The Iceman

[Mihangel]

not seen a preview for this have i missed it?

[theframe8]

Don't think so.. Hope not anyway, looks ace, Michael Shannon is the bomb

[LondonCityNights]

Went to a press screening of this last night. Predictably, Michael Shannon is amazing. But I hated the film, it's a moral abyss and (I hope) inadvertantly makes a hero out of a serial killer.

Here's my full review: http://www.londoncitynights.com/2013/05 ... romen.html

[blazed]

Just reading the wikipedia of Richard Kuklinski (aka The Iceman), gets me worked up and wanting to watch this... more so than the movie trailer itself!

He sounds like a real badass, shame the police took so long to bring him down...

[RAZORBACK]

Looking forward to catching this on Thursday so I'm hoping to see some positive feedback from those that went to this afternoon's screening ...

[claire]

I'm looking forward to this too.
Fingers crossed people like it today

[Beate]

The ladies at the door of screen 4 at Empire Leicester Square were exchanging printouts for pairs of allocated seat tickets and after a bit of begging ("We're just handing them out as they come") we ended up exactly where we wanted to be - back row, aisle seat.

Then we made the mistake of, after having come early and without drinks, venturing to the Tesco Metro at Piccadilly Circus to get some. Ach du mein lieber Gott. The square was FULL with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich fans and the Borussia fans (clad entirely in yellow) were hogging the statue and chanting as loud as they could. They were also b*ying crates of beer in Tesco so there was a huge queue. We nearly didn't make it back in time.

Met jeanelle and ejwrank + David in the last row - was anyone else there we know? The film started on time and without trailers so the latecomers were quite annoying, especially as everytime they came in the light from the lobby shone in. Not very well constructed. Screen 4 is tiny without much legroom and if you are not careful, your bottle will fall through the hole of the bottle holder. We also had 3 empty seats next to us and 1 in front and I am sure that weren't all of them.

First of all, the acting was top-notch. It was fun recognizing David Schwimmer and Chris Evans under the 70s clothes and moustaches, and it was great to see Winona Ryder again after what seemed like ages. James Franco had a tiny role being killed (what else) by an intensely creepy and emotionless Michael Shannon but I am not sure why the film wants us to kind of sympathize with him by showing he has morals (he doesn't kill women or children) and loves his family. Yes, you want to show there is more to a character than simply being a killing machine but in the Q&A Michael Shannon made excuses for him, reiterating his morals and that he only killed bad people and that he by far wasn't the only contract killer back then, in fact there were hundreds. I am not sure whether he was kidding or not, he seemed to have some dry wit going on and he said he wouldn't have taken the role if it was just showing someone killing people, but it really disturbed me how much he was like the character he portrayed. I thought before that he did some great acting, but man that guy is scary in real life. He came in, all 6ft4, slouched down, mumbled, always looking down at his microphone and at one point kneading his face as if he was extremely tired. Either that or on something, but the general impression was that you didn't want to encounter him in a dark alleyway. He spoke in a very low monotone voice and I just wished the Q&A would end soon, especially as OH wibbled next to me, stagewhispering that he needed the loo. Someone asked him why he always plays intense characters and didn't he want to secretly break out and get a part in a rom-com to which he replied "I just want to act. There is nothing else I can say." The interviewer guy (who was late, apparently also held up by football fans on the square) then told us that he will actually appear in a comedy soon (They Came Together, with Paul Rudd). The Q&A was over after half an hour and we ran to the loo and happened to be exiting the cinema directly behind Michael Shannon and his "people" - if prettyxcool had been there, she'd been in her stalking element. :)

7.5/10

[jeanelle]

Glad to have the opportunity to see this today and for the most part it was interesting and engrossing. I did have some difficulty keeping track of who was who at times, perhaps all that 70s facial hair was a bit distracting. In spite of all the killings there wasn't much in the way of blood and guts. Michael Shannon recommended watching Kuklinski's interviews on You Tube. (I just looked him up on Wiki to check the spelling and there was Tony Soprano looking back at me!)

[greece]

Just reading the wikipedia of Richard Kuklinski (aka The Iceman), gets me worked up and wanting to watch this... more so than the movie trailer itself!

He sounds like a real badass, shame the police took so long to bring him down...

Hope you can make it and enjoy it
I might see this one when it comes out sounds interesting

[Beate]

Hm. I've just read the wikipedia page about Kuklinski too and he was so much worse than shown in the film, including beating up his wife, which he didn't do in the film so it really disturbs me that they didn't portray him more truthfully. You really ought not to be able to feel any sympathy with a character like that.