Harvey Keitel, George Clooney and Juliette Lewis in the Robert Rodriguez movie ‘From Dusk till Dawn’

The intermingling of genres brings us a continued look into the horror film genre this month, adding a decidedly action and crime elements bent to boot. Robert Rodriguez, originally from San Antonio, Texas produced and directed From Dusk till Dawn (1996), a work co-written by Quentin Tarantino, originally from Knoxville, Tennessee and Robert Kurtzman, originally from Crestline, Ohio. The film is set in Mexico and Texas, United States.

(From left, Quentin Tarantino as Richard ‘Richie’ Gecko and George Clooney as Seth Gecko in the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk till Dawn).

The movie From Dusk till Dawn begins with clear elements of crime and violent action as the opening feature with the introduction of Benny’s World of Liquor. We meet brothers Seth Gecko and Richard ‘Richie’ Gecko, portrayed by George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino, respectively, robbing the liquor store based in Texas.

(From left, Michael Parks as Texas Ranger Earl McGraw and John Hawkes as Pete Bottoms in the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk till Dawn).

Pete Bottoms clerks at the store while Earl McGraw, a Texas Ranger, happens upon the scene during the commissioning of the crime. Things quickly occur in an unexpected way for one of the Gecko brothers, with the decision to act without subtlety in bringing resolution to the situation. Without spoiling details, the need to leave takes on an urgency that leads Richie and Seth to seek a path south. In the pursuit of that outcome, the object of hiding out at a hotel turns crudely violent while one of the brothers gets food. John Hawkes portrayed Pete Bottom as Michael Parks portrayed Earl McGraw.

(From left, George Clooney as Seth Gecko, Ernest Liu as Scott Fuller, Harvey Keitel as Jacob Fuller and Juliette Lewis as Katherine ‘Kate’ Fuller in the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk till Dawn).

On vacation, the Fuller family arrives at the inn where the Gecko brothers are staying in a recreational vehicle. The father, Jacob Fuller as portrayed by Harvey Keitel, is a widowed pastor traveling with his daughter Kate and son Scott. Juliette Lewis portrayed Kate as Ernest Liu portrayed Scott. The Gecko brothers threateningly coerce the Fuller family to drive them across the border into Mexico in order to meet their contact that is due to escort them to sanctuary, El Rey, at dawn the next morning.

(From left, Salma Hayek as Santanico Pandemonium and Richard “Cheech” Marin as Border Guard, Chet Pussy and Carlos in the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk till Dawn).

The contact for getting the Gecko brothers to sanctuary is portrayed by Richard “Cheech” Marin. The crew is directed by the contact to a Mexican strip bar named Titty Twister. Landing there with the Fuller family to experience a shocking experience that presumably will last until morning offers plenty of comedic territory, which begins with the introduction of performer Santanico Pandemonium. Salma Hayek portrayed Pandemonium, whose flamboyant routine brings on a bar fight. The true nature of the employees of this strip club / bar propels the transition of the movie into the horror movie that brings the story home.

(From left, actor and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino and director Robert Rodriguez on site for the Robert Rodriguez movie From Dusk till Dawn).

The movie From Dusk till Dawn takes you on a wild ride of a story that seeks to keep the audience guessing about the direction headed next. The themes of heinous crime, gratuitous violence, assaults on familial and personal innocence, and an unexpected turn to horror beg the audience to set aside traditional expectations and ask how twisted a story can work. That the payoff feels deliberately comedic at the same time lends itself to what cult following the film has won since the movie’s release. With a nod to the campy aspect delivered here, I grant From Dusk till Dawn as directed by Robert Rodriguez 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, October 22, 2022

Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas and Daryl Hannah in the Oliver Stone movie ‘Wall Street’

Many have likely heard the famous line delivered by Michael Douglas in the Oliver Stone directed movie Wall Street (1987). The notion of corporate excess that in some ways defined the political conversations of the 1980s expressed itself as Douglas in his role as Gordon Gecko pronounced in a monologue that “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” The boldness of that full speech, and the conflict within this movie, motivates much of the stakes explored in this movie.

(From left, Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox, Millie Perkins as Mrs. Fox (back seat) and Martin Sheen as Carl Fox in the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street).

The movie Wall Street, as written by Oliver Stone and Stanley Weiser, includes at its core the notion for buying and selling stock on Wall Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. A central question involves how well this can play with creating and managing profitable industry with employment wither with or against the financial and political systems that give people a sense that both can work in combination. The Fox family reflects this question, exemplified through Bud Fox and his parents, Carl Fox and Mrs. Fox. Millie Perkins, Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen portray Mrs. Fox, Carl Fox and Bud Fox, respectively.

(Daryl Hannah as Darien Taylor and Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street).

