“I’d Go Through a Wall for Him” – Alex Gibney’s Hockey Enforcer Documentary The Last Gladiators

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slap shot, hanson brothers, paul newman, documentary, goon, seann william scott, marty mcsorley, liev schreiber, ross rhea, doug glatt, bob probert, georges laraque, derek boogaard, wade belak, alex gibney, taxi to the dark side, chris nilan, knuckles, academy award winner, tony twist, terry o'reilly, paul stewart, donald brashear, montreal canadiens, detroit red wings, chicago blackhawks, northeastern university, philadelphia flyers, broadstreet bullies, dave schultz, the hammer, bobby clarke, andre dupont, jack mcilhargey, rick rypien, the knuckles group, kids help phone, the thug, jacques lemaire, mike milbury

As a huge hockey fan, I’ve been waiting to see this movie since I heard it was being released. Knowing that it is directed by Academy Award Winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) made it all the more exciting. The film’s central focus is on former Montreal Canadien/New York Ranger/Boston Bruins heavyweight and enforcer Chris “Knuckles” Nilan. Gibney gives us Nilan‘s story unfiltered – the good (winning the Stanley Cup), the bad (the taunting by his hometown crowd in Boston), and the ugly (drug and alcohol addiction). Structurally, Gibney sprinkles testimonials from some of the biggest names in hockey fighting - Tony “The Twister” Twist, Bob Probert, Marty McSorley, Terry O’Reilly, Paul Stewart, Donald Brashear – throughout the film, giving different perspectives on the role of the enforcer and in hockey itself.

Nilan plying his trade.

Gibney gives us the whole timeline of Nilan’s career from juniors to college at Northeastern University in Boston (his hometown) to being drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the 17th round to his ascent from the minors to the NHL. An underdog because his hockey ability wasn’t great, Nilan worked hard to get to the NHL. He worked on his hockey skills even after practices, but what propelled him was his lack of fear to drop the gloves with any guy on the ice at any time.  After the rise of teams like the Philadelphia Flyers (The Broadstreet Bullies) in the 70s who had goons like Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Bobby Clarke, Andre Dupont and Jack McIlhargey, hockey clubs had to have guys who could scrap in order to compete and protect their players.

Nilan as a rookie.

Nilan was a consummate team player and he sacrificed himself for the better of the team. If you fucked with any of the star players on his team, he sorted it out with his fists. Ruthlessly. But as Nilan, like most enforcers, got older, there were younger, bigger and stronger kids coming up. After taking the beating that these guys take, at 34, Nilan retired from the NHL. And that’s when his troubles began. In pain from the all of the injuries he incurred over the years of brawling, he needed painkillers. When those weren’t enough, he drank. Addicted to both, his life spiraled. He started taking heroin, lost his wife and had spent all of the money he had earned while playing hockey. He had hit rock bottom. In some respects, however, he was lucky. In 2011, three younger enforcers died within a span of four months – Rick Rypien, Derek Boogaard and Wade Belak. Former enforcer Georges Laraque said this about his and Nilan‘s role: “You have to fight to live when life after hockey is over, and there’s nothing for you.” And this is the bulk of what we in this documentary – Nilan trying to negotiate life after hockey.

Nilan today.

While his struggles are duly noted to cope with life after hockey, it appears that Nilan has gotten has feet back on the ground. He has founded The Knuckles Group, a company that puts him on the road and has him talk to kids about bullying and sells Nilan merchandise with 50%  of the proceeds going to Kids Help Phone. Nilan knows he has a second chance now and he’s trying to make the most of it.

The hockey goon/enforcer has always captivated me. These men of largess who physically master their world often times look like the loneliest people to me. I remember watching an epic fight between Bob Probert and Marty McSorley when I was a freshman in college and the two just battled for over 2 minutes, which is extraordinarily long, trading blows to the face for nearly the entirety of the fight. It went on long enough for me to call my dad in the middle of it and narrate the action. Here is the fight:

But the punches thrown aren’t what I remember most. I remember the shot ESPN had of Probert in the penalty box afterwards most. I had always disliked Probert because he was the head goon for the Detroit Red Wings, the chief rival of my favorite team, the Chicago Blackhawks, and he always mixed it up when they played. But as I watched him in the box, his head hung low, face already starting to bruise, it seemed like he was the loneliest guy on the planet. Even though he was on his home ice and the the crowd was going nuts since he had just gotten the better of McSorley (although I wouldn’t admit that at the time), he just seemed kind of sad. Probert was a lot like Nilan and they were friends. He was arrested for cocaine possession during his time with Detroit and was even initially supposed to be deported to Canada and not be able to play hockey in the US. He died of a heart attack at age 45. He donated his brain to science and they found that he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease found in the brains of athletes who take repeated blows to the head like football players, boxers and wrestlers. This is the legacy of the enforcer. This is what these men do to play the game they love at the highest level in the world. No wonder Probert appeared sad. Georges Laraque said this about his role as enforcer: “I did it because it was my job but I hated it.” Can’t imagine why.

The Hanson Brothers, hockey enforcer extraordinaires.

