HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE: A Review by Joel Copling

by Joel Copling, posted in Film Review

Rating in Stars: ***½ (out of ****)
Cast: Julian Dennison, Sam Neill, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne
Directed by: Taika Waititi
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements including violent content, and for some language)
Running Time: 1:41
Release Date: 06/24/16 (limited)

Here is a goodhearted film, delightful and somber, zany and full of truth. Hunt for the Wilderpeople weaves a tale of a patchwork family whose members all came from different places nevertheless united in loneliness. The father was a bushman who fell in love and subsequently became civilized. The mother was already a part of this civilization, charmed by the man from the woods in spite of the probability of a future with no children. The son has arrived at his newest foster house, after an absentee father left the mother who in turn abandoned her child. Writer/director Taika Waititi’s comedy of manners eventually becomes a road-trip comedy, but for about twenty minutes, he allows us to examine the chemistry of this unique trio.

The father is a lovable grump who clearly finds his own situation almost entirely improbable. He is Hector (Sam Neill)–“Hec” for short–who has applied his formerly wild ways to something of an adaptation to rural life. The mother never knew her own family growing up, and one can imagine that she might have taken to fostering children even if she had met a man capable of producing them. She’s just that kind (and kind of) a woman, Bella (a phenomenal Rima Te Wiata, whose all-too-brief performance deserves every positive accolade one can afford). The foster son is a “real bad egg,” according to the child services official (Rachel House) who drops him with this elderly couple. But even after we receive a lengthy list of Ricky’s (Julian Dennison) wrongdoings, we actually meet the kid and are reminded that one’s attitude rarely truly reflects one’s character.

That’s all the wrongdoing was, after all: a personification of his attitude. He’s a lost kid who, though he denies it the one time he’s asked, desperately wants to meet his own mother (As for his father, well, some may know how that is). Bella is welcoming and kind, singing him a silly song for his birthday, and then suddenly the character exits the narrative in a way that is, perhaps, predictable but not easily acceptable. The film is divided into chapters (The idiom used by the official to describe is the title for one of them), and the occurrence happens right at the end of the first. Hec’s solution to retreat into the woods, and then Ricky gets the bright idea to join him.

Tracked by the government official and her bumbling policeman of a sidekick (Oscar Kightley) under the suspicion that Hec has kidnapped Ricky, the two spent almost half a year on the run through the New Zealand, and their excursion makes up roughly six of the remaining chapters. Waititi (who also has a funny cameo as an entirely unhelpful priest with a curious allegory for finding faith after tragedy), adapting a novel by Billy Crump, then turns on the comic switch, with Hec and Ricky meeting the likes of a forager named Psycho Sam (Rhys Darby) whose governmental paranoia knows no boundaries and a father/daughter pair who take Ricky in one night and treat him like a celebrity and saving the life of a diabetic park ranger.

All of this is funny stuff, which means that the touching moments work all the more because of the chemistry between Dennison, whose Ricky is a loner this close to bursting out of his cocoon, and Neill, whose Hec is a very sad man who merely wants to be alone for a while after losing the only person for whom he became civilized (One guesses from his decision to retreat back into the woods that he probably wasn’t always a man of the woods anyway). Some ancillary distraction occurs with the inclusion of a trio of hunters who infer something scandalous and proceed to pop up now and then, but even so, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is often–to adopt Hec’s mistaken but well-meaning replacement for the term’s real counterpart–majestical.

