A weary New York police officer can take a lot: stopping terrorist plots, saving the internet, keeping planes in the sky, but even they can only take so much. The fragile romance between two star-crossed lovers being ended abruptly? It's just a little too much for even John McClane.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Never Mind Pop Film has scored a major coup. Due to pure luck and circumstance, I was in the Tampa Bay area and able to score an interview with The Man with No Name himself, Clint Eastwood. The legend from such classics as High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Fistful of Dollars, Escape from Alcatraz, Dirty Harry, and Unforgiven. It was an incredible honor to sit down with the man and have a cinematic conversation. Below is the chat as transcribed.
Me: Thank you, sir, for taking the time out of your busy schedule promoting Trouble with the Curve to sit down with me. I cannot begin to express how lucky I feel right now.
CE: "--"
Well, let's get down to business, shall we? You had stated publicly that Gran Torino would be your last acting performance. What made you change your mind? Did you find semi-retirement too dull?
CE: "--"
Erm... speaking of acting, how did you enjoy working with Justin Timberlake? Were you tempted to cut a rug with him during one of the multiple scenes that takes place in the local bar? Karaoke perhaps?
CE: "--"
Another actor you hadn't worked with previously was John Goodman, who is witnessing a sort of career renaissance first-hand with roles in The Campaign, Paranorman, Argo, Inside Llewlyn Davis, Flight and Trouble with the Curve in 2012. Has he shared any of that experience with you?
CE: "--"
Heh. You weren't the one who told him to grow that mustache did you? When my friends and I watch Community we all wonder why he keeps sporting that. Did he lose a bet? I bet it was to Morgan Freeman, that guy is kind of weird when he's not playing God. Did he try to convince you to take the red pill? I brushed into him on the lot and he had a trench coat full of them.
CE: "--"
My apologies. That was a clearly inappropriate question.
CE: "--"
Look, I'm sure we can get around this faux pas, it's just that I've been going shopping with my girlfriend and we can't agree on the right furniture. The stress has been accumulating and I let it negatively affect this interview.
CE: "--"
I'm not quite sure why you're asking about my kitchen now. It's a grey-blue with wood cabinets. Why do you ask?
CE: "--"
I suppose I could have said that, yes, but who still gets coffee tables from IKEA?
CE: "--"
Well, there's no need to use that kind of language. I mean, really, a "jim-dandy"? That hurts. If I had known that you were such a big fan of IKEA I would have never brought it up.
CE: "--"
I completely understand, sir. This would be the best place to conclude. Thank you for your time, and, oh, don't forget to take the chair with you.
When times are increasingly desperate, men of violence rule. The Bondurant brothers are such men. Forrest (Tom Hardy) and Howard (Jason Clarke) are chief bootleggers in the wettest county in the union. Practically everyone in Franklin is on the take from the moonshine trade: sheriffs, owners, and church-going folk alike. From churches to nightclubs these outlaws go untouched. The boys are legend and believed to be immortal, worse, they believe the tales about themselves.
Jack (Shia LaBeouf) is the black sheep of this backwoods flock. He does not possess the size of his brothers, nor the brutality. When a spiffy, special agent from Chicago comes down to enforce a new law, the Bondurants are forced to make up for their brother's inefficiencies.
Brutality is not new to the Bondurants, but what Special Agent Rakes (a deranged Guy Pearce) presents is remarkable cruelty. He is a gloved poke right in the center of Forrest's chest. The Bondurants can be touched, he implies, and they can also bleed. Other outside elements like Mad Dog Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman) also pose a danger.
Nick Cave and John Hillcoat's previous collaboration, The Proposition, was a gripping and utterly violent film that saw a revisioning of the West. Lawless proves to be just as violent, but more poetic in its implementation. Shots of the South offer a spectacular canvas for showdowns between the perpetually mumbling Tom Hardy and the associates of Rakes. The legend of the Bondurants will be tested and their way of life may die in the process.
In many ways, Lawless presents a parallel to The Godfather. Three brothers vying to create a lasting legacy: the ambitious Jack, the loose-cannon that is Howard and the stoic guardian, Forrest. One of the faults with Lawless is that the corrupted soul at the center is not portrayed by Al Pacino, rather Shia LaBeouf. The faults that many see with LaBeouf's acting may actually be the arrogance and naivete of Jack. Does he have the strengths of Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce or an always excellent Jessica Chastain? No, but he is evolving past his turns in Transformers.
While the ambitions of Lawless don't always pay off, it is an admirable effort for John Hillcoat. The stumbles are few and more than made up for with the performances of Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain. Their scenes together are a highlight of humor in a film that wouldn't be thought of as cheery.
Still, the real draw of Lawless is of course, the criminal element, when the adrenaline throttle is shifted into gear, the film is at its finest.
***/****
Jack (Shia LaBeouf) is the black sheep of this backwoods flock. He does not possess the size of his brothers, nor the brutality. When a spiffy, special agent from Chicago comes down to enforce a new law, the Bondurants are forced to make up for their brother's inefficiencies.