Slap Shot is my favorite movie of all-time (I know, you’re tired of hearing about it) and the Hanson Brothers are easily the most entertaining part of the film aside from Paul Newman‘s wardrobe. That the Hansons are portrayed in such a light way, having fun and dropping haymakers on everyone in sight is clearly a short-sighted representation of these guys. I have no doubt that there were men that went out and enjoyed fighting. Nilan appears to be one. However, the after effects of their job is just crushing to see. While Goon isn’t a very good movie, I think that the Ross Rhea (Liev Schreiber) character was captured pretty well. He is a solitary man, one who doesn’t connect with anyone, even in his hometown where he is a hero. On the flipside, Doug “The Thug” Glatt (Seann William Scott) is a goofy, likeable guy that gets along with everyone and doesn’t seem to grasp what it is that he’s doing to himself. He has that same mentality as Nilan in that he’d do anything to help his teammates, especially the guy he was signed to protect. As Nilan said about his former Canadiens head coach Jacques Lemaire and former Bruins head coach Mike Milbury, “I’d go through a wall for him.” Glatt has that same mentality, but it rings false for me.

This is an absolutely fascinating look at a man who was paid to whip ass. Nilan was the real deal – a tough Irish kid from Roxbury, MA, which is no place to fuck around. He took his tough kid from Boston shit all the way to the NHL and was really good at what he did. He has paid a price for it since, fallen from grace and it attempting, and doing well I might add, to redeem himself. This is a portrait of a portion of the sport of hockey you don’t get to see too often. Gibney did such a wonderful job with this film and I think it’s a fitting tribute to the toughness of Chris Nilan and to what it takes to be a hockey enforcer. As the game of hockey changes, fighting becomes less and less a part of the game. I’ve always liked the fighting, but part of me isn’t so sorry to see it go. Watching this film kind of solidifies that.

Here’s the trailer:

“All These People Want to Be Involved With Me” – Tackling Overnight About Boondock Saints Director Troy Duffy

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michael bay, harvey weinstein, miramax, documentary, al pacino, asshole, overnight, troy duffy, taylor duffy, tony montana, mark brian smith, the boondock saints, the boon dock saints 2, all saints day, j. sloan's, the brood, norman reedus, sean patrick flannery, mcmanus brothers, aequitas, veritas, david della rocco, ron jeremy, low rent, jimi jackson, gordon clark, douchebag

I will start this off by saying that there truly can’t be many people more worthy of loathing than the subject of this film, Troy Duffy, the chain-smoking, hard-drinking pseudo-tough guy director of the film The Boondock Saints. This film chronicles his meteoric rise to fame after his script for The Boondock Saints was picked up by then Miramax chief and Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein and his subsequent crash after he fucks it all up. This acquisition was the stuff that well…movies are made of. Not only did he sell his script, he was given directorship of the film (with cast approval and final cut), he and his band The Brood (who suck, by the way – they sound like a low rent version of any number of 90s grunge bands) will produce the soundtrack to the film, and Weinstein would also buy Duffy the bar where he was working as a bouncer, J. Sloan’s. As you can imagine, this is enough to inflate anyone’s ego. For Troy Duffy, however, his ego-inflation goes above and beyond anything I could ever imagine. This film adequately documents this.

Duffy holding a copy of USA Today with news of his deal.

The extensive footage really shows what a controlling, egomaniac Duffy really is. The seemingly infinite amount of times where he says “no one has ever done this in the history of film or music” or “we’ll deserve every cent we get, we’ll deserve every ounce of recognition we get” shows you how full of himself he really is. The certainty with which he speaks about how Hollywood works and the music business works and how he knows what’s really going on comes off as nothing more than overly fucking delusional. That anyone put their trust in him to make anything is totally amazing and shows how fucked and crazy making movies obviously is. If you read the script, it makes you wonder how in the world Duffy could ever become (self-described, of course) “Hollywood’s latest hard-on.” The script is weak, derivative and ultimately boring. The finished film is no better.

The Brothers McManus from The Boondock Saints – Murphy (Norman Reedus) and Connor (Sean Patrick Flannery)

That Harvey Weinstein, as astute as he has been in the past, thought Duffy was a new American voice in film makes me scratch my head. The premise of the Boondock Saints is two Irish brothers sense a calling from God to clean up the crime in America and set forth with great anger, plugging every criminal they see. Nothing new to see here, folks. The acting is bad, as in really bad. David Della Rocco gives one of the absolute worst performances I’ve ever seen. Yelling only works for people like Al Pacino, boss. And if you are using Ron Jeremy for his acting ability not his sexual prowess in your movie, you know it’s bad.

You can watch the trailer here and judge for yourself:

If I had watched this when I was 13, perhaps it would sit better with me, because that’s its demographic. No substance, hardly any style, lots of guns and a high body count. You really shook up the industry, Troy. You are Michael Bay without the budget.

But The Boondock Saints was really only supposed to be the catalyst for Duffy and his band to make it big. The reason they are all out in L.A. is to make music. The band members – Jimi Jackson, Gordon Clark and Troy‘s brother Taylor – float in the periphery of Troy‘s orbit as he tries to settle everything since “maybe [he's] got a couple of things figured out to make all this shit work.” There are countless scenes where they all sit around listening to his diatribes about how great he is, how they wouldn’t be there except for him and how his insight into the business practices of both the film and music industries far outpace those that are current. But like little puppy dogs circling an alpha male, they sit and take it.

Duffy lecturing the band: “Do your jobs and keep your mouths shut!”

It’s good to remind yourself while watching this film that directors Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith were once members of Duffy‘s entourage, working as co-managers of the band and presumably hoping to leverage influence surrounding Duffy and The Boondock Saints to help them kickstart their own careers in film. So when they are berated by Duffy and other members of the band for wanting money for the work they’ve done on the band’s behalf and are denied it, one can see why they would have an axe to grind with Duffy. Whether or not this film sprung from some sort of animosity towards Duffy (who could blame them, right?) and the band or whether they were just filming and presenting events as they unfolded is up to you. They have defended the integrity of the material presented in this film as accurate. Duffy has argued otherwise. Of course he would. No one wants to be shown to be as much of a prick as he comes off as in this film.

