Brawl In Cell Block 99 with Vince Vaughn

I watched this a couple weeks and really enjoyed it. 92 from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Great performance by Vince Vaughn, I gotta say. Anyone else catch this movie?

Brawl in Cell Block 99

 

The wife and I watched it. We thought it was really good but not for the squeamish. There are some brutal scenes so be aware before you watch it.

 

My wife saw it in the theater. She was literally the only person there.

 

Slow start, but not bad.

 

Kind of a tip of the hat to the Grindhouse stuff. I liked it.

 

The title kinda makes you think it would be a really bad movie!

 

The title makes me think that it would be a genre movie about a brawl. In cellblock 99. Genre movies can be good or bad, but yeah - the vast majority are going to be bad. But you'll miss out on some terrific movies if you reject them on that basis. How many people would have loved Fight Club but stayed away because they thought it was just a film about a club, where people fight?

 

True enough. I know that I originally shied away from Freaks & Geeks because of its name, and that turned out to be absolutely awesome.

 

Just saw this the other day. Little over the top for me. Was okay. Surprised to see how much the critics liked this.

 

I liked it. Very Banshee-ish fight scenes.

 

Roger Ebert always said you have to judge a film by it's intentions. A film like Brawl In Cellblock 99 is trying to tell an entertaining story about the eponymous event and shouldn't be judged with the same criteria as a Win Wenders film.

 

Same director that did "Bone Tomahawk" did this one. S. Craig Zahler. He incorporates some weird elements into his movies. His next one is supposed to feature Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn in some kind of cop drama.

 

Loved Bone Tomahawk( bone tomahawk 2?),

 

Craig was my favorite writer for Metal Maniacs Magazine in early 2000s. I bought a lot of CDs blindly off his reviews, interviews, and top 10 lists.

 

Doubtful they'll be a BT2.

I read his bio sometime back. I knew he was into metal, but didn't realize he wrote reviews. He writes some of the music for his movies. I think the ending theme for BT was done by him (it's not very good )

 

Spoiler: not for the squeamish, enter at own risk

I found the predicament his wife was put into a bit way too over the top. A procedure to go in pre-birth and cut the arms off of her baby? I found that just too weird, not as part of the film (because the whole movie is over the top) but that someone actually thought that up and wrote it into a script.

 

You don't talk about fight club

 

Cell Block.

Ending wasn't that great, exploding wtf.. QT homage?

 

There’s a lots of his reviews and intereviews about his metal reviewing days to check out here:
S. Craig Zahler | Worm Gear

 

Spoiler

Yeah, “abortionist” deal is one of the weird aspects I referenced with Zahler movies. As you say, way over the top. Portions of “Bone Tomahawk” were equally absurd/pushing the limits

 

This guy's movies, for me, are a good gauge to measure that my sensitivities have changed with age. In my 20s I would have loved this stuff and would have watched it over and over. Not that I was a freak, but I had more extreme tastes then. Even now, when I know his movies are going to be f-ed up I can't not watch them. I'm eager to see the next one.... but, I don't own or don't need to watch them again.

It's kind of like the band Carcass. In my 20s, the first three albums got the most listen. Now though, it's all Heartwork and (gasp) Swansong

 

Heh, those two Carcass albums are my go to’s as well.

I understand what you’re saying about his movies though I’ll admit I’ve watched both several times. I like weird vibe of “Bone Tomahawk”; it’s a horror western and you don’t see many movies like it. “Brawl” was more Grindhouse (as I said above) and, frankly, silly, but still fun.

Maybe it’s me, but Vince Vaughn doesn’t appeal to me as a serious actor. As a big tough guy? He is a tall dude, but his physique isn’t that impressive. Still kudos to him for the role. I understand he had to learn a lot of hand to hand fighting for the movie and worked hard at it.

The camp factor of his performance was underrated. He’s better in comedic roles, IMO.

 

I thought Vaughn was good in it just because of his size. I didn't realize he was that damn big. Sure, hes not ripped up but for that, it would've been who? The Rock maybe? Wouldn't have worked, imo. One of the badies in Block 99 was in Banshee and they made him look huge, in that show. Vaughn made him look like a dwarf. I hate when they do that, make the smallest dude look huge. I think Vaughn was perfect for that.

I had Bone Tomahawk in my hand at Target, but didn't pull the trigger. Richard Jenkins was babbling so much, in it, I'd love to just hear what he's saying again. Plus, Lili Simmons was so hot.

Hey.... she's from Banshee too. Is there a connection?

 

How have I missed this thread ? Own the Blu ray.

 

Thanks for the tip ! Dragged Across Concrete (2018) - IMDb

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