The Nice Guys: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

The Nice Guys is a torrential downpour of laughs, prat falls and lovable idiocracy, a formula which director Shane Black perfected with his super underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This one is no doubt it’s sister film, and while it has comedy in spades, top tier performances all round and luscious 1970’s production design, it’s just a we bit under-plotted. Having said that, that’s my one and only complaint about it. It’s the funniest film of the year by far, thanks to the rough and tumble pairing of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Crowe is Jackson Healy, a mopey hired thug who will put the hurt on anyone if the dollar is right. This occupation has him cross the path of Holland March (Gosling) an ex cop PI who, according to his daughter (Angourie Rice), is the world’s worst detective. He’s certainly a buffoon, a trait which forms one half of their comedic shtick, the other being Healy’s laid back exasperation everytime March gets them into trouble, which is pretty much throughout the entire film. The two of them unwittingly stumble into a dangerous turn events involving the justice department, murder, the apparant suicide of a porn star (Margaret Qualley), a very scary assassi  (Matt Bomer) and one angry goon played by an afro’d out Keith David. It’s tough to make heads or tails of what’s really going on, but like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang it’s not about the plot or the outcome, it’s more about watching the characters trip over each other in style as they get there. Crowe is terrific, a bear of a dude who’s in way over both his head, IQ and pay grade, aghast at Gosling’s antics at every turn. Gosling’s character belongs to that special class of stupid that is so clumsy that he circumnavigates his own ineptitude and ends up falling right into clues, without a clue how he got there. After a string of recent stoic introvert roles, he’s the most animated character of the film and is clearly having a ball. None of what the duo do would be possible without March’s precocious 13 year old daughter, played with uncanny ability by Rice, whose star is going to be solidly on the rise, I’d wager. A reunion of sorts occurs with the arrival of Kim Basinger as the head of the justice department, joining Crowe again after their work in L.A. Confidential. Basinger isn’t given much to do ultimately, but her presence is a welcome addition to the vibe. Black deserves kudos for his gorgeous recreation of L.A. in the 70’s, right down to the sickening lampshades pastel suits and souped up cars it’s a treat to see. The energy from Crowe and Gosling is where it’s at with this one, and they both eagerly tuck in to the dialogue, making this one groovy, delirious riot of a flick.  

GEORGE ROY HILL’S SLAP SHOT — A REVIEW BY NICK CLEMENT

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

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One of the funniest movies ever made. I also played hockey for 15 years so that might have something to do with my obsession over this film. The screenplay is absolutely genius, operating as both brilliant sports satire and multi-pronged buddy film within the context of the underdog narrative. Every single laugh is either born out of character traits and personality or because of the organic quality of the plotting. Nothing is forced in Slap Shot, with George Roy Hill’s smooth yet rough-house direction somehow being a perfect match with the extraordinarily vulgar screenplay by Nancy Dowd, who also wrote Hal Ashby’s tragic Vietnam drama Coming Home. Everything about Slap Shot is note-perfect, from how astute it is about the game it so lovingly showcases, to every single performance, both big and small, nuanced and over the top. Paul Newman was perfectly cast as the broken-down player-coach, and would go on record as saying that making Slap Shot was one of the most fun times he ever had shooting a film. Michael Ontkean was so damn good, all rugged charm and sweaty-macho posturing, with serious ice-hockey skills to match his roguish on-screen aura. The prolific and amazing cinematographer Victor J. Kemper knew precisely how to frame all of the on-ice action so that every shot, every face-off, every goal scored felt believable and true to the sport. The Hanson brothers inject serious idiocy into the proceedings, with the various brawls that they instigate resulting in huge laughs. The final sequence is an all-timer, and honestly, there isn’t one thing about this movie on a creative level that I don’t agree with or love.