Directors Tony Montana (left) and Mark Brian Smith (right) frustrated with Duffy and company.

So this film ends with the washout of Duffy. The Boondock Saints fails to make even an impression in its “theatrical” release, which was really just five theatres in maybe two cities. The film has found an extensive cult following on DVD, fresh with Aequitas and Veritas tattoos, but the best part about this is that as business and industry-savvy as Duffy thought he was, he and his agents didn’t negotiate any percentage of sales for home video/DVD. I guess he wasn’t so damn knowledgeable after all, huh?

After 10 years of BS fans moaning about a sequel, The Boondocks Saints 2: All Saints Day was released in 2009. I haven’t seen it nor will I. I can’t imagine that it’s any better than the first.

Here’s the trailer:

Overnight is a film that I have watched at least five times since its release. And as many times as I’ve watched it, I can’t help but to come back again and again because I still can’t believe what a titanic douchelapper Duffy seems to be. You really need to watch it to believe it. Perhaps he’s changed since this footage was filmed. I hope he has.

You can watch the trailer for Overnight here:

One of the Best Fan-Made Posters I’ve Ever Seen – Adam Juresko’s The Royal Tenenbaums

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adam juresko, anjelica huston, ben stiller, danny glover, fan made, gene hackman, gwyneth paltrow, luke wilson, poster, royal tenenbaums, seymour cassel, wes anderson

One of the few posters I’ve seen for The Royal Tenenbaums that actually captures the Baumer’s (Luke Wilson) on-court meltdown, which is one of my favorite parts of the movie. While the color palette of the poster matches none of the film, this poster is still very successful in capturing the melancholy mood of Wes Anderson‘s film. This is A-grade work. I do wish he had utilized the top portion of the poster more, but the the title banner in the middle as well as the bubble with Anderson‘s credit for director are insanely cool. Well played, sir.

You can see more of Juresko‘s work here.

A Quick Note About Goon

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slap shot, midnight in paris, goon, seann william scott, jay baruchel, alison pill, younglbood, patrick swayzw, the swayz, mystery alaska, might ducks, the chiefs, miracle, rocket, tiger williams, marty mcsorley, wayne gretzky, jerry bruckheimer, bad boys, con air, marc-andre grondin, liev schreiber, ross rhea, doug glatt, bull durham, happy gilmore, bob probert, time domi, howto train your dragon, scott pilgrim, michael dowse, georges laraque, derek boogaard, wade belak, focus features, alex gibney, the last gladiators, taxi to the dark side, stanley cup, playoffs

I had heard good things about Goon for quite some time so I finally decided to give it a whirl. Slap Shot being my favorite movie of all-time usually turns me off of any hockey related movies. Youngblood has The Swayz going for it, but that’s really about it. Mystery, Alaska was a cutesy Disney-ized representation of hockey. Don’t get me started on the damn Mighty Ducks franchise or the fucking ill-advised sequels to Slap Shot. The documentary The Chiefs is pretty solid. I’ve yet to see Miracle or Rocket, but will get to them at some point. Needless to say, I didn’t have high hopes going into Goon.

Tiger Williams, the NHL’s all-time penalty minutes leader and goon supreme. (Notice the absolutely gorgeous Vancouver Canucks uniform)

A goon, for those who aren’t privy to hockey parlance, is a person whose sole role on the team is to mix it up, fight, provide one’s team with a spark of emotion when they are down and to protect a team’s scorer. Wayne Gretzky had his own personal goon who even traveled with him when he was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in Marty McSorley (who has appeared in two Jerry Bruckheimer productions – Bad Boys and Con Air). A goon’s presence on ice will allow a scorer to work more freely instead of having to worry about cheap shots coming from the other team. They know that if they cheap shot the scorer, the goon will punch their teeth through their heads.

Meet Doug Glatt’s fist.

Enough of the hockey history lesson. Goon is a simple story: Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott) is an outcast in his family who are all doctors. He is a bouncer at a bar, isn’t particularly bright and has no direction to his life. He and his dipshit hockey enthusiast friend Pat (Jay Baruchel, who co-wrote the script) are at the local team’s game when they heckle a thug from the opposing team enough to draw him out of the penalty box and into the crowd. Doug confronts the thug and beats him down in a matter of seconds, catching the eye of the team’s coach, who predictably invites him to try out for the team. He doesn’t know how to skate and when he steps onto the ice, his new teammates start making fun of him. So he takes matters into his own hands, literally, and beats half of them down. After plenty of work on his skating, the coach calls him into his office and tells him that his brother coaches a real minor league hockey team In Halifax who has a former #2 overall draft pick, Xavier Laflamme (Marc-André Grondin), who is trying to find his mojo after getting drilled and concussed by goon extraordinaire Ross Rhea (Liev Schreiber), Doug and Pat’s idol. So, he gets sent to Halifax to try and help Laflamme recapture his talent and make a name for himself as a heavy. When Rhea gets sent down to the same league as Doug and Xavier, we anticipate two things – how will Laflamme react to being on the ice again with Rhea and the inevitable showdown between Doug and Rhea. How do you think those turned out?

Former Golden Boy Xavier Laflamme.

