Frailty

Bill Paxton, 2001

IMDB

3/5

Bill Paxton is an actor who wouldn't make a good straight up villain because of his charm / likeability factor. That is why his "Dad Meiks" character succeeds in this 2001 directorial debut (screenplay by by Brent Hanley) by Paxton.

Almost immediately you like the Dad character. Hard-working, eats dinner with his boys every night and warmly sends them off to bed before retiring himself. It's when he is awoken by a vision that it all changes. He tells his boys how God will be making a kill list for him, demons that he must rid the world of. Your suspicion of Dad grows, and you find yourself finding a certain comfort in Fenton's character, who is seemingly the only sane character left. His impressionable younger brother Adam is going to do anything his father wishes so there's virtually no hope for him to snap out of it.

What transpires is a dark southern gothic story with some real twists. The way that the film shifts your vision of who is good and bad is impressively executed. It's a good opportunity to see some of McConaughey's early acting chops which are evident in the film. He's kind of in his wheelhouse as the Texas-based drifter type that mutters slowly and thought-out. But overall it's a unique film that grabs you, and there's definitely some black comedy elements at work even if they are a bit buried beneath the surface. Paxton is really so perfect for the role as the eccentric father who really feels like he's God hand and doing something important. A straight up scary guy would never work. And it's his ability to be the benign father early on and get you invested in him as the good guy that is the springboard for all of the alternating that continues throughout the film.

Killer Joe

William Friedkin, 2012

IMDB

3/5

Two years before Matthew McConaughey wowed audiences with his Rust Cohle character in HBO's True Detective, he got some reps playing the morally obscure man of law enforcement in title character Killer Joe. Joe is a Dallas police officer who moonlights as a hit-man.

Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) is in debt to some shady characters and he has reached the end of his rope with time to pay them back. He hires Joe to kill his mother to collect a $50,000 life insurance policy which would be split among himself, his father, and his sister after paying Joe off.

Killer Joe is a film filled with despicable figures. There is really only one redeeming person, that being sister Dottie (Juno Temple). Dottie is sort of written off by her other family members because she is of inferior intellect so she therefore gets some special treatment. But Dottie is surrounded by chaos. Their father (Hayden Church) is a heavy drinker / low-life. Brother Chris is just an untrustworthy dirtbag. Their mother is virtually out of the picture. Joe comes into the situation and it's interesting because while is slightly above them in terms of the social hierarchy, he is not too far above them in the sense that he gravitates to Dottie for companionship. You get a sense that Joe, while he may be a capable hitman, really doesn't have much going on in his own personal life.

It all ends up being a tornado of malevolent deception, with Dottie unfortunately too close to it all. It's an enticing story not because you are so concerned with the characters well-being but you just want to see how it all plays out. It's pretty clear early on that it's not going to work out well for everyone involved in the whole assassination scheme. One of the things I had heard prior to seeing this film was "you'll never look at fried chicken the same again". I had to bring that up, because they were so right. You won't.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorcese, 2013

Can I Stream it?

4/5

The true story of Jordan Belfort, a young stock-broker that gets rich from scamming his investors.

Wolf doesnt feel like a movie made to be taken seriously. It doesnt feel like a film intended to drum up so mich controversy. The rags to riches to rags story is Scorcese going out of his out of comfort zone (along with screenwriter Winter), almost doing his version of a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. His Hunter S is Jordan Belfort, eager to indulge in his excesses. It ultimately comes off as a Fear and Loathing / Wall Street / Scarface black comedy hybrid that even has notes of Raging Bull (a broken man that attempts to reestablish himself in the world). And like Gordon Gecko, his luxuries never feel cemented. When you are living such a lifestyle, combined with the fact that you are admittedly dependent on a particular prescription to maintain such mindset- it eventually reaches a tipping point. Add the fact that you are taking advantage of loose financial regulations in a realm of rapidly increasing regulations and of course its momentary. You get a clear sense that you will witness the rise and fall of a rather despicable figure, and the humor creates such levity that you don't need it to be a sophisticated character study of an anti-hero like PT Anderson's There will be Blood. There are brilliant, lewd LUDE moments. Scorcese's comedic experiment pays off and the result is provocative, overindulgent and hilarious. 

