DVDs A Prophet the Next Godfather Yep it is That Good

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JANUARY 8, 2011 FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD GREEN FOOD TRAVEL TECH LIVING HEALTH DIVORCE ARTS BOOKS RELIGION IMPACT EDUCATION COLLEGE NY LA CHICAGO DENVER BLOGS Michael Giltz Freelance writer and raconteur Posted: August 13, 2010 03:06 PM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index 4 3 views 0 21Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyDVDs: A Prophet the Next Godfather ? Yep, it's That Good What's Your Reaction: Read More: A Prophet , Barack Obama , Comic Books , Diary Of a Wimpy Kid , Dvds , Graphic Novels , Jersey Shore , Kick-Ass , Movies , Nicolas Cage , Roman Polanski , Snooki , The Situation , Entertainment News It's been more than a year since I first saw A Prophet ($38.96 BluRay or $27.96 regular DVD; Sony Pictures Classics) at the Cannes Film Festival. Repeated viewings over a long period of time have only reinforced my first impression: This film is a masterpiece. Obviously, it won't have the same cultural impact as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather . But it deserves the comparison. Both launched a very talented director (Jacques Audiard) into the stratosphere. Both featured star-making performances (Tahar Rahim). And both are nuanced, emotionally gripping, and above all, wildly entertaining. MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOSTBIG NEWS: Celebrity Skin | Jersey Shore | Ellen Degeneres | Celebrity Body | Smarter Ideas | More... LOG IN | SIGN UP SHARE THIS STORY Get Entertainment Alerts Email Comments 21 More Dead Birds, Fish Found Across The World Camille Grammer's Porn Past Comes Back To Haunt Her Elizabeth Edwards' Will Revealed Intestinal Parasites May Be Causing Your Energy Slump Rudeness Is A Neurotoxin Should The Leader Of The Free World Dress Like THIS? BECK IN TROUBLE? Dropped From New York Radio Station, TV Ratings Fall Thousands Of Birds Found Dead In Italy Recommend 66K Like 721 Recommend 544 Like 587 Like 7K Like 520 Like 6K Recommend It's the story of a seemingly harmless young man sent to prison for some unknown crime. Within minutes, it seems, he's entered a horror zone where men attack and beat him with impunity. Soon, one of the strong men of the prison -- the Corsican leader Cesar (Niels Arestrup) -- is demanding our heroMalik (Rahim) kill another prisoner slated to testify in court. Malik is a mutt, of sorts, and can passbetween many groups but is despised by all. The Muslims see him as Corsican, the Corsicans see him as a dirty Arab, the gypsies see him as weak, the guards don't see him at all and when he's beaten there is no one to help. Will Malik commit the murder? Will he become hardened and cruel or get eaten alive orsomehow survive but maintain his humanity? That's the question that drives this engrossing and terrificfilm. We know Malik is smart. He takes advantage of the prison school and learns how to read and write; he picks up Corsican just by listening to the men talk. And when he peeks into the Muslim prayer service, we wonder: Is Malik being drawn to faith or just trying to make inroads on another group that might be ableto protect him? Co-writer and director Jacques Audiard has made some very good films this decade. Read My Lips was a fun thriller about a deaf woman partnering with her lover to pull off a crime. The Beat That My Heart Skipped was an unlikely remake of the cult film Fingers by James Toback that surpassed the original. But this film is a major leap forward. It's visually gripping, with shadowy passages interspersed throughout the film where all we see is a fuzzy glimpse of what is happening or might be happening soon. (Don't forget the title of the film is A Prophet .) And the score is sparely used and very effective: At key moments, the theme overwhelms the action and transports Malik from a man goingabout his furtive business to a person taking charge of his destiny. You don't want to miss it. KICK-ASS ($39.99 BluRay; $29.95 regular DVD; Lionsgate) -- What a loopy pleasure, highlighted by the unexpected casting of Brit Aaron Johnson as a nerdy would-be superhero and genuine discoveryChloe Grace Moretz who does indeed kick ass as the real deal. As the R rating makes clear, this is not for kiddies because the violence is real and shocking, a point driven home by having much of it instigated by a foul-mouthed little girl. Based on a comic book I haven't read, it features Johnson as a kid whowonders why no one has ever tried to be a caped crusader. His one venture becomes a YouTube sensation, which quickly makes him a target for real bad guys. Moretz is the daughter of Nicolas Cage (doing a wicked send-up of Adam West), a man obsessed with vengeance who has trained her to becomea killing machine. It all has far more emotional heft than the costumes and goofy masks might indicate, though it's never so serious that the inherent nuttiness gets overshadowed. An oddball treat. 