So this film is basically an inverted version of Bull Durham, with a touch of Happy Gilmore. There are some funny parts to it, but the abnormally subdued Seann William Scott made me want to see a more Stifler-esque approach. The clumsy, gentle giant/badass fighter guy characterization seemed off to me. It just didn’t ring true. I’m sure guys like Bob Probert and Tie Domi, among the most feared brawlers ever to skate, weren’t teddy bears off the ice. Jay Baruchel is one of the absolute most annoying people in Hollywood. I literally hate looking at him. Hearing him talk grates me to the bone and he honestly ruined How to Train Your Dragon for me. I think he is a talentless hack and that he gets paid to be on screen amazes me. His cliched character (which he wrote, by the way) is so over the top, I literally cringed every time he appeared on screen. But that’s just me. He may be the nicest person in the world. What do I know? I will say this – my heart weeps that he is portraying an Irish kid in this movie.

Doug’s love interest, Eva.

Doug’s love interest, Eva (played by Alison Pill), was a bright spot, although the slutty/nerdy girl who falls for the athlete over her safe boyfriend angle is tired. That’s the screenwriters’ fault, though. She’s fantastic in everything I’ve seen her in, especially Scott Pilgrim and Midnight in Paris as Zelda Fitzgerald.

Ross “The Boss” Rhea, Chief Goon.

Ross Rhea is where they got it right. He is a very good representation of the guy no one wants to play against, a guy who is crafty and willing to drop the gloves with anyone. Liev Schreiber absolutely nails it. He looks so much the part, he’s actually kind of scary. The conversation between him and Glatt in the restaurant is the best part of the whole movie. He delivers an extremely poignant monologue here, which is probably correct about the goon/enforcer:

“Kid, you got this thing. The stuff. The shit. The fuckin’ grit, you got it, like me. But like me, that’s all you fuckin’ got. And like me, you’re no good to anyone doing anything else. All I’m saying is don’t go trying to be a hockey player. You’ll get your fuckin’ heart ripped out.”

When these guys finally fight, it’s pretty good albeit predictable. Here’s the clip:

All in all, this is an average film. Scott, Pill and Schreiber are the high points. Being an enforcer is a lonely place, and I think to some extent, director Michael Dowse portrays that well. These guys take a beating night in and night out, frequently ending up with brain injuries that affect the rest of their lives. Former hockey enforcer Georges Laraque said this: “The worst part is not the fighting itself,…because the adrenaline kicks in and you don’t feel the blows. Instead, what weighs heaviest is the constant pressure of knowing you will have to fight another enforcer such as [Derek] Boogaard or [Wade] Belak, game after game.” Tough thing is, both Boogaard and Belak died this past year. Focus Features just picked up the rights to Boogaard‘s story, so be on the lookout for that.

Tonight, time permitting (as I help prepare my family for our first trip to Disney), I plan on watching The Last Gladiators, a new documentary by Alex Gibney (Oscar winner for Taxi to the Dark Side) about hockey enforcers. This is a time honored tradition that many have called for the abolition of. Goon does some to perpetuate this coolness of the role and its importance to some teams. Ultimately, this is just another story where someone is looking to find their place in this world. A fair effort in the hockey movie subgenre. Give it a whirl as well as the others mentioned. After all, it is Stanley Cup Playoff time.

Here’s the trailer:

Fall From Grace, documentary about the Assholes from the Westboro Baptist Church – One Sentence Review plus parenthetical

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biggest assholes on the planet, documentary, fall from grace, fred phelps, k. ryan jones, lowest form of humaity, westboro baptist church

Director K. Ryan Jones creates a fairly unbiased portrait of chief idiot Fred Phelps and his family of sheep who run the Westboro Baptist Church letting them use their own words to solidify what vermin they really are and counterbalances their insane “religious” philosophies and beliefs with well-articulated rebuttals by scholars and other pastors.

(Let it be known, I think the Westboro Baptist Church people sit on the throne in the kingdom of the shittiest form of humanity. I purposely did not post any pictures of them or their propaganda because, frankly, they sicken me.)

It was Daniel Day-Lewis’ Birthday yesterday. He’s Okay at Acting, I Guess.

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a woman under the influence, academy award, belfast, best actor, bill the butcher, brian cox, carl theodor dreyer, daniel day-lewis, daniel plainview, emily watson, father figure, gangs of new york, gena rowlands, george michael, gerard mcsorley, hallmark channel, in the name of the father, ira, jim sheridan, john cassavetes, juliette binoche, ken stott, La passion de Jeanne d'Arc, lena olin, leonardo dicaprio, lincoln, maria falconetti, martin scorsese, method acting, my left foot, oscar, paul dano, paul thomas anderson, philip kaufman, prague spring, steven spielberg, the boxer, the passion of joan of arc, the troubles, there will be blood, tony kushner, unbearable lightness of being, winner

I’m not sure it needs to be said, but I’ll state it for those who may not realize it – Daniel Day-Lewis is the best actor working today. In the event he chooses a role to play, he goes (to use a phrase common in my home state of Indiana) whole hog, often times remaining in character for the entire film shoot. His is a dedication that is few and far between in Hollywood and would account for why his filmography is fairly small for a man who has been working in film since 1980 appearing in only 19 feature films. He has created so many lush and wonderful characters, it seems like he’s done far more work than that. Now – I’m going to admit something that is fairly shameful, especially since I dearly love DDL‘s work – I’ve never seen My Left Foot all the way through. GASP! As an aforementioned proud Irishman, it’s hard to admit that. I’ll get around to it at some point.

