SHAME (2011)

Michael Fassbender lives in NYC. He has a high paying job, an swank apartment and a massive sexual addiction that's bordering on crippling. This dude is all about sex. He's nonstop surfing porn and jacking off, banging whores like it's going out of style and in the peaceful moments between all the stroking and pumping, he's eyeballing every woman that walks by. Of course, it helps that he's handsome as fuck and has a cush job. If he was some fucked up Ottis Toole-looking motherfucker it'd be a totally different story, but let's leave that to somebody else to direct. Because what director/co-writer Steve McQueen has captured here is a riveting glimpse of a outwardly normal man who is severely fucked up inside.  He's haunted by past demons. We're not told what they are, but it clearly has something to do with his childhood, so when his younger sister unexpectedly shows up it drives him to the edge...and maybe over? Well, you just have to see for yourself.

I cannot rave about SHAME enough. I enjoyed it from beginning to end.  The acting, the direction, the cinematography, hell even the lighting was awesome...and the original score! It was was perfect. No music in the world could have captured that moment on the subway better than it did. I literally watched that scene like six times times. I was in movie heaven. So how is it that a film that can transport a grouchy movie nerd like me to movie heaven be completely overlooked by the Academy Awards last year? I have no clue. There had to be some kind of weird disqualification or something. Because, in my opinion, SHAME should have had a number of nominations. Including a Best Actor award for Michael Fassbender. He was already robbed for FISH TANK, so they owe him.

In conclusion, if THE WAR ZONE and MYSTERIOUS SKIN were brother and sister and they were forced by their father, AMERICAN PSYCHO, to have sex and have a baby, the baby would be SHAME. Watch it and you'll see what I'm getting at.

I hate it when people spell cum "come". Stephen King does that and it makes me mental.

KILLER'S KISS (1955)

A washed-up boxer lives in a low rent apartment and although he knows better, he gets involved with a local taxi dancer who is nothing but bad news. She's not a bad person, but the thug who owns the taxi dance hall she works at has the hots for her and he's not above sexually assaulting women or having his men beat the crap out of anybody who gets in his way.

KILLER"S KISS is rough around the edges and a little slow to start, but when you consider Director/Writer/Editor/Cinematographer/Producer Stanley Kubrick was only 26 when he made this film with $40 grand he borrowed from his uncle it's quite a remarkable film.  Especially when you compare it to other micro-budget Noirs of the time. (BLAST OF SILENCE I'm looking at you motherfucker, but not for too long cause I'll fall asleep.) Also, Kubrick was smart enough (although it was probably related to the low budget) to keep the entire thing a tight 67 minutes instead of padding it out.

But is it worth watching? Ehh, probably not. If you want to see Kubrick's beginnings to compare to the masterpieces he would make just a few years later then yes, but you're not really missing anything if you decide to skip it. If you only got time to watch one 67 minute film noir in your life then I say watch DETOUR instead.