1 of 5 Dylan Ratigan Free Market Fraud Sen. Jon Tester Tester Pushes to Reform Senate Rules With Greater Transparency, EfficiencyDON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS HOT TRENDS camille grammer lady gaga natalie portman pregnant raven- symone snooki naked More Celebrity News at People.com John Edwards Spokesman Denies Rumored Proposal To Rielle Hunter Like 4K History Channel Won't Show Katie Holmes Miniseries The Kennedys READ MORE Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo to Guest Star on Hawaii Five-0 READ MORE Lindsay Lohan's Post- Rehab Gift: a $25,000 Necklace READ MORE Salma Hayek's Red Bikini Stands Out in St. Barts Lea Michele's Diva Behavior Strikes Again DIARY OF A WIMPY KID ($39.99 BluRay or $29.98 regular DVD; FOX) -- Unlike Kick-Ass, this is definitely fare for the kiddies... and no one else. Spun off from the graphic novels and quite faithful as our hero, Greg suffers through his taunting older brother (an amusing Devon Bostick from TV's DeGrassi:The Next Generation), a dorky best friend he abandons and then learns to value as one would expect andthat dreaded piece of stinky cheese that lurks in the playground. Director Thor Freudenthal (what a name!) modestly hints at the movie's origins with a few brief scenes begun in an artificial background drawn in the style of Jeff Kinney's books). It's a shame he didn't push that even further since it's the onlydistinctive element in the movie. Otherwise, Zachary Gordon is fine as Greg, but the travails of a middleschool kid follow such a familiar pattern it's hard to get caught up in them unless you're actually in middle school. THE GHOST WRITER ($40.99 BluRay and $26.99 regular DVD; Summit) -- Ewan McGregor plays a ghostwriter who is hired to pen the memoirs of a Tony Blair-like former PM ( Pierce Brosnan). Entering the hermetic world of this former world leader is a little like being placed under glass: McGregor soon runs out of oxygen and so can't think clearly as the PM's wife begins to flirt and details of an apparent suicide by an aide point more and more towards murder. McGregor is disillusioned! Shadowy forces areat work! If that sounds trite and dull, I've done my work. Roman Polanski's direction is competent but nothing more.TOP VIDEO PICKS Kourtney K.'s Stunning Bikini Bod Jane Krakowski RevealsBaby Bump Bristol Palin's New RadioGig? 1 of 8 MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW HOT ON FACEBOOK HOT ON TWITTER Death & Dying CPAC Katie HolmesHUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES More Celebrity News at Popeater.com Natalie Portman: I Was 'Barely Eating' During 'Black Swan' 381 Comments PHOTOS: Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi's Exotic Vacation 189 Comments PHOTOS: Raven- Symone's Dramatic Weight Loss 479 Comments PHOTOS: Olivia Wilde Dons See-Through Bikini 95 Comments Beastie Boys Rapper Beats Cancer 83 Comments Ashton Kutcher: Training, Paranoid About Real Life 'End Of Days' 903 CommentsPetra Nemcova Engaged toBritish ActorAndy Samberg, Johnny Knoxville To Star In... J-Woww: I Was Under Anesthesia When Ex... HuffPost Review: Season of the Witch... Nicolas Cage Explains Hair, Plays Out Childhood... JERSEY SHORE UNCENSORED: SEASON ONE ($19.99; Paramount) -- When President Barack Obama was on The View , he said he was aware that Lindsay Lohan had gone to jail but sheepishly admitted he had no clue who Snooki was. Hopefully someone on his staff has informed the President that Lohan is now out of jail and into rehab and then they placed this DVD set into his hands. The price isright but this sort of reality TV is utterly disposable: It's only worth discussing an hour or two after theshow has aired. (And season two is proving just as popular as season one.) So the only reason for the DVD set is the extras: Here you get dating advice from The Situation along with other tips from Snooki, deleted scenes, some modest "uncensored" inclusions of curse words and derogatory gay terms and castcommentary, which amounts to witless stating of the obvious about their earlier witless actions. Not afan, can you tell? But well-stocked with extras for those who care. ***** Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews. NOTE: Michael Giltz is provided with free copies of DVDs to consider for review. He typically does not guarantee coverage and invariably receives far more screeners and DVDs than he can cover each week. Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz Related News On Huffington Post: 'Captain Underpants' Author Dav Pilkey Expands Children's Book Empire With 'The Adventures of Ook and Gluk'His new graphic novel, "The Adventures of Ook and Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen From the Future," published Aug. 10, continues the ritual Pilkey started with Captain... 