Have you ever thought to yourself that while you were watching the sublime Coen Brothers film “Blood Simple” that there would be a different take on the film? Maybe wondering what it would look like if say a famous international director decided to pay tribute to the movie with his/her vision of the story line? Well folks your prayers are answered as Zhagng Yimou decided that Blood Simple needed to be remade with some Asian period piece flair and today I will talk about the exciting and wonderful remake, A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop.
This is a movie I have been waiting awhile to talk about, mainly because it didn’t get a release in theaters other than the festival circuit. It kind of sucks talking about a movie that a lot of people won’t be able to see unless they get the VOD treatment or some form of streaming. Natural Selection was a movie I was back in November 2011 at a local film festival in Kansas City. I have to admit, even rewatching it makes me realize how much I loved this movie and the subject matter presented. A fantastic flick with a knockout performance from Rachel Harris, Natural Selection wowed me with a deep, character drama with some dark hints of humor.
So it was a relief to track this down on dvd and give it another watch. With an amazing performance from the two leads, Harris being the standout of the pack. The movie certainly is indie at heart, with a strong character driven script that propels the interesting story and filled with moments of earnest, heartfelt discussions about the issue at heart.
We Need To Talk About Kevin tells the story of a mother coming to terms with a school massacre that her son committed. The film stars Tilda Swinton as Eva, a successful world traveler and chronicler who is saddled with motherhood and her ambivalence towards it all. John C. Reilly stars as Franklin, the father who always has hopes that the family dynamic will work when taking Eva out of her comfort zone. Ezra Miller plays the older Kevin, who shows signs of hostility at a very early age towards Eva and is responsible for the massacre at the school. The movie plays out in a non-linear fashion with cuts to post-massacre Eva dealing with the consequences of Kevin’s action and cuts back to the birth of Kevin and his development from an early age. We are slowly given pieces of the puzzle that makes up the issue of the movie. The whole debate about the “nature vs nurture” issue in which we try and place blame on the actions of a young child.
I wanted to re-up this old, old review of this movie for today, mainly cause I am going to be hosting a small little gathering at my place in which we watch Harry Potter movies and drink Harry Potter inspired cocktails. Yeah, that’s about the best thing in the world in my eyes, watching a great series (or whatever we manage to get through) and drinking alcohol. Probably one of the reasons why I work at the Drafthouse. Anyways, when I was going back through my old reviews for the site, which I promise myself I will be writing more as I go out to the theater a lot more, I am rather shocked by the sheer length of my reviews. Man I was relatively verbose back then and probably still am. Oh well.
Well today’s post is the final chapter of the series and in my eyes, a very fitting end to the franchise. I could do without the prologue in which the kids dress up as adults cause that took me right out of the ending itself, but a climatic battle scene, wizard on wizard action and a culmination of years of setup and story to get to the final showdown. Yeah, I can say that it is one of the best of the series and the most compelling with the stakes laid out on the table.
So enjoy my original, long ass review and have a good day,
The final chapter in the series ends where it all began over a decade ago. There is a lot invested in the final film of the series. All the characters, all the stories, and all the buildup to the end is laid out for us in Part 2 of the Deathly Hallows. I have been a fan of the series since the beginning and seeing this general progression in the series tone and subject matter is fascinating. I have watch the characters grow older, the tone grow darker and that slow push to the final confrontation is what we have all been waiting for. So does the final act of the series live up to the build up that audiences have been waiting a decade to see? If you read the book series, then you already know what to expect. For fans of the film, it is about having a solid closure to the series. Overused phrase up ahead…lets make magic!
I might be one of the few people out there that actually like this movie, more so enjoy it for what it is, a little hard-boiled noir-ish film with Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) getting a little more opportunity to be a fleshed out character instead of being just a slab of buff meat who punches or shoots things. Maybe shooting things with his rocket fists or something. What hooked me is the teaser trailer and the voice over work. I will admit, I am a sucker for a little subtext that gets the mood set for this movie….and The Rock just goes on a revenge spree.
It’s The Rock! Holla! Christopher Walken is also in this movie as well as the scene chewing villain of the movie, which is the primary reason I picked this movie for today. The Rundown is actually one of my more enjoyable, not really a guilty pleasure, but a movie that is really just a popcorn flick and that is all. It does manage to have a little of everything in it with some drama, lots of comedy, and pretty decent action sequences, that are a bit too cartoony in some instances. But hey, it’s still a great movie to sit back and watch The Rock, Walken, William Scott and Dawson do their thing.
Any movie with Christopher Walken in it is a good movie in my book. Except of course for Click, The Stepford Wives remake, Hairspary, Man of the Year, Domino, Gigli, Kangaroo Jack, The Country Bears, and Blast From The Past. I guess not all of them can winners, but I will say that his good outweigh the bad. Today I want a little gritty film to talk about and why Abel Ferrara’s crime drama King of New York. Sure Ferrara is probably better known for Bad Lieutenant, but Walken and company make King of New York one of my favorite movie’s of Ferrara’s filmography.
Well, spring has come to Kansas City in the form of a winter storm that is more slush and annoying than anything else. Sigh, Kansas weather is both interesting and frustrating at the same time. Oh well, the snowfall means that it’s time to warm up and watch some hockey….well a hockey movie anyways since I don’t have cable. Today is a little seen movie with a stellar cast I think and a good story about a small town hockey team taking on the big leagues with their pride on the line.
Today I am going back to probably the most dividing film of 2012, The Master. I remember my heightened anticipation, namely because I love anything that Paul Thomas Anderson does, but also for the cryptic subject matter that was teased. Whether or not this is truly a stab at Scientology is up for debate amongst the viewers of the film, for me it is clear, but it is merely the backdrop for a deeper look at a partnership between the two leads. The Master and the student.
Phoenix was absolutely incredible in this film as a booze drinking poon-hound of the sorts, one who’s aimless wandering through life perplexes Hoffman’s character to the point that he must study him or perhaps absorb him in a way. He inspires his writings, his renewed vigor to control or understand an individual that isn’t prone to being under a certain authority, a certain code that only Phoenix lives by. I am drawn into this movie more and more since it’s release on dvd/blu-ray, beautiful and intriguing.
So today, I wanted to come back to this film, one that I will certainly watch again and again as it ended up being one of the top movies of the year for me and it certainly should be seen by more people. If you can appreciate the subject, at least enjoy the composition and cinematography that PTA uses in the film. His looks and style is serene and sharp looking, almost hypnotizing with his array of track shots and open composition with the backdrops of his scenes.
Enjoy!
Make no mistake about The Master, from what you have heard about this film, it is a template for a commentary on Scientology. What that commentary is really about, I don’t know. It isn’t some grand scheme to polarize those about Scientology or the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, but more a framework to showcase the study of the psychology between two individuals, a master and student, sheep and shepherd, father and son, whatever the correlation you want to make, it’s about an aimless individual and one who can provide the path. For me, that is the core of the film, a study about the external factors of our life.
I thought that this would be a fun post to promote my part-time place of employment and show you all who don’t have a Drafthouse in your neck of the woods, a little of what I do there in terms of hosting and promoting. Enjoy the montage folks!
