Movies Worth Seeing
Movies Worth Seeing is a comedy podcast presented by Aussie Michael Pisciuneri that explores and dissects all the best trending films and blockbuster releases. A big movie buff, Michael is an unconventional reviewer of all things movies. This podcast is for anyone sick of watching crappy movies and wants to only watch the best
Movies Worth Seeing
The Art of the Anti-Heist: Peering Beyond the Loot in "Sexy Beast"
What happens when a self-proclaimed 'sexy beast' is stripped of his bravado by a ghost from his old life? We dissect the transformation of our protagonist, whose veil of arrogance is torn away by Don's relentless pursuit, leading to a captivating exploration of power dynamics and masculinity. The film's dream sequences and the significant influence of the protagonist's wife drive our conversation further into the depths of the story's complex psychological landscape. You won't want to miss how we unfold the narrative's symbolism and dissect character arcs that mirror the struggle to sever ties with a life of crime.
Wrapping up, we shine a spotlight on Ben Kingsley's tour-de-force performance, which set expectations sky-high for his later roles, like the Mandarin in "Iron Man 3." Plus, we give a nod to the stellar contributions from Ian McShane and Ray Winstone. As we break down the film's artistry, from impactful scene transitions to the authentically flavored British dialogue, our final verdict lands at a generous three and a half stars. This episode peels back the layers of an oddball movie that dares to twist heist film conventions, all woven with humor and everyday banter that breathes life into the script.
Hey everyone, and welcome to another random movie review. Today's episode we've decided that we're going to cover. Well, addy gave me the great idea that we're going to just go back in time and find a great film that maybe we've missed for whatever reason. And today's pick was Sexy Beasts from 2001 starring Ben Kings kingsley. What made you pick this?
Speaker 2:I don't know, just a random. Didn't read anything about it. It's just like the most random movie.
Speaker 1:But not knowing anything about it, just go into it, watch it and and then the first thing that we see in the movie is a dude in a pool and a boulder comes and almost hits him and I was like, are we watching fucking looney tunes? What the hell is this movie gonna be?
Speaker 2:well, like you said, it almost looked like the gta opening scene.
Speaker 1:I I definitely reckon that rock star like the hauser brothers were fans of this movie. All got some sort of inspiration because that first image, the iconic kind of opener of this, is seeing this, this the main character, gout just resting by the pool getting a tan. Love and life.
Speaker 1:Cool shots though there's a bit of a way shots, but he seems contempt, seems happy at Retired bank robber. That we'll soon find out, michael, it's Michael Literally. It's Michael, not me. I'm about half the size of that dude. No, retired Michael. Are you saying I'm retired, retired? Almost I'm retarded, Weird movie, Really weird. At first I did not know what the hell this movie was trying to achieve, but I think by the end of it we got a good idea.
Speaker 2:I thought it was odd, very odd, but satisfying on the other hand as well.
Speaker 1:Well, I thought it was taking a bit of a page out of Tarantino, in that it's like it's a movie about a bank heist, but we never actually get to the bank heist. I thought that's what was going to happen. We did kind of get the bank heist, though, but with a twist For a different reason.
Speaker 2:So Don was right technically.
Speaker 1:Yes, Well, different reasons. So Don was right technically. Yes, Well, like a large chunk of the movie is not about the actual bank heist but just about these bank robbers. It's about Ben Kingsley's Don just trying to convince this guy to rob a bank to come out of retirement for one last job, which is kind of a cliche. But it's done in a way here where so much of the focus is on how someone can never leave that life behind you get stuck.
Speaker 2:Once you do a bank robbing job, that's it. That's you for the rest of your life. You're in it. You can't get out. No matter how hard you try you, you will always be pulled back in. I think that's the point, the moral of the story.
Speaker 1:It's like being a male stripper You're never fully out. There's always, you would know. You're always one phone call away from coming back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm usually the one who calls him. I was really surprised with Ben Kingsley.
Speaker 1:Surprised. What do you mean by surprised?
