癲狂院 Vixen Owl Cigar..。o○

A Slam-Bam Noir Novel


Blue Christmas for Cusack and Thornton...
I realized early into "The Ice Harvest " that I had seen this type of scenario done so many times, I probably should have been bored by it.
However, even the most tired genres can seem fresh if done right, and I'll be damned if this movie didn't make me feel like it was covering fresh ground.
The picture marks a surprising return for Harold Ramis, who hasn't made a movie I thoroughly enjoyed since "Groundhog Day ."
After pretending to move into darker territory with "Analyze This ," Ramis finally proves here that he has what it takes to spin a tale of greed and murder without coming off like a softy.
I have no doubts that "The Ice Harvest " will be compared to the early works of the Coen Brothers, because like their movies, it has off-the-wall, often vulgar dialogue and is not afraid to pounce on the audience with a scene of unexpected violence.
And like the Coen films, particularly "Blood Simple ," the movie is an exercise in minimalist filmmaking.
Ramis sidesteps any attempts to make the material flashier than it needs to be, instead creating a mood and look that are as shady as the characters.

Movies like this usually have a girl, and lucky for us it's the gorgeous and mysterious Connie Nielsen.
She works at one of the strip clubs that Charlie frequents, and she can tell by his behavior that he's up to something.
So yeah, the movie goes through the motions we would expect, but Ramis is patient with the way things unfold.
He wants us to become a part of Charlie and his world so we feel as trapped there as he does.
Once we've finally gotten settled into the movie's rhythm, it kicks into high gear with a series of cleverly staged and nevertheless shocking events.

【Lara Phillips】The Ice Harvest【Harold Ramis】
A Neo Noir in the same Vein as Fargo.
Innocent, wide-eyed, dewy-breathed readers, be warned: reading The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips will knock the living stuffing out of you.
The noir-flavored novel smacks you square in the gut like the well-aimed fist from a tough guy like Humphrey Bogart, George Raft or James Cagney.
If you don't know what you're getting into, you'll wind up gasping for breath and quite possibly bleeding from several orifices.
On the other hand, if you're a devoted fan of film noir, Phillips' debut novel is right up your dark alley.
There are crosses, double-crosses, low-life dames, itchy-trigger gunmen and so much booze-soaked action that desperate alcoholics might be tempted to lick the pages.
At the center of all this lit noir is Charlie Arglist, a low-life lawyer knee-deep in the shady underworld of Wichita, Kansas.

The entire novel takes place in 24 hours？ Christmas Eve in 1979.
From the first nicotine-and-whiskey pages, you realize there is no peace on earth and certainly no goodwill toward man in Charlie's world.
As he waits for a crucial 2 a.m. meeting with an associate named Vic, Charlie stumbles through the seedy circles of Wichita: bars, strip clubs, adult bookstores and massage parlors.
Then, just because it's Christmas Eve, he drops in to see his ex-wife and kids for good measure.
Though there are many scenes of violence (including a particularly memorable finger-breaking episode ), the chapter where Charlie shows up , giftless and skunk-drunk , at his estranged family's dinner is perhaps the most brutal passage in the book.

Let's face it, Charlie Arglist is a no-good, shiftless s.o.b.
He's also, in a strange way, one of the most compelling characters
I call him "sympathetically irredeemable "
I've come across in a long while.
You can't help but feel for the bum as he lurches from bad luck to worse.
The tension mounts as Charlie circles Wichita in the graveyard hour, waiting for his rendezvous with Vic, a meeting that will start a chapter in his life.
You see, he and Vic are about to extort a large chunk of money from the mob boss who owns all the strip joints Charlie's visiting.
Phillips releases details about Charlie's scheme sparingly.
Until the final pages, we don't know much about what he's doing other than the fact that it involves a lot of money, some cocaine and a sexually-incriminating photograph.
However, the fine print isn't important here eventually, the murky mysteries will be revealed and resolved.
It's the smoky atmosphere of gloom and doom that makes The Ice Harvest the relentlessly good reading experience it is.

For a first-time novelist, Phillips' grasp of the craft is enough to make even seasoned writers green-eyed with admiration.
The Ice Harvest is tightly plotted and populated with the kind of characters you feel like you could reach out and touch (just be sure to thoroughly wash your hands afterward ).
Rabid film noir fans "the kind of people who have entire passages memorized from Double Indemnity and The Maltese Falcon " might spot some of the plot twists coming before they arrive on the page, but there are still plenty of mean Bogart punches pummeling your gut without warning.

The book is as nihilistic as they come, right on down to the shocker of an ending (I guarantee you won't see that punch coming ), and it might be too gritty and profane for the more lily-livered readers.
But for the strong and black of heart, it would be hard to find a more perversely satisfying novel this year.
This movie has fun poking fun, with style and karma, with a moral and a motto.
As Jon Stewart says, "IN GOD WE TRUST " is our motto, and we place it where it can be read on every dollar bill in this film, "right where Jesus would have wanted it ."