From Dusk Till Dawn (R)
"Hackula, Dead and Loving it"
The deadly Gecko brothers, fresh from a bank robbery and jail break, are causing havoc throughout southern Texas, take a ex-Preacher, his RV and two children hostage, using them to sneak over the border to Mexico where they can live out their lives in the sun. The only thing that can halt their spree are their own self destructive tendencies, one decent man's spirit, and a brood of devil worshiping Aztec bloodsuckers in Robert Rodriquez' (El Mariachi) direction of one of Quentin Tarantino's best action scripts.
FDTD is two movies with a swerve connecting them, arriving at a swift pace and razor sharp dialogue. George Clooney, in his first starring role plays the brains of the Gecko brothers. He steals the show from the get go, shedding the OR scrubs for a professional thief with a black suit and neck tattoos that proved he would soon be Hollywood's go-to bachelor superstar. Quentin himself plays the other, seedier Gecko, one with a predilection to rape, murder and hallucinations (QT actually nails this role). Their relationship is center to the first half of the movie, a buddy dynamic that is loving as it is demented. The characters that cross their paths are likewise well defined and cannon fodder for the Gecko's mayhem, centered by headliner Harvey Keitel (Bad Lieutenant) as the burned out preacher with a dead wife on his soul. Together they make it through Texas and to a low life bar across the border, drinking and waiting for sunrise and their escort to the good life. And that's where the second movie begins and things almost fall apart.
What once was a on-the-lam crime film with red hot dialogue (some of Tarantino's snappiest and most believable) with good action and vibrating with testosterone injected one liners oh-so-bad-guys you love to hate, suddenly transmogrifies into a supernatural gore fest with silly cheesy effects and over the top ridiculousness. It is jarring, but not altogether unsuccessful. There are ideas aplenty, ideas rushed onto the screen and smashed with gleeful vigor (as often is the case with Rodriguez' films). Some of the make up does not hold up well, bad masks and awful morph effects straight from the 90s lowbudget wave (RRs bread and butter). Prudction desings like a biker (infamous VFX guru Tom Savini) with a six-shooter for a penis, the lovely Salma Hayek gets a makeover only a snake mother could love, blacksploitation star Fred Williamson gets a makeup job that looks so cheap in closeups it looks like it came off the Halloween rack at Walmart.
Yet somehow Clooney and Keitel push through this madness and deliver an emotional, action fueled mad house of bat-killing frenzy. QT's script is subdued in just the right ways (no overlong conversations about some off topic pop culture wizbangs), RRs manic camera links to the ridiculous on screen story very well (demonic Mariachi bands aside). There is gravitas and red-gravy spraying everywhere, the film is a half greatness and half lunacy. Which half appeals to you is all a matter of taste (with a side of tequila, salt, lime and bloody body shots).
7 Cheechs Double Cameos out of 10 (GOOD)
Showing posts with label 1996. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1996. Show all posts
Kingpin (1996)
Kingpin (R)
"Makin' the 6 10 split"
The Farrelly brothers, hot off their big win with Dumb and Dumber, write and direct this absurd comedy involving Professional Bowlers, con-men/women and the Amish of all things. The 90s are large and in charge here in soundtrack and aesthetics, but the stellar cast makes it more than watchable and is a good laugh (in a slumming kind of way). Bill Murray (Metaballs) has an amazing turn as the villainously overthetop bowler Big Ern, a role only Bill could dominate with such confidence. Woody Harrelson as the one-handed Roy Munson is the man wronged and his Amish partner in tenpin is Randy Quaid at his naive faced best. There are some rough edges, terrible secondary characters and plots, some telegraphed jokes, but on the whole the movie miraculously makes the 7-10 split, orders you another beer and is the kind of date that doesn't mind the nacho cheese stains on your shirt.
