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Dead Man's Shoes & Shane Meadows in general

Started by madhair60, January 21, 2019, 11:31:17 AM

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madhair60

What's he up to these days?

Just rewatched Dead Man's Shoes (which I call "D.M.S") and I have to say I think it is well wicked. Makes me weep it does.

Does Anyone Else Like Shane Meadows

madhair60

Because I'm thick, can someone explain the ending where Richard says his brother was an "embarrassment" to him? Is that reframing his actions as a result of his own guilt for his feelings towards Anthony, cos otherwise it's a BIT ODD. I thought all that was just his way of confronting Last Fella Whose Name I Forget with his own dehumanising of Anthony, but apparently it's sincere. I'm a bit confused

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: madhair60 on January 21, 2019, 11:31:17 AM
What's he up to these days?


QuoteThe Virtues
(Channel 4) Shane Meadows projects are usually funny until they're not. Punks and skinheads are all having a laugh, until they're infiltrated by fascists. That creepy guy who is trying to woo your sister is harmless, until he turns out to be unhinged. But with The Virtues, Meadows seems to have reversed the formula. It tells the story of a labourer (played by Stephen Graham) – born in Ireland, put into care and then escaped to England – who goes back to deal with his demons. It's bracing stuff, but in true Meadows fashion there's humour interspersed with the grit. Told partly in flashback scenes filmed on handheld VCR cameras, it is visually ambitious – and Graham is magnetic as a man trying to overcome a painful history.
April

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/jan/02/must-see-tv-shows-2019

Funcrusher

I do like Shane Meadows a lot but everything I've heard about the This Is England tv series just doesn't sound good so I've given them a swerve. Part of his strength as a filmmaker is that he has an unashamedly sentimental streak and isn't what you'd call overly subtle, and it sounds like that's led to not great results in the TIE series. Hope the new one's good.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Funcrusher on January 21, 2019, 11:45:04 AM
I do like Shane Meadows a lot but everything I've heard about the This Is England tv series just doesn't sound good so I've given them a swerve. Part of his strength as a filmmaker is that he has an unashamedly sentimental streak and isn't what you'd call overly subtle, and it sounds like that's led to not great results in the TIE series. Hope the new one's good.

I think you could edit together TIE '86 & '88 into a really good film, editing out some of the iffy impro and forced comedy storylines.

sevendaughters

I think TIE and all the TV sequels are actually really quite fucking good actually. They're bleak and funny and mundane and sentimental in parts because a group of believable and likeable mates going through the fag end of Thatcherism probably should be all of those things if it's going to resonate at all. I think that the cries of sentimentalism can also be somewhat levelled at those who don't like the way that it shifts from the film being about men and male crisis to the series largely being about women. Maybe it hammers the notes of being culturally literate (the montages that prefigure each series, the various zeitgeists each character seems to represent) too hard at times but that's nitpicking.

The only thing of his I didn't like was the one his did for Eurostar - Somers Town - and even that wasn't awful. A Good Director.

Bogbrainedmurphy

I like most of his stuff, DMS blew me away when I first saw it and I still enjoy it though some people I know detest it for many of the reasons I actually liked it in the first place! They see abysmal acting and terrible script whereas I see gritty realism.

Love TIE and very much enjoyed the series but did have some problems with it not least them turning two of the most hateful characters in the film into a cuddly comedy double act in the series.

And the final Combo scenes were properly harrowing to watch.

lipsink

I've enjoyed all the TIE TV stuff but I kinda wish he'd just stop pissing about and make another great movie.

phantom_power

I liked This Is England TV (though I haven't seen '90 yet) but it did get a bit bleak in parts, and I felt a bit funny about it using rape as an easy source of drama. Dead Man's Shoes, Room for Romeo Brass and This is England: The Film are fucking brilliant though

wooders1978

Tv show is most definitely ok and well worth checking out if you've not bothered (pretty sure it's on Netflix) - a lot better than a lot of the shite around a the moment

Anyway back to dead mans shoes - I always felt that Richard was just psycotic due to war trauma or some other trauma and just was a complete mental i.e. talking to his brother, the quick mood switches that the first lad (the "was that for me" - forgiven, then stabbed lad) was primarily the victim of

Bazooka

Yeah all his films are spot on, TIE 90 was a bit boring to me, minus the Combo/Milky stuff.

Noodle Lizard

Quote from: madhair60 on January 21, 2019, 11:33:11 AM
Because I'm thick, can someone explain the ending where Richard says his brother was an "embarrassment" to him? Is that reframing his actions as a result of his own guilt for his feelings towards Anthony, cos otherwise it's a BIT ODD. I thought all that was just his way of confronting Last Fella Whose Name I Forget with his own dehumanising of Anthony, but apparently it's sincere. I'm a bit confused

It's been a minute since I've watched it, but I took it to be a result of guilt, which I think made the ending all the more powerful than a simple revenge thriller - especially since the twist proper was fairly obvious to anyone who's been around a while.  The fact that he was motivated by guilt stemming from his own shame and neglect of his brother added a really interesting dimension to the character.

hermitical

Shit claim to fame - the school I went to was used in the film of TIE.
My time period as well. Not enough grebs, we were written out of history, Dono's just down the road....

Brundle-Fly

I saw TIE at the cinema and thought it was brilliant. Got chatting with an old punk herbert market trader in Camden Town who'd just seen the film that week too. He also loved it... except for the very end. "Chucking the Union Jack in the sea? Ruined it for me that".  Talk about missing the point. I suspect he thought Jimmy throwing his scooter off Beachyhead at the end of Quadrophenia (1979) was a let down too?