3

Mr. Right: A Review by Nate Hill 

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

As I was watching Mr. Right, I started thinking to myself, this is stupid. It’s absurd and silly. So why does it work so well? The premise isn’t unique or original. Girl meets boy. Girl falls in love with boy. Boy turns out to be hitman/secret agent. Boy drags girl on mad escapade against some dastardly villains, the bond between them getting stronger in the process. It’s an ages old formula. It sorta kinda worked with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and elsewhere failed miserably with Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. So why then does it work so well with Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick? Well, exactly that: It’s Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick. The two are so suited for each other it’s adorable. The both of them are quirky, awkward, unconventionally attractive and very unpredictable in their work. Neither are what you’d call traditional romantic leads or action stars, and it’s in that sense that the film finds its groove. I’ve heard other critics bash on Max Landis’s script for being to busy or too stoked on itself, but in a studio system that tosses us garbage like the Kutcher/Heigl version, I’ll take anything I can get that puts in an admirable effort, flaws and all. Anna plays a jilted girl who is on a speeding rebound train that has a chance run in with Mr. Right (Sam Rockwell). He’s charming, super into her and the chemistry they have is obvious right off the bat. Soon they’re being appallingly cute and pretty much dating… that’s where the trouble begins. Rockwell is an infamous assassin on the run from several baddies including his former agency mentor (Tim Roth has even more fun with accents here than he did in The Hateful Eight) who has lost his marbles, and a trio of mafia brats played by a volatile Anson Mount, a hammy James Ransone and a wicked Michael Eklund as that nastiest of the bunch. The film tries hard to balance the two tones, and fpr the most part succeeds, blending them with the helpful notes of craziness from everyone. The violence is brutal, stylized and often darkly comical, the romance is sweet but never gushy with just a hint of mental instability from both parties (sounds weird, I know… it works). Rockwell adds shades of his off the rails work in Seven Psychopaths, albeit with less psychosis. Kendrick is endlessly cute, and endearingly klutzy. Throw in RZA as a hapless killer who can’t decide what side of the fence he’s on, and you’ve got a diverse little cast with enough collective and individual talent to make this a good time. It won’t be for everyone; I can picture many people I know big annoyed, or simply finding themselves unable to buy into it. But for fans of Rockwell and Kendrick (even if you’re not, there’s no scoffing at both their skills) it’s a charming blast of fun. 

FANDANGO – A REVIEW BY J.D. LAFRANCE

by J.D., posted in Film Review

fandango1

Fandango (1985) is a celebration of being young. It’s a coming-of-age film that takes place during that nebulous time between graduating from college and when you are about enter the workforce and finally became an adult, supposedly leaving childish things behind. The film is much more than freewheeling road movie; it is also has its poignant moments as various characters face an uncertain future. Fandango marked the directorial debut of Texas filmmaker Kevin Reynolds and was also the first time he collaborated with actor Kevin Costner, a relationship that would continue over the years on other projects.

We meet the main characters, known collectively as the Groovers, in an Animal House-ish fraternity house in Austin, Texas, 1971. Gardner Barnes (Kevin Costner) and his buddies are graduating. One of their own, Kenneth Waggener (Sam Robards) is supposed to get married but he just found out that he’s been drafted into the army and will eventually be sent to Vietnam. In an attempt to prolong the inevitable, Gardner decides that the Groovers are going to go on one last road trip. Along for the ride is Phil Hicks (Judd Nelson), a square, perpetual stick-in-the-mud whose car they use, Dorman (Chuck Bush), large fellow who studied to become a minister, Lester Griffin (Brian Cesak), who ends up sleeping through the entire journey, and, of course, Waggener.

The opening title card for Fandango defines the film’s title, one of which describes it as “a foolish act” – an apt description for most of the first half of the film. Reynolds captures the Groovers’ ecstatic, joyous journey in a montage of the guys drinking, laughing, driving fast along the highway, and generally goofing off – all to the strains of “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” by Elton John blasting away on the soundtrack. This eventually gives way to the sobering reality of Phil throwing up on the side of the road and an overheated Waggener dunking his head in a cooler of water. Phil is the group’s nagging moral conscience and reminds them that they have to report to boot camp in a few days. Gardner convinces him to extend their road trip a little longer so that they can go dig up Dom, a vintage bottle of champagne that they buried on the border of Texas and Mexico.

Fandango contains plenty of “foolish acts,” like when the boys are out of gas and they tie fence post cable to the bumper of the car. Then, Dorman lassos a passing train to hitch a ride. It doesn’t work, of course, and the front part of the car gets ripped off. This is only the first of several bits of damage that is inflicted on Phil’s car, much to his chagrin. They push the car to a gas station (the attendant is played by none other than Pepe Serna of Scarface and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai fame) and find themselves in the town where Giant (1956) was shot. Later that night, they actually camp out at the site where the famous house from the film stood but all that remains is a pathetic, skeletal frame.

