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Screaming Streaming Hires THE COURIER (2012)

Posted in 2013, Action Movies, Crime Films, Gangsters!, Killers, Michael Arruda Reviews, Screaming Streaming with tags Crime drama, Hany ABu-Assad, Hostages, jeffrey dean morgan, Screaming Streaming, The Courier on February 22, 2013 by knifefighter

SCREAMING STREAMING!
Streaming Video Movie Review: THE COURIER (2012)
By Michael Arruda

I decided to check out the action thriller THE COURIER (2012), now available on streaming video, because it starred Jeffrey Dean Morgan, an actor whose performances I’ve enjoyed of late in such films as WATCHMEN (2009) and THE POSSESSION (2012).

Well, the first thing I’ll tell you right now is I enjoyed Morgan much better in WATCHMEN and THE POSSESSION than in THE COURIER. Sadly, his performance in this one is uninspiring. And that’s just the beginning of what’s wrong with this clinker.

The movie starts off well. In fact, its best scene and most memorable image might be its opening one. It opens at an abandoned (or, at the very least, closed) amusement park, with two thugs holding a woman hostage at the top of a roller coaster track. The Courier (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) races through the park to reach her, climbing all the way to the top of the tracks to hand deliver the package of money to the thugs for her release. He makes it in time, but not before the kidnappers push her off the top track, but the Courier leaps to her rescue (I guess he doesn’t get paid unless the victim is returned safely) and somehow, miraculously, manages to grab onto the line tied to her and pull her to safety.

No, this Courier doesn’t work for UPS. He’s self-employed, a man hired to find people and to deliver ransom packages. Nice job. You wouldn’t think he’d be all that busy, though. How many ransom packages need to be delivered on a regular basis?

But, because he’s the best there is (of course), the Courier is sought out by a man (Til Schweiger), who forces him to find a mysterious person named Evil Sivle. If not, this man and the people he works for will kill the daughter and grandchild of the Courier’s best friend, Stitch (Mark Margolis).

The Courier searches New Orleans for Evil Sivle with the help of a young woman Anna (Josie Ho), a friend of Stitch’s, who it seems Stitch would like to set up romantically with the Courier. Nice matchmaker. Why don’t the two of you go to New Orleans on the trail of a bloodthirsty killer and go out for a couple of drinks afterwards, it might be the start of a beautiful relationship.

It seems, however, according to the information that the Courier uncovers, that Evil Sivle is dead, but that doesn’t stop a guy named Maxwell (Mickey Rourke) from trying to kill the Courier. Why? It’s all part of the mystery, I guess.

The Courier is eventually captured and tortured by a pair of married assassins, Mr. Capo (Miguel Ferrer) and Mrs. Capo (Lili Taylor). But being the best there is, the Courier escapes from their clutches to continue his quest to find Evil Sivle.

To confuse matters even more, it turns out that the man who forced the Courier to take this job is really an FBI agent. It seems the FBI are the ones who want Evil Sivle found. Why? I wish I could tell you.

In the end, the Courier proves he’s the best by finding the reclusive Evil Sivle, whose identity is revealed in one of the more ridiculous plot twists I’ve seen in a long time.

Hands down, the biggest problem I have with THE COURIER is its story stinks. It plays like a movie that started with a clever concept—a courier who gets involved with a seedy underworld full of undesirables—but couldn’t come up with a decent storyline that made any sense. And that’s the bottom line with this one, folks. It doesn’t make sense.

The Courier is forced to take this job, and it’s questionable why he would accept the job when the threat— we’ll abduct your best friend’s daughter and her child—hasn’t even happened yet. I just didn’t buy the plot point that a guy like the Courier would simply roll over and do what these guys wanted. He would have fought back. He accepts their terms way too easily.

Then there’s Evil Sivle. Nice name, but just who the hell is he? Why is he so sought after? The film never really makes its case that this guy is a legendary villain, someone the FBI would kill for just to find.

Other characters aren’t fleshed out either. The FBI agent who coerces the Courier in the first place disappears half way through the film. And Maxwell, played by Mickey Rourke in a wasted role, shows up so fleetingly that his presence in the movie is nothing more than an afterthought.

And the final plot twist is embarrassingly bad. Screenwriters Pete Dris and Brannon Coombs should have gone back to the shop with this one for a long time before calling it a final product.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, so memorable as the Comedian in WATCHMEN doesn’t impress here as the Courier. Perhaps for his next role he’ll consider a character whose name doesn’t begin with “the.” His performance as the Courier simply lacks the necessary intensity needed for the character. I didn’t really buy him in this role. He seemed too clunky to be the efficient swift-footed Courier.

Mickey Rourke is on screen so briefly as Maxwell I almost forgot he was in the movie. I did enjoy Miguel Ferrer and Lili Taylor as Mr. and Mrs. Capo, the torture couple, but they’re not in the movie much either. The other actor who stood out was Mark Margolis as Stitch. Margolis has been in a lot of movies and TV shows and always adds a sense of realism to the proceedings. His Stitch was a convincing guy in a movie full of unconvincing characters and plot points.

THE COURIER does have some interesting ideas and some curious characters, but they’re never developed to any degree of satisfaction.

Director Hany Abu-Assad seems to have handled this one with an eye on something else. It’s as if he were driving while texting or something. The action scenes, fight scenes, shoot- out scenes, all seemed rushed. None of it comes off as convincing because there isn’t much attention given to detail here. In fact, there’s something rushed about this whole production, including the script. Perhaps they were trying to make a same-day delivery.

Anyway, THE COURIER is a disappointing thriller that is too muddled to be effective. It’s about as intense as a trip to the post office.

It gets one knife.

—END—

Michael Arruda gives THE COURIER ~ one knife!

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QUICK CUTS: FAIRY TALE MOVIES WE WANT TO SEE

Posted in 2013, Adult Fairy Tales, Daniel Keohane Reviews, Jenny Orosel Columns, LL Soares Reviews, Michael Arruda Reviews, Quick Cuts, Uncategorized with tags Adult Fairy Tales, Bluebeard, Little Match Girl, Mother Goose, Quick Cuts, Rumplestilskin, Wee Willie Winie on February 8, 2013 by knifefighter

QUICK CUTS: Fairy Tale Movies We Want to See
With Michael Arruda, L.L. Soares, Daniel Keohane, and Jenny Orosel

MICHAEL ARRUDA: With the recent the release of HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS (2103) and the upcoming JACK THE GIANT SLAYER, a re-working of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale, due out on March 1, the “fairy tale re-imaginings” are out in full force.

Let’s see, we’ve already had RED RIDING HOOD (2011) and SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (2012). I don’t know about you, but enough is enough!

But since this new take on the fairy tale genre doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon, it’s time for the Cinema Knife Fighters to get in on the action.

Today’s QUICK CUTS question: Which fairy tale would you like to see turned into a movie!

******

DANIEL KEOHANE: I’d go with THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL.

Sent away from her home and left to die but saved from death by a long retired CIA operative Max Samaritan, Lillie devotes herself to stopping evil whenever – and wherever – it appears. She leaves the arcane world of wooden matches behind in favor of a stylish Zippo, which proves invaluable when all seems lost and she finds herself near a constant supply of combustible materials.

