it's coming out on dvd in a month, though.

yeah I haven't seen sabotage yet but I plan to, I hope the presence of Arnie doesn't make it totally terrible

schatzi looks pretty cool in it imo (and he was def the best thing about 'escape plan') but i suspect his presence might have turned people off.

the presence of Pitt in this one is putting me off

and laboof isn't?

well there's less of him

i hear 'fury' is some insane shit.

word from my two friends who saw 'sabotage' while it was in theaters for a week was that it was genuinely terrible and boring.

what do you mean by insane shit exactly

good insane shit?

Fury was pretty bad, I thought.

i've heard both good and bad things, it def seems like a polarizing film.

I'm pretty sure you'd dig it Omar. maybe not the rest of the thread though

-spoilers-

first of all kudos to Ayer for making the two goriest american movies of the year. FURY isnt END OF WATCH caliber and i had a mixed reaction. It's kinda logy and overly somber and my first thought was that Ayer might have been mildly ashamed of the lurid schlockfest he was actually making (i envisioned Ash's hand from Evil Dead making it gory and crazy against his will, but maybe it was the other way around). END OF WATCH did a perfect job of being a really visceral action movie that didn't neglect its characters and had something fresh to say, and FURY is weirder and less consistent (classic Ayer basically) and the action (which is awesome) crowds out the characters a bit.

When Ayer does get to show off the thing he does best (group dynamics / macho bonding) it really shines, and he even turns that on its head and uses it to unsettle and frighten you in an amazing couple of scenes taking place after the tank crew takes a town. I also liked it as a semi-sequel to EOW's depiction of the LAPD as thrill seeking mooks, except this time the Greatest Generation is a bunch of bloodthirsty apes. It's apt how Ayer characters are adrenaline junkies who are incredulous at the idea anyone could read nobility or heroism into anything they do, and who are miserable and angry whenever there's no action. It goes even further by explicitly comparing the tank crew to a gang (the cholo crew member describes the Falais pocket: "we fucked em up"), and it's pretty smart about observing things like the predatory aspect of gang initiation - not only has the kid been dragooned into a difficult and dangerous job (It's played like "hey I'm just in jail for mail fraud, why am I bunked with serial killers?"), but Wardaddy is gonna make him like it. Can't be in a gang until you kill somebody. We're there to kill nazis, so kill this nazi and you'll be down. We literally won't trust you until you do. Then not long after that he struts into town, finds the two hottest women and breaks the kid off a piece. It's really seductive and not something I'm used to seeing in this kind of picture.

So you've got some unexpected details but also a lot of stuff you've seen done before and done better, especially a lot of rote War Is Hell-isms. I can live with that, and the movie even plays around with it by contrasting them with the stock-characters-turned-malevolent thing he did with the Americans. Wardaddy is most of my problem. The film announces its intent in the first scene, when a Nazi rides a pristine white horse across a mythical hellscape and Brad Pitt lunges from nowhere and stabs his eyes out. Again it's a nice continuation from END OF WATCH, which was about being in Lord Humungus' gang in post-apocalyptic L.A. Here we're shown a world in which war is something men do to unwilling boys, and a deliberate parallel is drawn between Wardaddy's grooming of Norman and how the SS conscripts civilians and executes deserters. At the end of the film Wardaddy compels his crew to commit suicide with him in a nightworld surrounded by pillars of flame and smoke (this is the 2nd of Ayer's films to reference SET IT OFF) and he doesn't even bother trying to convince them - it's just this elemental obligation they all have to him.

That's all pretty good stuff, but the way Wardaddy plays doesn't really live up to any of it - Ayer & Pitt don't take the Judge Holden angle far enough, Pitt fails to hold the screen and Ayer backs off the character and softens his edges. TRAINING DAY did that thing so well, the seductive charismatic movie star sherpa into the heart of darkness, but Wardaddy doesn't particularly fascinate - you can see why the crew respects his G, but there's little that's vivid or mesmerizing about him, especially once the movie confirms his Caring Fatherly bonafides. His last interesting moment comes halfway through the film, when it seems to quote COME & SEE in a scene where he plays house with some random French women - like the Einsatzgruppen Commando who sits down and has some babushka feed him, forcing civilians to serve you is taken for granted as a perk of war. And Norman gets his own COME & SEE moment at the end but Ayer just demonstrates why COME & SEE couldn't have been made in Hollywood... there was no sensitivity to his POV and the sense of him having lived a nightmare beyond a civilian's imagination slips through the film's fingers.

Still the movie really has been sticking in my head... its best moments are like a Harvey Kurtzman war comic come to life. I even kinda wanna see it again. It's gonna be an acquired taste for a lot of you though.

word from my two friends who saw 'sabotage' while it was in theaters for a week was that it was genuinely terrible and boring.

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, October 20, 2014 8:04 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

SABOTAGE had so much potential but it also had its head up its ass. It's too cute and tricky for its own good and after a while it just goes Full Retard and never recovers... it's just hard to care about and is weirdly slack for a thriller. I would've loved to see a different movie with the same characters and milieu... Ayer didn't write the script so I give him a pass for that one. Arnold does have some great moments in it and I wish he played Wardaddy's Nazi tank commander nemesis in FURY.

watched End of Watch the other night & while I enjoyed it, I'm a little surprised to hear people praising its treatment of race, which seemed on the verge of fetishizing blackness (Zavala brawls with that old gangster so you know he's an honest cop; Janet enjoys hip-hop music so you know she's not a stuck-up bitch)

... or am I just being hypersensitive?

I think I've mentioned it elsewhere on ilx but I went to Harsh Times with a date on a whim when it was in the theaters and, while it is some crazy shit, it is not recommended for chill dates :o

― mh, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 2:57 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

its called harsh times guy

― socki (s1ocki), Wednesday, June 25, 2014 2:59 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i hope Ayer doesn't go down the rabbit hole of big budget superhero bullshit, tho Suicide Squad at least looks kind of interesting i suppose. feel like his cop movies both as writer and director are all pretty good and while he treads over the same ground a lot it seemed like he was finding his voice there w/End of Watch.

still have to see Fury. decided to pass on Sabotage.

I didn't like Fury at all. I love war movies and world war ii and tanks and this was really tone deaf and stupid

i liked SABOTAGE but i'd need to figure out why. ugly, bloody, ridiculous, reactionary, not particularly tense for a thriller about doublecrossing agents being hunted by central american commandos working for a drug cartel. i think i was mostly happy that olivia williams turned up.

seemed like ayers mostly enjoyed staging and shooting those military style room-clearing raids, all terse communication and elbows-in professional shooting. there's even a training montage (kinda) where the team learns to do it again after getting rusty! the plot is mostly stretched around it. it's like a musical.