Rolling Thunder (1977)

Rolling Thunder (1977)

Directed by John Flynn

Written by Paul Schrader and Heywood Gould

I recently aquired a dusty old copy of Rolling Thunder on VHS (Vestron Video's uncut 99min. release) from ebay. This has become my favorite film over the last few months and seeing as it isn't on DVD or Blu-Ray in the states (a Region 2 DVD was released in Spain) I figured I'd like to tell people about it.

The basic plot is this: Major Charles Rane (William Devane) comes home to San Antonio after living in a POW camp for 7 years during the Vietnam war. He is seen as a local hero and awarded a brand new Cadillac and 2555 silver dollars on live television. His wife, however, is planning on divorcing him and marrying Cliff, a local police officer, and his son, Mark, barely remembers him at all.

He is angry yet resolved at his wife's request for divorce but doesn't want her to drive a wedge between him and his son.

Unfortunately a permanent wedge is put in place by good ol' fate soon enough when a gang of local thugs show up at his home demanding the 2555 silver dollars. They ask him where the money is but Charles keeps his mouth shut. They torture him for a bit but seeing as his life has just consisted of daily torture for 7 years he could give a flying Tejas shit what they do to him. They eventually put his right hand in the garbage disposal and grind it off but to no avail...he won't talk. His son and wife arrive home shortly and are thrown on the couch and asked where the money is. His son, not wanting anyone else to get hurt, shows them. The gang then murders his wife and son and shoots him in the stomach leaving everyone for dead.

The remainder of the film is an amazing roller coaster ride of violence, confusion and love under the strangest of circumstances as Charles exacts his revenge on each and every one of the gangsters. He has a plan and wants to follow it to the bitter end no matter what emotional or personal problems step in his way.

Something about using violence "for the right reasons" has always fascinated me. The idea that a seemingly normal person can go to war under the purpose or illusion that they are fighting for their country or loved ones and commit acts of murder is confusing and complex. All it takes usually for a normal person to turn into a murderer is the right circumstances. Most people would never kill another human, but if you were to say, have a close family member killed in front of you in cold blood what would you do? Would you go after the assailants to kill them? Most people I know have always said that they would, myself included. Completely normal folks willing to turn into monsters under certain conditions. Of course there are always those that have an easier time flipping the switch and some no trouble at all.

I don't know why exactly I'm so obsessed with this film. There's something so realistic about the entire thing. It doesn't have a bit of flashy bullshit to it. It's like a really great punk record, simple, to the point, powerful and filled with the pain and hate of a lousy modern (at the time) life. The dialog is written so well you almost don't even notice it. You just feel like you're hanging out with these folks for a while and then before you know it WOOPS! things get ugly, but too late, you're already wrapped up as hell in the story. You can certainly tell that this movie didn't have a big budget but it's made up for in amazing lighting, incredible acting (especially on the part of William Devane) and great writing. The only three things, I really believe, you need to tell a good story.

Paul Schrader wrote this not long after Taxi Driver and a lot of the same sort of messages come through. Rolling Thunder and Taxi Driver are almost companion pieces to each other, sequels only by theme. I've watched this movie probably about 5 times now and plan on watching it a lot more. Everytime I see it I notice something different going on.

If you have an hour and a half and you're in the mood to watch something dark and thrilling I HIGHLY recommend this film. You can rent the uncut VHS in Atlanta from VIDEODROME (617 N Highland Avenue NE Atlanta, GA 30306) or if you know me come by and watch it at my house!

See the trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd4dW6sbplA&feature=related

MacGruber (2010)

MacGruber (2010)
Directed by Jorma Taccone

Everyonce in awhile a movie comes along that makes me feel so fucking good about life I can barely contain myself. It makes me laugh at least once an hour hearing dialog re-played in my head. I try to tell everyone I know that I respect to go see it. In an almost subconcious way I try to wrap my life around the feeling I got from the movie. I'm like a junkie, seeing it multiple times in the theatre, quoting it constantly, listening to the soundtrack non-stop, pathetically wondering what it'd be like to live in that universe.

Why?

I don't know. It just feels so good to get out of that theatre and see the world painted just a little like the story I just watched.

"Jesus is this guy a fucking dork."