*****

JENNY OROSEL: I would like to see BLUEBEARD done, this time starring either Larry King or Rush Limbaugh.

A new version of Bluebeard?

MICHAEL ARRUDA: I’ve always liked RUMPELSTILTSKIN. In my movie version, entitled KNOW MY NAME OR PAY UP YOU LOSER! Jim Carrey in full make-up with CGI effects added plays Rumpelstiltskin, and Chloe Grace Moretz plays the poor miller’s daughter. In this movie version, rather than just guess his name, Moretz kicks the crap out of Carrey’s Rumpelstiltskin to the point where he’s a mass of pulpy flesh.

She then travels the countryside in search of demonic dwarves who terrorize young women.

Also starring Robert Downey Jr. as the King.

I’d also like to see WEE WILLIE WINKIE made into a horror movie where Mr. Winkie is a sinister gent who goes around terrorizing young children, whisking them away from their beds at night, taking them to some uncertain dark future, perhaps to a castle where a cannibalistic witch lives who loves children in her stews. Rated R, with Sacha Baron Cohen as Wee Willie Winkie, Sigourney Weaver as the Witch, and Mark Wahlberg as the parent of a missing child who’s had enough and decides to step up and take justice into his own hands.

*****

L.L. SOARES: That’s easy. I’d like to see a movie version of THE WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE starring Andrew Dice Clay.

“Hickory Dickory Dock…”

MICHAEL ARRUDA: And there you have it, fairy tale movies we’d like to see.

Thanks for joining us, and we’ll see you next time on QUICK CUTS!

—END—

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BULLET IN THE HEAD (2013)

Posted in 2013, Action Movies, Buddy Movies, Cop Movies, Crime Films, Gangsters!, Intense Movies, Killers, Michael Arruda Reviews, Sylvester Stallone!, VIOLENCE! with tags Action Movies, Bullet to the Head, Christian Slater, hit men, Jason Momoa, Revenge, Sarah Sahi, Sylvester Stallone, Walter Hill on February 5, 2013 by knifefighter

MOVIE REVIEW: BULLET TO THE HEAD (2013)
By Michael Arruda

This movie earns its title and then some.

BULLET TO THE HEAD is one brutal action flick, featuring more bullets to the head than a Corleone family reunion.

James Bonomo (Sylvester Stallone) is a hit man who hates cops, mostly because he’s spent his life in and out of jail and doesn’t trust anybody, cops included, as he’s seen his share of crooked law enforcement officers in his day. After he and his partner finish a hit, they are double-crossed by the folks who hired them, who send in a hit man of their own, an ex-military beast of a man named Keegan (Jason Momoa, who was CONAN THE BARBARIAN in the 2011 reboot of that franchise), who promptly slays Bonomo’s partner—- displaying some vicious knife work— but fails to complete the job, as Bonomo turns the tables on him, sending him fleeing from the scene with his tail between his legs, at least for the time being.

It turns out that the man Bonomo and his partner killed was an ex-cop from D.C. The man’s former partner Taylor Kwon (Sung Kang) arrives in New Orleans to investigate his death, and his investigation leads him to Bonomo. Kwon wants more than just Bonomo. He wants the men who hired him, because he wants to get to bottom of the whole sordid affair by taking down the men at the top. Bonomo wants these men too, because they killed his partner, tried to kill him, and never paid him his money.

Faster than you can say buddy cop movie, Bonomo and Kwon find themselves working together to find the men behind the murders. The trail leads them to a slick lawyer, Marcus Baptiste (Christian Slater), who throws huge parties where beautiful women prance around in their birthday suits, and to the man he works for, Robert Morel (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) a baddie who went to the Lex Luthor school of villainy, as he’s obsessed with purchasing real estate.

Morel of course hires Keegan to kill both Bonomo and Taylor, and when that plan fails, he sends Keegan to kidnap Bonomo’s daughter, Lisa (Sarah Shahi), for leverage, since Bonomo and Taylor have in their possession a flash drive containing incriminating information against Morel.

As you might expect, Bonomo doesn’t like having his daughter kidnapped, setting the stage for a confrontation between Bonomo and Keegan that is worth the price of admission.

I really liked BULLET TO THE HEAD. In the triumvirate of recent action movies I’ve seen the past month— Schwarzenegger in THE LAST STAND (2013), Jason Statham in PARKER (2013), and now Stallone in BULLET TO THE HEAD, I liked BULLET TO THE HEAD the best, as it’s the most complete movie of the three. That being said, I liked Statham’s take on the character of Parker a lot, with his unique set of rules and sense of honor, and so I liked PARKER just about as much as BULLET, but in terms of sheer brutality, BULLET TO THE HEAD takes the prize.

Sylvester Stallone, at his age, 66, still makes for one convincing bad ass tough guy, and when he looks at Jason Momoa’s Keegan at the end of the film and says “I’m going to kill you,” the audience believes him. Rarely has Stallone played a colder killer than Bonomo.

The deaths are up close and personal. Director Walter Hill, a veteran of these buddy cop movies, going back to the 1980s with films like 48 HOURS (1982), with Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, brings the camera in close for some jarring execution style murders that are actually quite wince-inducing. I found myself looking away a few times, and the two gentlemen in the seats in front of me, not tiny men by any means, jumped on a couple of occasions.

There are also some memorable fight scenes in this one, as again, Stallone still looks like he can really bring it. The concluding bout between Stallone and Jason Momoa is every bit as good as the clash between Stallone and Van Damme at the end of THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2012). One of my gripes about the concluding hand to hand fight in THE LAST STAND was that Schwarzenegger’s opponent looked so wimpy. Not so here. Momoa looks like he could handle both Stallone and Schwarzenegger at the same time.

Speaking of Momoa, he’s quite impressive as the unstoppable killer Keegan, and he delivers one of the better performances in the movie. Often these big tough guy villain roles come off like robots, but Momoa’s Keegan is infused with personality.

Sarah Shahi is also very good as Bonomo’s daughter, Lisa. She’s a tattoo artist who moonlights as a doctor, helping her dad patch up his buddies from their various bullet and knife wounds.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Robert Morel, the guy in a suit pulling all the strings, played a similar bad guy role in KILLER ELITE (2011), making life miserable in that movie for Jason Statham and Robert De Niro. Akinnuoye-Agbaje, you might remember, played Mr. Eko on the TV show LOST.

Christian Slater is sufficiently slimy as shady lawyer Marcus Baptiste, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen Slater do before.

Perhaps the only weak link in the movie is Sung Kang as Stallone’s cop buddy Taylor Kwon. Kang’s acting is decent enough, but the clean-cut pretty boy Kwon stands out like a bright cheery light in an otherwise dark gritty movie. I would have preferred a Mark Wahlberg-type in the role.

The screenplay by Alessandro Camon is a winner. While the plot is nothing more than your standard buddy action flick, an excuse, really, to allow Sylvester Stallone to make tough guy wisecracks and beat up on the bad guys—and because Stallone is so good at this, it lifts the material above what it otherwise might have been without him— there were still some nuances to the story which I really enjoyed.