That said, here are my five favorite Daniel Day-Lewis performances:

5)  Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln

I really didn’t like this movie at all and only saw it because I wanted to see Day-Lewis. His performance was the only thing worth watching. Not only did he inhabit the part, he looked it as well. Sweet damn, it’s like Lincoln is sitting right there. Had this script been better (hard to believe someone like Tony Kushner wrote something as contrived and boring as this script), I think this film might have hit me in the gut a little more. Really, it was just Spielberg giving us another one of his father figure (no, not the George Michael song)/father-as-savior films. Boooring. That the film was/is too speechy and leads us to believe that everything that poured from Lincoln‘s mouth was worthy of Bartlett’s Quotations is an understatement. To DDL‘s credit, though, he made them sounds damn well worthy. I firmly believe this film will be forgotten (as it was by the voters of every major film award’s committee this year) in the years ahead aside from DDL‘s performance. He carried this film like a papoose. His method of remaining in character for the duration of filming clearly affected the performance for the good. No surprise that he won Best Actor at the Oscars for this performance. I honestly think that award was handed out when he accepted the role.

I will reiterate the fact that I really thought this film was more like a Hallmark Channel film than anything. Spielberg lost his edge a long time ago. But DDL? Spot on as usual.

Here’s the trailer:

4) Tomas, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

As sex-crazed neurosurgeon Tomas in Philip Kaufman’s adaptation of Milan Kundera‘s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, DDL shows us a side of him that up to this point in his oeuvre had yet to be seen (although it’s really only his second starring role) – a loathable character. His complicated relationships with Sabina (Lena Olin who is FANTASTIC in this) and Tereza (Juliette Binoche) unfold amidst the Prague Spring in 1968, window dressing for the unraveling of a country as well as personal relationships. You love and hate Tomas in this film and it’s DDL‘s charisma that makes the entire film click. Binoche and Olin are integral to this as well, but their orbits revolve around Tomas. Without the chemistry between him and the two women, this film is nowhere near as successful. This was the first of DDL‘s performances I saw. I wasn’t sure what to think of the film in that initial viewing, but it was readily apparent that DDL was a talent.

Here’s the trailer:

3) Danny Flynn, The Boxer

DDL wouldn’t be true to his roots if he didn’t get his IRA on. As boxer Danny Flynn, who has been released from prison after 14 years inside, DDL crafts a fantastic performance capturing the struggle at the heart of The Troubles – Catholics vs. Protestants – and how this conflict has torn apart both communities. While my sympathies have always lain with the Catholics, DDL‘s turn as someone who, having experienced The Troubles in armed conflict firsthand, decides to stay above the fray when returning back to his old neighborhood in Belfast. His chemistry with Emily Watson is electric. With top notch talent like Watson, Brian Cox and Gerard McSorley (can this man play anything other than shitheads?) surrounding him, DDL has plenty to work off of. Flynn’s relationship with the drunk trainer Ike (Ken Stott) is the where DDL shines the most though. A solid film and the second in the DDL‘s collaboration with director Jim Sheridan (In the Name of the Father).

I’ll punch all o’ yis…

Here’s the trailer:

2) Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood

Perhaps DDL‘s most iconic role, his performance as Daniel Plainview, the unscrupulous oilman, won him his second Oscar. Another notorious instance of DDL staying in character throughout production, it’s hard to find any fault with this performance. This is 160 minutes of raw, pure acting at its finest and Plainview is on screen for the bulk of it. Working with Paul Thomas Anderson clearly suited DDL and I long for the day that they collaborate once again. The high points of this film are in the interaction between Plainview and the Rev. Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Their battles are as epic as they come, the battle of greed vs. good, evil vs. the (not-so) righteous culminating in one of the most spectacular endings I’ve ever seen (as stated here). This is probably one of the top 10 finest performances I’ve ever seen…and it isn’t even his best. That says something.

Now, where’s that milkshake?

Here’s the trailer:

1) Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, Gangs of New York

Without a doubt one of the most haunting performances I’ve ever seen, DDL as Bill “The Butcher” stuck with me for months after seeing this the first time. The growl of his voice, the squint of his eyes, the greasy curls of his hair – all of it was absolute perfection. I would say that Cutting is the scariest villain I’ve ever seen. Here’s DDL doing his thing:

That he was based on a real-life person (although spruced up by Scorsese for the film’s sake), makes me all the more glad I was born when and where I was. I don’t think I would have fared very well in the 1860s. I wish DDL had had a better counterpart than DiCaprio in this film. I have no problem with Leo per se, but he just couldn’t keep up. DDL owned every scene in the film. It’s hard to have sympathy for the main character when this is the case.

I’m going to paint Paradise Square with your blood!

I will say this to anyone – outside of Gena Rowlands‘ performance in John Cassavetes‘ A Woman Under the Influence and Maria Falconetti‘s in Carl Theodor Dreyer‘s La passion de Jeanne d’Arc, I’m not sure that there is a finer performance committed to celluloid than this DDL as Bill the Butcher. As uneven as Gangs of New York is, DDL carries the day and I watch in awe each time.

Here’s the trailer:

So, Daniel, if you are reading (and why wouldn’t you be reading this terrific ass piece) – please give a few more performances like this one before you hang it up and go back to being a cobbler. I would surely love to see you and your wife Rebecca Miller work together again as well. You have given me some of the finest cinematic moments of my viewing life. Thank you. I’d hate for that to end.