Bud Fox works as a junior stockbroker at Jackson Steinem & Co. in New York City, having the typical difficulty of many folks when making cold calls of making the volume of success that he is after. Bud’s stockbroker friend, Marvin, sees similar ups and downs filling a similar role with the same company in the workstation next to Bud. Marvin is portrayed by John C. McGinley. Bud’s story takes a bold turn when after roughly two-months of trying to land a meeting with legendary stock trader Gordon Gecko, Fox lands a face-to-face with Gecko by bringing Gecko a present of illegal Cuban cigars on Gecko’s birthday.

(John C. McGinley as Marvin and Saul Rubinek as Harold Salt in the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street).

The fact that Bud Fox made his way into Gecko was a first step into establishing a positive impression. The legitimate analysis that Bud brought wasn’t enough to hold Gecko’s attention, though a decision made on the spot with knowledge about Bluestar Airlines makes the mark. It’s this that convinces Gecko to offer Bud Fox his, Gecko’s, distinct training, clout and industry connections to make an early career really grow.

(Terence Stamp as Sir Larry Wildman in the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street).

The storyline grows from this premise, with the hustle of youth on the side of Bud Fox. The knowledge Gordon Gecko teaches Bud Fox runs afoul of some of the ethical standards that Carl Gox, Bud Fox’s father, lives by. The first step of building this trust included taking honest, legitimately researched investments suggested by senior stockbroker Lou Mannheim. Hal Holbrook portrayed Mannheim. These investments lose money.

(From left, Hal Holbrook as Lou Mannheim and Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox in the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street).

Gecko gives Bud Fox a second chance, which involves following British investor Sir Larry Wildman. Terence Stamp portrayed Wildman, who Fox is able to offer is about to make a bid on Anacott Steel. This results in a wildly lucrative yet shady deal to the detriment of both the company and Wildman. Gecko rewards Bud Fox with the willingly offered intimacy services of interior decorator Darien Taylor. Daryl Hannah portrayed Darien Taylor.

(Director and co-writer of Wall Street, Oliver Stone, on the set of the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street).

This basic action comes with much of what proves useful to Gecko. The education and connections play themselves out, including through the family monologue offered by Gordon Gecko on the merits of greed. How long can this continue to function in this manner for Bud Fox, in an ethical and legal set of boundaries opposite those of his father. The compelling pieces for the larger message of the movie Wall Street rest in these conflicts, in addition to how the movie sets out to answer them.

(From left, actor Charlie Sheen, actress Daryl Hannah, actor Martin Sheen and actor Michael Douglas in a publicity shot for the Oliver Stone movie Wall Street).

The movie Wall Street represents subject matter that was new in the specific subject matter, inasmuch tackling stocks, economic questions, and a divide between working class and the financial class of the era. That the movie thematically tackled the feeling of class difference, exploitation, ethics and legality were not new fare for Oliver Stone. Overall, I found a compelling movie. I grant the movie Wall Street as directed by Oliver Stone 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, July 30, 2022

Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and the film ‘Bull Durham’

As the boys of summer are poised to soon give way to the fall classic, the Matt Lynn Digital cinematic journey into the great sport of baseball returns with the film Bull Durham (1988). Released a year before Field of Dreams (1989) and eleven years before For Love of the Game (1999), Bull Durham reflects the first of three films starring Kevin Costner pursuing a passion somehow touching baseball.

(Susan Sarandon as Annie Savoy, left, and Kevin Costner as Crash Davis in the film Bull Durham).

The film Bull Durham follows the happenings of the low minor league baseball team the Durham Bulls of Durham, North Carolina. Two major lines of storytelling include the assistance offered Ebby Calvin ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh by Crash Davis (played by Kevin Costner) and the ostensible love triangle among these two as initiated by Durham Bulls fan Annie Savoy. Susan Sarandon plays Savoy. Tim Robbins plays LaLoosh.

(Tim Robbins as Ebby Calvin ‘Nuke’ LaLoosh in the film Bull Durham).

The character Crash Davis is a fictionalized as a catcher tasked with helping the up-and-coming player LaLoosh mature into a player ready to play in the major leagues. In taking a bit of a superficial look into the film, Bull Durham itself takes a lighthearted look into the tension between LaLoosh and Davis due to their being two really different people while also betting on some romantic tension that Annie Savoy has in pursuing a more experienced relationship interest that comes with age. Davis was inspired in name by a real player named Lawrence Columbus Crash Davis who played shortstop, second base and first base, which in some ways mirrors a romantic tension that is told through the duration of one baseball season with the Durham Bulls baseball team.

(Bull Durham director and writer Ron Shelton).

