• Actor: Gary Oldman
• Character: Drexl Spivey
• Film: True Romance
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Get Out
Posted in Horror, thriller with tags 2017 on July 21, 2017 by Mark Walker
Director: Jordan Peele.
Screenplay: Jordan Peele.
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Alison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, LilRel Howery, Marcus Henderson, Betty Gabriel, Lakeith Stanfield, Stephen Root, Richard Herd, Erika Alexander, Ashley LeConte Campbell.
“A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste”
Better known for his TV comedy sketches with Keegan Michael-Key or most recently the action-comedy, Keanu, Jordan Peele makes his directorial debut with a genre you wouldn’t ordinarily expect from him. It isn’t exactly the horror that it’s been marketed or advertised as – instead leaning more to psychological thriller – but there’s no mistaking Peele’s dramatic flair or natural ability to work outside his comfort zone. Continue reading
Silence
Posted in Drama with tags 2016 on July 13, 2017 by Mark Walker
Director: Martin Scorsese.
Screenplay: Martin Scorsese, Jay Cocks.
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Ciarán Hinds, Tadanobu Asano, Issei Ogata, Yoshi Oida, Yôsuke Kubozuka, Shin’ya Tsukamoto.
“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church”
Martin Scorsese is, undoubtedly, one of the great American filmmakers. For over 40 years he has been the guy that has wanted to wash the scum off the streets; claimed it’s better to be King for a night than schmuck for a lifetime; advised us to never to rat on our friends and to go home and get our fuckin’ shine boxes. These classic cinematic moments aside, he’s also known for the occasional deviation from the norm of his criminal outings and delivered films with deep religious themes; The Last Temptation of Christ, Kundun and now Silence completes his unofficial religious trilogy. Continue reading
Mulholland Falls
Posted in Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery with tags 1996 on July 7, 2017 by Mark Walker
Director: Lee Tamahori.
Screenplay: Pete Dexter.
Starring: Nick Nolte, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Jennifer Connelly, Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich, Treat Williams, Kyle Chandler, Andrew McCarthy, Bruce Dern, Louise Fletcher, Daniel Baldwin, Ed Lauter, Titus Welliver, Richard Sylbert, Virginia Madsen, William Petersen, Rob Lowe.
“This is L.A. This is my town. Out here you’re a trespasser. Out here I can pick you up, burn your house, fuck your wife, and kill your dog. And the only thing that’ll protect you is if I can’t find you. And I already found you”.
Released in 1996, Lee Tamahori’s Mulholland Falls has largely been overshadowed by the Oscar winning L.A. Confidential – which followed a year later. Although I often find fault with the Academy, on this occasion, I’m not going to split hairs with them and argue that Tamahori’s film is as good, because it’s not. But that’s no shame in Tamahori’s efforts as, for me, L.A. Confidential is one of the best films over the last 20 years. Mulholland Falls is a very admirable attempt that doesn’t deserve to have become a forgotten addition to L.A. themed noir. Continue reading
Triple 9
Posted in Action, Crime with tags 2016 on June 27, 2017 by Mark Walker
Director: John Hillcoat.
Screenplay: Matt Cook.
Starring: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Clifton Collins Jr, Kate Winslet, Gal Gadot, Teresa Palmer, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michelle Ang, Terence Rosemore.
“You’re a bank manager. You should be smart enough to know that the monster has gone digital. Be careful what you instagoogletweetface”.
After his relentlessly grim debut The Proposition and it’s equally grim follow-up, The Road, director John Hillcoat carved a reputation as a less than cheery filmmaker. However, he was clearly one with an undeniable ability to capture a time and place. His third feature – Lawless – proved again that he had a great eye for detail – even though it was lacking a depth of narrative. With Triple 9, Hillcoat, yet again, showcases his gritty realism but it suffers the same problems in terms of the story. Continue reading
The Straight Story
Posted in Drama with tags 1999 on June 19, 2017 by Mark Walker
Director: David Lynch.
Screenplay: John Roach, Mary Sweeney.
Starring: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Harry Dean Stanton, Everett McGill, Jane Galloway-Heitz, Ed Grennan, Jack Walsh, Bill McCallum, Kevin Farley, John Farley, John Lordan, Leroy Swadley.
“The worst part of being old is remembering when you was young”
Walt Disney and David Lynch are two names that you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to see involved on the same project. Disney is, of course, the leading production brand for family entertainment and Lynch’s work couldn’t be further from that magical and innocent material. However, that’s exactly what we’re looking at with The Straight Story which is a complete change of direction from the usually dark and disturbing Lynch and he proves to his naysayers that he’s entirely able to construct something of a different nature altogether. Continue reading
INLAND EMPIRE
Posted in Horror, Mystery with tags 2006 on June 6, 2017 by Mark Walker
Director: David Lynch.
Screenplay: David Lynch.
Starring: Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons, Harry Dean Stanton, Julia Ormond, Mary Steenburgen, Grace Zabriskie, Peter J. Lucas, Karolina Gruszka, Jan Hencz, Krzysztof Majchrzak, Ian Abercrombie, Jerry Stahl, Diane Ladd, William H. Macy, Jordan Ladd, Kat Turner, Kristen Kerr, Terry Crews, Nastassja Kinski, Scott Coffey, Laura Harring, Naomi Watts.
“I figured one day I’d just wake up and and find out what the hell yesterday was all about. I’m not too keen on thinkin’ about tommorow. And today’s slipping by”
“A dream of dark and troubling things” is how Lynch himself described his directorial debut Eraserhead in 1977. It’s fitting then that his first and (so far) last film share similarities with this description. In fact, this is probably the most coherent thing you can take from INLAND EMPIRE (Lynch insists the title is capitalised). Even the marketing executives had no idea how to promote the film and, in the end, decided to punt it with the vaguest of taglines: A woman in trouble. The rest is basically up to the individual viewer. But make no mistake, INLAND EMPIRE lands you squarely in Lynchland. Continue reading