Streamer of the Week – The Good Thief

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a thousand kisses deep, bob le flambeur, emir kusturica, french, Gérard Darmon, good thief, jean-pierre melville, leonard cohen, monaco, neil jordan, netflix, nick nolte, Nutsa Kukhianidze, picasso, Saïd Taghmaoui, tcheky karyo

Remakes. BLAH. I normally hate them and think that in general they have no place in cinema since there are likely hundreds of thousands of better stories that are yet to be told. So why take an existing property and update it or change it’s language so lazy ass Americans don’t have to read subtitles? So, I was skeptical but curious when I saw The Good Thief in the theater back in 2002. It is a remake of the French crime classic by Jean-Pierre Melville,  Bob Le Flambeur (translated as Bob the Gambler) of which I am a great admirer. Under the direction of Irishman Neil Jordan, I knew at least that the material was in safe hands.

Roger and Bob…friends and enemies.

The Good Thief plays out like a proper crime caper film. Bob (Nick Nolte) is a gambler and a heroin addict with a criminal past that is…checkered. He has a long history with local cop Roger (Tchéky Karyo) who longs to put Bob behind bars for good. Bob meets a stripper/prostitute Anne (Nutsa Kukhianidze) and extricates her from a rough situation with her pimp, taking her under his wing. In return, she helps take care of him and starts dating his protégé Paolo (Saïd Taghmaoui). After a tough beat at the horse track costing him the rest of his money, his friend Raoul (Gérard Darmon) tells him about a caper that could make them rich and keep them out of the rackets for good, that famous LAST JOB – an art heist at the Casino Riviera in Monte Carlo. But they are short on money and like any good gambler, Bob has an ace up his sleeve…a Picasso painting that he supposedly won from the man himself on a bet during a bullfight.

A plan in motion: Raoul, Paolo and Bob le flambeur.

The plan begins to come together. Raoul knows the guy who set up the security at the Grand Casino, Vladimir (Serbian film director extraordinaire Emir Kusturica). The rare works of art on the walls of the casino are supposed to one of the attractions of the upscale casino. However, the real painting are kept in an underground vault away from the general masses. It is here where they will concentrate their efforts with Vladimir’s help. Bob assembles a team of former trusted associates and things move forward. Of course there are obstacles to the operation. It wouldn’t be a heist movie without them. Does he pull it off?

The lovely and contemplative Anne.

Director Neil Jordan did such a wonderful job handling this material and making it his own. I don’t think he tromped on Melville‘s original film except with the ending. A post-war french noir ending doesn’t translate very well to today’s cinema, so I figured it would be different going in. I forgive him that trespass. I absolute love the hesitation he puts into the cuts between scenes, so we linger just a half second longer than normal. It really gives it that crime caper, old Batman TV show-esque kind of vibe, which is really fun. This film is self-aware and I think that’s okay. It’s a playful adaptation and that is one of its strengths. Nick Nolte gives a very strong performance as Bob and he plays very well off of Tchéky Karyo. Without the chemistry between the two of them, this film can’t succeed. Jordan‘s usage of Leonard Cohen‘s “A Thousand Kisses Deep” also helps add to the boozy atmosphere of crime, drugs and gambling. There are twists, turns and surprises just like a crime movie should have. Just a superbly crafted film.

This film streams on Netflix.

Here’s the trailer:

Get a Mean On – The Awesomeness of Johnny Be Good

Tags

slap shot, paul newman, rotten tomatoes, wes anderson, robert yeoman, the godfather, weird science, john hughes, anthony michael hall, tim burton, vanilla ice, janusz kaminski, tarantino, breakfast club, sixteen candles, molly ringwald, john travolta, bret easton ellis, paul gleason, saturday night live, roger ebert, robert downey, jr., johnny be good, gigli, deborah may, george hall, uma thurman, mr. vernon, robert downey sr., trading places, amc pacer, jim mcmahon, pete rozelle, adidas, six pack, ted, edward scissorhands, chaplin, back to school, pickup artist, less than zero, song of the south, disney, chariots of fire

Roger Ebert (may he rest in peace) said this about Johnny Be Good: ” ‘Johnny Be Good‘ is completely bereft of comic imagination” and “There is no possible motivation for [the final] scene, except for the obvious one – artistic bankruptcy” as well as “The screenplay for this movie bears every sign of being a first draft – a quick and dirty one. The movie doesn’t feel written, it feels dictated.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement, eh? It currently sits at 0% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. To put in perspective what that means, Gigli sits at 7% fresh. So this film is widely recognized as a shit sandwich by pretty much everyone. Well, except me, I guess. I’ll agree to disagree with Mr. Ebert on this one.

Johnny arrives at UCC (the flimsy stand-in for USC) to pomp and circumstance.

The premise of this film is pretty simple – Johnny Walker (Anthony Michael Hall) is the best high school quarterback in the country. Every school is licking their chops at his talent and wants him at their school and they will do anything to get him. Johnny is a kid who comes from a humble home. His father has passed away and he lives with his mother (Deborah May), his grandfather (George Hall) and his brother and sister. So when colleges are offering big money for him to attend, he is listening, much to the chagrin of the family and his beautiful girlfriend Georgia (Uma Thurman, smoking hot in her first film role). Johnny considers himself a package deal with his best friend Leo (Robert Downey, Jr.), so both are getting propositioned from all sides, including overtures made by their high school coach Wayne Hisler (Paul Gleason, also Mr. Vernon from The Breakfast Club). Johnny’s recruitment circus is being followed closely by an NCAA recruitment investigator (Robert Downey Sr.), and shit blows up like The Godfather as it’s clear that violations abound in certain schools’ pursuit of him.