While they wait for the car to get fixed, the Groovers hang out at a Sonic drive-in diner, mooching food off of unsuspecting people. This gets them noticed by two teenage girls (one of whom is played by Elizabeth Daily from Valley Girl and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure fame) whom they charm for some food and a good time, all to the strains of “Spooky” by The Classics IV, which evokes those fun Saturday nights where all you do is goof off with your friends. The girls invite the guys to shoot off fireworks in a graveyard and everyone has loads of fun aiming them at each other. But this harmless lark gives way to a sobering dose of reality as Gardner and Waggener stumble across the grave of a young man who died over in Vietnam. They look back at the fireworks-induced chaos and it now looks a lot like a warzone, a smoky landscape complete with the image of a mini-mushroom cloud. Is this to be an ominous foreshadowing of what these guys are in for if report to boot camp and are sent to Vietnam?

Not surprisingly, Kevin Costner plays Gardner as a cocky ladies man. As he tells Waggener at one point, “I’ve never been serious about a woman in my life,” but through several flashbacks we know this not to be true. One of them reveals Gardner frolicking with an ex-girlfriend (Suzy Amis) to the strains of that wonderful Carole King song, “It’s Too Late.” I can take or leave Costner as an actor (although, I thought he was great in Bull Durham and A Perfect World) but he’s really good in Fandango. He plays Gardner with a mischievous glint in his eye and has the natural charisma to be the leader of the Groovers. His character isn’t just about having fun as he occasionally flashes back to the girl he once loved but that he let get away, as a dream sequence literally visualizes. Among the group, Gardner has the strongest sense of tradition. He is the driving force behind their quest to dig up Dom. He’s a restless spirit and has a hunger for the open road a la Jack Kerouac. Costner nails this free-spirited vibe so well.

Phil is a complainer and a constant wet blanket who is missing the point of the trip. As Gardner says at one point, “There’s nothing wrong with going nowhere. It’s a right of youth.” Phil just hurls insults at Gardner until Waggener has finally had enough and explodes, telling Phil exactly what he thinks of him. I’ve never been a huge Judd Nelson fan but he is excellent as an initially unlikable character, a “weenie” as Gardner calls him. Partway through the film, Gardner proposes that Phil take a sky diving lesson in order to prove that he’s not a weenie. This sequence was the short film that was the basis for Fandango. After Phil survives his lesson he is much more tolerable and loosens up considerably. Sam Robards is also quite good as Waggener and he, Nelson and Costner would all go on to bigger things, having worked steadily ever since this film.

The camaraderie among the Groovers is believable and fun to watch, especially the scene where they gleefully mess with Phil as he learns the basics of skydiving from Truman Sparks (Marvin J. McIntyre), a burn-out instructor-cum-hippie who looks like he’s done a little too much acid in the 1960s and never really recovered. The skydiving sequence in Fandango is shot-for-shot taken from Reynold’s University of Southern California thesis film “Proof” from 1980. He originally did a stint at Baylor Law School but was unhappy with the prospect of becoming a lawyer and wanted to go back to film school. He practiced law in the daytime and went to film school at night. After a year of doing this he realized that he had to make a choice.

Reynolds applied to USC film school, got accepted and quit his job. His goal was to have a screenplay that he could sell and a film he could show. He ended up selling his first script and got an agent because of it. He finished “Proof” and shortly afterward, Steven Spielberg’s people contacted him. He met with the famous filmmaker who liked “Proof” and two days later got a call from his assistant. Reynolds was told that Spielberg was making arrangements for him to do a feature film version of “Proof.” Once Reynolds got the OK he had to write a script around the action sequence in his short film. Costner had originally auditioned for “Proof” but didn’t get the part. He came back when Reynolds was casting for Fandango and within the first lines during the reading; he knew that Costner “was the guy.”