6.5 My Body Is A Temple Back Tattoos out of 10 (GOOD)
"Makin' the 6 10 split"
The Farrelly brothers, hot off their big win with Dumb and Dumber, write and direct this absurd comedy involving Professional Bowlers, con-men/women and the Amish of all things. The 90s are large and in charge here in soundtrack and aesthetics, but the stellar cast makes it more than watchable and is a good laugh (in a slumming kind of way). Bill Murray (Metaballs) has an amazing turn as the villainously overthetop bowler Big Ern, a role only Bill could dominate with such confidence. Woody Harrelson as the one-handed Roy Munson is the man wronged and his Amish partner in tenpin is Randy Quaid at his naive faced best. There are some rough edges, terrible secondary characters and plots, some telegraphed jokes, but on the whole the movie miraculously makes the 7-10 split, orders you another beer and is the kind of date that doesn't mind the nacho cheese stains on your shirt.
6.5 My Body Is A Temple Back Tattoos out of 10 (GOOD)
The Late Shift (1996)
The Late Shift (R)
"Therrrrre... goes Johnny!"
HBO pulls back the curtain behind the Letterman vs Leno debacle of 90s late night television and blows up NBCs skirts in the process. Based on the book by media journalist Bill Carter, the insider view into the machinations between Dave, Jay and management are both entertaining and interesting and bring a mostly impartial eye to the proceedings. The actors portraying the stars try their best with somewhat shaky results (the real life David Letterman particularly hated his doppelganger, calling him a "psychotic red haired chimp" on many a weeknight monologue), but only Kathy Bates as Jay's foul mouthed pitbull of an agent with an eye on the late night throne deserves any notice (and was awarded a Golden Globe for her effort).
Parties interested in the proceedings/backstabbings sponsored by the incompetence shown by NBC executives, a genial Jay and his pushy agent-ess and an underachieving David Letterman may be better served by reading the minutia filled novel, but the movie serves as a great crib-note version and quick fly on the wall view into one of the most bizarre infights in television history.
6 Prelude to Conan's Situation out of 10 (GOOD)
"Therrrrre... goes Johnny!"
HBO pulls back the curtain behind the Letterman vs Leno debacle of 90s late night television and blows up NBCs skirts in the process. Based on the book by media journalist Bill Carter, the insider view into the machinations between Dave, Jay and management are both entertaining and interesting and bring a mostly impartial eye to the proceedings. The actors portraying the stars try their best with somewhat shaky results (the real life David Letterman particularly hated his doppelganger, calling him a "psychotic red haired chimp" on many a weeknight monologue), but only Kathy Bates as Jay's foul mouthed pitbull of an agent with an eye on the late night throne deserves any notice (and was awarded a Golden Globe for her effort).
Parties interested in the proceedings/backstabbings sponsored by the incompetence shown by NBC executives, a genial Jay and his pushy agent-ess and an underachieving David Letterman may be better served by reading the minutia filled novel, but the movie serves as a great crib-note version and quick fly on the wall view into one of the most bizarre infights in television history.
6 Prelude to Conan's Situation out of 10 (GOOD)
Shine (1996)
Shine (PG-13)
"Hugs for everyone!"
Australian actor Geoffery Rush (and his butt) made his big breakthrough in this biopic of a fellow Australian and unique virtuoso David Helfgott who, due to a domineering father, rapidly descends into mental illness and obscurity. Many years later he is found playing improvisational music on a piano in a bar, escaped from his sanitarium. Soon he meets his future wife and starts once again to play to larger and larger audiences.
The film would be much degraded without Rush's David, a nonstop chitterchatter and hug machine full of mannerisms who is stumbling through life with a hidden intelligence until the right woman comes along to excavate him and his talent. Rush is magnificent, and Shine is definitely his signature role and includes many of his eccentric hallmarks. Surprisingly much of the run time is spent on the pathos of his youth and relationship with his father, handled by a younger actors who do an admirable job. In a way Shine feels like a cleaner, less disturbing "Bad Boy Bubby," an Australian cult film from a few years prior. However this film is differentiated by its mainstream appeal and heartfelt humanity. It's a shiny ticket to the Geoffery Rush show, front row and center.