Movies shouldn't be the most exciting thing I do, but most of the time it's the only thing that can make me feel anything on a meaningful level (besides music and sex). I don't think I'm a sociopath. I care very much about the people in my life but films hit a space in my brain that no human or event can reach.

I saw Inglourious Basterds three times in the theatre and the last two times I cried. When Donnie Donowitz comes out from under the bridge swinging a bat to the music of Ennio Morricone I started crying. It's kind of irrational, it wasn't a particularly moving scene.

The same thing happened to me during MacGruber.

"The fucking SNL movie...you cried during an SNL movie?"

Yes I did. MacGruber gets out of his car dressed in a white suit and cowboy boots in slow motion and the moment his foot touches the ground "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money starts playing. It hit me like an emotional punch in the face after having laughed my ass off for most of the film. It instantly took me back to 1986 when I lived in Las Vegas right before my parents got a divorce. I remember hearing it on the radio while driving around with my Dad. We got home and he proceeded to tell us that he was leaving.

I guess a piece of film being poetically put to good music is what really does the trick. Did my brain reach back to 1986 and bring up the pain of my parents divorce? I guess so...and now here I am crying alone in a theatre in Marietta, GA watching a MacGyver spoof.

Val Kilmer (looking like he's done some serious drinking in the past few years) does a fantastic job as the villian Dieter Von Cunth. Will Forte creates a suprisingly complex character out of the SNL Sketches. MacGruber is arrogant, stupid, insecure, reckless, homophobic (even though he offers to "suck your fucking dick" to keep from being kicked off the case twice), backstabbing and stubborn. Somehow you end up liking the guy and enjoy watching him fuck things up. Ultimately you find out that he's responsible for turning Dieter Von Cunth into the man he's become which makes him just as evil if not more so.

Kristen Wiig plays Vicki St. Elmo, a mouse-ish musician who's skills are detection and running away. After seeing the film three times it seems her character is necessary to balance MacGruber's idiocy and provide a love interest but is the least interesting of the movie. Wiig does a great job playing the part, it just seems hollow by design.

The plot is a seemless blend of Rambo, Lethal Weapon, Roadhouse, Die Hard, Tango and Cash and many other 80's action films. The main part being "bad guy steals nuclear warhead which he will use for something evil and only one man can stop him" kind of thing. Powers Boothe essentially plays Col. Sam Trautman from First Blood and he and Ryan Phillippe are excellent straight men for Forte's string of non-sensical ideas and actions.

The film pushes the envelope for laughs so if you don't like throat rippings, corpse desecration, dick jokes, solo saxophone performances or ghost fucking you should avoid MacGruber. However, if you're someone that doesn't have a stick up their ass and realizes that jokes are jokes you will most likely enjoy this film.

Any film that can make me laugh hysterically, bring up childhood trauma, expose me to Emerson, Lake and Powell and make me think about terrorism in the same 90 minutes is a great one in my book. Some people on this earth still know how to tell a good joke.

A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)

5/09/2010
A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
Directed by Samuel Bayer
Rated R

I woke up around 1:30 pm as I had stayed up til about 6 that morning looking up wiki articles about American English dialects and info on Wigger Slam bands. Two cans of Java Monster found in a free case at the entrance of my practice space had done it. I'm really sensitive to caffeine.

"Are you up yet?"
"Not yet, I'm about to get up."

My girlfriend had called.

"Ok, well I'm out shopping for Mother's Day, what are you gonna do?"
"Um, I...uh...I think I'm gonna go see the new Nightmare On Elm Street movie."
"Ok, well call me later."

I always feel awkward waking up at my girlfriend's house after she leaves for the day. She lives with her parents and I sneak like a cat burglar every morning into the bathroom, brush my teeth, put in my contacts (unless I slept in them), piss, whatever. I then sneak back into her room and do some stretching and maybe some push-ups, leg lifts, etc. if I'm not hungover or feeling lazy.

It's not like I'm dating a teenager and her parents can't know I'm there...it's just...weird running into them in the hall. I don't know how parents look at somebody like me. I don't work very much, I sleep late, I spend most of my time playing loud music and reading and I dress like an alcoholic on a Florida vacation.