Speaker 2:Well, when first they thought they spoke of Don right, because Don only comes in later, so first when they spoke of him, it's just silent, it's like shit. We can't say no to this guy. This guy is crazy, this guy is insane. This is like the godfather. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:like he comes in, you're done for you can't say no to him and they did a great job of building him up, because exactly all the other actors showed so much fear that we didn't even need to see ben kingsley do his walk through the airport to know that this guy, you don't want to say no.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but then when he appeared I was like this guy is not menacing at all, because when they were building up and I was like cool, imagining Ben appearing, I was like he doesn't look that menacing, he's not that scary. But then as his character progresses and you see how he's so extremely unstable and unpredictable, I'm going to give it to him, because then at the end you're really like shit, what's this guy actually going to do? I'm actually scared of what this guy is going to do.
Speaker 1:It reached a point where, once he was away from the screen, I was like I want to go back to him, just keep the camera on him, because he was the most exciting part of the movie. His presence is just demanding your attention, similar to lots of other movie villains that menacing premise, but also that calmness where, yeah, you, you think you almost have this illusion that they are in control of themselves and they can pull it all together. But then just out of nowhere comes this spike of chaos and you just never know when. Yeah, especially like there was one scene where I was thinking to myself like why the hell are they focusing so much on this, what he's doing? And then just boom, he comes out and becomes blazing.
Speaker 2:You're talking about the bathroom scene, right yeah?
Speaker 1:And it was almost like he was mentally preparing himself to beat the shit out of someone.
Speaker 2:Well, I think he was attempting talking to himself positively. He's like no, he didn't mean it that way, he's okay, it was just polite. He said he didn't try to no mean it that way, he's okay, it was just politely. He said he didn't try to no, he did try to, uh, embarrass you. No, no, he said he didn't try to embarrass you. And then he burst out of it and fucking smacks him in the face. You see him like multiple personalities, personality disorder kind of thing. He has two personalities in his head.
Speaker 1:One is completely out of control and the other one who's trying to be nice but never wins yeah, and you see, like all these other characters just tiptoeing around him, walking on eggshells, this this incredible tension where you know that everyone in the room is scared to death of him. Yeah, and they're just trying to like deal with him, kind of like the crazy uncle. When you have the crazy uncle over for Christmas and he's a fucking alcoholic, so you've got to tiptoe over everything that you do and say, but you're stuck with him for a couple of days, so you try to just get by and be on your best behavior, but there's one part of you that like wants to beat the shit out of him.
Speaker 2:So don't forget to like, share, subscribe if you're a drunk guy yeah, this movie brought up a lot for me.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I was rooting for the other characters to beat the shit out of ben kingsley's character. Right, I wanted them, especially the main character, gal uh ray, winston, yep, like I wanted him to shoot this guy and grow some balls, grow some balls. And like that moment never comes, that moment of satisfaction or closure that you'd get, and it's actually the people around him that end up dealing with it. The people that you least suspect are going to deal with this situation are the ones that deal with it, which doesn't really help. We found us to feel any sympathy for the main character. You do feel sympathetic for him because he's in a shit situation and he is trying to say no to that old life.
Speaker 2:But you see, it takes a lot from him and it shouldn't. Yeah, you also feel like he needs to stand up for himself and he never does that if he's involved in heists means he also runs from the law, stays identity and then being a big enough pussy not to say no to the next job it's weird, it's like you're you're ballsy enough to jump out of a plane and skydive, but you're not ballsy enough to tell a guy like hey, man, like I don't want you to sleep over my place, so that's what it felt like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he does have enough balls to jump out of a plane, but there's not a single shred of masculinity about him, in a sense that he can't say no to people like. He just gets stuck like trampled over by every other male character.
Speaker 1:But we, but like it's not just ray, it's this other character, h h is also afraid of him and we see the two female characters are afraid of him. Everyone's afraid of him. The guy's a fucking psycho. Even in there's another scene where one guy tries to stand up to uh, the hell's his name, don. One guy tries to stand up to him and then you see, like very quickly why people don't, or like the awkwardness of dealing with this guy, because he doesn't just accept that he's in the wrong at any point in time. And the best thing is seeing, like when an evil character is like dying or like has their last breath, and they know it, and they still decide to be a piece of shit with every last breath. There's something about that that makes you go fuck. This guy is evil.
