Welcome back gang to the newest addition of my weekly update. After the pretty shit week last week, we get back on track with some good stuff. I had to cheat a bit with a rewatch of a great flick, but it's still a good week without it. So sit back and enjoy. I'll see you soon.
Southern Comfort (August 24th, 2014)
Director: Walter Hill
Starring: Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Fred Ward, and TK Carter
Walter Hill was and still is one of the best guys to make movies about tough and rough men dealing with some hard times. So it isn't surprising to know that he made a movie about a crew of National Guardsmen in the South being hunted by natives, and that he knocked it out of the park. Filled with great character guys and B stars like Booth and Carradine, the movie is really down and dirty. Hill also shows some real talent of building up tension and impending doom, having these guys really out of their element against the native Cajuns. It's like a different take on Deliverance, but instead of having an absolutely retarded rape scene being the driving force of the movie and just ending up being a man vs nature movie, Hill makes it a man vs nature and a man vs man movie. And it's not just the guardsmen vs the cajun. The guardsmen start to turn on each other, not always having liked each other and those feeling coming out ten fold. Some snap under pressure, some deny the reality of the situation, and some do whatever to survive. It's not a spoiler to say not everyone survives. It all culminates in one of the best sequences Hill has ever directed, and absolute nail biting scene set in a cajun town while the natives have a little ho down. It's masterfully directed and cut and is the perfect capper for the movie. This is a great little movie, nothing that will change the world but is perfectly calibrated to entertain and keep you on the edge of your seat.
Rating: 9/10
Django Unchained (August 29th, 2014)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonard DiCaprio
I've already seen this and loved it. I've seen it alot. But I haven't watched it front to back in a long time, definitely before I started this weekly update business. So I'm basically here to say that this movie is still perfect and one of Tarantinos masterpieces, a master class in film making and entertainment. One of the most amazing aspects of this is that he manages to convey that slavery was awful for the slaves, and he doesn't do it with a wink in his eye or any lighthearted antics. No, he shows the dehumanizing life of a slave. But he also keeps it out of the misery porn genre that 12 Years a Slave delves into by making all the stuff with white folks absolutely hilarious. All of the white folks not King Schultz are real nasty pieces of shit but absolute idiots. And all violence against white folk is just so cartoony and over the top, you can't help but laugh and root for these scum bags to get their comeuppance. It doesn't hurt when the main pecker wood is being portrayed by DiCaprio as Calvin Candie, an absolutely repugnant and ignorant man in a career high for Leo. But he also shows how insidious the slave trade can be by giving us Sam Jackson as Steven, the head house nigger and poster child for Uncle Tom-hood. Steven is the lowest of the low in Djangos eyes, a man who willing turns against his own kind to stay in the Candie families good graces. And without bringing attention to it, we see that Stephen is a broken man. He plays three different people essentially, is always hiding his true nature, and has an absolute hatred for Django for being his own man without cow towing to a white man. This is the movie where Quentin decided to be some thematic heft into his work, while still giving us a hilarious bloodbath with an anachronistic soundtrack. The cast is uniformly great, even Foxx in the less flashy role of stoic badass. This is just pure Tarantino without any bad elements, something we haven't got since Kill Bill. He delivered a brilliant film and it still works and will continue to work as a one of a kind monster of a movie.
Rating: 10/10
Rescue Dawn (August 30th, 2014)
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, and Jeremy Davies
I'm not always the biggest fan of biopics. They tend to fall into this bland, going through the motions feel that I can't really get behind. Some can over come the typical narrative, like Malcolm X. But usually, I'm whatever. This one manages to tip over into the interesting side of things, mainly because of Herzogs career as a documentary film maker, adding a realism to the proceedings that really helps in this kind of movie. Dealing with Bale as a pilot around the Vietnam War as he crashes in Laos, ending up as a POW and his attempt to escape. This could fall into real treacle or misery porn territory. But the character Bale plays, Dieter Dengler, is such a force of positivity and faith that the movie never feels miserable. You feel the weight of everything, but his good spirits keep the movie afloat. That's also due to Herzog, having made a doc about Dengler and bringing his realism to a story he obviously really cares about. Bale is great in the role, but the breakout is Zahn. His portrayal of such a broken down husk of a man is truly heartbreaking, and eye opening because why the fuck isn't he doing more work? All in all it's a really good flick with great performances, and the movie moves along at a good pace and an uplifting tone.
Rating: 9/10
2 Guns (August 30th, 2014)
Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Starring: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, and Bill Paxton
This is an ok movie. Technically well made and has a nice pace to it. But it's all cliche and typical action movie fare, with double crosses and conspiracies abound. It's whatever in that sense. What keeps this movie afloat and watchable is the cast. Denzel and Wahlberg are great together. The chemistry is great and they bounce off each other really well. Their two different and distinct energies are good counterpoints. Add Bill Paxton just chewing up scenery like a mad dog with a gloriously terrible southern accent and legendary mustache, this is a fun movie to watch for the cast. That's it. If you don't like most of these guys, don't watch. But if you do, it'll be a fun time.
