Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

SnoopyStyle Ray Yale (David Roberts) and Carla Smith (Claire van der Boom) are having an illicit affair. He's in a loveless marriage and is the corrupted construction boss on the take. Her husband Greg (Anthony Hayes) is the criminal type who tries to hide a bag of cash from Carla in the ceiling. She wants to run away with Ray and the money. They come up with a plan to burn down her house after stealing the money. He hires arsonist Billy (Joel Edgerton) but the simple job turns deadly when Greg's mother stay over. Billy misses the Ray's call to cancel the job after a failed phone tag with Billy's girlfriend Lily (Hanna Mangan Lawrence). Billy believes that he's been taken advantage of by Ray.Basically, I don't like David Roberts' performance or his presence. I don't like his character or anything about him. I would have preferred Joel Edgerton in the role. He makes for a much better lead actor. The story is a bit overloaded. I wouldn't mind that if I care anything at all about Ray or Carla. I don't.

morrison-dylan-fan Recently catching up with a terrific thread on the IMDb Film Noir board,I noticed an IMDb member give a very good review,for an over looked Neo-Noir film from Australlia.Being intrigued by the sound of the movie,and having also enjoyed the great 1987 Ozploitation film Dark Age,I decided that it would be the perfect time to take a look at a Neo- Noir world from down under.The plot:Getting a job as a Foreman for the building of a brand new leisure resort,Raymond Yale starts to plan on ways which he can get extra "benefits" for the building of the resort.Holding secret discussions with lead construction work Barney, Ray soon begins to devise a plan that will secretly create "kickbacks" during the construction work,which will lead to him getting a nice bundle of extra cash on the side at the end.Despite his plans on how to get hold of the cash that is dangling in front of his eyes,Ray finds any "spark" in his life completely fade away when he returns to the suburban home that he lives in with his wife,whose "spark" for Ray has also gone a long while ago.Feeling that his marriage is beyond repair,Ray decides to start an affair with a woman called Carla Smith,who lives on the opposite side of a rive near Yale's house.Feeling a sense of danger and excitement that he has not had in ages,Ray decides to ignore the fact that Smith is married to a well known,ruthless local gangster called Greg "Smithy" Smith,and to instead start building a deep relationship with Carla,whilst continuing to make sure that no one else in the city catches on to what they are secretly up to.Keeping a good distance away from her husband so that he does not catch her spying on him,Carla sees Smithy secretly hide a duffel bag which seems to contain a huge amount of cash from a bank robbery that Greg has recently committed.Rushing to tell Ray about her thrilling discovery,Smith is left deeply disappointed when Yale tells her that they should just leave "Smithy" money alone and just wait for his "kickbacks" to get started.Not being willing at all to let the topic drop,Carla eventually gets Ray to agree on setting up a robbery for Greg's hidden money,which will inadvertently give them the very worst "kickback" that they ever could have imagined…View on the film:For their slowly unravelling,tightly coiled screenplay,writers Matthew Dabner and Joel Edgerton, (whose brother Nash directs this terrific film) initially make the first half of the film a moody suburban Drama,as Raymond Yale, (played by a great David Roberts,who expertly shows Ray transform from being an extremely private individual,to someone who is willing to go to murky limits to keep the pile of cash under wraps) is shown to be completely dissatisfied in the direction that his life has taken.With Dabner and Edgerton having Ray display more affection for Femme Fatale Carla Smith, (played by the great,cunning Claire van Der Boom) than he ever does for his family and friends.Using the suburban setting as the main focus of the movie for the first half,Dabner and Edgerton slowly have the Noir side of the film brilliantly rise up to the suffice,as Ray begins to get a dangerous,paranoid doubt in his mind over which of his family and friends are actually showing their true selves,whist others prepare to increase the tension and stab him in the back,which leads to the film ending on a pure,sudden Black Comedy note.Despite this being his first ever feature film directing debut,Nash Edgerton display a strong style which suggests a bright future hopefully laying ahead of him,as the scenes of Ray getting an increasing feeling of fear,having Edgerton cleverly use a close-up "floating" camera to fully display Ray's dangerous "up in the air" mood,whilst using the second half of the movie,to create a number of really excellent, tense "betrayal" scenes that show Ray and Carla's cunning plans completely burn down.

Ben Larson One should always be aware of the Law of Unintended Consequences when they set out to commit a crime. You may have to live with more than you bargained for.Lovers of Double Indemnity will find the story familiar. Raymond (David Roberts) and his lover Carla (Claire van der Boom) plan to steal money and leave their partners. Things, of course, do not go smoothly.There are twists and turns aplenty in the noir film, and it keeps you wondering who is going to come up with the next one.Roberts was excellent and the film was extremely well done.One hopes Joel Edgerton writes more like this.

tigerfish50 "The Square" opens with two parked cars at a scenic overlook. In one of them, two agitated dogs observe the other vehicle where their respective owners, Ray and Carla, are engaging in some steamy extra-marital gymnastics. When Carla returns home from her tryst, she spots her rough diamond husband surreptitiously hiding a bag of cash in the ceiling of their washroom, whereupon she conceives the idea to steal the money and run off with her paramour to begin a new life together. Construction site manager Ray declines to go along with her scheme at first, anticipating a boatload of trouble fouling up his sweet kickback scam at work, but Carla's alluring charms soon prove too strong a temptation. The lovers hire themselves a dubious partner, lash together a leaky plan and set it in motion, only to meet with a firestorm of foul-ups, suspicion and terror."The Square" shares many themes and motifs with "Body Heat" and "Blood Simple". The chief differences are its gritty realism and fast pacing - and it also boasts an extensive cast of support roles that provide a bewildering array of possibilities for misunderstandings and betrayal among the various conspirators, victims and bystanders as their lives spiral out of control. By the time the dust has cleared at the conclusion, one begins to wonder if the phrase 'ratcheting up the tension' might not have been coined for this film. Nash Edgerton directs his brother Joel's tight script with verve, and extracts intense and believable performances from his actors. It all adds up to an impressive modern Indie film noir.