To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)

3.5 / 5 May '10
Tagline: The director of "The French Connection" is on the streets again!
Directed by: William Friedkin
Written by: William Friedkin, Gerald Petievich
Actors include: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Length: 116 minutes
Banned: Norway

Review:
I was not as enamored with this as I'd thought I might be. I adored The French Connection, and this has a rather similar nature, it's just not as effective and it has a few problems with it. First of all the plot is kinda silly, it's all about counterfeit money...seriously. An idiotically obsessed Cop (William Petersen) gets a boner for revenge against a counterfeitter when his Partner is killed two days before retirement (seriously...cliche city!). His new partner wants to play by the rules but he's a frickin' moron who is determined to commission counterfeit money from Willem Dafoe. The music is horrendous, it's all done by Wang Chung who spent most of the movie pretending they were Tangerine Dream, distractingly bad. The first half of the film also doesn't have a heck of a lot going on, a few fine moments jumbled in with a lot of mediocre stuff. The last half is exciting, particularly the ending which definitely made up for many shortcomings it has. The film is quite violent which I appreciate, and there is a pretty awesome chase scene here too but I've seen better. It's worth a watch, but hang in there and don't expect to be as impressed by this as some of the other similar thrillers out there.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

Wild At Heart (1990)

3.5 / 5 Aug '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: David Lynch
Written by: Barry Gifford, David Lynch
Actors Include: Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller, Crime
Length:  124 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Hmm well this had some extreme bads and some extreme goods but it was the extreme violence that pleased me the most. I guess I'll start with my complaints which include: horrible metal interludes (what were they thinking?), it's trying too hard to be weird to the point of being obnoxious at times (like the chipmunk voiced people), too much sex (the movie was too long, they screw like bunnies, I get it, I don't need to see them screwing over and over again) and it some aspects don't make much sense. On the pro side, again the violence is cool, some of the characters although bizarre are quite entertaining and although the movie sometimes annoyed me, it was compelling in a way. The story is about Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern) a young crazy couple who are wildly in love but often on the wrong side of the law. Lula's Mother hates Sailor so much she hires a hit out on him, but instead of killing him Sailor manages to kill the hitman landing him in jail. A little while later when he gets out the movie continues with a strange road trip with Lula where they screw and screw and try to live the good life. Of course not everything is wonderful and well things kinda get messed up along the way. Still it was somewhat satisfying and I liked most of it, not the best Lynch movie by far but a reasonable one at least.

Availability:  On DVD

Antichrist (2009)

3.5 / 5 Dec '10
Tagline: When nature turns evil, true terror awaits.
Directed by: Lars von Trier
Written by: Lars von Trier
Actors include: Willem DaFoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Horror
Length: 105 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
For me this was a rather hit and miss film, the ending I quite enjoyed...okay well maybe "enjoyed" isn't the word...it made me uncomfortable. The beginning I found to be rather dry and up it's own ass (although very well acted) it was rather boring. It begins with the death of a couple's infant while they are having sex (I was shocked at how much we see here honestly), from there it's a downward spiral of guilt, shame and despair. It's a depressing film, and some of the creepy imagery is quite well created (especially the woods and dead animals). The ending was surprisingly demented and entertaining though people watching this as an art film will be disappointed, I thought it had good payoff. It does "cross the line" a few times into silly territory...I mean a talking fox? What was up with that? Oh well it's a strange hybrid of art film, disturbing gross out fest and well acted drama....it was worth watching but not something I'd probably watch again.

Availability:  On Blu-Ray & DVD