• Review: The Nice Guys (2016)

    From Ronald O.Christian@21:1/5 to All on Sun Aug 21 11:49:12 2016
    The Nice Guys
    A review by Ron Christian

    ***** of *****

    Sometimes you run across a movie and you say "that's the perfect
    example of that genre."

    This Friday's pizza-and-movie was The Nice Guys with Russell Crowe and
    Ryan Gosling. Ok, a couple of things -- first, I'm a huge fan of
    Dashell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and in general, of the Film Noir detective genre. I'm also *not* a fan of either Russell Crowe or Ryan
    Gosling.

    So, basically, anything they got wrong in The Nice Guys, a classic
    Film Noir detective film set in 1977, would just grate the hell outta
    me.

    Ok, clear?

    I absolutely loved the film. I will own this film. I will watch it
    multiple times. Crowe was wonderful. Gosling was wonderful. Everyone
    in the movie was wonderful. I especially want to find out who played
    Gosling's daughter, and see her next film. Wife and daughter liked
    the film as well. Daughter (22) usually has her head bent over her
    phone during Pizza 'N' Movie Night, but this time she actually settled
    back and watched the film.

    I could tell right off that I was gonna own the soundtrack. (The
    opening song was "papa was a rolling stone".) The sound is absolutely excellent, and makes good use of the rear channels.

    The trailer makes the film seem goofier than it actually is. The plot
    is complex but very tightly written, and "torn from today's headlines"
    if "today" was 1977. In a way it reminds me of Roger Rabbit, in that
    the plot is a whimsical take on something that *actually happened*.

    There's a lot of Easter eggs for people who grew up in that era. And
    the plot -- I already said it really hangs together. It's a
    magnificent piece of writing. I'm gonna find out who wrote it, and see
    their next film.

    The Nice Guys is rated R mostly for language, but there's some brief
    nudity. The plot centers around a porn film that may contain some very important data about something that was really important in 1977. Want
    to know more? Watch the movie.

    The Nice Guys. Very highly recommended. Five stars of five. A true
    home run.
    -
    2014 FLHTK "The Grey"

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