True Detective (Season 1)

Nic Pizzolatto

Can I Stream It?

5/5

Detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson), opposite personalities, are paired up to track down a suspected serial killer that has recently killed a local Louisiana girl. 

There are monsters in the world. They are among us, lurking in the shadows. They prey upon women, upon small children. An ominous force. This evil immersed in the Louisiana Bayou adds a certain eeriness to it. It may be the soundtrack to the series, which at times sounds like Pink Floyd's The Machine. Or it may be the imagery, of the wicker bird traps suspended in the trees or the spooky mist that seems to float through the dark rooms. True Detective certainly knows the ingredients, and has all of them brewing. Junkies. Whores. Bible Thumpers. Junkyard Backyards. Wear and tear. Battered histories.

True Detective is one of those once in a lifetime series that you encounter. Once you're done watching, you're a changed person. For better or worse. And it's very difficult to give it proper treatment here, because it's just so smart and so elaborate that a simple review won't be able to cover it all. We can discuss how it's helping to usher in this Matthew McConaughey renaissance (a.k.a. McConaissance) stage - where we are seeing an actor completely reinvigorate his career from god-awful rom-coms in the early 2000's to serious dramatic roles in 2013. We can talk about how the show is almost a blend of The Wire mixed with the under-rated and forgotten Carnivale set in the backdrop of a demonic Louisiana much like True Blood. But that still doesn't reveal enough of the show's attributes. On paper, the show probably appears to be just another detective drama. But oh no. The first couple of episodes show you great performances and great writing. At that point you know it's a show worth watching. And then episode four shows you the greatest single-take in the history of television. And then episode five shows you that everything you thought regarding the direction of the story could be all wrong, and that it might be serviceable to go back and re-watch everything that you have already seen once because it's just not enough. 

If we are living in the second Golden Age of Television, True Detective is certainly a harbinger of it. It is saddening to see such life changing series like Breaking Bad fade away into the past. But if this series is any sign of whats to come, we haven't seen anything yet. Or perhaps we are in the middle of watching one of the greatest series ever made right before our very own eyes, right now. At least it's only the beginning. How the hell are we supposed to let go of these characters to make way for completely new ones next season? 

Mud

Jeff Nichols, 2013


4/5

Two boys, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), venture on to a nearby island with their motor boat. They are looking for a boat that has been rumored to be suspended in the trees after past flooding. They find it, but soon discover that a homeless man named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) has been living in it. They befriend Mud and soon get pulled into his rather complicated life story.

It's a 130 minute drama, rich in story, that combines the southern grit of Nichols' past film Shotgun Stories with a youthful dynamic reminiscent of Stand By Me. At times you are seeing things through the eyes of children, with the curiosity of Super 8 combined with the grit of The Sandlot. Other times you are pulled into adult-oriented drama, where Nichols once again examines the concept of revenge and the cost in seeking it. McConaughey delivers what's probably the most fitting role of his career. It's hard to picture anyone else in the Mud role. He possesses that southern charisma, a friendly twang that doesn't threaten Ellis or Neckbone. His character is almost immediately sympathetic, where he's quick to consume a can of beans that Ellis provides for him. He quickly becomes a father figure to the two boys, who are desperate for the attention with Neckbone never having met his father and Ellis' distant from his cold disciplinarian father. The film is well acted on all fronts. It's nice to see Nichols using Michael Shannon again, if even in a more limited role as Neckbone's uncle Galen. Sarah Paulson is convincing as Ellis' downtrodden mother, sick of living her destitute life on the river in the houseboat and eager for a change of scenery.

There's some notable shots of the Arkansas landscape. As the camera rides in the back of the pickup truck with Ellis, you get the view of the blue-collar town with shots of the aged ice cream stand or the run down Piggly Wiggly. Constant shots of mother nature at work, critters crawling up rocky cliffs and water moccasins wandering through the murky waters of the Mississippi River. Nichols gives the film time to really let the story breathe, and let's his characters develop. By the final act of the film you are well invested in them and some of the final moments of the film are quite gripping.