'Jersey Shore's' Snooki Can't Trademark Her Name: Why? Kid's Book Is In The WayThe star of the hit MTV show, Jersey Shore is making headlines again -- but this time it is purely over her name. Snooki is... More in Entertainment... Harry Reid Wikileaks Pollster CES 2011 Twitter LA Restaurants MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » FOLLOW HUFFINGTON POST Comments 21 Pending Comments 0View FAQ 0 Fans Follow 21 Fans 59 Fans 21 Fans 13 FansI am not sure I agree that Prophet will be the next GODFATHER ! I do agree that Kick-Ass is well "A Kick-Ass Movie" Diary of a Wimp Kid was a good family movie, sort of takes me back to "HowTo Eat Fried Worms" which my 5 1/2 and 4 year old love and have watched at least five times inthe last year. http://www .dvddealst op.com I just watched The Prophet, which I got from Netflix partly on the basis of this review, and partlybecause it's one of the higher rated new flicks of the type of flick I tend to like at Netflix. The next Godfather? Not even close. There's no comparison . I'll rate The Prophet 3 out of 5 stars at Netflix, which is the rating I give any movie that I consider good but no more than just good. It was too long (2 hours, 35 minutes), not nearly as violent as I anticipate d (not even in the same ballpark as The Godfather and Scarface as far as criminal violence goes), and if I don't think I'd have missed out onanything if I hadn't seen it. The next Godfather, you've got to be kidding (or insane or really stoned). Thanks for commenting . At least you didn't think it was a waste of your time. I don't throw comparison s around that lightly. I may be wrong, but I doubt I've compared another film to The Godfather since GoodFellas . So at least you know I'm wrong, but sincere. Hi Michael, It wasn't a waste of my time. I did see a parallel between the part ofThe Godfather Part II where Di Niro as the young Don Corleone rises to power anddeals with the bullying, older Don Fanucci. The Prophet has grown on me since Isaw it, BTW. Also, I regretted my tone immediatel y after posting my first comment (but there's no way to edit or delete comments once posted and I didn't bother to preview it and think about what I wrote before posting) and I apologize to you for it. I mean that sincerely, and do know that you are sincere in your review. Thanks for replying to my kind of mean-spiri ted post! Just a quick note; My wife read this review and went out and rented 'A Prophet' As soon as the homosexual references (about 5 minutes in) started she turned it off.I watched a little more after she went to sleep and thought the violence was a little too much...If your into that stuff this might be for you, If not you will waste your dollar at the red box and yourRecency | Popularity dvddealstop 10:55 PM on 8/22/2010 Permalink | Share it Dhampir 12:01 AM on 8/18/2010 Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz 01:40 PM on 8/20/2010 Permalink | Share it Dhampir 02:58 PM on 8/20/2010 Permalink | Share it aaaarrrggg 02:22 PM on 8/15/2010Comments are closed for this entry View All 59 Fans 13 Fans 49 Fans 562 Fans 159 Fans time. It's always a good idea to check out the ratings for a film and other descriptio ns to see if it's right for you. Movies I recommend to my mom I don't always recommend to my dad. Movies I recommend to my born again Christian friend who loves movies will sometimescome with the caveat "not for your wife." Like The Godfather, A Prophet is very violent.There is no sex in the film whatsoever -- unless you count the threat of rape -- either gay orstraight, nor are there gay characters of any note. Your wife might like Toy Story 3 but notlike the more coolly intellectu al Inception (both among the best of the year). Scott Pilgrim Vs The World will surely appeal mostly to kids who grew up immersed in video games, etc.Glancing at my review again, I think I made clear this is a very violent film -- prison filmsusually are. But at the very least she deserves credit for being adventurou s -- not everyone would even try to watch a French prison film. Hopefully she'll keep that spirit and just be alittle more proactive in avoiding the movies with violence or themes she doesn't care for. Thanks for the reply. She really did base her rental strictly on the headline of yourarticle, not the content. The other two factors were the 'religious title' and the 4stars on the advertisem ent for the film. She didn't even know it was a 'prison' film! She turned it off as soon as the guy said he would give hash for a B J... I guessthats all the s e xual content she could stand! (poor me:()! I was fortunate enough to recently see big screen at the local indie house cinema both The GhostWriter and A Prophet. The way movies are meant to be seen. and will say, say want you want about Roman Polanski's legal issues, The Ghost Writer can only be defined as 'now THAT is movie making'. Very suspensefu l and well-done. I walked out with the "Well, that was a rare treat' attitude. Don't get that from most movies nowadays. Now A Prophet, enjoyed it immensely as well, but it is basically a violent prison movie that happens to involve an Arab youth in a French prison and not sure about The Godfather thing, I read thebook and saw the movies, and quite frankly, did not think they were all that. Yeah, I know, historically they are supposed to be TheGreates t, but I did not get that feeling while watching them, in fact, possibly as a result of reading the book beforehand , I was extremely bored in the later movies. but yes, A Prophet is highly recommende d, agreed. Thanks for the info!!!!! Will look for the movie. Thanks for the recommenda tion. I'll check out A Prophet.Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz 10:32 AM on 8/16/2010 Permalink | Share it aaaarrrggg 10:51 AM on 8/17/2010 Permalink | Share it Chaling 09:05 AM on 8/15/2010 Permalink | Share it mamacat 01:25 PM on 8/14/2010 Permalink | Share it Rozanna 11:57 AM on 8/14/2010 Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST SUPER USER735 Fans Follow 261 Fans 70 Fans 498 Fans 153 Fans 228 Fans 56 Fans No films for thinking adults, I see..... Did you miss the review of The Prophet above? Saw Audiard's 'A Prophet' in London and it was brilliant. A wonderful modern look at organized crime through the aggressive and divisive prison grounds of France. With immigratio n and hostility towards and amongst foreigners it was wonderful lens with which to view crime, punishment and theelusive grasp of redemption . This film along with the engaging 'I've Loved You for so Long' and Steve McQueen's 'Hunger' make for restoring the urgency of going to the movies and seeing film. I thought the cinema was dying an agonizing death of mediocrity and devoid of creative light until those films. Rich, engaging and with much to say. Also it breathed life into a genre that seemsunable to update itself with anything other than flat lifeless imitations . Run to see 'A Prophet'- it was robbed of an Oscar win but it's surely a classic. Also Arestrup was soooo wickedly good. A truefind. I actually thought the Godfather was a plague I was forced to endure not once but three times. Based on that I will wait until the Prophet comes out on TMC in 4 or 5 years. So you were forced to see all three Godfathers . I totally agree with you on 'A Prophet', its the best film I've seen in a while. Try to watch it in thebest venue that you can. I just saw it 2 weeks ago at the NZ Internatio nal Film Festival, such a good film, wow. No, I like it that my President doesn't waste his valuable time finding our who Snooki is. Honey, your fifteen minutes is uplmommadona 11:23 PM on 8/13/2010 Permalink | Share it TheBaffler 04:32 AM on 8/14/2010 Permalink | Share it PelePele10 08:35 PM on 8/13/2010 Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST SUPER USER ScreenName05 06:45 PM on 8/13/2010 Permalink | Share it Gasparilla 09:51 AM on 8/15/2010 Permalink | Share it sLegal 05:50 PM on 8/13/2010 Permalink | Share it Unrepentantliberal 04:58 PM on 8/13/2010 Permalink | Share it pastgone 04:48 PM on 8/13/2010244 Fans 261 Fans 59 Fans 59 FansAll right: remember this name: Michael Glitz. Because if you pay cash money in any form to see "A Prophet", and you did so based on this article, you just got bamboozled . "A Prophet" is a somewhat decent film. In no way, no how, not any chance it's as good as this guy says it is. No way. Not evenclose. I'd give it a three out of five. And I'm being generous. "The Godfather" ? Please. That's so far-fetche d it's actually scary. Remember the name: Michael Glitz. You can't trust him. Trust me. He give reasons why he liked it; you give none for disliking it, and merely ask that we take your word for it. His argument is more persuasive , insofar as you don't even offer a counterarg ument. I'll watch it and judge for myself. I mean, consensus. See, I can't even type. Sorry you didn't enjoy the film more.What have been your favorites of the year so far? People definitely find reviewers whose tastes match their own and reviewers who don't. Therecommenda tion of Roger Ebert appeals to some while David Denby of The New Yorker appeals to others. But you'll never agree with anyone 100% of the time so I hope you don'treject any one person just because of one review. Sometimes the most interestin g discussion s I have with movie friends is over the films we don't agree on. (The latest topic: Alfred Hitchcock' s 3-D movie Dial M For Murder which I think is a bore.) What I tend to do with reviews is see what a broad group says: if a lot of different critics say good things about Inception, it's clearly worth checking out, even if I don't end up loving it. The fact that the Wall Street Journal said "Like The Godfather, A Prophet serves up crime as a metaphor for life and power" in a rave, that Rolling Stone gave it four stars and called it "a triumph ofthe highest order, a new crime classic," that the New York Times said it was "sensation al" and that it was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar doesn't mean I'm right and you'rewrong. It just means that enough good outlets (not counting me) said this movie was greatand worth your time checking out. http://www .metacriti c.com/movi e/a-prophe t/critic-r eviews Metacritic is good for checking out the concensus. FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD GREEN FOOD TRAVEL TECH LIVING HEALTH DIVORCE ARTS BOOKS RELIGION IMPACT EDUCATION COLLEGE NY LA CHICAGO DENVER BLOGS Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ | Contact Us User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.Permalink | Share it TheBaffler 04:34 AM on 8/14/2010 Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz 10:44 AM on 8/16/2010 Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST BLOGGER Michael Giltz 10:43 AM on 8/16/2010 Permalink | Share it

DVDs A Prophet the Next Godfather Yep it is That Good

📄 DVDs A Prophet the Next Godfather Yep it is That Good

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