I'm not ashamed of how I live my life but most normal adults think I'm a bum and they treat me like one in the politest way possible. PHEW! Nobody in the hall. I rushed to my car and high-tailed it outta Wickerberry onto Pinegrove towards Marietta. It was 2:17, the movie started at 2:25 according to moviephone.com.

I pulled into the parking lot at 2:36 and ran into the theatre. I fucking hate being late for movies. If I'm more than 12 minutes late I don't bother going. I usually get there mega early because I'm a nerd and don't have anything better to do. I sat down as the first establishing shot of the film played on the screen. I missed all the previews.

A noir-ishly lit diner in the middle of an Ohio suburb was where we were (it was filmed in Illinois and Los Angeles) as a sleep deprived "teenager" sits in a booth drinking coffee. He looks like some rich prick from Buckhead. I automatically can' t relate. He sees some weird stuff, drifts in and out of sleep, talks to a possible love interest about his "real" nightmares. I'm bored.

Finally after five or so agonizing minutes here's Freddy. I remember Jackie Earle Haley from The Bad News Bears as a kid. I also have fond memories of the first time I was told about Freddy. I believe I was about five or six when one of my neighborhood friends told me about the scary movie with the burnt man and knife hands. Before I had even seen it I was scared shitless. A man with burnt skin and knife hands?!? My five year old brain bounced bizarre imagery around for awhile. Was he completely charred? Did any bone show? What kind of knives did he use? Did I need to see this in a diaper?

One of our neighbors when I lived in Las Vegas worked for a video store and had a large cardboard stand-up of Freddy Krueger in their window. That was the first time I laid eyes upon him and I'll never forget it. Around age eight or nine I began watching the films, number 4 was the first. I watched every one I could as a kid and no-bullshit Freddy started showing up in my dreams.

Obviously he didn't kill me, but there was one incident where he cut my arm in a dream and I woke up with a scratch. I ran screaming into my Mom's room and upon further inspection it appeared that the shitty metal frame for my bunk bed had done it. Okay...so he wasn't real.

Ooops, in the midst of my reminiscence for the 80'sI forgot to pay attention to the film I had paid for. Shouldn't be to hard to figure it out, this dialog sounds like it's been written for NBC's "Passions". Ok, I get the gist. Freddy's haunting these kids dreams because all of their parents killed him, but, in this version it's because he molested all their kids...and NOT ONE OF THEM REMEMBERS?!?

They did something marginally interesting with the first act in getting you to think this "Kris" character (played by Katie Cassidy) was the lead, but they pull a Psycho and kill her off the same way "Tina" met her demise in the original. Good thing she wasn't the lead, she pretty much cried or panicked the entire time she was on screen. I can't stand poorly written female characters that cry and whine and panic on screen. I guess it's the only way dumb, fat Wal-Mart shoppers can latch on to the story.

God, I'm bored just writing this review. Let me get to the worst hits here. There's completely needless CGI, bad acting, annoying little LA orange tan perfect hair no eyebrow morons populating the film. I don't give a shit how any of these people die. The gore is not bad. Jackie Earle Haley does the best job he can with the crappy writing. Clancy Brown of Highlander and Buckaroo Banzai plays Quentin Smith's dad. Hmmm, this movie isn't very good at all. But I'm the mark who put down my 7.50 to go see it. Exploitation movies are alive and well in Hollywood, they're called Re-boots or Re-imaginings or Re-makes and just based on curiosity alone these L.A. fuckers usually make a profit.

"They re-made A Nightmare On Elm Street."
"What? Why? The first one is perfect."
"Well I'm curious to see what they'll do."

There, that right there, if at least 3 million people say that spead throughout the country they got 25-30 million dollars. Now, i'm not sure exactly how much they spent on this film, IMDB says 35 mil. The original was made for 1.8 mil. I don't really know what I'm bitching about here. The re-makes aren't going to stop because it's instant money on an established name and in this economy I guess that's comforting to the movie biz. I think 99% of them are terrible but everyonce in awhile you get John Carpenter's The Thing and that's one of the greatest horror films ever made.

The credits rolled and I felt like I had wasted 90 minutes of my life. I didn't even want to finish my planned double feature of Nightmare/Iron Man 2( I usually pay for one and see two or three). At least the score was effective as I felt on edge a lot of the movie but maybe that was the coffee I had had.