Speaker 1:Because most people would be like oh, I'm so sorry, sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry as I died, but not, and he's like I fucked you, I fucked you I fucked you, fuck you, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, haunt you from the grave, fucking you bloody no, no, but the great thing about it, what exactly what you're saying?
Speaker 2:it's like he's threatening not threatening, but like there's like the secret going on. It's kind of like a threat. It's like I'm gonna break up this marriage because I fucked his, his wife, behind his back, um, and it's like a hush, hush kind of thing. Don't say anything, so don't say something, that he's gonna reveal that secret, so then dying. He's saying it anyway. It's like oh, I fucked jackie, yeah, it was good that I fucked her. She'll tell you I fucked jackie it's like.
Speaker 1:It's like if the joker was dying, you know that he would die with a smile on his face, laughing and say something horrible or, with his last breath, try and like make the world just crumble, just do something to bring utter chaos, because that's what gives him joy and that's the same thing I felt watching this, like all the most memorable scenes are ben kingsley with ben and the scene in the Porsche at the end between Teddy and girl, Ray Winston and McShane. Ian McShane yeah, he's a beast.
Speaker 2:He was good he was actually really good Very menacing, very menacing at the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is like one of the only films of its type, though there's not many movies I could think of and go, oh, it's kind of like this or it's kind of like that. It just felt so unique to me. It's definitely one of a kind why? Why do you think it's called sexy beast? My impression, my interpretation, is this guy thought he was a sexy beast at the start of the film. He thought he was the fucking absolute bee's knees, like, oh, look at me, I'm riding by the pool, got life all sorted. And then all it takes is a phone call to be like, oh, don's on his way. And he's like, oh, it just all comes downhill. It's almost like this whole dream is just an illusion. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But why sexy bees though? Why not just puppy? Yeah, big puppy dogs are always the same. They're all like get ghost open.
Speaker 1:No, I think the idea is he thinks he's a beast yeah, but dogs think the same thing. Sexy puppy doesn't really sound like a fucking riveting movie. Yeah, I'm gonna go see Ben Kingsley in. Sexy puppy sounds like it's a bloody bestiality porno or something. It's Ben Kingsley, I'd still watch it.
Speaker 2:You sick fuck. You wouldn't mind me, I would come watch it together um, those days are long behind.
Speaker 1:It makes sense because this guy acts like he's a badass, like he's got it all figured out, he's got the great wife, he's got the great life. He's's got the great life. He's in Spain, you know, chilling by the pool. But in reality he's not. You get the impression that this guy would be that reckless, badass kind of character that could beat the shit out of people and do what it takes to get through these like bank robberies. But when Don comes into the picture you realize he's not. He's just like a lackey, a weak little henchman that's just been called for a job and he tries to grow a pair of balls and say no, but it's all wasted because he can't. He's going to get dragged to do it. And even when he stands up to this guy, don, technically he doesn't. His wife stands up to Don. Even then he still does the job because of the repercussions that will come from it.
Speaker 2:That's a possibility. I would say Sexy Beast. The whole game is a Sexy Beast. The game of heists is a Sexy Beast. The whole game is a sexy beast. The game of heists is a sexy beast. Yeah, that's a good point because it's like sexy for all the money, the easy money, because he's done it, for he's retired. He's not even that, he's not old and yet he's already been retired for 9 years, with a beautiful house close to the sea Mediterranean sea, because it's in Spain so With a beautiful Pool Kid who helps to clean?
Speaker 2:everything beautiful wife, ex porn star, probably wife, we don't know if that's true. That's alluded in the movie, don't know, but then so that's a sexy bit of the Job. But then the beast is that you can't escape it. I don't know, but then so that's the sexy bit of the job. But then the beast is that you can't escape it. It will eat you alive, it'll toy with you, it'll play with you, it'll drag you back in and it'll tear you apart spiritually and emotionally.
