God's Pocket (2014)

How sad is this?

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie could have been something special. It was well cast, the plot was quirky and clever(at times), and the characters felt organic - like they belonged in 'God's Pocket'. It was definitely entertaining, and the story engaging, but it felt a bit rushed. I think the movie could have gone on another 25 minutes or so.There were also some serious plot holes. I won't spoil any details, but some characters' motivations made little sense, or COULD have made sense had they been given a bit more development. It all felt so unnatural at times. I can't speak for how faithful the movie is to the novel, but I don't imagine the author forcing things along that quickly unless it was a 150 page book aimed at a teenage audience...It screamed low budget at times, with modern vehicles abundant throughout (I think it was supposed to be the 70s/80s). Some fight scenes were incredibly cheesy as well, where a punch clearly misses, but renders the victim unconscious. Granted, these weren't major parts of the plot, but it might be distracting depending on how observant you are.5/10. Hoffman/Turturro were good as you'd expect, and it was definitely entertaining, but not something I'd recommend to a film buff.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film was this very strange blue collar drama set in the New York district of the title. It's closer to being a darkly surreal comedy than a drama, though the jokes seem to have been removed. It centres around the events, spread over 3 days, following the death of young lowlife Leon. He is killed by a fellow worker, an elderly black man whom Leon liked to taunt, but his death is passed off as an accident. Nothing about the picture seems 'realistic' except, perhaps, the milieu in which it is set.It's certainly well played by a very good cast but it also feels inconsequential. It was in part written by the actor John Slattery, who also directed, from a novel by Peter Dexter and is just too off-the-wall to be dismissed. It's a small picture that seems to want to be bigger and when it was over it left a somewhat acrid taste in my mouth.

A found this on Netflix streaming movies. I was anxious to see one more PS Hoffman movie.First a note about the title. There is a 3 square block area of mostly Irish-Americans in South Philadelphia called "Devil's Pocket", said to have originated with a local priest saying the neighborhood kids were so bad they would steal a chain out of the devil's pocket.So for this fictional story they used the name "God's Pocket" but it is a loose reference to the same area. The story involves men who steal to make their businesses profitable. For example Philip Seymour Hoffman as Mickey Scarpato runs a meat market but in one scene he and his friends intercept a refrigerated truck to steal the sides of beef. They don't seem like crooks, it is as if that is just a way to do business.The running theme in this movie involved Mickey's stepson mouthing off at work in his construction job and being killed by an older man hitting him with a pipe on the back of the head. Everyone lies and says it was an accident, a piece of equipment swung and hit him. But the mother, Christina Hendricks as Jeanie Scarpato, just "feels" that a cover-up in involved.This gets the local newspaper man involved, and he gets involved in more than the story. Then Mickey has an issue with the local mortician who convinces Jeanie that he needs the $6000 casket, for which Mickey can't pay. So the body ends up in the back of Mickey's refrigerated truck until he can somehow raise the cash.What makes the movie worthwhile is the script and the acting. It is a madcap, quirky, somewhat dark comedy, where the con men have to run off to Florida in the end and hope the cops never find them.

The acting is good. I only gave it a 6 out of 10 for other reasons. The story revolves around a couple of part time criminals named Mickey and Bird. Mickey has a kind of crazy son in law who wants to be a tough guy. At work he puts his knife to an old man's throat and threatens to kill him, and breaks the skin on his neck. The old man clubs him on the back of the skull, killing him. The cops are told a crane hook came loose and hit the kid in the back of the head. The kid's mom doesn't believe it happened that way, just from intuition. Mickey and Bird both gamble, both are short on money. Bird owes about 20 grand to a bookie. I will let you see the rest for yourself. One reviewer said this is a film about real people. I suppose. But I have to say I don't know any people like the ones depicted in this film. Just about everything these guys do is stupid and their lives are really screwed up. It's not just those two. The undertaker is screwy and a real jerk, the kid was a nut case, the journalist is an alcoholic who often fails to write his column because of his drinking. Just about every main character and most of the minor characters are screw balls. Even the hired muscle can't rough up a guy, they get their asses kicked instead. The writers use these glaring foibles to deliver the dark humor. It is very subtle. But this film is really more of a drama; to me, it isn't really a comedy. I have never run into people who screw up everything in their lives as much, make as many really stupid decisions, as the people in this film. I just don't find that funny in a drama. A lot of people do I guess. I tend not to like films with self destructing characters. So I gave it a six.