Fandango culminates with a wedding in a small, sleepy border town which sees Gardner and Phil perpetuating a pretty clever scam by managing to enlist the entire town to help out for free. This leads into the ceremony itself which reveals who Waggener’s bride-to-be is – the girl that Gardner has been thinking about it in the film’s flashbacks. The wedding ceremony is scored to Pat Methany and Lyle Mays’ “It’s For You,” creating a wistful mood that has a slight bittersweet tinge to it because of Gardner’s relationship to the bride. Then, the soundtrack swells with emotion when she and Costner dance the fandango, which takes us back to one of the definitions at the film’s opening title card. And who would’ve thought Costner could dance but he cuts an impressive rug that is shot in such a way that you know it’s really him doing it. This entire sequence is beautifully lit with strings of lights decorating the gazebo where Waggener and his bride are married. The final farewell of the Groovers is a melancholic one as Gardner takes off and Phil is left alone with Dorman telling him to “have a nice life.” The final shot is of Gardner watching from the outskirts of town as the lights go out and he raises a bottle for one last toast.

fandango2Reynolds is a native Texan and Fandango is a love letter, of sorts, to the state. At one point, Phil criticizes Texas and Gardner replies almost reverentially, “It’s wild, Philip. Always has been. Always will be.” As if to reinforce this point, Waggener laments calling off his wedding after coming across a plaque recognizing the McLean Massacre, a place where two Indian fighters were ambushed and killed in 1837. The film has all the energy and vitality of a first-time director who’s willing to go for it and has a burning desire to tell a story. However, the film’s joyful celebration of youth is tempered by a melancholic tone that surfaces periodically as the Groovers realize that their carefree college days are over and the sobering reality of army boot camp and Vietnam hangs over their heads like a dark storm cloud. As Reynolds said in a recent interview, Fandango is “the end of era for these four, and some realized it more than others.” He would graduate to bigger, more ambitious studio films like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and Waterworld (1995), but none of his subsequent work has had the personal touch of Fandango. It’s as if Reynolds lost track of where he came from and had his personality, which is apparent in every frame of his debut feature, removed by the impersonal machinations of Hollywood.

HAL ASHBY’S COMING HOME — A REVIEW BY NICK CLEMENT

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

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Coming Home is one of the most shattering Vietnam films ever crafted, concentrating not on battlefield heroics or action, but on the emotional and psychological turmoil that veterans would face upon their return home. Starring Jon Voight, Jane Fonda, and Bruce Dern in three of their greatest performances, this is a searing drama, something that’s impossible to forget once it’s been seen, further cementing director Hal Ashby’s confidence as a storyteller during that glory decade for him as a filmmaker. He was a storyteller who was interested in human behavior and the consequences of our actions, and each of his films, no matter how compromised, demonstrated this humanistic quality. This is a heartbreaking film, showing three extremely vulnerable characters reaching their tipping points as humans, and because the screenplay by Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones was so honest and sensitive, the actors were able to really invest themselves in their roles, thus painting forceful portraits of lives constantly in flux.

2Voight plays a paralyzed veteran who is helped by a volunteer therapist (Fonda), and Dern is Fonda’s battle-scarred husband who returns home with too many inner demons and no way of receiving the help that he needs. The soundtrack, as per usual for Ashby, is an incredible and evocative mix of now-greatest hits that date the film, not in a bad way, but in an organic fashion, thrusting the audience into the politically and socially charged environment of the story, while Ashby never lost sight of the intimate story details and the awkwardly beautiful relationship that Voight and Fonda embark upon. The final act of Coming Home is startling and scary and almost overwhelming in its intensity. Shot for $3 million and grossing over $30 million in the United States, the film struck a chord with audiences, and would go on to snag Oscars for Best Actor (Voight), Best Actress (Fonda), and Best Original Screenplay (Salt, Jones, and original story creator Nancy Dowd). Voight also won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival.

