Pretty Good

A different way of telling a story

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

TONY is yet another film in a genre that has been done many times before and, in my opinion, doesn't really offer anything new. The central character, Tony, is a socially awkward loner who is obsessed with action films. He also has a weird physical appearance. Those traits are essentially what make his character, and he's really the only character in the film. Everyone else just exists in his world. What I did like about the film were the few moments in which Peter Ferdinando, who gives an excellent performance, hints at something deeper in Tony's psyche. One scene in front of a mirror was particularly chilling, in much the same way as similar scenes in NIGHTCRAWLER and FOXCATCHER. I also liked the haunting, minimalistic score which adequately conveyed Tony's loneliness, and reminded me somewhat of Philip Glass (whose music I love). Beyond that, it seemed like a typical serial killer film done on a low budget. The cinematography, while digital, was still done well and the camera-work was pretty good too. My major issue with the film is how thinly written it is, such that its 72 minute running time almost feels too long. I guess I just wanted a little more substance. It probably would have worked better as a short film now that I think about it. For what it's worth, the film isn't bad it's just not particularly great either. Peter Ferdinando's creepy performance is probably the best reason for seeing this.

The first thing to say: this is a dark comedy. It may have some social overtones, but I enjoyed the humorous parts of the movie For example, He tries conversing with the Vietnamese, pirate DVD seller about the benefits of VHS, and how he should stock VHS movies not just DVD's.The Job-seeker agent says that he can meet people by cleaning toilets.He asks a sex line worker if her appearance is like that in the picture, and when she replies that she is 34 DD; he asks pre-op or post- op? To which, she replies trans-gender.This movie is humorous, if you find this type of humour enjoyable. This film is not a horror, slasher or a social commentary. Its tongue in cheek, absurd take on serial killers. In the final scene, he is seen disposing of dead bodies in the river Thames, and it reminded me of the other notorious serial killer Dexter. This is Satire, not to be taken literally.

Tony watches action films on video cassette. He lives alone in a vertical street; a tower block in run down Dalston, a suburb of 'Broken Britain's' North London. Tony has not worked for over thirty years, and has no wish to do so. After all, he does have so much to do at home. This is at least what Tony tells his job centre adviser. This scene happens around the middle of the film, where we have already discovered that Tony has a penchant for murdering people in his flat. In protracted sequences throughout the film, we see Tony rigorously separate the body parts into their smallest components; wrapping them in newspaper and placed in corner-shop blue plastic bags for disposal. Whenever we follow Tony as he walks the streets, he is always carrying blue plastic bags. Tony has a lot of body parts to dump in the Thames.Gerard Johnson's feature debut is a gritty serial killer movie, - clearly inspired by real-life British serial killer, Dennis Nilson (the Muswell Hill Murderer) - that follows a man completely alienated from his surroundings. He is Nilson in the early 1980's. He only watches action videos from that decade. Like Nilson, Tony (played with all the sweaty awkwardness needed for the character, by Peter Ferdinando) prefers to keep the bodies for company. He talks to them as they are placed on the sofa, or laid out in bed. Tony's life is a cycle of seconds of murder; hours of company; much time dismembering; and a long, perpetual task of bit-by-bit disposal.Tony picks up men in gay bars. He persuades a couple of smack-heads to go back to his flat. A boy of 10 years goes missing on the estate. A large, stereotypical, aggressive working-class man targets Tony as an obvious target: His appearance could resemble that Daily Mirror image of the bespectacled, moustachiod loner, that so associated with a pederast.Despite the grim, and inescapable bleakness of the film, director Johnson, finds room to add humour. The film resembles, stylistically, that of John McNaughton's excellently unresolved Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986). The same concept carries into this film. The life- goes-on attitude. Tony is a ghost in the narrative. Yes, he is the protagonist. But he only exists in his insular world. The space he has dwelt in for "ages". Outside he drifts through the busy streets unnoticed; he fades into obscurity amongst regular people. Anonymously carrying plastic bags of internal organs.The film is self consciously 1970's in its approach; both stylistically, and thematically. in the latter of those two, '70's horror cinema tended to the ambiguity left by rare conclusions. For the first, this is low budget cinema. However, this is certainly made with style; it is highly competent filmmaking. We know immediately from the start of the film that the filmmakers influences in the golden-years-of-exploitation- cinema are a part of this picture; the typeface of the movie title 'Tony' are reminiscent of the title cards for the American exploitationers this really wants to homage. It is an incredibly well made contribution to the likes of Jeff Gillen and Allan Ormsby's Deranged (1974). However, Tony does not highlight the grotesque, like in much of the films it might be 'riffing' on. Johnson's film looks like it could possibly fit into the working-class visuals of a kitchen sink drama - only through the eyes of a cold- hearted killer. Although, whilst we are repelled by Tony, do we also feel pathos for a character so out of touch with the world, that he will try and persuade a Chinese man selling DVDs on the street to sell him outmoded video cassettes? Tony is entirely disenfranchised. Because of this separation from reality, Tony is able to pass unseen. Or perhaps, like Mary Harron's American Psycho (2000), this is all imagined. (By the way, I don't believe at all that this was all imagined; that's just how I ended it.)www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

This so called movie was extremely boring with no action, thrills intriguing story and not even shock value to make it worth a dime. I didn't think the acting was that good at all just very strange and the atmosphere sucked and sometimes I felt like I was watching a documentary. People are saying this is the UK answer to American Psycho and to me it doesn't even come close and at least that one was entertaining but I do think it comes close to Dahmer but not close enough because that movie was more chilling and you had a backstory to make sense of all of it but this film had no good direction. The pace was sluggish as hell and I dozed off a few times and for a serial killer flick it was pretty dry and lifeless and what the hell was up with that ending, it was one of the worst endings I have ever seen and makes me look down on it even more. Overall this is pretty generic material here and it's not a horror movie or even a thriller because it doesn't thrill or scare you or even entertain you it just left you feeling cold and wanting more and didn't bring anything fresh to the table. What a bore! Not recommended!