Here are four reasons that this film is still worthy of a watch:

4) Paul Gleason as Coach Hisler and his clothes

It’s a bar shaped like a piano…with a piano!

Paul Gleason is amazing in this. Not only does he build off his asshole performances in Trading Places and The Breakfast Club, he brings some kitsch to this one. As the clueless head coach of Johnny’s team, Hisler is married to Connie, played by Jennifer Tilly, a woman who throws Tupperware parties. Still. I know this was made in 1988, but didn’t that shit go out of style in 1972? Clad in some of the sweetest gear this side of Paul Newman‘s wardrobe in Slap Shot, Hisler really spells C-L-A-S-S. The shirt pictured above is really the tip of the iceberg. Screenshots were pretty scarce, but you should watch this film alone to see his yellow suit. It is unreal.

For all of his attempts at being sneaky, Hisler really just comes off looking like a dumbass. But don’t let that fool you as he’s still one of the best characters in the film. His lack of social awareness (he drives a Pacer for God’s sake) is actually kind of endearing. Obviously he’s a better football coach than he is a schemer or being a social animal.

Here is the speech he gives just before the state championship football game:

3) Jim McMahon‘s cameo

If you lived in the 80s and you don’t know who Jim McMahon is you might have been living under a rock…or just aren’t a sports fan. “The Punky QB” played for probably the best pro football team ever assembled, the 1985 Chicago Bears. He was known for his outrageous behavior and for being trouble for then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. Was he the best quarterback? No. But he had more personality than all of them. That he’s doing an Adidas commercial is comical because he was fined for wearing an Adidas headband which was against league rules.  Suck on that, Rozelle.

You can watch his cameo here.

2) Anthony Michael Hall is all growns up

From nerd to BMOC, a cycle complete.

From the time I saw him in Six Pack, shaking the dew off his lilly, to watching him in Johnny Be Good, Anthony Michael Hall completed a perfect transition from nerd extraordinaire or “King of the Dipshits” as his character Ted exclaims in Sixteen Candles, to the guys who dates the hottest girl in school and someone who everyone wants a piece of. His comedic timing evolved over the films he did with John Hughes (RIP) and works well in this film. Perhaps his stint on Saturday Night Live in 1985-1986 helped with this, although I recall those episodes to be below average. All the same, it’s nice to see AMH pick up where his character, Gary Wallace, left off in Weird Science. This was his last “big” leading role in film – he did play the villain in Tim Burton‘s Edward Scissorhands in 1990. A fitting way for a young talent to go out? I’d say no, but I think it provides ample humor despite the film’s serious shortcomings. I have always hoped he would have a big comeback. Perhaps Tarantino can write him into something. I mean, he helped out John Travolta‘s one-note ass. Why not AMH?

1) Robert Downey, Jr. is off his ass funny

What kind of boy do you think I am? I will hardly pop you without having met your father first. Get him on the horn.

As bad/good as this movie is, one thing is certain: Robert Downey Jr. had obvious talent. He steals the show as Leo Wiggins, Johnny’s best friend and back-up quarterback. His crazy monologues/diatribes are quite funny and his facial expressions are so expressive, it’s no wonder he was chosen to play Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin. It’s not strange that he appears in this film as he co-starred with AMH in Weird Science, Saturday Night Live and showed his own range between these two and Johnny Be Good when he appeared in Back to School (a character similar to Leo Wiggins), alongside fellow AMH-brat packer Molly Ringwald in the Hughes-ian The Pickup Artist and showed his more dramatic side in the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis‘ debut novel Less Than Zero.

The funniest part besides when RDJ tries to “smell it” at the beginning in Coach Hisler’s speech, is the stories he tells the girls they pick up at Murf’s Better Burger:

All in all the production of this film is pretty sorry. It may have the worst sound production of any film I’ve seen in some time. The amount of ADR (additional dialogue recording) is so obvious, it hurts. Seems like half of the dialogue was redubbed. One astonishing thing about this film is that Robert Yeoman, the director of photography for all of Wes Anderson‘s films, shot this film as well, much like two-time Oscar-winner Janusz Kaminski shot Vanilla Ice‘s Cool As Ice.

This, like many of the movies of the time, are time capsules of the period in which they were shot. Looking back, it’s probably best that some stay that way. The events that occur in this film are so over-the-top and unbelievable, it’s hard to argue where Roger Ebert was coming from.  Still, I find this film fun to watch and laugh at. One of the best parts about this film to me is that I saw this in theater with my grandma. The only other films I remember seeing with her in the theater: Disney’s Song of the South and Chariots of Fire. Quite an eclectic set of movies, no? A cultured woman, for sure.

Anyhither, give this one a spin if you want to see Anthony Michael Hall right before he fell into oblivion.

Here’s the trailer:

Here is the entire movie, should you feel frisky:

Weird Science to Be Remade? God damn it.

Tags

21 jump street, crimes against cinema, dead to me, hangover, joel silver, john hughes, lethal weapon, remake, the matrix, weird science

FUCK THIS.

What’s this boy talkin’ about?

This is the first rant I’ve had in months. I can’t begin to tell you what an awful idea this is. From the original article on Deadline.com: This film will attempt to carve out its own identity by being redrawn as an edgier R-rated comedy in line with 21 Jump Street and The Hangover.

While 21 Jump Street had a few funny parts, The Hangover was terrible. And no chance any scene in the remake will ever touch the awesomeness presented here:

Joel Silver is the one responsible for this. He is now dead to me. DEAD. So he produced John Hughes‘ version. I don’t give a shit. He also produced all of the Lethal Weapon sequels, all of which are crimes against cinema. Fuck The Matrix as well.

