Dog Eat Dog

2/23/2018

***Quirky black comedy/crime thriller about three hardcore thugs in Cleveland*** Directed by the renowned Paul Schrader, this stars Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe & Christopher Matthew Cook as the friends who are in-and-out of prison and get gigs from mafiosos, including one that smacks of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. Schrader's films are often preoccupied with Christian religion and sexual obsession (porn, strip joints, prostitution, nudity, etc.), as verified by "Hardcore,” "Cat People" (1982) and "Auto Focus.” You can expect the same with "Dog Eat Dog" except that it mixes dark amusement with its urban drama, sleaze and crime thrills. The movie's brutal, funny, ugly and quirky, but with a spiritual thread underneath it all. The three protagonists aren’t people you’d want to k

6/20/2020

_Dog Eat Dog_ ain't too trash, but it is pretty hard to believe that this came from the same dude who made _First Reformed_. There is absolutely not so much as a single character in this that the audience can be expected to like, and though of course no filmmaker is obligated to make enjoyable characters, it is pretty tough to slog through a >90min runtime of back-to-back bastards. _Final rating:★★½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didn’t quite work as a whole._