Speaker 1:Because once you're in it, there is no getting out.
Speaker 1:There's no walking away from it, because no matter where you go, how far away you go, they will find you, track you down and be like I want you to do this job. And they don't even say to him we want you because you're like the best or anything like that. They just say we want a dumb fuck to do the job. Yeah, so it's more so. We want you to do this because we know you're a lucky that. They just say we want a dumb fuck to do the job. Yep, so it's more so.
Speaker 1:We want you to do this because we know you're a lackey that'll just do what he says because he's a bitch, because he doesn't have brass balls yeah, I mean, the only time he actually beats the shit or shows any kind of like masculinity is when he's punching a dude that's already been shot Twice, twice, yeah, and even then he doesn't like go for the final shot. No, his wife does, no, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's some really weird cuts, cut scenes, really weird. Like they make sense at the end, but the time he sits in a restaurant he's about to eat calamari. He had the bad news and then suddenly he is sitting alone at a table in the desert, or the Donnie Darko, and there's like this Donnie Darko type figure that with cowboy boots comes riding in on a horse. It was weird.
Speaker 2:And then points a gun at him and then he wakes up in the middle horse. It was weird. And then, yeah, points a gun at him and then he wakes up in the middle of the night and then his wife is already sitting in the pool was like what is that cut scene? Like I don't quite understand it. I think that donnie darko is um symbolic for death. It's is death knocking at your door. So he thinks that he hears Don is about to come. Don, donnie Darko, yeah, came out the same year as Donnie Darko as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, both have very similar character designs for this mystical figure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but in this instance I think it was death. The death came knocking on his door because he saw him three times, once in that desert, when he just heard about don coming to visit. So the first time he's like oh fuck, I'm not that puppy, I'm not that beast. The second time is when, after he kills don and there's a very tense moment between him sitting at a restaurant and then teddy walking in.
Speaker 1:yeah, because teddy knows something. We get the impression Teddy knows that Don has been killed Exactly. But one thing you brought up that was really good is there's so much things that are not outrightly said, like explicitly said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, exactly the Donnie Darko type figure being death. Because then at the end, guess when's the last time we see Donnie Darko figure is at, with don on the ground, like death is about to pick him up because he's dead on the ground buried. That's why I think it's dead. The setup of the dna planning in harry's house, for example, towards the end it's like, oh, that he's just gonna show him who his boss and he just shoots this guy in the head, his business partner. But he made sure that gal left his dna there.
Speaker 2:But none of this is spoken. It's all little details that are planted that you know that teddy has gal in his pocket, that gal can't get out because he's stuck. His DNA is already at the crime scene and he can be found Like Teddy says like oh sorry. Teddy's like, oh, yeah, so Don never left Spain and don't have any records of him. So I think I have to come by and say pay my respects. So it's like, okay, cool, this is not the end, the beast is still at the build the beast is still toying.
Speaker 1:I mean it's. It's pretty obvious, like pay my respects, like you say that when someone's dead, so exactly just saying outright like well, I know he's dead, so I'm gonna come to spain and see, I'll find him wherever he is. And that was that was brutal, because knowing that after this dude comes back into this life ends up getting pulled in against his will, not only that, but then he does the rob, he does the robbery, he does the rob, he does the bank robbery and then only gets paid like 10 bucks, yeah, like I don't know how much don promised you, but I'll give you a tenner.
Speaker 2:I only got 20s you.
Speaker 1:You got change wow, that was brutal.
Speaker 2:That was brutal, that was painful to watch and the funny thing is a few lines before that you hear them talking at the bar and some random extra at the back is like oh, what are you going to do now that you're a millionaire?
Speaker 1:It's like everybody gets millions and he gets 10 pounds luckily, he stole one bit of jewelry, but he's gonna give that to his wife. Possibly the other thing as well. Right, the fact that he stole that jewelry put it aside probably tells you that he's been fucked over before or that he knew was coming probably.