Brutality is not new to the Bondurants, but what Special Agent Rakes (a deranged Guy Pearce) presents is remarkable cruelty. He is a gloved poke right in the center of Forrest's chest. The Bondurants can be touched, he implies, and they can also bleed. Other outside elements like Mad Dog Floyd Banner (Gary Oldman) also pose a danger.
Nick Cave and John Hillcoat's previous collaboration, The Proposition, was a gripping and utterly violent film that saw a revisioning of the West. Lawless proves to be just as violent, but more poetic in its implementation. Shots of the South offer a spectacular canvas for showdowns between the perpetually mumbling Tom Hardy and the associates of Rakes. The legend of the Bondurants will be tested and their way of life may die in the process.
In many ways, Lawless presents a parallel to The Godfather. Three brothers vying to create a lasting legacy: the ambitious Jack, the loose-cannon that is Howard and the stoic guardian, Forrest. One of the faults with Lawless is that the corrupted soul at the center is not portrayed by Al Pacino, rather Shia LaBeouf. The faults that many see with LaBeouf's acting may actually be the arrogance and naivete of Jack. Does he have the strengths of Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce or an always excellent Jessica Chastain? No, but he is evolving past his turns in Transformers.
While the ambitions of Lawless don't always pay off, it is an admirable effort for John Hillcoat. The stumbles are few and more than made up for with the performances of Tom Hardy and Jessica Chastain. Their scenes together are a highlight of humor in a film that wouldn't be thought of as cheery.
Still, the real draw of Lawless is of course, the criminal element, when the adrenaline throttle is shifted into gear, the film is at its finest.
***/****
For hardcore fans of christian tales and vampires (the world's smallest venn diagram intersection) there is good news. Will Smith, former ambassador to alien invaders and Man in Black, will possibly direct a script by brother-in-law, Caleb Pinkett featuring the chronicles of Cain and Abel with a twist. He is reportedly also considering starring in other such concepts as: The Hangover with vampires, Hope Springs with vampires and a Jaws remake with Bruce Dern. Keep on rolling, Big Willie.
Monday, August 27, 2012
A much maligned opening, but a distinctly bold one as well. David Fincher's Alien 3 was a tonal shift from Aliens and this brief sequence conveys that immediately. The death of Newt and Hicks has angered many, most famously, Simon Pegg. Yes, Ripley did go through a lot to rescue the Aliens crew, but this film is going in a different direction and there is no cleaner break (and more effective way to set the mood) than to kill Newt and Hicks.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Thirty-seven years ago a film about a small, resort town shock the entire world. Jaws grossed nearly five hundred million dollars worldwide at the time of its release. Its impact has been a lasting one to say in the least. Numerous directors, actors, writers and critics site it as one of the best films in history.
Out-of-town sheriff, Martin Brody, (Roy Scheider) is spending his first summer in Amity. He has seen everything during his tenure in New York: murder, robberies, vandalism, you name it, but he has never seen anything like a shark attack. His instincts push him toward closing the beach after a teenage girl is killed, but the Mayor is uneasy, Amity depends on summer revenue. Against his wishes, Brody keeps the beach open and soon the beast attacks again, taking the life of another child.
Brody bucks the local leadership and enlists the aid of Oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) to find this shark. He doesn't disappoint: Hooper identifies the shark as a Great White. Suddenly, Captain Quint's (Robert Shaw) offer to kill the shark for $10,000 seems much more reasonable. Brody, Hooper and Quint set sail aiming to kill the shark that has plagued the town.
The plot itself may seem simplistic, but the reason Jaws is still so effective is because it captures an on elementary fear, a terror that resonates on a basic and primal level. The moment that most encapsulates that dread is Quint's monologue about the U.S.S. Indianapolis. Why this scenes works so perfectly in the film is also the reason why Steven Spielberg is considered a master of his art.
While these three men from all different walks of life compare scars in a competition of one-upmanship, Robert Shaw dials his performance up and delivers one of the better scenes of cinema. Quint, written off by most of Amity's residents as crazed, has a reason to his madness. Whatever scars Hooper or Brody have cannot compare to the haunting memory Quint shares with the audience.
"Sometimes that shark he looks right into ya. Right into your eyes. And, you know, the thing about a shark... he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be living... until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then... ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin'. The ocean turns red, and despite all the poundin' and the hollerin', they all come in and they... rip you to pieces. You know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men. I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand. I know how many men, they averaged six an hour."
The way Spielberg cuts from the bravado of drunken men and reveals insight into true horror. As far as man has advanced, even into the age of nuclear weapons, when man is descended into water, there is a creature more dominant than us. There is no weapon that can beat it back, or keep it at bay. Advantages given to man by way of history prove useless. In these moments of Jaws fear is all-encompassing. "Bruce", the name given to the mechanical creature that is accompanied by John William's famous score, represents an existential scare: we all will die, it is unavoidable.
That sentiment separates Spielberg's film from the rest of the horror genre. The scares are not brief; they are lasting. For this reason Jaws will never cease to be a mainstay of the pop culture consciousness. For that reason it is a classic.
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