365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 53 – RED ROCK WEST (1993)

Feb 22 2011 Published by under Film

Title: Red Rock West

Directed by: John Dahl

Written by: John Dahl & Rick Dahl

Current Flickchart position:  #470 of 1366 overall.  My #12 film, of 47, from the year 1993.

What It’s About:
When a promised job for Texan Michael (Nicolas Cage) fails to materialise in Wyoming, Mike is mistaken by barman (J.T. Walsh) to be the hitman he hired to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne (Lara Flynn Boyle).  Mike takes full advantage of the situation, collects the money and runs.  During his getaway, things go wrong, and soon get worse when he runs into the real hitman, Lyle (Dennis Hopper).

General Comments:
A fairly decent neo-noir that’s elevated by the presence of Cage and Hopper.  Lara Flynn Boyle is as bad as she is in everything else and adds absolutely nothing to the film.  Other than that it’s a pretty standard film.

Watch Red Rock West because Dennis Hopper is the definition of cool.

Rating:  6/10

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365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 50 – BLOOD SIMPLE (1984)

Feb 19 2011 Published by under Film

Title: Blood Simple

Directed by: Joel Coen

Written by: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Current Flickchart position:  #321 of 1362 overall.  My #6 film, of 18, from the year 1984.

What It’s About:
A rich but jealous man (Dan Hedaya) hires a private investigator (M. Emmet Walsh) to kill his cheating wife (Frances McDormand) and her new man (John Getz).

General Comments:
Another day another neo-noir.  And surprise surprise it’s actually a good Coen brothers film.  Best of all it’s an unpretentious Coen brothers film, something I wasn’t sure existed, although it is their first film so maybe that trait developed after the release of Blood Simple.

Watch Blood Simple because of the seven Coen brothers films I’ve seen (Blood Simple, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou, No Country For Old Men, Burn After Reading, and True Grit) only True Grit, Fargo and No Country are better.  Then again, considering my feelings towards the Coens that’s probably not saying much.

Rating:  6.5/10

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365 Day Unseen Movie Marathon – Day 47 – THE LIMEY (1999)

Feb 16 2011 Published by under Film

Title: The Limey

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh

Written by: Lem Dobbs

Current Flickchart position:  #614 of 1360 overall.  My #28 film, of 60, from the year 1999.

What It’s About:
An extremely volatile and dangerous Englishman (Terence Stamp) goes to Los Angeles to find the man he considers responsible for his daughter’s death.

General Comments:
Day 3 of my noir week and after all I’d heard about The Limey since it came out in 1999 I have to say I’m once again really disappointed with what I’ve seen.  It’s not bad, it’s just completely average.  Soderbergh creates a nice mood for the film but the story and acting leave a lot to be desired.

Watch The Limey to see a really great house up in the Hollywood hills and some awesome music used in the soundtrack.

Rating:  5/10

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Trailer for the RED RIDING trilogy

Jan 10 2010 Published by under Film, TV

Here’s the trailer for the insanely awesome looking Red Riding.

Red Riding is a trilogy of feature length films adapted from four book written by David Peace (each one dealing with a specific year) concerning the events surrounding the Yorkshire Ripper murders in England during the 1970s.  The three films originally aired on Channel 4 in England back in March and are set to open theatrically in the US in February.  I assume each one will be shown separately instead of having all three back to back as this would be a very long viewing experience.

The whole trilogy can already be purchased on DVD from Amazon UK right here.

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