Speaker 2:I think that's a normal thing for bank robbers. They always just keep a little bit on the side. It's just, if you get found, you're dead.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know. So he wanted to put something aside, but something small so that he won't get caught and I don't know. It just gave off the impression like he's been fucked over by Teddy before and he knows that he's going to do that, which is probably another reason why he's like no, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it because of course he's not gonna do it. He's gonna get paid, fuck all. I've never seen that before. I've never seen a bank robber get paid with 10 bucks for doing the heist. I'm sure there is other movies out there, but like I've never seen that before it's savage, it's brutal, it's brutal.
Speaker 2:Watch and you feel bad, the full gout because you know that like it burns him but he can't do anything about it yeah, because he knows that this guy, this guy literally just killed someone in front of his face, like just put a bullet through someone's forehead without hesitating and he was shitting his pants while he was there drinking his, planting his DNA with a glass of whiskey. So he knows, like you get $10, you get $10 and you shut up because he will put a bullet through your head as well because you just killed one of his other guys, killed one of his other guys, so he's shitting for his life. He takes that 10 bucks and then and that's it.
Speaker 1:That's it. Shut your mouth and do as you're told to the worst degree, but you would never think, looking at this guy at the start of the movie, that he is in that position. Yeah, no, you wouldn't. It's like a complete.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a massive because then he gets gets a bang from behind in an orgy yeah, it's like what he likes to get banged. But then he does the banging yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 1:He gets fucked from behind, but he also fucks other people from behind.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah anything else I, I guess. Final review between zero to five stars, what would you give it? I like the concepts. There were some things in this that reminded me of obviously, I mentioned grand, mentioned Grand Theft Auto 5, pulp Fiction I know that there's lots of British crime, bank heist movies within that genre that have similar kind of concepts and themes and this and that the Gentleman, or the Irishman, whatever. No, not the Irishman, no the Gentleman.
Speaker 1:I think that it went in a very unexpected place. I would have never predicted where this movie was going. That's one thing I can say, and by the end of it, everything makes sense. Everything was set up and paid off. Now that I know where it goes, though, would I watch it again?
Speaker 1:Not really I appreciate it for what it is, but honestly, it's more that I appreciate it for what it is, but honestly, it's more that I appreciate it for what it conveyed. Like from visual storytelling point of view, like as far as how to convey tension in a scene or build up a character without people just saying, oh my god, he's the fucking shit. Like you don't have to have the other characters Tell the audience, just show the audience how they react to and behave, and that alone creates this intrigue where we're like, oh my God, who is this guy? What is he capable of? Because it looks like everyone is scared to death of him and doesn't want to say no to him. So what is he about? I think that was a great way to build up a character. So, yeah, ben Kingsley is freaking awesome. Ian McShane also has some good moments. Ray Winston main character is also pretty good, but, like Ben Kingsley just steals it Like after you watch this.
Speaker 1:This is the type of thing where I watch it and go, wow, now I know why people were so excited to see this guy in the mcu playing a villain. Is he gonna play that mcu? He was playing? He was gonna play the villain in iron man 3 and they changed the villain's complete story. What the hell's the mand? That's right, the Mandarin. I can see why audiences were pissed off that he isn't the real villain in that movie. Because you watch this and you're like, yeah, he can definitely be a bad guy 100%.
Speaker 2:I've never seen him as not a bad guy. There's this TV show called I think it's called Fairy or Blue or something like that. You haven't heard of it. He's the bad guy in it. He's fucking amazing and the show is so fucking good. There's only two seasons. He's the villain and the main character is like the guy who's completely addicted to math. He's like a big junkie and then he sees like this, i't know, like a, like a unicorn donkey, fairy, kind of darko, another donkey, like a bunny no no, it's like a really weird, like flying um donkey, I think it is uh purple and um, that's like animated, right, like like actual, just animated.
Speaker 2:You'll see it. And then he's like no, no, I am real, I just chose that you, for some reason, only you can see me wait I know that show happy, happy that's the one, oh happy yeah, he's a bad guy happy is awesome, oh, happy, and ben kingston is a bad guy. That's how I know ben kingston.
