Brutal (2012)

I only decided to see/watch this film because of Peter Greene, and I was not disappointed. For a low-budget indie, it was pretty enjoyable. The entire cast was good, and except for maybe a small scene here and there, this effort deserves some applause.It has me thinking what a shame so many big budget movies are actually far less engaging than this was. However, I will say that perhaps this type of story/script/cast are more geared toward an East coast audience. Being from NY, I think it's one of the reasons that I was able to enjoy it. We know people like this in real life so while of course the circumstances for the characters got really ugly (not seen in real life) it was like a few guys you know about the block, that this would be entirely possible.

I must say that this was a good movie. I was skeptical at first because I thought it would be a bomb. The story was actually really good as was the storyline. Def an entertaining movie and recommend for everyone to watch. I enjoyed the way the movie was shot and actually recognized a good portion of the cast. I also enjoy the fact that this film was New York centric. I kinda felt like I was back in the neighborhood when I was younger. Some scenes seem to drag a bit but overall I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened. Peter Greene had an excellent performance. There were instances were his emotions really came across the screen.

Just watched Kamal Ahmed's 1000 Times More Brutal and must say how real I thought it was despite some questions I had until I gave it a little more thought. The film starts in a nightmarish film noir style where the lead (David Dastmalchian) runs towards the camera under the sound of a heart beating. He says "There's nothing in this world more personal than murder." This opening surprised me because I thought it was different than the normal low budget gangster film. Without giving too much away,one of the questions I had was why would the three protagonists go downstairs to a certain death awaiting them at a Albanian bar. My answer was,they weren't too smart and proved it throughout the film. The Albanian mobster they met,was magnificently played by former Soprano star Fedrico Castelluchio and did such a dead on Albanian accent,my Albanian girlfriend swore he was Albanian (I checked, he's 100% Italian) My next question was,how did the lead actor shoot his antagonist at a illegal gangster poker game,downstairs in the bowels of some broken down building? Well,a friend reminded me the antagonist (Peter Greene) was only an associate of the mob and not John Gotti,so he wouldn't have bodyguards and anyone there,would be looking out for their own safety. My friend also reminded me illegal poker games like that get robbed all the time,so it's somewhat believable. All in all,there's plenty of gritty scenes and realistic views of that NYC gangster lifestyle in 1000 TIMES MORE BRUTAL that don't romance or glorify it. I found it an interesting movie.

Brutal... I saw this film at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood a few weeks back... In all honesty, One of the coolest indie gangster films I've saw since the "Drive" premier at Cannes two years ago... It has a gritty New York feel... The story itself is something realistic, the acting is grade A which tells me the director really new what he was doing with this one! I was happy to see that you don't need all the Hollywood BS. effects and extras to have a good indie film stand strong. This film has proved to me that film making is still an art and can be done successfully without millions of dollars and Hollywood studios behind it. Los Angeles may be the capitol of film making but New York is on the rise.