I liked the character development of the hit man Keegan. As we learn more about what makes him tick, we find out that he’s driven by a sense of honor more than the almighty dollar, and when his boss Morel shows no loyalty to the men he employs—he’s only interested in money— this doesn’t sit well with Keegan. Keegan actually cares about the men who work alongside him. Of course, he also loves killing.

The story also does a good job convincing us that Stallone and Kang want to work together. At first, I thought, no way, Stallone’s Bonomo hates cops, so there’s no way I’m going to believe he’d want to work with Kang’s Kwon, but screenwriter Camon succeeds in pulling this off. In one instance, for example, old school Bonomo is clearly impressed with the wealth of information Kwon has at his fingertips on his smart phone and realizes the advantages of working with the officer outweigh his personal disdain for his profession.

BULLET TO THE HEAD is a completely satisfying action thriller. It’s brutal, dark, and intense from its opening execution scene to its closing clash featuring Stallone and Momoa going at each other with axes.

Sure, its buddy action movie plot offers little we haven’t seen before, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in ferocity.

I give it three knives.

—END—

Michael Arruda gives BULLET TO THE HEAD ~three knives.

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PARKER (2013)

Posted in 2013, Action Movies, Crime Films, Gangsters!, Jason Statham, Michael Arruda Reviews with tags Donald E. Westlake, Heist Movies, Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Parker, Taylor Hackford on February 5, 2013 by knifefighter

MOVIE REVIEW: PARKER (2013)
By Michael Arruda

It’s all about the rules.

In PARKER (2013), the latest action flick starring Jason Statham, super thief Parker follows a strict code of rules which he expects others to follow as well. As he tells his friend Hurley, if he lets people break their promises to him, he’ll lose all credibility. In Parker’s world, if you say you’re going to do something, do it, because if you don’t, he’ll hold you accountable.

In the film’s opening sequence, Parker (Jason Statham) and his associates rob a country fair. Parker assures the hostages that if they do exactly as he says, they won’t get hurt, and he means it. He’s a thief with honor. Too bad the same can’t be said of his partners.

During the getaway, one of these partners, Melander (Michael Chiklis) informs Parker that rather than split the money they just stole as originally planned, he wants to use it to fund a bigger job, a job that will pay them millions, down in Palm Beach, Florida. Parker wants no part of this, since this wasn’t part of the original agreement. Those rules again. This doesn’t sit well with Melander and his three buddies, who are all into the job, and so they shoot Parker and leave him for dead by the side of the road.

But Parker is quickly rescued by a passing farmer and his family, who take him to a hospital. Parker regains consciousness and immediately escapes from the hospital, making his way to his friend and mentor, Hurley (Nick Nolte), to learn more about the guys who betrayed him. Hurley warns Parker to leave these guys alone, because they have powerful friends in the Chicago mob, but Parker dismisses the warning and vows to get both vengeance and his money.

Parker travels to Palm Beach in search of Melander and his goons, and he hooks up with a real estate agent, Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez), under the pretense that he’s a rich Texan looking to buy a home in Palm Beach, when in reality he’s searching for the home Melander has bought as his hideaway, where he and his men can lay low for a while after they pull off their diamond heist.

Hot on Parker’s trail is an assassin sent by the Chicago mob, a killer who also has on his hit list Parker’s girlfriend, Claire (Emma Booth), who happens to be Hurley’s daughter. Things grow more complicated when real estate agent Leslie figures out what Parker is up to, and reveals to him that she’s sick of her life, which is going nowhere, and that she wants to help him find Melander for a cut of the money.

Parker accepts her help, and together they search for Melander and try to thwart his diamond heist caper, all the while remaining a step ahead of the mob assassin.

While some of the plot points in PARKER don’t make a lot of sense, this is a case where the movie as a whole is better than the sum of its parts, and this is because of the presence of Jason Statham.

I’ve heard complaints that Statham always plays the same role, and that he lacks charisma. In terms of playing the same role, I think most action stars, from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Clint Eastwood, play variations of themselves in their movies. I don’t have a problem with this, as long I like their personalities.

Statham is colder than most, much closer to Eastwood’s persona than a guy like Schwarzenegger, but it works for me. I also find Statham believable in these roles. When he beats up the bad guys, I totally buy it. When he survives bullet wounds and knife wounds, I believe it. Why? Because he looks like the unstoppable supermen he’s portraying.

Not only don’t I have a problem with Jason Statham, but I think he’s one of the better action stars making movies today.

PARKER, directed by Taylor Hackford, a guy who’s been making movies for a long time, is a slick-looking production, easy on the eyes, and it includes some decent fight scenes, although none of them will knock your socks off. There’s one nasty bit when Parker battles the mob assassin, and a knife goes through his hand. I’m also happy to say that most of the blood in this one looked realistic, as it wasn’t the CGI style blood we’ve been seeing so much of lately.

PARKER is based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake, who wrote a series of novels featuring the Parker character. John J. McLaughlin wrote the screenplay, fresh off writing the screenplay for HITCHCOCK (2012), and it’s here where the movie runs into its share of problems. While there’s plenty of decent dialogue in the movie, the actual plot, although enjoyable, does have some issues with credibility.

For starters, when Melander first decides to kill Parker, he orders his wimpiest man to do the job, to walk to the side of the road and put a bullet in Parker’s head. This made no sense to me. Send your best guy, for crying out loud! It’s obviously just a way to have Parker survive. Worse yet, we have to believe that this shooter standing over Parker at point blank range somehow missed, or at least failed to inflict a fatal wound. This is one plot point that I didn’t buy at all.

Also, the whole storyline with the Jennifer Lopez character, Leslie, didn’t really work for me. She shows up late in the movie, and we’re asked to believe that she’s a loser in a dead end life. Really? It’s difficult to picture Jennifer Lopez as a loser, a woman desperate enough to buddy up with a violent thief, as if that’s the answer to her problems, and worse yet, we’re supposed to believe that Parker would accept the help of an amateur. Not buying any of it.

Plus, it’s a wasted relationship since Parker is clearly involved with Claire, who continuously shows up to patch up his wounds and bruises. It’s not really a love triangle because Parker is never interested in Leslie.

Then there’s the diamond heist that Melander plans. It’s so improbable, yet so bold, that I wanted to know more about it. I found myself wishing the film was more about the plans to pull off the job, because it was far more interesting than anything Parker was doing. Screenwriter McLaughlin probably avoided the details here because it was such a far-fetched impossible plan.

The cast is okay. You can’t go wrong with Statham, but Jennifer Lopez is miscast in what turns out to be a thankless role. The other drawback here is that Statham and Lopez don’t really share a lot of onscreen chemistry. Statham has more chemistry with Emma Booth as Claire, and I wish she had been in the movie more. She was a more interesting character than Lopez’s Leslie.

Michael Chiklis runs hot and cold as bad guy Melander. At times, he’s sufficiently bloodthirsty and ruthless, and other times he’s just plain dumb, like when he sends his weakest guy to kill Parker. Duh!