3

Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind: A Review By Nate Hill

by natewatchescoolmovies, posted in Film Review

  

As soon as George Clooney built up enough clout and reputation in the industry to a point where he could make his own projects, he started to send some unique and refreshing stuff down an assembly line that needed some shaking up. Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind is such a curiosity, but it’s so specific and idiosyncratic that I can barely say what makes it so special. I can go over the plot, performances etc. and give the reader a general idea, but to get it you had to be there. I suppose that’s the case with all movies, this one just sort of has its own frequency that you have to be tuned into. For a square jawed leading man, Clooney sure busted the box open with this directorial effort, as well as a few others, all just as distinctive. A screenplay by Mr. Abstract himself, Charlie Kaufman, helps with making an impression as well. Sam Rockwell, who continues to prove himself as one of the best actors of his generation, plays Chuck Barris. Chuck was the brain child behind numerous gaudy television game shows in the 60’s, including the infamous ‘Dating Game’. Flippant creative output was his brand, but there was another side to him as well, a darker period in which he claimed to be recruited by the CIA to carry out cloak and dagger assassinations. Whether or not this was ever a factual part of his life is murky, but he certainly believes it to be true and has written extensively about it in the novel which Clooney based this on. The film deftly intersperses his life at the television network and the genesis of the programs with his training and eventual missions for the Company. It’s an odd contrast, but when you’re treated with Clooney’s dutiful storytelling and an extremely committed turn from Rockwell, it’s hard not to be drawn into it. Not to mention the supporting cast. Julia Roberts is cast against type as a lethal, sociopathic femme fatale who crosses paths with Barris more than a few times. Rutger Hauer mopes about as a loveable alcoholic operative who covers Barris’s back on a few assignments. Drew Barrymore spruces things up as a ditzy love interest, Michael Cera plays Chuck as a young’in, Clooney himself underplays his CIA handler, letting an epic moustache do the talking, and there’s cameos from Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. At one point the film stops dead in its tracks for the funniest performance which hijacks a scene briefly, in the form of Robert John Burke as a maniacal censorship board hyena. Burke pulls the ripcord and delivers roughly 40 seconds of pure comedic genius that I could watch on loop, and is the only moment of its kind in the film. You’d think it’d offset tone, but in a film this organic and quirky, it simply serves as a garnish of hilarity. The whole thing has a Soderbergh feel to it (perhaps due to Clooney), a sharp, crystalline precision to the burnished cinematography from Newton Thomas Sigel, who previously wowed us with similar work on Blood & Wine, The Usual Suspects and Gregory Hoblit’s Fallen. His lens captures the melancholy accompanying Barris’s very strange path path in life with moodily lit frames, and pauses for the brilliant moments of absurd black comedy which seem to follow him around like the spooks he was always running from. A film with dual aspects that never tries to prove or disprove Chuck’s claims, but loyally tells the story the way he told it, guided by Clooney all the while. A little stroke of genius. 

THE DEVIL’S REJECTS – A REVIEW BY J.D. LAFRANCE

by J.D., posted in Film Review

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In an effort to appeal to the largest audience possible, Hollywood studios have neutered so many horror films into PG-13 movies that they lack any edge or ability to scare beyond the usual fright tactics. They then release the slightly more explicit R-rated or unrated versions on DVD to exploit devotees who don’t want the sanitized theatrical version. Lions Gate, a small, independent studio, flies in the face of this trend by distributing R-rated independent and international horror movies like High Tension (2003) and Saw (2004) that push the boundaries of on-screen violence. Hard rocker turned filmmaker Rob Zombie has taken advantage of this by making and releasing his first two films through Lion’s Gate. The second of those was The Devil’s Rejects (2005), a gritty, balls-to-the-wall horror movie cum road picture – imagine The Hills Have Eyes (1977) directed by Sam Peckinpah.

Not quite a sequel to Zombie’s first movie, House of a 1000 Corpses (2003), but rather the further adventures of a few of its characters – the notorious Firefly family. Early one morning, the police raid their farm. In the ensuing chaos, Otis (Bill Moseley) and his sister Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie) manage to escape with Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe) in hot pursuit and bent on revenge because they killed his brother (see House of 1000 Corpses). Otis and Baby take a country and western band by the name of Banjo & Sullivan hostage in a motel room. They eventually hook up with their partner Captain Spaudling (Sid Haig) and take refuge at a whorehouse owned by Spaudling’s brother, Charlie Altamont (Ken Foree) where they get ready for the inevitable confrontation with Wydell.

