Prison stuff. In prison movies.
“Dear Lord, violence is the artist and I am just the brush…” prays James ‘Animal’ Allen (Ving Rhames) in his Folsom Prison cell. At least, I think that’s what he says… it’s a bit hard to hear because there’s a riot going on in the background. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on August 10th, 2011 at 9:36 pm. Updated on August 10th, 2011 at 9:36 pm.
“They exploded the ugliest riot in prison history to cover their dangerous, desperate break for freedom.” So says the film’s tag-line. But it’s nonsense. This is the prison riot you have when you’re not having a prison riot. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on August 3rd, 2011 at 9:30 pm. Updated on August 3rd, 2011 at 9:30 pm.
The last two prison movies I’ve watched have been Riot (1969), in which there really isn’t a riot, and Road Gang, in which there are no gangs working on roads. It’s a confusing world. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 30th, 2011 at 10:21 pm. Updated on January 26th, 2017 at 7:20 pm.
I haven’t yet seen Screwed (2011) but The Escapist (2008) would seem to have set a bit of a trend for modern British prison movies; observing all the conventions of the genre, exploring very traditional prison themes… but with a twist. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 27th, 2011 at 11:13 pm. Updated on March 8th, 2016 at 12:39 pm.
How many versions of the one film do you need? Within These Walls borrows very heavily from The Criminal Code (1931) and Penitentiary (1938), films that were to be remade a second time in Convicted (1950). Maybe it was an austerity measure imposed during the war: re-use old scripts rather thhttp://staging.prisonmovies.net/convicted-1950-usaan waste munitions money on new ones. The best that can be said of this apparent lack of imagination is that at least this offshoot has a slightly divergent plot line. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 17th, 2011 at 7:55 pm. Updated on July 9th, 2020 at 4:01 pm.
Let’s face it – for a movie supposedly about a riot in a juvenile prison there’s precious little rioting, far too few juveniles, and way too much sententious guff about prison reform. Not that that detracts from the film in any way… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 11th, 2011 at 10:34 pm. Updated on July 11th, 2011 at 10:34 pm.
Some films are timeless. This isn’t one of them.
Posted on July 8th, 2011 at 10:37 pm. Updated on July 8th, 2011 at 10:37 pm.
“I’ve been waiting for my father to show up for 20 goddamn years, and you the fuck showed up!” So says a tiny-bit-disappointed Darius (Terrence Howard) to his once street-respected (ie outrageously violent) father who gets out of prison after a long stretch, only to have become a man disappointingly committed to eschewing crime and being an advocate for “smart, not tough”. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on July 4th, 2011 at 9:42 pm. Updated on July 4th, 2011 at 9:42 pm.
This a good, old-fashioned escape story. And an unheralded one at that. It’s a thriller and a noirish love story, rolled into one. With a twist – as all good, old-fashioned escape stories should have. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 25th, 2011 at 10:33 pm. Updated on June 25th, 2011 at 10:43 pm.
This bears about as much connection to Chinese Midnight Express (1997) as that movie bears to the original Midnight Express (1978). Like CME I, however, it is supposed to be set in the 1960s. Not that there is anything really of the sixties about it (other than one prisoner with a short-lived Beatle haircut), but it does allow the filmmakers to pretend that this depicts the treatment of prisoners in the bad old days, rather than risk incurring the Government’s wrath by suggesting that any nastiness could still occur in the more enlightened nineties. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on June 16th, 2011 at 10:27 pm. Updated on March 9th, 2016 at 3:07 pm.