Daniel Bernhardt also makes for an ineffective assassin, Kroll, who’s supposed to be the best killer in the Chicago mob, yet he can’t even kill Parker’s girlfriend Claire, as she runs circles around him and easily escapes his clutches.

PARKER is one of those movies where the more you think about it, the more you realize it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but while you’re watching it, you don’t care because the film as a whole, and Jason Statham in particular, both pack a punch.

So, in spite of its flaws, I found PARKER to be a hard-hitting movie that showed some oomph and displayed an edge, even when stuck in a story that didn’t always work. I also enjoyed the character of Parker, brought to life by a convincing Jason Statham.

For me, believability is key, and when Parker says “you’ll get hurt if you don’t do what I say,” I believed him.

I give it three knives.

—END—

Michael Arruda gives PARKER ~three knives.

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QUICK CUTS: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE GANGSTER?

Posted in 1930s Movies, 1970s Movies, 1980s Movies, 2013, Asian Gangster Films, Classic Films, Colleen Wanglund Reviews, Crime Films, Cult Movies, Fugitives, Gangsters!, Garrett Cook Articles, Jenny Orosel Columns, LL Soares Reviews, Michael Arruda Reviews, Movie History, Nick Cato Reviews, Quick Cuts, Tough Guys!, Yakuza Films with tags Cagney, Godfather, Ichi, Little Caesar, Pacino, Public Enemy, Quick Cuts, Scarface on January 18, 2013 by knifefighter

QUICK CUTS: FAVORITE MOVIE GANGSTERS
Featuring: Michael Arruda, L.L. Soares, Nick Cato, Garrett Cook, Jenny Orosel, and Colleen Wanglund

MICHAEL ARRUDA: Welcome everyone to another edition of QUICK CUTS.

Last Friday, January 11, the slick looking gangster movie GANGSTER SQUAD opened in theaters, starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Sean Penn. So, for today ‘s QUICK CUTS column, we asked our panel of Cinema Knife Fighters the all-important question: Who’s your favorite movie gangster?

GARRETT COOK: My favorite is one of the first and the best: Edward G. Robinson as Rico in LITTLE CAESAR (1931), an angry but vulnerable man constantly overcompensating. He’s both ruthless and heartbreaking.

Edward G. Robinson in the role that made him a star – Rico in LITTLE CAESAR (1931).

L.L. SOARES: Good one, Garrett. I like LITTLE CAESAR a lot, too. A really underrated movie.

My two favorite movie gangsters were both played by James Cagney.

The first is Tom Powers from THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931). Whether he’s pushing grapefruit halves in dame’s faces or starting a gang war, he’s still the gold standard everyone else should be compared to. And the movie still has one of the most haunting endings ever. Boy, they sure knew how to create spooky images back in the 1930s.

The notorious “grapefruit in the kisser” scene from PUBLIC ENEMY (1931). Another gangster classic.

The other one is Cody Jarrett, the mother-obsessed psychopath gangster from 1949′s WHITE HEAT. “Made it, Ma. Top of the world!” Everyone remember that one. My choices showcase Cagney’s earliest gangster with a later one.

JENNY OROSEL: I’ve never been a big gangster movie fan, but the one I do remember liking was BUGSY MALONE (1976). Sure, looking back, it was pretty horrible. But it had the most epic pie fight ever committed to film!

A scene from the pie fight in BUGSY MALONE (1976).

NICK CATO: My fave gangster is Paulie in GOODFELLAS (1990), played by Paul Sorvino. As the head of his clan, he got to sit back, fry sausages, slice garlic, and sip the best wine while his men did all the dirty work. And no one made a better ” sangwich” than him. He was THE MAN.

Paul Sorvino as Paulie in GOODFELLAS (1990).

L.L. SOARES: I’m a big fan of GOODFELLAS, too. One of the best gangster movies ever. But I prefer Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci (as Jenry Hill and Tommy DeVito, respectively). I’ve never been a big Paul Sorvino fan for some reason. DeNiro is really good in this one, too.

COLLEEN WANGLUND: Okay here’s my answer:

So I figure the first names that would come to mind are from American gangster films. Well since I am the Geisha, my favorite gangsters all come from Asian films.

1. Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano) from ICHI THE KILLER (2001) directed by Takashi Miike. Kakihara is seriously one of the sickest gangsters I’ve ever seen on film.

So crazy he’s scary – Kikihara from ICHI THE KILLER (2001).

2. Matsunaga (Toshiro Mifune) from the film DRUNKEN ANGEL (1948) directed by Akira Kurosawa. He is somewhat sympathetic character but a hardened gangster just the same.

3. Lau Kin-ming (Andy Lau) from INFERNAL AFFAIRS (2002) directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak. Lau’s character manages to infiltrate the police department in Hong Kong for YEARS without ever getting caught. That’s pretty awesome.

L.L. SOARES: Excellent choices! I forgot how great a long of Japanese and Hong Kong gangstgers are. I would also add Takeshi Kitano (also known as Beat Takeshi), who has played several Japanese gangsters over the years, in films he directed and films by others. My favorite gangster/Yakuza role of his was probably in his 1993 film, SONATINE.

“Beat” Takeshi in SONATINE (1993).

MICHAEL ARRUDA: Wow, you’re really into the topic this time around!

L.L. SOARES: I sure am. I love classic gangster movies. They haven’t made a good one in awhile.

MICHAEL ARRUDA: Well, my favorite movie gangster would be Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER movies, specifically Parts 1 & 2. Sure, his most famous scene is the “Fredo, you broke my heart” scene, but my favorite comes in Part 1, where he’s confronted by his wife Kay (Diane Keaton) and she wants to know if he had his brother–in-law killed, and he says he won’t discuss the family business with her. He then stops and says, “Just this once. You can ask me just this once.” So she asks him again, and he says, “No, I didn’t have him killed,” and of course, he’s lying through his teeth. Great scene.

Not the most violent gangster on screen, but Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone is one of the coldest gangsters on screen. Ice runs through his veins.

Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in THE GODFATHER.

L.L. SOARES: Another excellent choice. Everyone in the first two GODFATHER films is pretty terrific, but you’re right, Pacino might be the best one of all. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention Pacino’s other iconic gangster role, as Tony Montana in 1983’s SCARFACE. Some people have complained Pacino is too over-the-top in the role, but I still say it’s another iconic role that most movie gangster movies these days will be compared to. Besides, I really love SCARFACE.

Al Pacino’s other iconic gangster role – Tony Montana in SCARFACE (1983).

MICHAEL ARRUDA: And that’s it for tonight’s QUICK CUTS. Thanks for joining us everybody!

—END—

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GANGSTER SQUAD (2013)

Posted in 2013, Action Movies, Based on a True Story, Cinema Knife Fights, Crime Films, Gangsters!, Michael Arruda Reviews with tags Emma Stone, Gangster Squad, josh brolin, Mickey Cohen, Nick Nolte, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn on January 14, 2013 by knifefighter

CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT: GANGSTER SQUAD (2013)
By Michael Arruda

(THE SCENE: A ritzy jazz nightclub circa 1949. MICHAEL ARRUDA approaches a BEAUTIFUL WOMAN at the bar.)