When Zombie wrote House of 1000 Corpses, he had a “vague idea” for a story about the brother of the sheriff that the Firefly clan killed coming back for revenge. He did this just in case the film did well enough at the box office and created interest in another film. After Lions Gate made back all of their money on the first day of Corpses theatrical release, the studio wanted Zombie to make another film and he started to seriously think about a new story. With Rejects, he wanted to make it more horrific and the characters less cartoonish than in Corpses. He was interested in making “something that was almost like a violent western” and has cited films like The Wild Bunch (1969), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and Badlands (1973) as influences.

Zombie hired Phil Parmet, who had shot the legendary documentary Harlan County USA (1976) because he wanted to adopt a hand-held camera/documentary look. To prepare for the film, Parmet watched many horror films but when he and Zombie started talking about the approach they wanted to take on Rejects, they actually connected on revisionist westerns like Hang ‘Em High (1968), Monte Walsh (1970), and El Topo (1970). They also looked to films like The French Connection (1971), In Cold Blood (1967), and Fat City (1972) for inspiration. During pre-production, they decided to shoot the film on 16mm and Zombie cited films like Amores Perros (2000) and 21 Grams (2003) as jumping off points for how he wanted to shoot his own film. Zombie told Parmet that he wanted to use two cameras at all time and for certain scenes, like the chaotic gunfight at the Firefly house at the beginning of the film, to have as many as six cameras running simultaneously.

Zombie populated his cast with an impressive collection of B-horror character actors: Sid Haig (Spider Baby), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), P.J. Soles (Halloween), and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes). They are not cast for kitsch or novelty value but because they have the acting chops to pull off these meaty roles. Zombie cast actors with interesting faces that have character. Every line or glint in their eyes says so much and he captures them in close-ups a la Sergio Leone. And no one personifies a fascinating face more than Sid Haig who plays Captain Spaulding as the scariest clown with evil make-up that includes black lips and horrible yellow teeth augmenting his already grizzled looks.

After starring in numerous forgettable direct-to-video efforts, William Forsythe finally gets a substantial role. Every once in a while, he pops up in a mainstream film, like Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead (1995) and The Rock (1996), usually playing some generic bad guy role. He harkens back to a bygone era of tough guys, like Lee Marvin or Robert Shaw, who naturally exuded a ferocious intensity that is exciting to watch. With his deep, gravelly voice Forsythe plays an unstoppable force of nature that is just as ruthless in his methods as the Firefly clan.

The dialogue crackles and pops with its own profane rhythm. The tough guy-speak works because it is believable and the actors deliver it with conviction. Zombie breaks it up with some very funny bits and truly laugh-out-loud moments of black humor. For example, the Firefly clan uses aliases of names of Groucho Marx characters. To crack this code, Wydell brings in movie critic Marty Walker (Robert Trebor) and they end up getting into an argument about the merits of Elvis Presley movies that is hilarious and helps relieve some of the unrelenting tension that this film generates.

The Devil’s Rejects is a good looking movie that features a lush glow of reds, greens and blues during the night scenes and then Zombie cuts to one with a minimalist single light source with nothing in the background so that we focus on the two actors in the scene and what they are saying. In contrast, the day scenes have a warm, saturated sun-burnt look. The darkest scene in the movie in terms of tonality actually takes place at high noon and this makes it even more sinister because there is nowhere to hide.