Speaker 1:Oh, I didn't know that it was. Uh, must have been later in the show. I think I only watched the first couple of episodes, but I did really like it Anyway. So what do you say? From zero to five stars? I give it three stars, three and a half. We'll say three and a half. That's pretty generous for you. I like it. I know what about you. What's your final review?
Speaker 2:There was one really cool transition. I what about you? What's your final review? There was one really cool transition. I'll give them credit for that. It was in the beginning, before any of the bad guys showed up. It's early in the movie before there's any villains. You have Gale and Dee. They kiss each other and as they touch each other, it's nighttime. They switch at nighttime.
Speaker 1:I love it, the symbolism is cool.
Speaker 2:They love each other all day long.
Speaker 2:It's like all day they've been kissing and making out and whatever like it's. They're having good times from beginning to end of the day. Their life is just a paradise, until the beast comes back in to to rip them apart. Because when he calls on the phone when he's on the job, he's like just say, do one thing for me, just say my name. Only thing she says to him is like cool. That beast really pulls them apart from that paradise life to the shit fuck life that they got into again. So I'll give him like and that one cut really showed that paradise life a lot for their relationship at least. Really cool. I love that. Ben kingsley stole the show. It took a while to get used to his character, but then once you like cool, this guy's really edgy. You don't know what he's gonna do. Unpredictable, stole the show. Credit for that ian mcshane amazing performance towards the end. Really good, really menacing. It's like cool. You thought don was bad, this guy's worse. I'm gonna give it a three and a half stars as well.
Speaker 1:That's really good. I really like the peaky blind is british accents too, so I gave a half star because of the accents look at that.
Speaker 2:I love the accents. I found it very difficult to understand, though. Oh yeah like we. We had subtitles the whole time, but the subtitles were so out of sync, it was like three four seconds later, like, and it was slower than the movie.
Speaker 1:So, like later in the movie, it was way later yeah, there's a scene in a movie National Lampoon's European Vacation for anyone who's seen it where an American family goes to England, to London, and they're at the hotel and the hotel manager's like oh, what do you like, captain? Oh, I'm done. And he pulls out like a translator translator. And the son is saying to the dad like dad, he's speaking English. He's like oh really, oh, okay, you think you're going down in the worst name, going to have a little dig. I love that shit, I love that accent. And hearing Ben Kingsley do that loved it. Um, yeah, as a fan of like British humor, I feel like it just makes everything funnier and it was so funny, like the dialogue was.
Speaker 2:The dialogue was really good. Like it was so much just dumb shit that they were saying that had nothing to do with the story yeah, that's actually another thing I would say I'll give credit for as well is a lot of the dialogue had nothing to do with the story, which I love because it didn't tell the story, only actions and behavior and emotions. Gave this told the story and all the dialogue was character building, like all the dot. Everything that don was saying was just nonsense. It was just fucking can't, fucking this fuck, that fuck. That could all have done, could all have been cut out, but it's character building. It shows that this guy cannot just shut his mouth, kind of thing. So none of the story or none of the dialogue was on the nose, like it didn't say what they were doing well.
Speaker 1:His language is as chaotic and like spontaneous and impulsive as his mind.
Speaker 2:Yeah and I love that because it didn't tell the story and that's awesome because it told the character and the character told the story and I haven't seen that in a movie for a long time so maybe that's why sexy Beast was given good reviews and praise.
Speaker 1:I can see why it received positive reviews. It's just not my type of thing that I usually go for, but I do feel I remember the characters, even if I don't remember what exactly happened in the story.
Speaker 2:It's definitely an artsy movie. It's pretty artsy. Cool shots, cool cuts that are like alternative, with alternative cut scenes in between. Here and there, Characters you're like what the fuck is it? Death, the Donnie Darko kind of characters. There was no point. I didn't really see the point of that character. You could have cut him out and the story would not have changed. I thought that was a bit too much.
Speaker 1:But it's kind of like an artsy choice weird for the sake of weird. Sometimes, nice, awesome. Well, that's our random review for today. So if you liked this video, please like, share and subscribe for more movie reviews like this.