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: So, what’s your racket?

MICHAEL ARRUDA: I’m a Bible salesman.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: You lookin’ to take me away from all this?

MA: No, ma’am. I’m just lookin’ to take you to bed.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Okay.

MA (looks at camera): This has to be a movie.

Welcome everyone to another edition of CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT. I’m flying solo tonight as L.L. Soares is off on another assignment, (looks at woman at bar) but that’s okay.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: So, what are you really doing here?

MA: I’m reviewing a movie.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Anything I’d like?

MA: Maybe. Ever hear of GANGSTER SQUAD (2013), the slick-looking gangster movie starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, and Emma Stone?

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Nope.

MA: Let me tell you about it.

It’s Los Angeles 1949, and gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) is taking over the city. This doesn’t sit well with tough police Chief Parker (Nick Nolte), who is frustrated that Cohen owns half the police force and judges in L.A. So, Parker privately approaches Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin), and tells him he wants to establish a small unit, operating in secret and off the books, for the sole purpose of destroying the empire of Mickey Cohen.

O’Mara accepts the challenge and puts together a crack squad of police officers, including his friend Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), Officer Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), Officer Max Kennard (Robert Patrick), Officer Navidad Ramirez (Michael Pena), and Officer Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi). These guys have as their sole goal to make Mickey Cohen’s life a living hell, as they constantly strike at his operation with guerilla-style tactics that continually catch him off guard. But Mickey Cohen didn’t reach the top of the gangster food chain by accident, and it’s only a matter of time before he figures out who is inflicting the damage on his empire, and he sets his sights on seeking some cold-blooded revenge.

Further complicating matters is Sgt. Wooter’s girlfriend Grace Faraday ( Emma Stone) also happens to be Mickey Cohen’s main squeeze. Oops!

GANGSTER SQUAD isn’t going to win any awards for most original screenplay—its story is nothing we haven’t seen before—but it does win lots of brownie points for being extremely entertaining.

First off, the film looks great. It’s colorful, the costumes and sets are dazzling, and they bring 1949 Los Angeles to life. Sure, things look a little comic book-like, in that the film doesn’t so much aim for realism as it does for pulp.

The cast also acquits itself well. Josh Brolin makes a sturdy, solid hero as Sgt. John O’Mara.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Oh, I like Josh Brolin. He’s handsome.

MA: His O’Mara is a family man, with a pregnant wife and a nice home, but with a sense, as he describes it, of not knowing what else to do but fight after his return from the war. He’s a self-proclaimed warrior, not a thinker, and he has no issues steamrolling his way through Mickey Cohen’s empire. He’s fearless, and all the more likable for it.

This just might be my favorite Josh Brolin performance. It’s certainly his most likeable. While he was dark and intense in such films as NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007), JONAH HEX (2010) and TRUE GRIT (2010), here he’s much more complete and enjoyable, as he takes a heroic character and makes him his own.

Ryan Gosling’s Sgt. Jerry Wooters offsets the intensity of Brolin’s O’Mara by exuding coolness and levelheadedness throughout.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: I like Ryan Gosling. He’s sooo sexy!

MA: He’s so cool and laid back, that in one scene where he sneaks into Cohen’s mansion to place a bugging device, and Cohen and his entourage return early, he gets discovered by Grace Faraday, yet he takes the time to kiss her before making his exit.

The rest of the team is also very agreeable. Anthony Mackie, who has been in a lot of movies lately, from THE HURT LOCKER (2008) to last year’s ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER (2012), is good here as Officer Coleman Harris, an officer who’s as quick with a knife as he is with a gun.

Then there’s Robert Patrick as Officer Max Kennard, the elder officer of the group, who comes off like a western gunslinger. He reminded me a lot of Lee Van Cleef, and was one of my favorite characters in the movie. In his younger days, Patrick, you might remember, played the T-1000 Terminator in TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (1991).

Giovanni Ribisi plays the nerdy Officer Conway Keeler, the guy who’s responsible for coming up with all the tech-savvy ideas, like bugging Cohen’s home, and Michael Pena plays Kennard’s loyal right hand man, Officer Navidad Ramirez. Both these actors do nice jobs with these roles.

Emma Stone is sexy and stunning as Grace Faraday, and she makes for an effective 1940s femme fatale that would make Lauran Bacall proud.

(to Woman) Do you like Emma Stone?

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Of course.

MA: Me, too. I found her incredibly sexy in this movie.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Sexier than me?

MA: No one’s sexier than you, baby. (Looks at camera and shrugs)

In a supporting role, Sullivan Stapleton is memorable as Jerry’s friend Jack, a guy who plays both sides of the fence, and even though he’s not part of the gangster squad, he was one of my favorite characters in the film, and he enjoys a key scene late in the film where he defends Grace Faraday from Mickey Cohen and his thugs.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: I like him, too. He’s an attractive man.

MA (to bartender): Get her another of whatever it is she’s drinking, and bring one back for me too.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Should you be drinking when you’re working?

MA: Truth be told, in my case, it’ll just be a prop, a glass of soda water.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: But I get the real thing, don’t I?

MA: Nothing but the real thing for you, baby. (mouths silently at the camera: “I can’t help myself.”)

So, let’s get back to the movie.

And, of course, there’s Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Sean Penn is so tough. I can’t help but like him.

MA: You sure do like a lot of people, but in Penn’s case, I like him a lot too, and he makes Cohen a hardnosed and ambitious villain that is a worthy successor to Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. And while his make-up didn’t look as fake to me as it did in the trailer, I wish he had worn less of it and relied more on the strength of his acting performance. While the make-up wasn’t a major distraction, Penn would have been scarier without it.

There are some really cool scenes in this one. There are the obligatory gun battles and lots of explosions, and there’s also a really neat car chase scene in which director Ruben Fleischer cranks up the intensity. It’s one of the more exciting sequences in the film. Fleischer also directed ZOMBIELAND (2009), and I liked GANGSTER SQUAD just as much as that gem.

There’s also a brutal and very satisfying physical fight between Brolin and Penn at the end of the movie which really rocks.

As a whole, GANGSTER SQUAD isn’t as stylish as Brian De Palma’s THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987), although at times, with its slow motion photography, it tries to be. The film scores higher when it’s being its own movie and not trying to imitate others.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: I loved THE UNTOUCHABLES!

MA: Let me guess, you love Kevin Costner because he’s so handsome.

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Of course. And don’t forget Sean Connery. What a sexy man!

(SEAN CONNERY sits at bar next to BEAUTIFUL WOMAN)

CONNERY: You got that right. Anyone who says otherwise, I’ll kick him in the arse! (grabs his drink and leaves)

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN (swoons): I’m in heaven.

MA: I’m in trouble. (to Woman) So, as I was saying, about GANGSTER SQUAD?

(Woman faces him again.)

MA: There are some other drawbacks as well.