Zombie references all kinds of movies and not just the usual horror movies that other filmmakers quote. When he does refer to other films he does so in a subtle way and not in a look-how-clever-I-am way that Quentin Tarantino does. Tarantino is a cinematic show-off content to sample his favorite scenes from other movies without showing any kind of understanding about how they work. The Devil’s Rejects is a down ‘n’ dirty celebration of outlaw 1970s cinema complete with a fantastic score of southern rock classics from the likes of the Allman Brothers Band, Joe Walsh and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In case of the last band, the way their anthem “Free Bird” is used in this movie is incredible. What could have been so clichéd comes across as a poignant and iconic scene in the film, befitting the song itself.

devilsrejects2This film does not quite look like it was shot in the ‘70s but made by someone who grew up in that decade. Rejects was made by a horror film fan for horror film fans. Zombie has created a truly disturbing horror movie with no real redeemable characters, that is refreshingly unpredictable and this is what makes it so scary, like the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). Both movies are feverish nightmares except that in Massacre you felt sympathy for the female protagonist. The Devil’s Rejects does not even have that. You may find yourself rooting for the Firefly family early on but Zombie quickly rejects this notion by portraying them as truly irredeemable people. There is no sappy love story or cop-out ending and this remains true to many of the nihilistic movies of the ‘70s. Horror film obsessives always brace themselves for the wimp out ending — it is the downfall of so many horror films — Rejects does not make this mistake. Zombie has shown a real growth as a filmmaker, creating I daresay a modern horror masterpiece.

MARK L. LESTER’S STUNTS — A REVIEW BY NICK CLEMENT

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

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Mark L. Lester’s 1977 action flick Stunts takes its B-movie premise and injects some satirical Hollywood commentary to match the dare-devil sense of adventure that the title promises. Pre-dating Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man by a few years, and certainly no where near as existential or surreal, Lester’s movie has a nifty premise — someone is killing off all of the stuntmen on the set of an action-adventure movie — with a young Robert Forster projecting all sorts of steely resolve as the brother of one of the dead stuntmen who shows up looking for answers. The accident scene with Forster’s brother is especially sketchy and rather nasty in execution. Made in the days before CGI and excessive blue-screen techniques, all of the set-pieces have a great sense of rough, physical action, and while the plotting is more or less what you might expect, there are a few surprises thrown in for good measure. Bruce Logan’s crisp and measured cinematography took full advantage of the various meta possibilities that the film-within-a-film narrative afforded, while capturing the action with a clear sense of spatial geography and an emphasis on lots and lots of car crashes. The filmmakers made terrific use of the legendary Madonna Inn (if you’ve never been then book a trip!) and as usual, Forster brought that amazing sense of gravitas, even as a relative up and comer, that so few current actors possess. Lester’s rather amazing and prolific career includes the iconic 80’s blockbuster Commando, and the extreme cult classic Class of 1984. Michael Kamen’s energetic score set an appropriately jaunty vibe with some streaks of menace peeking out from around the corner. Stunts has the distinction of being the first fully funded New Line Cinema production, after 10 years of being the premiere indie distributor in town. Available on DVD; recently screened via TCM HD.

JOHN FLYNN’S THE OUTFIT — A REVIEW BY NICK CLEMENT

by nlclement, posted in Film Review

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Gritty 70’s action doesn’t get much more crisp and clean than John Flynn’s The Outfit, which was adapted from the Richard Stark/Donald Westlake novel and released in 1973, and starred Robert Duvall, Joe Don Baker, Karen Black, and Robert Ryan as the chief baddie. Concerning a low level criminal (Duvall) who upon release from prison discovers that his brother has been murdered after a bank heist gone awry, the script concocted by director Flynn takes on the form of a hybrid revenge movie, with Duvall teaming up with Baker for some serious bouts of ass-kicking, and the two of them slowly realizing that they may be in over the heads. Shot with rough and tumble smarts by cameraman Bruce Surtees and featuring a peppy musical score by Jerry Fielding, this is a ripping actioner made with style and attitude in all the key places, mixing black comedy (those final moments…!), vicious action, and constantly shifting plotting into a fantastic stew of noir-ish fun. Flynn was apparently a huge fan of Westlake’s “Parker” novels, and despite some chatter to the contrary, never intended The Outfit as a 1940’s period piece they way some had claimed. The studio initially wanted a lighter ending, but Flynn insisted on staying true to the violent and pulpy material. The Outfit served as the screen debut for actress Joanna Cassidy.

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