The true magic of this film that makes it one that endures visits some clubhouse themes visited in the film Major League (1989), as well as some themes of romance that comes up more strongly in For Love of the Game. Renee Russo does a baseball double play in her roles in Major League and For Love of the Game. Bull Durham screenwriter and director Ron Shelton offers an enduring baseball film that isn’t so much a romantic comedy as it is cynical and unaware in matters of love while knowing a bit about baseball. There are quiet moments of truth about life and baseball interwoven into this film, and overall the film works on an almost sophomoric level at times. Exiting with the song love ain’t no triple play by Dr. John, Bennie Wallace, and Bonnie Raitt, the film Bull Durham gets 3.75-stars from me on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, October 19, 2019

Timothy Olyphant, Walton Goggins and Season Two of ‘Justified’

We first introduced you to the FX television series Justified (2010-2015) with our look into the first season in July. Brad Paisley reprises the closing thought of You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive in bringing the second 13-episode season of this addictive elegy of dysfunctional hillbillies feuding over crime, mining rights for the mountain, and a fleeting sense of a way of life in a community seemingly committed to a violent end. Throw in a sliding moral sense of interpersonal intimacy and trust that complicate definitions of family and friendship, and you have a sense for what season one and season two of Justified have had to offer.

(Erica Tazel as Rachel Brooks, Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder, Nick Searcy as Art Mullen, Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, Walton Goggins as Boyd Crowder, Jacob Pitts as Tim Gutterson and Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy from the television series Justified).

Central to the dysfunctional and blurred lines of friendship and family remains the complicated relationship of almost brothers, almost friends, and almost always murky yet tenuous bond between Boyd Crowder and US Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens. A gunfight at the end of season one cemented the tenuous bond and truce of sorts, which in part contributed to the end of the love interest of Givens Ava Crowder. Ava accepts Boyd into her home, where a complicated family history from the first season of Justified transpired, and led to a complicated transition of feelings between Boyd and Ava explored through the show’s second season. Additionally explored was a backstory for US Deputy Marshal Rachel Brooks and her brother, as well as background introduced for Marshal Tim Gutterson.

(William Ragsdale as Gary Hawkins and Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins in the television series Justified).

The complicated love triangle between Raylan, the glue to many story lines in Justified, explored the romantic ties and questionable entanglements with the law and each other for Gary Hawkins and Raylan’s ex-wife Winona Hawkins. Winona married Gary before the first season began, yet comes to a place where she questions the emotional priorities of Gary, as she had with Raylan before him. True to the series name, much of these questions are justified, as our the questions Winona also levels at herself through the season. Shenanigans ensue that touch characters Wynn Duffy and US Marshal Art Mullen. The nature of the enlightened perspectives of Duffy and Mullen, while expressed in different circles and levels of justification for sure, offer plenty of interesting fodder for those interested in considering the gray areas of personal ethics that Justified takes pleasure in questioning. Particularly for me, these last two questions seem particularly relevant heading into the next season, as is the question of where Raylan and the Hawkins’ are headed.

(Raymond J. Barry as Arlo Givens, left, and Linda Gehringer as Helen Givens in the television series Justified).

Further glue arises in the relationship of Raylan’s father and aunt, respectively Arlo Givens and Helen Givens. Wishing to hold back spoilers, I offer plenty in saying that either Arlo or Helen take a frightful turn during season two of Justified. The story of these two intersect with Boyd and Ava Crowder, whose story lines echo one another in enough ways to stir some questions.

(Jeremy Davies as Dickie Bennett, left, and Brad William Henke as Coover Bennett in the television series Justified).

The intersection of Boyd and Ava to Arlo and Helen brings season two of Justified to the central story line, which arguably should have come up earlier in the best way to pitch this season. First, who are the Bennetts? Second, what is their concern with Loretta McReady and her father? Finally, where does this leave us as far as the larger drama of the season?

(Joseph Lyle Taylor as Doyle Bennett, left, and Margo Martindale as Mags Bennett in the television series Justified).

Mags Bennett is the matriarch of the Bennett family. The Bennetts and the Givens family have some degree of a feud occurring that dates back generations in Harlan, Kentucky. Doyle Bennett is a police sheriff and arguably the most intelligent of the three sons introduced during the second season of Justified. The other two are Dickie Bennett and Coover Bennett, who lean more towards the criminal enterprise portion of the family business. Of the three sons, Mags favors one child over the other two. Dickie is the screw-up brother while Coover is the brother lacking common sense yet purported to have an aptitude for cultivating marijuana.

(Kaitlyn Dever as Loretta McCready in the television series Justified).

The story of the Bennetts overlaps with Loretta McCready, a 14-year-old girl who faces interpersonal criminal behavior at the hands of members of the Bennett clan. Through the season, Mags warms to Loretta as the daughter she never had. Whether fate plays a fickle or steady hand for the Bennetts regarding the McCready family and Loretta as Loretta struggles to understand the fate of her father through the course of the second season of Justified is plenty of reason to watch the series. I personally am impressed with the second season. My overall grade for season two of Justified is 4.25-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, September 14, 2019