First and foremost, it’s not original in the least, and the screenplay by Will Beall, based on the book “Gangster Squad” by Paul Lieberman, while inspired by a true story, isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. Bad guy owns city, cops vow to strike back, bad guy hits them even harder, and the last guy standing wins. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this formula, and the folks behind this movie do a nice job bringing it all to life, but it’s not going to lob surprises at you.

But probably the most glaring weakness of GANGSTER SQUAD is that in spite of its R rating, it’s not all that intense. It’s edited like a PG-13 movie. Sure, there’s plenty of blood and some violent scenes, but missing is the realistic human agony. The opening scene of the film is a brutal sequence where Mickey Cohen has a man tied to two cars and to send a message back to the folks in Chicago, he has the cars speed away, tearing the man’s body apart. This does happen on screen, but it’s edited so neatly to have minimal effect.

I’m not talking about the need for more gore here. I’m talking about the raw emotion of people dying. There’s very little of that in GANGSTER SQUAD. Most of what happens in the movie is neat and tidy. I would have liked it had Mickey Cohen made me feel more uncomfortable. I never really felt the ruthlessness of his character. There are plenty of opportunities for the story to take that direction, but the film chooses not to.

But overall, I liked GANGSTER SQUAD a lot. In spite of the fact that it’s not raw enough to make an honest statement about gangsters and their battles with the police, it’s a colorful, likeable production that perhaps will excite modern audiences enough to reignite the gangster movie genre.

I give it three knives.

Well, that’s it for tonight folks. Thanks for joining me, and we’ll see you again next weekend with another edition of CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT.

(to WOMAN) Want to blow this popcorn stand and go back to my room?

BEAUTIFUL WOMAN (smiles): Sure.

MA (to camera): I really love Cinema Knife Fight Land!

—END—

Michael Arruda gives GANGSTER SQUAD ~ three knives!

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Quick Cuts Presents: BEST TARANTINO MOMENTS

Posted in 2013, Colleen Wanglund Reviews, LL Soares Reviews, Martial Arts, Michael Arruda Reviews, Quick Cuts, Tarantino Films with tags Calvin Candie, Gimp, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Quick Cuts, tarantino on January 5, 2013 by knifefighter

QUICK CUTS: Quentin Tarantino’s Finest Moments
With MICHAEL ARRUDA, L.L. SOARES, and COLLEEN WANGLUND

MICHAEL ARRUDA: With the release of Quentin Tarantino’s DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012) on December 25, we’re asking our panel of Cinema Knife Fighters to name their favorite Quentin Tarantino moment.

Is it a specific scene? A line of dialogue? A scene he appeared in? Or an entire movie? In other words, when you think of Tarantino, what image/scene/linecomes to mind?

Okay Cinema Knife Fighters, what’s your favorite Quentin Tarantino moment(s)?

COLLEEN WANGLUND: I love Quentin Tarantino’s films, even if they are outright remakes.

My favorite scenes both come from KILL BILL VOL 1 (2003). The first is the awesome fight scene between The Bride (Uma Thurman) and the Crazy Eighty-Eights in the nightclub in Japan. The extreme nature of the fighting and blood spray is glorious in its recreation of fights from Hong Kong martial arts and Japanese chanbara films of the 1960s and 70s.

Kill Bill Volume 1

The second is the final battle between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) on the roof in the snow. The music is incredible and the fight between the two ladies and their katanas is a beautiful homage (or an outright copy?) of the Japanese chanbara/rape revenge film LADY SNOWBLOOD (1973) directed by Toshiya Fujita.

ARRUDA: It’s pretty straightforward for me. Whenever I think of Tarantino, I always think of PULP FICTION (1994) which was the first film of his I saw. I don’t know if it’s my favorite, but since it was the first one I saw, it’s the one I always think of when I think of Tarantino.

But whenever I picture him, I see him as the weirdo rapist bank robber Richard Gecko in the Robert Rodriquez vampire flick FROM DUSK TILL DAWN (1996). Sure, this is a vampire movie, but it’s Tarantino’s performance as George Clooney’s insane brother that always stays with me after watching it. He gets under my skin, far deeper than any of the vampires in this one.

L.L. SOARES: Tarantino wrote the screenplay to FROM DUST TILL DAWN as well.

For me, every Tarantino movie has a “punch to the gut” moment. Many movies have more than one. Usually, these include some killer dialogue, as well. Here are just some of my favorite Tarantino moments, but I could list a few from each of his movies:

RESERVOIR DOGS (1992):The discussion of Madonna’s song “Like a Virgin: at the beginning of the movie, and of course the “Stuck in the Middle with You” scene with Michael Madsen cutting off a cop’s ear.

PULP FICTION (1994): The scene towards the end where Sam Jackson gives a long speech that revolves around a quote from the Bible. Also, the scene where they have to plunge a needle of adrenaline into Uma Thurman’s heart to save her from an overdose, and of course the “Gimp” sequence.

It’s the GIMP from PULP FICTION!

KILL BILL VOLUME 2 (2004): The scene where David Carradine gives his explanation why he believes Superman despised mankind. Brilliant dialogue!

INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (2009): The beginning sequence where Christoph Waltz, as a Nazi officer, interrogates a family in a farmhouse.

DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012) The scene where Leonardo DiCaprio, as Calvin Candie, gives a scary speech involving a skull and a hammer.

ARRUDA: And that wraps things up for another edition of QUICK CUTS. Thanks for joining us everybody! Good night!

—END—

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THE WORST MOVIES OF 2012 by Michael Arruda

Posted in Michael Arruda Reviews, Worst-Of lists with tags michael arruda, Video Game Movies, Worst Movies of the Year on January 2, 2013 by knifefighter

MICHAEL ARRUDA’S PICKS FOR THE WORST MOVIES OF 2012
By Michael Arruda

Here’s my list for the Worst 10 Movies for 2012.

The most amazing thing about this list is that TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART II isn’t on it! That means I saw some pretty bad movies this year.

That being said, the list below if full of stinkers, and I have to say that it was difficult ranking them because they were all bad. All 11 of the following movies could easily have made it to the top of the list, the Worst Movie of the Year. In fact, they all should share that distinction.

First, before we get to the top 10, an Honorable Mention: SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN – Kristen Stewart as Snow White? Nuff said! A complete waste of time and talent. The only saving grace is the dwarves keep their shirts on.

Now for the 10 WORST MOVIES OF THE YEAR:

10. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN – Andrew Garfield as Spidey ain’t so amazing! I know this one did well, and audiences liked it, but for me, it just never climbed out of the shadow of the superior Sam Raimi – Tobey Maguire Spidey movies. And no J. Jonah Jameson!

9. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 – Young Kathryn Newton does a nice job in the lead, but all for not, as this one’s a drag. Plays more like PARANORMAL INACTIVITY. Weakest film of the series. Maybe it’s time we put this series to bed.

8. SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D– Yet another in the growing line of movies that thinks it’s a movie but is really an extended video game. There’s no script to speak of. All visuals, no story. In other words, a video game disguising itself as a movie. While I did enjoy the visuals in this one, the movie as a whole is horrible and includes some embarrassingly poor acting performances by people who should know better, like Sean Bean for instance, who has an accent in some scenes but loses it in others.

