Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Red-Barracuda Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man (they sure don't make films with awesome titles like this anymore) is a poliziotteschi directed by none other than Ruggero Deodato, the man who would deliver two of the most uncompromising, relentlessly mean-spirited exploitation movies ever in 1980, namely the still notorious Cannibal Holocaust and the depraved sleaze-fest House On the Edge Of the Park. Deodato was a man who never shied away from extremity in his movies and so it was with some interest I went into this one, particularly seeing as the Italian poliziotteschi genre is one hardly renowned for its restraint or political correctness in the first place. Well, I think it would be only fair to say that Deodato has once again delivered a tough genre film, full of excessive violence. Except in this case, and unlike those two infamous movies I mentioned before, the fun factor is considerably higher here as the levels of mean-spiritedness are noticeably lower.Aside from Deodato at the helm, this one benefits enormously from having Fernando di Leo as its screenwriter. I think it would be fair to say that di Leo is the king of this particular sub-genre and has several outright classics under his belt as director. His input, therefore, is always going to be a significant bonus. It would probably be fair to say that the screenplay to this one is less thoughtful than the ones he used for his own films but it still nevertheless gets us from A to B in a highly entertaining fashion. This is one of many Italian cop films which followed the basic template laid down by the international hit Dirty Harry (1971), in that it features the use of brutal police tactics used to sort various low-life criminals out. Other Italian films used this idea, such as Umberto Lenzi's Violent Naples (1976) but where that film had one violent cop, this one has two! They go through the picture killing and torturing criminals, endangering the general public and indulging in sexist behaviour at every given opportunity. These guys work for the special squad section of the Rome police department and the film is basically made up of a number of different encounters they have with various criminals.Events kick off with no messing about with a great extended motorcycle chase through the scenic streets of Rome, later the boys use their special brand of force against violent criminals holding an unfortunate woman hostage in her home, they also take out a group of thieves before they can even attempt to commit the crime in question and later dispatch a variety of gangsters in a quarry shootout. In other words, this is good violent fun, poliziotteschi style. The manner that these cops deliver their unorthodox brand of violent justice is so casually delivered and at no point in proceedings does anyone truly question their methods, aside from the occasional light ticking off from their superior. But let's be honest, it's this complete lack of any political correctness whatsoever that is a significant part of what makes Italian cop thrillers such fun nowadays – they don't make them like this anymore that's for sure! If you could imagine a parallel universe where 'Starsky and Hutch' were nihilistic police officers who blow up cars on purpose, have threesome sex with suspects and break the necks of criminals for the hell of it, then it would be something not far off Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man. You've just got to love the Italians.

christopher-underwood Exhilarating, almost non=stop Italian cop movie from Deotato. Some have suggested there are lulls but i didn't sense any. These two very special, special force cops goon's act like cops at all and when they are not out in the streets 'cleaning up' with their fists and guns they're looking to get laid. Starting with a fantastic motorcycle chase through Rome, this never lets up. Not very strong on story, this simply and very effectively proceeds from one action sequence to another. Whether its a hostage situation, an illegal gambling den, mob violence or even killing in anticipation of wrong doing, our lads are on it. Not without a sense of humour it has to be said that the level of bloody, not to say, gory violence is higher than your average and may upset some. A good way to gauge your level of acceptance comes very early on with a bag snatch that results in a woman being dragged horribly along the street.

Camera Obscura LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN (Ruggero Deodato - Italy 1976).Despite its almost cartoonish violence, Ruggero Deodato really kept pushing boundaries for extreme violence and sadism with this piece of nihilistic mayhem. Alfredo (Marc Porel) and Antonio (Ray Lovelock) are two policemen belonging to a special anti-crime unit who are given carte-blanche in their actions against organized crime in Rome. Their working methods are of the "shoot first, ask questions later" kind, and their daily routines consists of killing just about everybody before they even committed the crime. The film kicks off with an exciting motorbike chase during rush hour through the streets of Rome, during which a blind man's guide dog is casually run over by our two heroes. At the end of the chase, one of the badly hurt criminals is put out of his misery when Antonio snaps his neck before the other police officers arrive. During an inquiring visit to a villa on the edge of Rome where apparently the top bosses have gathered, they knock out some bodyguards, and - instead of arresting them - set the whole car park on fire, before going home to their shared apartment and smoke another packet of cigarettes. All this violence is delivered in such a casual tone, I can imagine this will offset most viewers. Personally, I don't see that much trouble since no person in the film is anything more than a cardboard character and the film never rises above the level of comic-book theatrics. And hey, what else can you expect from Italian crime thrillers? Generally, our two cop buddies lead the life every testosterone-driven man dreams off, which is setting cars on fire, shoot their guns and, between crime-fighting, chase women all day.Alfredo and Antonio have a bit of an odd living situation. Apparently, they are such close buddies, they live together in the same apartment. They even share the same room and they also share the same motorcycle. In fact, they never seem to do anything on their own. The original story hinted at this hidden homosexual component between the two men, but in the film it's subdued, since Alfredo and Antonio's behaviour is all raging heterosexuality and they chase everything female that moves.Also, the first thing that springs to mind when watching this is the TV-show "Starsky and Hutch." Two cops, one blonde, one black-haired roaming the streets, but the show hadn't aired yet in Italy at the time the film was being made. Even if it was pure coincidence, the resemblance is obvious, although Alfredo and Antonio's methods are admittedly a little more extreme than their American counterparts. In an interview Ray Lovelock mentions the resemblance, but he can only speculate if the two main characters were influenced by "Starsky and Hutch." So far, Deodato keeps his mouth shut about the issue.And pay attention to the scenes where the men ride the motorcycle together. Marc Porel is driving while Ray Lovelock is sitting behind him and constantly looks from left to right in ridiculous fashion (Deodato's instructed this because the camera was in front of the two men and it was the only way Lovelock could be caught on camera). The story goes that Porel blocked Lovelock from the camera on purpose and that this little incident was the main reason the two actors didn't get along and the much awaited sequel was never made.Camera Obscura --- 6/10

Blaise_B This one really pushes the envelope on "ends justify the means" police tactics, even compared to the other Italian cop-thrillers I've seen. The two protagonists are cops who belong to an "anti-gang" squad...that means, in this case, that they actually act like gangsters. They're nihilistic, sexist a-holes. They like blowing things up for fun. They shoot criminals BEFORE they commit crimes. A gangster wants them out of the picture and has one of their colleagues shot; from there on, they actively engage in gang warfare. That's the plot.The dialog is not at all clever. The premise is set up lazily and has no authenticity to it. The musical score is light-weight, typical 70's cop-thriller fare.It's consistently entertaining, however. Whether laughing out loud or gasping in shock, I was never bored. There's plenty of eye-popping violence on a level with "Violent Naples" to satisfy fans in that department. The ending is very abrupt, surprising, and cool; it gives the whole rest of the movie a darker tone.I definitely recommend it to fans of violent, Italian cop-thrillers from the 1970's, or any violent cop-thrillers from the 1970's, or good, trashy movies in general.