Theater Whore: God's Pocket

God's Pocket 2/10

Death Becomes Her. American Psycho. Dr. Strangelove. These are dark comedies. I had no idea that the second film Cam and I saw for the night called God's Pocket was supposed to be one as well. After I found out that it was considered one my reaction was “Oh? Oh...okay. I guess I could see that. Kinda.” When a movie starts off with a sad ass looking funeral without a hint that something funny could even happen its hard to jump to that conclusion. This movie had a very strong cast including Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Richard Jenkins, and Eddie Marsan. A lot of good people just wasted in this.

Since I couldn't laugh at this movie I had to watch it as a film that felt as if it didn't know where it needed to go. You see a couple that has uncomfortable looking sex followed by waking their drug using son up for work. He gets there, drops some n-bombs, and gets his punk ass killed by an old Black man. The crime is covered up and funeral plans are made. His mother (Hendricks) thinks that something else had to have happened since she thinks her son was a good kid. The step-father (Hoffman) and his friend (Turturro) have side scams that they are running. Money needs to be made to pay off bad men and for the kids funeral.

Theater Whore: Fading Gigolo

Fading Gigolo 10/10

Last night Cam and I caught a double feature. The first film we saw was Fading Gigolo starring John Turturro and Woody Allen. Also in this were Liev Schreiber, Sharon Stone, Vanessa Paradis, and Sofia Vergara. Going into this I wasn't exactly sure what to expect and by god was I surprised at how much I loved this movie. Turturro wrote starred in, and directed this. I thought from what little I'd heard that this was about a guy who used to be a lady's man who was older and trying to get back into it. That isn't what this is about.

Turturro is Fioravante. He's a handyman, florist, and just an all around quiet, nice guy. He works with Allen who is named Murray. They have been friends for years and as Murray's book store is closing he proposes the idea of sleeping with a lady he knows for money. At first Fioravante is against it saying that he isn't a hoe. After finding out how much he'll get he decides to give it a shot. It is a test drive for a planned three-way between Dr. Parker and Selima (Stone, Vergara). He does it and everything goes smoothly. So smoothly that they start a business from it. Eventually Murray finds a client who is a widow with six children named Avigal (Paradis). A patrolman of the small Jewish neighborhood named Dovi (Schreiber) who has a thing for her tails her to Fioravante's “office” where he plans on giving her a massage. It goes horribly wrong. I now that Murray had good intentions but she ends up crying though not for the reasons I expected.