Welcome back gang, another diverse list coming at ya. Diverse in genre, not really in time. Spanning the late 70s through the 90s, the movies are a wide range of the decades. Good movies show up, but there are two that just barely scratch the good label and not for good reasons. So take a seat, read up on some new shit and enjoy the new installment. Thanks gang.
Hamlet (June 1st, 2014)
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Starring: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Bates
It's pretty fitting to cast the quite obviously insane even back then Mel Gibson to play Hamlet, the man who loses his damned fool mind when his Father is killed by his Uncle. And Mel knocks it out of the damn park. It may not be as iconic as William Wallace or unhinged as Martin Riggs, but he is completely transfixing in the role. This is a more Hollywood version of the classic Shakespeare play, so it is a bit younger and a little sexier. But a movie can't be completely sexy when Helena Bonham Carter is in it, here being young and as fresh faced as she can ever have been called. Close does good work as Hamlets mother, utterly distressed at the slipping sanity of her son. And Bates does good work as the traitorous Uncle. It's a sleek, streamlined version of the story and does it self some good and sets it apart from other adaptations of the story. This is truly Mel's movie and it's a shame he never went back to Shakespeare. I'd have loved to see him as MacBeth. Or even now it would be a treat to see him as King Lear. Either way, highly recommended for Gibson fans and fans of the story/writer.
Rating: 9/10
Slap Shot (June 1st, 2014)
Director: George Roy Hill
Starring: Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, and The Hanson Brothers
Paul Newman is an undeniable legend, an icon in cinema. He managed to transfer from the old age of cinema to the post 70s model and still maintain his status as icon. But there is something that he doesn't get enough credit for. Which is? The man is really fucking funny. It's almost unreal how funny he is, able to drop a punchline with the best of them. It was on point in Butch Cassidy, then showed up even stronger in The Sting. But here in Slap Shot, he elevates this movie to classic. An absolute rowdy hockey movie about a rag tag team that uses a trio of goons to scare the other teams and to gain more fans. And oh my lord, are the trio of goons just brilliant. The Hanson Brothers are absolute gold. They are like the originators of Doug Glatt from Goon. They are absolutely sweet idiots with the deity like capacity to inflict massive amounts of damage upon those who dare to accidentally cross their paths. They are so simple and sweet, they bring toy cars on the road with them to play with. It's great. This movie is like the better version of Semi Pro, nailing the humor and the stakes. For those who like sports movies, comedy and/or Paul Newman this movie is a must fucking see.
Sleepaway Camp (June 2nd, 2014)
Director: Robert Hiltzik
Starring: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, and Christopher Collet
This is a very special movie. It is absolutely of its time, in tone and quality. This movie is an absolute horror show on every conceivable level, and not in a good way. I haven't seen many movies this completely incompetent from top to bottom. The acting is hilarious, the visuals are bland as hell, the motive behind the killers actions is terribly enacted and the movie makes no actual attempt to be scary. But the weirdest thing about this movie is, I can see a decent movie hidden somewhere in there that got lost in pile of 1980s cocaine. A good movie could have been made about bullying, sexuality and identity. Now, while everything about this movie is terribly and a missed opportunity, it is an absolute must see. It is something that needs to be seen to be believed. It is so insane, so sleazy and such a product of that 80s mentality that it is a wonder it isn't a classic up there with The Goonies. If you can handle terribly made "horror" movies, run and find this movie.
Ravenous (June 3rd, 2014)
Director: Antonia Bird
Starring: Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, Jeffrey Jones, and David Arquette
Whenever someone tells you that a woman can't direct a masculine movie, slap them in their neckbearded fucking face and point them to this movie. This is so fucking brutal and nasty, so completely about men that it just seems like a no brainer that a man made it but one didn't. It's like if someone said 12 Years A Slave was made by a 24 year old white man. This is a movie about Guy Pearce and a squad of soliders in the late 1800s fighting off an attack from cannibals. It's got many twists and turns that to spoil them would be a crime to anyone who would want to see it. I'll just say that Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle are great as usual. The rest of the cast is good but are second fiddle to those two. Which is fine, because they are the main reason the movie works. They anchor it and reel you in, caring about their fates. This was a surprising little pick up, a great genre pic from the 90s that got lost in the flood. But see it and give it a whirl.
Manhunter (June 7th, 2014)
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: William Petersen, Dennis Farina, Joan Allen, and Tom Noonan
I didn't really think I'd ever say this, but Brett Ratner did a better job on a story than Michael Mann did. Both men took on an adaptation of the first story with Hannibal Lecter, Red Dragon. And while neither are great movies, Ratner works it better. The biggest problem here is that Mann tries way to hard to make this movie cool. With a very 80s soundtrack that Nicholas Winding Refn jerked it too when he was making Drive, it doesn't really fit. This is a procedural about a man who kills families for sexual reasons so he can "transform" to a higher form. And the handling of that character is weak as well. He isn't even seen until about halfway through the movie, and his entire story is rushed. The relationship with the blind woman that makes him question his actions is insanely rushed, so much so that it's really off putting that they would think we'd believe this development. They also barely get into his motivation, just sort of tossing it off to the side as if that was enough, missing the point of the book completely. Mann seemed like he didn't care too much about the material, doing a work for hire job after Miami Vice. The editing is bad too, very herky jerky in some scenes. The other area that the movie doesn't do so well is casting. There are a lot of good actors here, but they are miscast. Noonan is a weird looking man, but he is not Francis Dolarhyde as described in the book. Farina is not a believeable Jack Crawford, always seeming like a street cop and not the head of an FBI task force. Allen looks like she is barely tying to be blind and is really given a thankless role. Stephen Lang is way miscast as the sleazy Freddy Lounds. He'd have been better as Crawford or a cop. Only Petersen is cast close to right, but Mann doesn't give him good direction. He delivers some lines very robotically or very loud. He doesn't give off the manic, fearful genius that he is supposed to be. But the biggest failure is the ending. Not that it doesn't stick exactly to the book. It misses the point completely, changing it to be cool. A big shootout and then a fist fight between Petersen/the cops against Noonan/a shotgun, it is way too out of place in the story. Throw in a completely forgettable Hannibal Lecktor (they even misspell his fucking name) done by Brian Cox, this movie is a big missed opportunity. On its own, its a decent little 80s procedural. But there are too many problems with the source material and the actual movie that it doesn't play too well anymore. Very dated, it's only recommended to be a Hannibal completist.
- Tom Lorenzo
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