The Kitchen [DVD] [2019]

A gangster movie that goes slightly against the grain. This is an adaptation of six issue comic series of the same name, from a few years back. Published by DC Comics mature readers imprint. It's a pretty faithful adaptation too, although it does go it's own way at a few points.Set in 1978's New York, in the neighbourhood known as Hell's Kitchen, three ladies are housewives. When their mobster husbands are sent to prison, they are left with nothing. Since it's the 70's, none of the male mobsters think they are good for anything, so they are outcasts. But they fight back. Deciding to take over the local rackets for themselves.It's one thing though to get power. It's another entirely to try and keep it once you have it. Then there's the effect it might have on you...The three leading ladies are the downtrodden and abused Claire, played by Elizabeth Moss. Daring bit on the side Ruby, played by Tiffany Haddish. And housewife and mother Kathy, played by Melissa Mccarthy.No wait, come back! She plays the part totally straight, as this is a serious drama. There is just one joke in the whole film. Which she doesn't deliver. And it's pretty funny.Claire starts off so downtrodden and broken you expect her to say 'yes, Mrs. Waterford.' It's a strong performance from Elisabeth Moss, though, as Claire discovers how to fight back and enjoy standing up for herself. The character is very different to that of a certain handmaid. Melissa Mccarthy is very good at making her role someone who tries hard to keep two sides of her life going. Tiffany Haddish doesn't get as much standout material as the other two, but she has her moments.This has a great 70's look and feel to it. From the opening credits, which got in on the retro act before Joker did. To the fashions. To the music. The soundtrack is a good one.It zips along very nicely as a story as well, the plot moving along at just the right pace. Even the occasional montage doesn't make it feel rushed.However, that's only for the first two thirds. After those, it suddenly runs out of momentum. And becomes one of those films that really doesn't seem to know how it wants to end. You might find yourself wondering during this final third if it is ever going to find the answer it wants to that question. The end does come eventually, and does feel slightly abrupt. But although the final third has lost it's direction, it does still manage a few good plot developments.A pity it's not as good as the first two thirds. Because this isn't a bad little movie at all. Both a good adaptation of the source material, and a well done character crime drama in it's own right, it deserved better reviews and takings than it got. It's definitely worth a look.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options:Languages: English, French.Subtitles: English, Dutch, French, Greek.The disc goes into the main menu when loaded, with no trailers or ads.Its a pretty basic menu, because there isn't even scene selection. Just play movie, set up, and extra.Said extra is an eight min long feature called Running Hell's Kitchen, which is about the making of the movie. It's got the right level of detail, with cast and crew as talking heads, and it's quite a good watch.

Oh my goodness. There is so much wrong with this film. It was all over the place. The exposition is terrible. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING is crammed awkwardly into the dialogue. It's a shame as there was real potential here in terms of how they could have explored the idea of the female experience in that era and how it intersected with poverty/ crime. Instead they just opted to glamorise extremely violent criminal behaviour and hand us a fistful of tired tropes we've seen a thousand times before (done a thousand times better).Speaking of the violence, I get the feeling we as the audience are supposed to wink it and perhaps even root for these characters to succeed in their abhorrent endeavours because they are poor downtrodden women? That's just bizarre. If they were meant to be anti-heroines, it fell flat. I get the feeling they were aiming for the whole Oceans 8 or Bad Girls territory with this one. Needless to say, this was all miss, no hit. A perfect example of this is the weird homicidal Bonnie and Clyde romance they shoe horned into the storyline. I assume we're supposed to be supportive of two people romantically connecting over the casual dismemberment of human beings in a bath tub? Why? Possibly because the woman is a victim of domestic abuse and the man is a war veteran. Seriously? What on earth is that about? Yet, I think that's supposed to be the love story of the piece. No matter what these two characters have been through, you'd have to be pretty sick to be okay with seeing two people exchanging doe eyed glances at each other as they casually hack up a body and dispose of it in the river. That was just plain weird. There's nothing plucky and endearing about it. Still, this alone couldn't begin to illustrate just how awful this film is.As much as I absolutely love Melissa MCartney, I have to say, not even she is able to inject life into the stale 'underestimated mamma bear finds her inner growl' character. Yet she's probably the most developed character of the piece. You never really feel there's a reason behind the action on screen other than the fact that it's in the script. Which is a real shame as I had expected so much from the trailer - which looked great. Which brings me to the art direction. Thankfully I can at least have something positive to say. The art direction was definitely the highlight of the piece. Excellent wardrobe, makeup and set design. It really felt like the authentic representation of 70s New York you're used to seeing in other films and TV shows.Which only served to frustrate me further if I'm honest as I feel like I was sold something that the film just doesn't deliver on.As a woman who grew up with plenty of male dominated gangster and action films during the 80s, I am definitely up for centering the female experience and exploring old territory from a new angle. This is perhaps why I found this experience so disappointing as that's exactly what this didn't do. The whole thing felt like a cash grab with no real heart behind it; a cynical attempt to cash in on the 'down with the patriarchy' sentiment that has swept across our screens in recent years. As such, it feels cobbled together without that much depth and thought - other than 'this will extract money from the pockets of those hoping to see something different'.Overall, I'm glad I watched it for free with Prime (which technically still cost me the subscription fee). I'm just sad I won't get those hours and minutes back. Talks about criminal. This would better be described as a heist movie as it certainly leaves you feeling like you've had something precious stolen from you - your time.

I thought this was a good film and definitely worth a watch. there's not too much to the story, but there is some good dark humour amongst the drama, suspense and action. i guess it is in a similar vein to something like Ocean's 8 where women assume roles that would in other films / situations be taken up by men, although Ocean's 8 is much more of a straightforward comedy. Reading some of the other reviews and various websites after the film, it was interesting to note that it is based on a series of comics, which explains to a certain extent the straightforward plot and graphic violence in places.

On numerous times I jump at scenes. Good film and Melissa was great as usual. Very violent and gruesome scences. Is like a hit mob film with a good cast. don't eat while watching while as you might not finish it,Three women who's husbands/partners are sentenced to jail for 5 years when they decide to take over the men's business and build a new business for themselves but matters. Face lots of issues which they use do carry out but end up.

It won't be Earth-shattering, but The Kitchen is a novel approach to the cliché of the period crime movies. I think having an all-female lead cast, with strong women, didn't really go down well with the misogynists, a bit as it happened for Ghostbusters 3. I for one liked it.

I saw this appear on my feed, was bored and gave it a watch. A typical gangster movie that centres around 3 women left hung out to dry by the 'family'. Taking things into their own hands, they craft a lifestyle for themselves but like everything in life, success leads to greed and fall outs with those close to you.Worth a watch.