9 Coke Bottle Glasses and Cigarettes out of 10 (OUTSTANDING)
"Hugs for everyone!"
Australian actor Geoffery Rush (and his butt) made his big breakthrough in this biopic of a fellow Australian and unique virtuoso David Helfgott who, due to a domineering father, rapidly descends into mental illness and obscurity. Many years later he is found playing improvisational music on a piano in a bar, escaped from his sanitarium. Soon he meets his future wife and starts once again to play to larger and larger audiences.
The film would be much degraded without Rush's David, a nonstop chitterchatter and hug machine full of mannerisms who is stumbling through life with a hidden intelligence until the right woman comes along to excavate him and his talent. Rush is magnificent, and Shine is definitely his signature role and includes many of his eccentric hallmarks. Surprisingly much of the run time is spent on the pathos of his youth and relationship with his father, handled by a younger actors who do an admirable job. In a way Shine feels like a cleaner, less disturbing "Bad Boy Bubby," an Australian cult film from a few years prior. However this film is differentiated by its mainstream appeal and heartfelt humanity. It's a shiny ticket to the Geoffery Rush show, front row and center.
9 Coke Bottle Glasses and Cigarettes out of 10 (OUTSTANDING)
Last Man Standing (1996)
Last Man Standing (R) - Review
"Entertain Hard"
A lone mercenary arrives in a border town that is occupied by two disparate gangs of criminals whose weapons are soon turned on each other by the shifting loyalties of the merc. Sound familiar? That's due to the script being based on Akira Kurosawa's masterful samurai film "Yojimbo," However the similarities are soon lost as its set in the border to Mexico and the criminals are bootleggers in Prohibition era Texas. Despite having a credible action director in Walter Hill (48 Hours) and action star in Bruce Willis (Die Hard), the film is a joyless, violent enterprise that lacks the wit and wisdom of the 1961 original. Willis' sleazy and double dealing John Smith can't crawl out from the shadow of Toshiro Mifune's (7 Samurai) humorous and antiheroic Yojimbo, but Bruce's role isn't helped by his soulless voice over narration and a haircut only Gomer Pyle would love. The cast is filled with 90s character actors (most notable Christopher Walken as a heavy), but the action is mostly flat and the accompanying hard rock guitar soundtrack is completely tone deaf. There's no subtlety to the crash of the twin 45s and the resulting violence actually packs quite a wallop, but the production design is a dreary dust bowl of look a like sets. This Americanized rethink is grim yet limp bore, and sacrifices the basic fun tone to differentiate itself from its originator.
4.5 Willis in an Undershirt out of 10 (MEDIOCRE)
"Entertain Hard"
A lone mercenary arrives in a border town that is occupied by two disparate gangs of criminals whose weapons are soon turned on each other by the shifting loyalties of the merc. Sound familiar? That's due to the script being based on Akira Kurosawa's masterful samurai film "Yojimbo," However the similarities are soon lost as its set in the border to Mexico and the criminals are bootleggers in Prohibition era Texas. Despite having a credible action director in Walter Hill (48 Hours) and action star in Bruce Willis (Die Hard), the film is a joyless, violent enterprise that lacks the wit and wisdom of the 1961 original. Willis' sleazy and double dealing John Smith can't crawl out from the shadow of Toshiro Mifune's (7 Samurai) humorous and antiheroic Yojimbo, but Bruce's role isn't helped by his soulless voice over narration and a haircut only Gomer Pyle would love. The cast is filled with 90s character actors (most notable Christopher Walken as a heavy), but the action is mostly flat and the accompanying hard rock guitar soundtrack is completely tone deaf. There's no subtlety to the crash of the twin 45s and the resulting violence actually packs quite a wallop, but the production design is a dreary dust bowl of look a like sets. This Americanized rethink is grim yet limp bore, and sacrifices the basic fun tone to differentiate itself from its originator.
4.5 Willis in an Undershirt out of 10 (MEDIOCRE)
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About Me
- Kevin Gasaway via HardDrawn
- Turlock, California, United States
- Media and Reviews by Kevin Gasaway