Dex Sawash

Jimmy chucked Sting's scooter off the cliff which is a letdown when you consider he could've chucked Sting off too.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on January 21, 2019, 10:39:20 PM
It's been a minute since I've watched it, but I took it to be a result of guilt, which I think made the ending all the more powerful than a simple revenge thriller - especially since the twist proper was fairly obvious to anyone who's been around a while. The fact that he was motivated by guilt stemming from his own shame and neglect of his brother added a really interesting dimension to the character.
I forget which paper it was, but Dead Man's Shoes garnered one of the best shit reviews I've ever read. The reviewer seemed to miss all of the psychological drama and just thought it was all some sort of Death Wish style macho fantasy, designed to make Considine look tough. The character is basically a slasher movie villain, which is made fairly explicit when he menaces his quarry while wearing the freaky gas mask.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Dex Sawash on January 22, 2019, 12:41:57 PM
Jimmy chucked Sting's scooter off the cliff which is a letdown when you consider he could've chucked Sting off too.

Ah, that's right, I forgot Jimmy's scooter got murdered by a postman earlier in the film.

kidsick5000

Quote from: Noodle Lizard on January 21, 2019, 10:39:20 PM
It's been a minute since I've watched it, but I took it to be a result of guilt, which I think made the ending all the more powerful than a simple revenge thriller - especially since the twist proper was fairly obvious to anyone who's been around a while.  The fact that he was motivated by guilt stemming from his own shame and neglect of his brother added a really interesting dimension to the character.

There's that element of "I can slag off my family/town/country, but the moment someone else dares do the same, I'm going for them."
Obviously there's also the possibility that he stayed away for longer than was necessary, preferring his far flung army posting, deliberately avoiding having to be with his brother, adding to the guilt.

I'm going to have to watch this again. I'm amazed it hasn't been optioned for some big US remake, especially since it has some western tropes.

Sebastian Cobb

The TV series was good and watchable.

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands though.

Jerzy Bondov

When I saw the bit at the start of Dead Man's Shoes when he's sitting there staring at the bloke and he goes 'what the fuck you lookin at' and he just goes 'YOU YA CUNT' I thought, ah this is my favourite film ever made. When he goes back out and apologises it moved up a few notches more. Fucking great.

MiddleRabbit

Room For Romeo Brass was great: 'Sorry lads, I can't destroy you today; I'm too busy,'

His film about The Stone Roses was appalling though.  I was 18 when TSR came out and I was ripe for it, I loved everything about them, even though I've had no issues about wearing a tie for work, even though I followed them around in 1988-89.  Not in a stalkery way, I just went to a lot of their gigs and watched them go from getting about fifteen people to about 6000.  I was pleased and felt mildly superior to the Johnny come latelys in that way you (alright, I) do at that age.  It felt like the world was changing for the better and they were just the vanguard.  They weren't.  Second Coming killed me.  I felt embarrassed to have been at the newsagents every Wednesday morning for the past five years, hoping for news of their comeback. 

Maybe he didn't have editorial control or something, I don't know, but it was the worst kind of hagiography.  Just shit.  I also didn't go to any of their reunion concerts and I'm glad I didn't, having seen that, evidently, they didn't know what it was that made them special either.  I'm beginning to think that I might have had the wrong idea all along.  They should have asked me.

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: Jerzy Bondov on January 23, 2019, 09:14:49 AM
When I saw the bit at the start of Dead Man's Shoes when he's sitting there staring at the bloke and he goes 'what the fuck you lookin at' and he just goes 'YOU YA CUNT' I thought, ah this is my favourite film ever made. When he goes back out and apologises it moved up a few notches more. Fucking great.

It had me when Smog's Vessel In Vain was used on the opening credits. I liked it earlier than you did.

Funcrusher

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on January 23, 2019, 10:46:15 AM
It had me when Smog's Vessel In Vain was used on the opening credits. I liked it earlier than you did.

Also has a track by Dangermouse on the soundtrack I recall, so ahead of the curve there.

Jerzy Bondov

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on January 23, 2019, 10:46:15 AM
It had me when Smog's Vessel In Vain was used on the opening credits. I liked it earlier than you did.
I can't imagine deciding whether I like a film or not before I've found out if anyone says cunt in it

Great soundtrack

DrGreggles

If you like Dean Man's Shoes AND the Brian Gittins & Friends podcast:
https://youtu.be/7epbeCNnwOE

lebowskibukowski

I don't think I remember a single minute of Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee which isn't the best recommendation. Dead Man's Shoes was great, though.

phantom_power

It was alright. The only Meadows film I struggled with was Once Upon a Time... but that might have been because I had too high expectations after loving Romeo Brass so much

magval

Le Donk's a great film, very funny. Loved Somers Town as well. I've not seen his first two in so long I can't remember them. Midlands was shite. Romeo Brass is probably best. Aw Ladine.

phantom_power

I remember 24-7 being very good but haven't seen it in a long time, and it does have Corden in it.

His short films Where's the Money Ronnie and Small Time are both good as well, if a bit ramshackle

Sebastian Cobb

I'd put Dead Man's shoes as his best, but Romeo Brass is ace.

He's definitely had a hand in Paddy Considine and Vicky McLure's success. It's a symbiotic thing though, they've done better work since.