7. DARK SHADOWS – Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins. Need I say anything more? A complete mess.

6. THE APPARITION – Ashley Greene from the TWILIGHT movies makes a nice lead, but this incredibly weak horror movie is so bad it’s not scary. Plus the cardinal sin is committed of showing the final scene from the film in the movie’s trailers. It has a muddled story that smells of last minute rewrites.

5. UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING –Rretire this series already! No script, no story, no decent dialogue, no fun. Folks, we have to stop paying money to see these video-game movie wannabes to send Hollywood a message: movies are about stories, not images. Even Kate Beckinsale in tight black clothing can’t save this one.

4. PROJECT X – I hated this comedy. I love raunchy comedies like the next guy, but this one has at its core a couple of very unlikable characters who belong in a detention hall, not in front of a camera. This wild tale of a high school party gone awry is so devoid of creativity, it makes AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS seem like high art by comparison.

3. SILENT HOUSE – Elizabeth Olsen looks frightened and screams a lot. Dull, unimaginative horror movie with a lame twist at the end you can see coming a mile away. Keep miles away from this stinker. Its title describes the theater audience watching this one.

2. BATTLESHIP – hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!! A complete joke of a movie. No relation whatsoever to the popular board game. The most amazing thing about this movie is how bad it is. Think about it: it’s a story which pits battleships against alien spaceships. How bad can it be? Worse. Taylor Kitsch has the distinction of being in both one of the worst movies of the year (this one) and one of the best (Oliver Stone’s SAVAGES). For that matter, Liam Neeson shares that distinction, as he was in THE GREY as well in 2012, but lucky for Neeson, he’s only in this bomb for about five minutes. He’s obviously just collecting a paycheck here. Awful, awful, movie.

1. RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION – how bad is this movie? Let’s put it in perspective: in terms of video games masquerading as movies, it’s worse than both UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING (less of a story) and SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D (less impressive visuals). Did I say it has no story? Watching this movie is like picking up a book and reading a section of a chapter from a random page where you don’t bother to read the beginning or the end. RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION is so bad it’s even more boring than the TWILIGHT movies. It has perhaps one of the most annoying and lamest villains Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) you’ll ever find in a movie. He makes Loki seem like The Joker. And as good as Milla Jovovich looks kicking bad guys’ butts, her shtick only goes so far, for me, about ten minutes. Repeat after me: END THIS SERIES NOW!!! Worst movie of the year.

—END—

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THE BEST MOVIES OF 2012 by Michael Arruda

Posted in 2012, 2013, Best Of Lists, Michael Arruda Reviews with tags Argo, Best Movies of 2012, Hunger Games, Lincoln, michael arruda on January 1, 2013 by knifefighter

MICHAEL ARRUDA’S PICKS FOR THE BEST MOVIES OF 2012
By Michael Arruda

Here’s my list for the Top 10 Movies for 2012:

First, some honorable mentions of movies that didn’t make my Top 10 but were very good all the same.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Very dark, perhaps too dark and depressing to make my Top 10 list.

CABIN IN THE WOODS – The genre film that probably generated the most buzz this year. I loved it, but didn’t find it scary enough to make my Top 10.

THE EXPENDABLES 2 – This EXPENDABLES sequel is better than the original, and with Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, Statham, Chuck Norris, and Jean Claude Van Damme all on the screen together at the same time, you can’t help but feel explosive about this one. A blast, literally.

JACK REACHER – Surprisingly good mystery thriller with Tom Cruise in top form as ex- military cop out to clear the name of his wrongly accused friend— er, pardon me, the guy’s not his friend.

DREDD- Most people didn’t like this one, but I thought Karl Urban was excellent as Dredd, and the film itself compelling and entertaining.

Now onto the actual Top 10 list:

MY TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2012:

10. THE GREY – Liam Neeson just keeps getting better and better with age, and this satisfying thriller of men vs. wolves kept me glued to the screen throughout.

9. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER – probably the most pleasant surprise for me in 2012. I expected a campy over-the-top mess, a la VAN HELSING (2004), but what I got was a serious, attractive horror period piece that reminded me an awful lot of the Hammer Films of old. Highly recommended.

8. SKYFALL – Crowned “the King of all Bond movies” before it ever hit U.S. theaters, the hype became this one’s worst enemy. Not the best Bond movie, not by a long shot, but still a highly enjoyable Bond thriller, and Daniel Craig continues to impress as James Bond.

7. THE HUNGER GAMES – another surprise for me. I didn’t expect to like this one, but the serious way in which it treated its subject, kids who have to fight to the death in a weird futuristic society, plus an outstanding cast, including Jennifer Lawrence, Stanley Tucci, and Woody Harrelson, make this a winner.

6. CHRONICLE – in spite of its forgettable title, this superior science fiction thriller tells the tale of a group of teenagers who find an alien object which gives them telekinetic powers, and the dark path they follow afterwards. A cheery superhero story, this ain’t! Effectively uses the gimmick of being filmed entirely by cameras in the movie, some belonging to the characters while others are from the characters’ surroundings, like security cameras and pedestrians’ cell phones.

5. DJANGO UNCHAINED – another excellent Quentin Tarantino movie. This one features the director’s signature touches- attention to detail, stylish scenes, excellent cast, and eclectic music score- plus a fine performance by Jamie Foxx in the lead, and even better performances by Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson in supporting roles. A must-see movie from beginning to end.

4. ARGO – probably the best subtle film of the year. This unusual tale of the U.S. government funding a fake movie in order to fool Iranian officials in a plot to free six American diplomats who escaped from the U.S. Embassy in Iran before the 56 American hostages were taken in 1979, is based on a true story. Knockout script by Chris Terrio, superb direction by Ben Affleck, and two great supporting performances by John Goodman and Alan Arkin make this one a winner. The suspense builds to an incredibly tense conclusion, probably the most suspenseful final third of a movie I’ve seen in years, all of it without bloodshed or violence. Superior filmmaking at its best.

3. SAVAGES – Director Oliver Stone hits a homerun with this tale of pot growers and their shared girlfriend taking on a deadly Mexican drug cartel. This one had me hooked (no pun intended) from beginning to end, and features some terrific performances throughout, including Blake Lively, Taylor Kitsch, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the three leads, as believable a ménage a trois as you’ll find in a movie, and Salma Hayek and Benicio del Toro as nasty villains. This one was a guilty pleasure, as I enjoyed it more than I should have. Almost ruined by its ending, but somehow, in spite of the bizarre twist, it still works.

2. THE AVENGERS – by far, the most fun I had at the movies this year, and probably my favorite movie of the year, even if I didn’t think it was the best. The best Marvel superhero movie yet, and considering some of the great movies they’ve churned out over the past decade, that’s saying a lot. Robert Downey Jr. returns to top form as Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man, and along with fellow superheroes Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Hawkeye, combine to make for the most entertaining superhero movie to date. They spend more time at each other’s throats than going after the villains, making them the perfect dysfunctional superhero family. Grand nearly flawless entertainment from beginning to end, with really the only drawback being its weak villain, Loki, who now has appeared in two superhero movies and has underwhelmed in both. Retire this supervillain wannabe already!

