Cheap Sexy Beast (DVD) (Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley) (Jonathan Glazer) Price

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Customer Reviews of Sexy Beast

The Man in me will do---nearly any Task
Gary "Gal" Dove has found bliss in retirement; Nirvana in the sun-drenched blistering heat of the Costa Del Sol, Spain. His hillside villa is a billion miles away from his old life: safe-cracker and thug in gloomy old England. <
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>Within seconds of landing into the arid, teeming battleground of "Sexy Beast", we see Gal Dove (Ray Winstone, ying to Ben Kingsley's yang---see below) supine, 250 pounds of Yorkshire fat, happily simmered and broiled, and long-relaxed muscle, happily slack upon his lounger, baking by the pool. <
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>Happy. Reflective. Content. <
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>He lumbers up from his lounge-chair, snug in a Euro nad-hugger speedo (as only a happy man can carry off without shame), and starts to launch his portly bulk into the pool. Seconds before he does, a boulder, tumbling from the Andalusian heights, thunders inches away from him into the pool. <
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>That's what they call Foreshadowing. <
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>The boulder, of course, is the Emissary of the Devil, already on its way to Gal Dove's retreat. The Name of this particular Devil is Don Logan (Ben Kingsley, the very incarnation of Rage and the movie's black heart), and he does Hell a credit.Stop the tape a second. Don Logan shows up at Dove's Spanish villa, maybe hours after the boulder pays its respects to Gal's swimming pool. <
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>Logan is preceded by the Dread Black Spectre of his Reputation: everybody Dove knows---his wife and former porn star DeeDee (Amanda Redman), his hapless gin-drenched mate Harry (James Fox), Harry's wife Jackie Julianne White)---all of them know Logan. His wrath is legendary. <
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>Sometimes, God knows, it's hard to say "no" to Don Logan. <
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>Now: you see this flick for three reaons: 1) Ben Kingsley 2) Ben Kingsley 3) Ben Kingsley. When Kingsley's off the screen, frankly, you can turn off the DVD and go to sleep. Well, you'll wanna find out what happens, but Kingsley, one of the greatest actors of any age and doubly admirable, in my estimation, because he takes work whenever he can get it (from "Gandhi" to "Species", from "Schindler's List" to "Bloodrayne"---some sneer, I respect)---Kingsley electrifies. <
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>He owns "Sexy Beast", consumes it, dominates it with his legend before he enters the picture, stuns, terrifies, brutalizes, bullies his way into sheer and complete hegemony over every living soul on or off the screen when he's in the picture. Don Logan rules, and Kingsley brings him to life: this skinny, wiry, muscular, tattooed, aggressively in-your-face bald, snapping, hyper-kinetic little creature of hate and hell and fury. <
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>He runs "Sexy Beast", he owns this movie: and---he demands---on the part of his crime boss---that Dove return to the world of crime and hate and potential prison time for ONE LAST HEIST. <
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>You've heard that before? Good. Dove doesn't wanna go. Who would blame him? He's happy, for once in his life, and he's relatively safe. I lived for a while in Andalusia; I knew men like Gal Dove. Dove drinks. He lounges. He soaks up rays. He's plump, flabby, soft. You think he can stand up to Logan, the very incarnation of the blood-soaked and hungry-for-more avatar of War? <
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>You'll see. What's the butcher's bill for Paradise? <
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>Anything more than that and I'll spoil your fun: suffice it to say that when Kingsley is on-screen, the flick is electric; absent the sneering, snapping Logan, and things drag a bit---but they're still intriguing, in a "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" kind of way. But Kingsley brings this sick little gutter masterpiece to life: he makes you flinch. He is brutal, possessive, dangerous, monstrous, insanely funny. I'd hire him, or buy him a drink, or mebbe even befriend him, but then I'm as much a monster as he is. <
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>Truth is, Kingsley is so good, so brutal, so crackling with cruel insane energy, that he basically chews up the flick: he's like a Black Hole, draining everything else white. But it would be wrong to say the other members of the cast don't hold up: they do, in spades. You'll see. Winstone, particularly, is good; stoic, steady, oddly pathetic and noble. Ian McShane, of course, turns in a role as a mafioso sleaze. Dove, Harry, and pool-boy Enrique (the impossibly glorious Alvaro Monje) go hunting a rabbit; that same rabbit---with a few modifications and a better arsenal---returns to Gal Dove in dreams. The Hunter becomes the Hunted. <
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>Now that's a Sexy Beast. Indeed. <
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>JSG

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A movie about me
Sexy Beast is worth seeing just to watch Ben Kingsley get so incredibly angry, he nearly bites some dude. Outside of Kingsley though, and one other scary, intimidating guy, the movie itself is pretty blah. Overall, it's just a good actor showcase. How is this the same guy who played Ghandi?

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Sexy and Memorable
Gal (Ray Winstone) and DeeDee (Amanda Redman) are living a quiet, tranquil life of retirement in Spain. Gal is perfectly content to lay out and bake in the sun all day. Gal is a retired thief and is not happy to hear that an old acquaintance, Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), is traveling from London to convince him to help out with a 'job'. Upon his arrival, Don turns heaven into hell. Gal and DeeDee have to deal with the problem. <
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>"Sexy Beast", the new British film from first-time director Jonathan Glazer, is a promising debut. The director, reportedly one of the most sought after commercial directors, has a cinematic eye and composes very interesting shots. He does not fall into the trap of other former commercial-directors-turned-film-directors. He doesn't edit the film excessively. Scenes play out as they probably would in real life. He allows us to get to know the characters and to see what they are doing, gives us time to get into their skin. This is very helpful and effective. During the opening scenes, of Gal sunbathing, I could feel my skin heating up. <
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>Glazer does fall into a trap that is very common. He composes some shots in a way calculated to make them look interesting or pretty, forcing them to appear unnatural. uy Ritchie does this a lot, but his films have the feel of a cartoon and it becomes a part of the film. Glazer does some strange things with point of view which serve to pull the viewer out of the film. We see the action from the POV of a car door as it is closed, we see the action from the POV of a revolving door in a hotel as it turns, etc. POV is a tricky thing and needs to seem as though it is actually coming from someone. In these shots, no one is at this level, so the shots appear unnatural. <
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>Also, Glazer provides too many literal images. The audience is smart and it is more effective to leave things to the imagination. A critical plot point happens near the end of the second act. Just as it is about to happen, Glazer cuts away to a new scene in London. I was very surprised. The scene was very effective, leaving the consequences of the action, the consequences that we didn't see to my imagination. I was thinking that some very bad things happened. However, the remainder of this scene is intercut with parts of the next. I no longer needed to imagine anything as everything was portrayed for me. Not as effective. <
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>Kingsley and Winstone are the best things about the film. Kingsley is electrifying. Everything about Don is menacing. From the moment he fist appears, we get the image of a lifelong thief, a tough guy. Then Kingsley builds upon this, creating one of the most menacing characters I have seen in a long time. Every word out of his mouth is meant to hurt and harm, to cause damage. <
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>Winstone is just the opposite. Gal is a former gangster, and we get that immediately from his character, but he i very determined to live a new life. He has a wife, whom he obviously loves dearly, and he is very happy. Don threatens this life, but he manages to maintain his cool and stick by his guns. He has a quiet, steely resolve which proves very effective throughout the film. <
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>"Sexy Beast" is far from a great film, but there is enough going on to keep people interested and entertained. It also makes me eagerly anticipate Glazer's next film. Perhaps he will learn from his mistakes and create something very memorable. <
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