Rating 7/10
Best Movies
1. Django Unchained
2. Southern Comfort
3. Rescue Dawn
4. 2 Guns
Top 5 Performances
1. Leonardo DiCaprio - Django Unchained
2. Steve Zahn - Rescue Dawn
3. Samuel L. Jackson - Django Unchained
4. Powers Booth - Southern Comfort
5. Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Top 5 Moments
1. Candieland Bloodbath - Django Unchained
2. The Cajun Dance off - Southern Comfort
3. I Count Two Guns - Django Unchained
4. The Bags Don't Fit - Django Unchained
5. Denzel Pays Marky Mark Back - 2 Guns
Django Unchained (August 29th, 2014)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
I've already seen this and loved it. I've seen it alot. But I haven't watched it front to back in a long time, definitely before I started this weekly update business. So I'm basically here to say that this movie is still perfect and one of Tarantinos masterpieces, a master class in film making and entertainment. One of the most amazing aspects of this is that he manages to convey that slavery was awful for the slaves, and he doesn't do it with a wink in his eye or any lighthearted antics. No, he shows the dehumanizing life of a slave. But he also keeps it out of the misery porn genre that 12 Years a Slave delves into by making all the stuff with white folks absolutely hilarious. All of the white folks not King Schultz are real nasty pieces of shit but absolute idiots. And all violence against white folk is just so cartoony and over the top, you can't help but laugh and root for these scum bags to get their comeuppance. It doesn't hurt when the main pecker wood is being portrayed by DiCaprio as Calvin Candie, an absolutely repugnant and ignorant man in a career high for Leo. But he also shows how insidious the slave trade can be by giving us Sam Jackson as Steven, the head house nigger and poster child for Uncle Tom-hood. Steven is the lowest of the low in Djangos eyes, a man who willing turns against his own kind to stay in the Candie families good graces. And without bringing attention to it, we see that Stephen is a broken man. He plays three different people essentially, is always hiding his true nature, and has an absolute hatred for Django for being his own man without cow towing to a white man. This is the movie where Quentin decided to be some thematic heft into his work, while still giving us a hilarious bloodbath with an anachronistic soundtrack. The cast is uniformly great, even Foxx in the less flashy role of stoic badass. This is just pure Tarantino without any bad elements, something we haven't got since Kill Bill. He delivered a brilliant film and it still works and will continue to work as a one of a kind monster of a movie.
Rescue Dawn (August 30th, 2014)
Director: Werner Herzog
Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, and Jeremy Davies
I'm not always the biggest fan of biopics. They tend to fall into this bland, going through the motions feel that I can't really get behind. Some can over come the typical narrative, like Malcolm X. But usually, I'm whatever. This one manages to tip over into the interesting side of things, mainly because of Herzogs career as a documentary film maker, adding a realism to the proceedings that really helps in this kind of movie. Dealing with Bale as a pilot around the Vietnam War as he crashes in Laos, ending up as a POW and his attempt to escape. This could fall into real treacle or misery porn territory. But the character Bale plays, Dieter Dengler, is such a force of positivity and faith that the movie never feels miserable. You feel the weight of everything, but his good spirits keep the movie afloat. That's also due to Herzog, having made a doc about Dengler and bringing his realism to a story he obviously really cares about. Bale is great in the role, but the breakout is Zahn. His portrayal of such a broken down husk of a man is truly heartbreaking, and eye opening because why the fuck isn't he doing more work? All in all it's a really good flick with great performances, and the movie moves along at a good pace and an uplifting tone.
2 Guns (August 30th, 2014)
Director: Baltasar Kormakur
Starring: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, and Bill Paxton
This is an ok movie. Technically well made and has a nice pace to it. But it's all cliche and typical action movie fare, with double crosses and conspiracies abound. It's whatever in that sense. What keeps this movie afloat and watchable is the cast. Denzel and Wahlberg are great together. The chemistry is great and they bounce off each other really well. Their two different and distinct energies are good counterpoints. Add Bill Paxton just chewing up scenery like a mad dog with a gloriously terrible southern accent and legendary mustache, this is a fun movie to watch for the cast. That's it. If you don't like most of these guys, don't watch. But if you do, it'll be a fun time.
Best Movies
1. Django Unchained
2. Southern Comfort
3. Rescue Dawn
4. 2 Guns
Top 5 Performances
1. Leonardo DiCaprio - Django Unchained
2. Steve Zahn - Rescue Dawn
3. Samuel L. Jackson - Django Unchained
4. Powers Booth - Southern Comfort
5. Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Top 5 Moments
1. Candieland Bloodbath - Django Unchained
2. The Cajun Dance off - Southern Comfort
3. I Count Two Guns - Django Unchained
4. The Bags Don't Fit - Django Unchained
5. Denzel Pays Marky Mark Back - 2 Guns
- Tom Lorenzo
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