1. LINCOLN – what can I say? 2012 was the year of Lincoln, with two movies about Abraham Lincoln making my Top 10 List. This one is the best by far. My favorite Steven Spielberg film in years. Spectacular, flawless direction, in which Spielberg uses light and shadow to great effect, this one was the most satisfying visual movie of 2012. It also has the year’s best performance, Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln. I believed I was watching the real Lincoln on screen. Also features fine support by Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones, and a script by Tony Kushner, based in part on the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, that tells the compelling story of Lincoln’s extraordinary efforts to get the 13^th Amendment passed to free the slaves. Hands down the best movie of the year. Not to be missed. And do yourself a favor and see it on the big screen.

—END—

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In the Spooklight: THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957)

Posted in 1950s Horror, 2010, Christopher Lee films, Classic Films, Evil Doctors!, Frankenstein Movies, Hammer Films, Horror, In the Spooklight, Michael Arruda Reviews, Peter Cushing Films, Reanimated Corpses with tags Christpher Lee, classic horror, Curse of Frankenstein, hammer films, in the spooklight, Peter Cushing, Victor Frankenstein on December 26, 2012 by knifefighter

This is a reprint of my 100^th IN THE SPOOKLIGHT column, which originally appeared in the HWA Newsletter in December 2010. It’s on THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, one of my all-time favorites, and one of a handful of movies that influenced me at a young age and got me into this horror business in the first place. Hope you enjoy it. And don’t forget, my IN THE SPOOKLIGHT collection – 115 reviews in all— is now available as an EBook at http://www.neconebooks.com. Thanks for reading.

—Michael Arruda

IN THE SPOOKLIGHT

Michael Arruda

Welcome to the 100^th IN THE SPOOKLIGHT column. Woo hoo! It’s been a fun ride. Thanks for coming along.

In honor of the occasion, let’s look at THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957), Hammer Films’ first horror hit.

To make their Frankenstein movie different from the Universal 1931 original starring Boris Karloff, Hammer Films decided to concentrate more on the doctor rather than on the monster. Enter Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein.

Hammer Films’ signing of Peter Cushing to play Victor Frankenstein in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN was a major coup for the tiny studio which made low-budget movies. In the 1950s, Peter Cushing had become the most popular actor on British television. To British audiences, he was a household name.

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN was Cushing’s first shot at being the lead actor in a theatrical movie, and he doesn’t disappoint. In fact, THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN belongs to Peter Cushing. He dominates this movie and carries it on his shoulders. He’s in nearly every scene.

Cushing succeeded in creating a character who was the perfect shade of gray, a villain who was also a hero. He’s so convincing in this dual persona that we want to see Victor Frankenstein succeed in his quest to create life, even though he murders a few people along the way.

Peter Cushing went on to become an international superstar. He delivered countless fine performances over the years until his death from cancer in 1994. Yet, his performance as Victor Frankenstein in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN is arguably his best.

Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein

Like the 1931 version of FRANKENSTEIN before it, THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, while based on the book by Mary Shelley, is not overly faithful to the novel and takes lots of liberties with the story.

Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) enlists the aid of his former tutor Paul (Robert Urquhart) to conduct his experiments, to “create the most complex thing known to man- man himself!” Victor wants his creation to be “born with a lifetime of knowledge” and so he invites the brilliant Professor Bernstein (Paul Hardtmuth) to his house for dinner. After dinner, Victor promptly murders him. Later, when Paul confronts Victor and says he’s going to stop him from using the brain, Victor replies with one of the better lines from the movie, “Why? He has no further use for it.”

Lightning strikes and starts the lab equipment, while Victor is out of the laboratory, and the Creature (Christopher Lee, also in his starring role debut) is brought to life without Victor present, saving him from an “It’s alive!” moment.

Victor opens the door to the laboratory and finds the Creature standing in the doorway alive. In the film’s most memorable scene, the Creature rips off the mask of bandages covering his face, and the camera tracks into a violent grotesque close-up of the Creature’s hideous face. It’s a most horrific make-up job by Phil Leakey, and it’s unique to Frankenstein movies, since in all six of the Hammer Frankenstein sequels to follow, this Creature, so chillingly portrayed by Christopher Lee, never appears again.

Christopher Lee as Frankenstein’s Creature

Lee’s Creature is a murderous beast, and he quickly escapes from the laboratory. Victor and Paul chase him into the woods, where Paul shoots him in the head, killing him. Or so he thinks. Victor promptly digs up the body and brings it back to life again.

Victor performs multiple brain surgeries to improve the Creature, but eventually things get out of hand, as Paul goes to the police just as the Creature escapes again. The film has a dark conclusion which I won’t give away here.

Over the years, Christopher Lee has been criticized for his portrayal of the Creature in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Sure, Lee’s Creature is not the Karloff monster. However, the Creature, who appears fleetingly here and there, has an almost Michael Myers quality in this movie, a killer who creeps in the shadows, here one moment, gone the next.

Lee is scary in the role. His Creature is an insane unpredictable being. As the Creature, Lee doesn’t speak a word, and he hardly makes a sound, using pantomime skills to bring the character to life. His performance has always reminded me of a silent film performance, a la Lon Chaney Sr. Lee captures the almost childlike persona of a new creation born into the world for the first time, albeit a child that’s a homicidal maniac.

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN has a great music score by James Bernard. It’s haunting, ghastly, and memorable.

Director Terence Fisher, arguably Hammer’s best director, is at the helm here. As he did in all his best movies, Fisher created some truly memorable scenes in THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. The Creature’s first appearance is classic, one of the most memorable scenes of its kind. The scene when Victor murders Professor Bernstein features a great stunt where Victor pushes the Professor off a second floor balcony to his death, and we actually see the stunt double hit the floor head first with a neck breaking thud. It’s a jarring scene. And this is 1957.

There are lots of other neat touches as well. When Victor’s fiancée Elizabeth (Hazel Court) peers into the acid vat in which Victor has been disposing unwanted bodies and body parts, she covers her nose- a great little touch.

Jimmy Sangster’s screenplay is one of his best. Probably the best written scene is the one where Victor tries to convince Paul how well he has trained his Creature by having the Creature stand, walk, and sit down. Paul is unimpressed, saying “Is this your perfect physical being, this animal? Why don’t you ask it a question of advanced physics? It’s got a brain with a lifetime of knowledge behind it, it should find it simple!” It’s also a great scene for Christopher Lee, as it’s one of the few times he invokes sympathy for the Creature.

But THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN sinks or swims with Peter Cushing. Rarely has an actor delivered such a powerful performance in a horror movie. Cushing is flawless here. He draws you into Frankenstein’s madness and convinces you he’s right.

If I could give you one gift this holiday season, it would be to watch THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Rediscover it today, more than 50 years after it was made. It’s time this movie received its due as one of the best ever, which isn’t news to those who saw it in 1957. After all, it was the biggest money maker in Britain that year.

One of its original lobby cards reads “THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN will haunt you forever.”

It will.

—END—

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