What a joke.

Weird Science is my favorite John Hughes movie as described here. This one hurts. Badly. Fucking Hollywood and their bullshit.

A Quick Note on the documentary Indie Game: The Movie

Tags

braid, dr. fetus, edmund mcmillen, electronic arts, fez, gomez, indie game, james swirsky, jonathan blow, lisanne pajot, meat boy, microsoft, netflix, pax, penny arcade expo, phil fish, plants vs. zombies, playstation, polytron corporation, popcap games, priness bandage, renaud bedard, tommy refenes, warcraft, wii, xbla, xbox, xbox live arcade

A few nights ago, I was laying in bed searching for a movie to watch on my Kindle Fire. I know, a 7-inch screen isn’t the proper way to watch a movie, but my wife was asleep and the laptop was soooo far away (about 20 feet). I’ve had Indie Game: The Movie in my Instant Queue for about a year, so I finally decided to plunge into it. Of course, I had no intention of watching the entire thing, but damn it if it didn’t suck me in. So I watched the whole thing. Indie Game is as it should be – a fun look into the world of video game developers who work outside of the big studios to produce games without interference. It focuses on two games being prepared for launch: Meat Boy designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes, which is about a skinless boy who is trying to save his girlfriend Princess Bandage from evil Dr. Fetus and Fez designed by Phil Fish (who is featured prominently in the film) and Renaud Bedard, in which “you play as Gomez, a 2D creature living in what he believes is a 2D world until a strange and powerful sentient artifact reveals to him the existence of a mysterious third dimension.”

Here’s what Meat Boy looked like (it no longer is available as the creators have since brought out Super meat Boy):

Here’s what Fez looks like:

Video games are the highest grossing form of entertainment in this country – more than movies, more than music – be they on a console (like an XBox, Wii, or Playstation), web-based or PC like Warcraft, or mobile games like PopCap‘s Plants vs. Zombies. So it’s no surprise to see a film like this tackle the nuances of the industry. What McMillen, Refenes and Fish have in common is they don’t want to work for a big studio like Electronic Arts. They want to create the games they want and that can’t be achieved under the thumb of a huge corporation like EA, much in the way that independent filmmakers don’t want studio producers giving them shitty notes on how to make a film more marketable.

Team Meat: McMillen (left) and Refenes (right)

The film follows the trials and tribulations of these two teams as they struggle to complete their games for release or demo at a trade show showing all of the emotional ups and downs that they encounter along the way. Team Meat are basically given given about three weeks to complete their game so they can debut it on XBox Live Arcade (XBLA), so they struggle to complete the design and test the game to make sure it’s ready, which isn’t the easiest thing to do as McMillen and Refenes live on opposite coasts (Santa Cruz and North Carolina).

Phil Fish, co-creator of Fez.

Fish’s situation is a little different. His game isn’t complete yet and he is in a dispute with the co-creator of Fez, who has left their company Polytron Corporation. Fez garnered a ton of buzz when it won the Excellence in Visual Art at the Independent Games Festival in 2008, but Fish and his co-creator (who was never named in the film) struggled to complete the game, literally redoing it three times. After the co-creator left, the game was in legal limbo. As Fish has nearly completed the game, he wants to debut it at PAX, Penny Arcade Expo, but without the signature of said co-creator allowing him to do so, he risks incurring a lawsuit and having to pack up his booth before he even shows off his game. Should he or shouldn’t he? Oh, and to add to the misery…the co-creator is going to be at PAX to show off another game he has designed. So when he makes his choice, another set of headaches come his way further complicating the situation.

Fish trying to decide whether he should or shouldn’t show Fez at PAX.

The stakes are pretty high for these three gentlemen. Money is running out for all of them. McMillen‘s spent basically two years seated in front of his computer and he’s worried that it’s affecting his relationship with his wife, who is actually extremely supportive and just wants a hairless cat as a pet . Tommy is worried about his parents debt and just wants to help them get out of the red. Fish has to worry about whether he missed the opportunity to build on the buzz he created 3 years prior, if people will still be interested in playing Fez.

Jonathan Blow: If you don’t see a vulnerability in somebody, you’re probably not relating with them on a very personal level.

Directors Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky use a very effective structural tool by having Jonathan Blow, creator of the super-sensation Braid, detail portions of his success and the troubles he had with producing such a successful game. By interspersing these tidbits from Blow throughout the the film, it gives us a nice chance to keep both of the stories of the Fez team and Team Meat separate and coherent. Blow is especially eloquent in how the success of his game wasn’t what he expected, that he expected more people not just to like the game on a surface level, but to really get the deeper meaning of it and how it depressed him when those expectations weren’t met.

So we see the two trajectories of these teams head toward their endgame. Team Meat finishes their game just under the gun, but encounters issues when Microsoft/XBox neglects to put the game in the download arcade for the first 8 hours of the release day. And Fish finally gets his former co-creator to sign off on the rights issues with Fez, but in his demo at PAX, the first player at his booth encounters a game breaking bug. Does it all work out for them? I guess you’ll have to watch or do some research.

This is a really fun movie even if you aren’t into gaming (which I am not). Getting a glimpse into this world is both fascinating and alienating. The dedication that these gentlemen put into their visions of these games, which are really extensions of themselves, is AMAZING. The amount of work that goes into these games is stunning and to put them together at all is a tremendous accomplishment. That it’s possible to make millions of dollars for doing it makes it all the better.

This film does stream on Netflix.

Here’s the trailer: