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Two Cents Gets In-Car-Cer-Ray-Ted with LOGAN LUCKY
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
Apparently, Steven Soderbergh really was sincere when he announced a few years back that he was giving up filmmaking to pursue a career as a painter. He even went so far as to apprentice himself with acclaimed artist Walton Ford in order to better prepare for his new craft.
But then, well, someone handed him the script for The Knick. And somewhere in the process of making every episode of that show, American cinema’s most nebulous shapeshifter realized that being a director is what he was meant to do. Sorry, Walton.
For his first foray back in the land of feature films after his aborted retirement, Soderbergh returned to the heist formula he had utilized to such great results in Ocean’s 11, 12, and 13 (well…two out of three). But this time, instead of a murderer’s row of movie stars hanging out in ultra-swanky casinos while dressed to the nines and exchanging pithy banter, Logan Lucky focuses on down-and-out blue collar folks in West Virginia who see robbery not as an afternoon leisure activity but as a last desperate chance to free themselves from the deep holes that debt and bad luck have left them in.
Masterminding this endeavor is Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) a once-promising football star who was sidelined following an injury. Determined to raise enough money to stay in his daughter’s life, Jimmy recruits his Iraq War veteran brother (Adam Driver), gear-head sister (Riley Keough), and imprisoned demolitions expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig). Together, they plot to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the biggest NASCAR race of the year.
But is Logan Lucky as light on its feet as the beloved Ocean’s series (now enjoying its fourth entry in Ocean’s 8, produced by Soderbergh with new director and cast), or is this one criminal crew likely to go bust before they even get close to payday? Find out below!
Next Week’s Pick:
The racially charged 1992 LA Riots are one of the most formative events in our country’s recent social and political memory. Speaking personally, I was too young at the time to really understand what was transpiring. The documentary LA 92 analyzes the tumultuous events surrounding Rodney King and his trial — and the verdict that devastated a city and disquieted a nation. LA 92 is available streaming on Netflix.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review on any MCU film to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
Our Guests
Kaoru Negisa:
Logan Lucky works as a companion piece to Soderbergh’s much more famous Ocean’s films rather than as something to compare it to. The slick, cool detachment of Danny’s crew is replaced by a messier, but ultimately more emotionally satisfying cast of characters. It’s this very inelegance that makes us connect with the characters to the point that it’s difficult to notice that there are no real stakes to the film at all.
Think about it: what does Jimmy want? To not lose his daughter when she moves out of state. However, nothing that Jimmy can do will change this. It isn’t a case like Gus in The Full Monty who needs money to pay off child support. And in the end [SPOILER], he just moves to be close to his daughter’s new home.
However, the lack of stakes doesn’t matter, nor the payoff-less setups, because our stakes in the film is that we like Jimmy, Clyde, Joe Bang, etc. enough that their merely wanting something makes us want them to have it. That’s a cinematic magic trick that far too many people slept on and should blow our minds. This movie’s all heart, so we ignore the lack of connective tissue. (@moonpanther22)
Logan Lucky is Ocean’s Eleven by way of Raising Arizona, and if that isn’t enough to sell you on it then I just don’t know what else to say. As with that other Soderbergh-directed heist film, its greatest strength is its ensemble (led by Channing Tatum and Adam Driver). What sets Logan Lucky apart from Ocean’s is that it goes out of its way to show the real struggles, personal and economic, of its characters. Far from being slick and cool, these thieves scrape by on limited resources and improvisation. Because of that, my empathy with the characters is stronger and the stakes far higher. And yet there is a layer of manic chaos layered on top of that emotional core, especially once Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) and his two brothers show up. It is alternately funny, exciting, and touching, and having spent most of my life in the South it often felt surprisingly authentic. My only complaint is the ending, which without spoiling anything, leaves more loose threads than I would have liked. But other than that, Logan Lucky is Soderbergh firing on all cylinders. (@T_Lawson)
The Team
Heist movies are fine, I guess. With the 305th Ocean’s film out in theaters, I guess there are quite a few folks who like these films much more than I. However, Logan Lucky is the shit.
It’s well written, wonderfully quirky, and perfectly acted. I watched it for the first time a few months back, knowing nothing about it. I was quite pleasantly surprised. Honestly, it’s the first heist movie since The Italian Job that I can say I truly love. (@thepaintedman)
I actually differ from many of my Film Twitter brethren in that I’m largely ambivalent about Steven Soderbergh. He’s got enough no-arguing classics (Out of Sight, Ocean’s 11, The Limey) to be counted as one of the major voices in American cinema, but I often find the scripts he shoots to be half-baked at best, approached more as exercises in style and mechanics than engrossing narratives.
But when Soderbergh gets his hands on a truly choice bit of story, the results are often magic. Rebecca Blunt’s script for Logan Lucky is a thing of beauty, managing the neat trick of being an expertly-crafted machine of set-up/payoff and misdirection, while also maintaining a shaggy, hangout vibe. Like the Ocean’s movies, the true joy of Logan Lucky is one-part playing along with the convoluted plotting and tricky staging of the heist, and one-part just kicking back and enjoying the interactions between various characters.
With the exception of a baffling, needlessly prominent supporting role for Seth MacFarlane, just about everyone here is at the top of their game. I’d like to give a special shout-out to Sebastian Stan for his brief turn as a truly idiosyncratic NASCAR driver. Like Chris Pine, Stan is someone that Hollywood desperately wants to frame as an interchangeable hunk, but is clearly more comfortable letting his freak flag fly. Stan’s role is little more than a goofy bit of color, but it’s probably the thing that makes me laugh the hardest each time I watch the film.(@theTrueBrendanF)
To me, Soderbergh is a lot like Ron Howard in terms of consistency — he’s got a lot of really incredible masterworks, and a lot of stuff that’s either really bad or just unappealing. But I think he does his best work when he’s simply trying to be fun.
Like the Ocean’s series, Logan Lucky is Soderbergh cranking up the fun and making an inventive, hilarious, and imminently watchable whirlwind of planning and execution. That may be where the similarities end, as the bumpkins who populate this redneck rampage are far removed from the Clooney/Pitt mold of suave, ultrahip Vegas fancypants.
The three leads are played by Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig — three actors that I’m not particularly fond of — but that’s all the greater testament that I fell in love with their characters. They do very funny and endearing work here with their exaggerated drawls and odd mix of thievery, good ol’ boy antics, and sincere family values. (@VforVashaw)
Next week’s pick:
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GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND [Twilight Time Blu Review]
Walter Hill & John Milius made a western!
As gorgeous as it is melancholy, Walter Hill’s Geronimo is an odd bird. Far more effective than his own Wild Bill, (a western made around the same point in his career as this film) Geronimo is a potent film that’s none the less a challenging watch. Hill ranks among my very favorite directors of all time. While not successful every time at bat, few and far between are other directors who’ve had their hand in so many all-time classics, and his name attached makes a film an instant watch. The 1990s simply weren’t as fertile for Hill as the 70s and 80s were, with duds like the aforementioned Wild Bill (perhaps the only Hill film I’ve seen that I outright dislike) and titles I quite enjoy like Trespass and Last Man Standing, which while fun, aren’t the cultural touchstones that many of his early works remain.
Geronimo comes at an interesting time in Hill’s career. Still getting budgets and wide-releasing films in theaters across the country, there’s a sweeping feel here. Gorgeous and classical western vistas are lavished upon the viewer throughout Geronimo. One absolutely comes to understand the holy nature of the southwest lands upon which Geronimo rode and raided, defying the relentless waves of “White Eye”. While at the same time, one understands that this American legend played out on the fringes and largely in places of isolation, a fact which does not elude Geronimo and his people: Why does the white eye need ALL of this land?
Probably the most distinguished Native American actor of my lifetime, Wes Studi is the highlight here among a remarkable cast playing the titular role. Then you’ve got Jason Patrick as Lt. Gatewood, a career military man who conducts his work with a quiet respect for the Apache. Gene Hackman plays General Crook, who’s tasked with subduing the Apache and bringing in Geronimo (but who also has at least a passing respect for his longtime rivals). Robert Duvall’s Al Sieber is a colorful bigot who hunts Natives for a living, and Matt Damon’s youthful Lt. Davis is our narrator and guide into this story, being trained by Lt. Gatewood and clearly sympathizing with Geronimo and his warriors.
At first I was quite troubled by how many of our lead (white) characters all come across as somewhat noble and sympathetic. The last thing I needed was some kind of story that reframed the tragic destruction of the Native American way of life as somehow nobly stewarded along by some nice white men. And I must admit there’s so much nobility going on among these men of action here in John Milius’ (!) screenplay that it’s just a bit much. Fortunately, Milius and Larry Gross’ script has more going on. In the end, it seems that the American Legend in question has more to do with the systems that grind on and crush the individuals who dare to try and shift it or oppose it. The sheer number of white people pressing into the west is something Geronimo and his men cannot comprehend. Their desire is to fight to the death to preserve their way of life… but eventually they come to understand that there’s simply no end to the sheer number of the invaders. Our white eyes also understand this in such a way that allows them to attempt to reason with Geronimo and bring him into captivity without having to wipe out his people.
Don’t get me wrong: There’s no question that Geronimo is a tragedy that is epic in scope. It’s just explored through the eyes of a cast of characters who are almost trapped by the grander narrative and can’t possibly shift the course of history, despite their varying levels of righteousness. It’s Geronimo’s rage against the inevitable which is the film’s heartbeat and greatest strength. But even that passion is extinguished as Geronimo himself comes to understand the inevitability of the white eye. In the end it’s a powerful story, but one which is hobbled somewhat by a lack of focus. With this incredible cast of actors, there’s never quite a lead who emerges among them. Studi, Patric, and Damon clearly round out the main characters, but it’s hard to get emotionally attached to most of them as the story bounces between them. They feel more symbolic than fleshed out. It may have benefitted from giving Studi’s Geronimo even more screen time and getting us inside his headspace and inside his dying culture just a little bit more.
Ultimately Hill and his writers and cast get across a vital and relevant idea: That while the west was won, and the land indeed beautiful beyond description… victory came at a price to all involved. The white American soul is forever tainted by the atrocities and dishonesty and terror inflicted upon the Native people in order to claim the land at any cost. And the Native culture forever altered. Those legendary individuals who fought, died, and rebelled against the onslaught of western civilization will largely be forgotten, ground down by the sheer size of the machine of which they were mere parts. It’s not a perfect film, but its tragedy is potent none the less.
The Package
Twilight Time has been doing the Lord’s work for years now and releasing many of the films from Walter Hill’s career on Blu-ray. This is absolutely thrilling and has resulted in an opportunity to revisit and write about a number of his fantastic films. While the revisit of Wild Bill recently confirmed my personal distaste for that particular film, this revisit of Geronimo was quite refreshing. This may not be one of Hill’s best films overall, but it’s certainly a largely forgotten gem at an interesting time in Hill’s career. The cast is A-list, the pairing of Hill and Milius is just flat out legendary, and the thematic potency is brave. This disc has no real bonus features to speak of, but it brings this film into a new era and gives it a gorgeous HD update.
And I’m Out.
Geronimo: An American Legend is now available in limited edition Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
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Two Cents Feels Emotional as We Drive Through Sacramento with LADY BIRD
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
Not too long ago, Greta Gerwig was being spoken of as a muse for a new generation of independent cinema, and as a potential mainstream star in movies where she would smile at lovable scamps played by Russell Brand and etc. as she taught them how to be better people so they might win her as a prize.
But Gerwig quickly proved that she was uninterested in being relegated to other people’s dream girl. As a screenwriter, she collaborated with Noah Baumbach on acclaimed films like Frances Ha and Mistress America (in which she also starred), and for her directorial debut she took the world by storm with last year’s Lady Bird.
Set in 2002–2003, Lady Bird follows young Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan, Oscar-nominated) through her senior year of high school in Sacremento, California, charting the ups and downs in her quest for college and her relationships with her best friend (Beanie Feldstein), with boys (including Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet [Oscar-nominated that year, but not for this role, for the one where he puts his dick in a peach), with her father (Tracy Letts), and, most importantly, with her combative but loving mother (Laurie Metcalf, Oscar-nominated).
Characters in the film often don’t know what to make of Lady Bird, but Lady Bird was rapturously received and became distributor A24’s highest grossing film (by a margin of about $50 million), and an award season mainstay.
Gerwig has stated that she plans to make an entire trilogy of films about life in Sacramento, so, while we wait for those, we thought it might be fun to sink back into the hazy, floating memory that is Lady Bird.
Next Week’s Pick:
In theaters right now is a film in which someone with the surname of “Ocean” assembles an elite team of fellow thieves to rob jerks blind and look great while doing it. And so, all is right with the world.
Heist movies are something of a specialty for Ocean’s 8 producer Steven Soderbergh. As a director, Soderbergh helmed the original Ocean’s 11 trilogy, of which 8 is a delightful spin-off. And just last summer, Soderbergh returned from brief, self-imposed directorial exile (give or take a couple seasons of a TV show) with next week’s pick, Logan Lucky.
Logan Lucky follows down-on-his-luck good ol’ boy Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) as he rallies his brother (Adam Driver), sister (Riley Keough), and demolition genius Joe Bang (Daniel Craig) to help him rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the biggest NASCAR race of the year.
Logan Lucky is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review on any MCU film to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
Our Guests
Carly Booth:
One thing that really stuck out to me in Lady Bird were all the characters. They were all so refreshingly real. Greta Gerwig really captures all those little intricacies about people you encounter in high school and with parent-child relationships during that stage of life (leaving high school, going to college). There were moments in that movie that I remember happening in my own life, especially regarding a few spats with my mother at that age. I remember wanting to go to college far away and fighting with her about it every day. I did end up going far away but transferring two years later because man did it suck.
While we’re on the subject, I had such an immediate and intense hatred for Kyle, Timothée Chalamet’s character. He reminded me so much of my own high school nemesis and had so many similar mannerisms, that every time he opened his mouth I wanted to give him an uppercut. I like that actor, but wow… he plays a smarmy, pompous little twat with such aplomb. I guess such a visceral reaction to a character like that is just a testament to how well the characters are written.
Kyle was my most hated character of an Oscar contender movie last year until I saw The Shape of Water the following month, because while Kyle is a douchebag who lied to Lady Bird about being a virgin, at least he never tortured a magical sea monster for poops and giggles. If that intense hatred holds up when I rewatch Lady Bird, I’ll let you know.
P.S. In case you’re wondering, unlike Lady Bird, I did not lose my virginity to my high school nemesis because, well, I found him repulsive. (@Carly_Booth8)
Brendan Agnew (The Norman Nerd):
Lady Bird has maybe the best editing of any film this century apart from Mad Max: Fury Road.
Oh yeah, bring on the air horns because I’m dead serious.
Eighty-nine minutes. That’s how long it takes for this film to go from opening titles to rolling credits, and during that time, writer/director Greta Gerwig and editor Nick Houy craft an experience that flows through a year in the life of the titular high schooler that feels full and lived in and wholly relatable while also keeping an insanely brisk pace and never feeling obvious about marking time with “now we’re in *this* part of the year” choices.
The film’s opening scene has a smash cut for the ages, and Gerwig and Houy continue to demonstrate economy, pacing, and a confidence in their actors to communicate through nonverbal cues and body language (or even props). The film exists in the space between a slice of life indie and slick montage-heavy filmmaking, with music used to set a mood in one scene before cutting to the next where it’s revealed to be diagetic, or clever matching transitions like the lead-in to the anti-abortion assembly (which is easily the meanest Lady Bird — the character and the film — gets, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t laugh anyway). It captures the feeling of teenage years being both full of towering passions and explosive conflict, but also the reality of life being equally full of unexplained absences and the mundane fading of relationships.
I could keep going about how the film folds multiple memorable characters with defined arcs into the background of a story largely about two very strong-willed women, or the deft hand that Gerwig uses when switching between medium/wide shots and punctuated close-ups allow her to dance along the line between intimate drama and broad visual comedy, but…I’ve got a phone call I should make. (@BLCAgnew)
The Team
I’ll be honest. I know it’s a really well made movie, especially for a debut. I enjoyed it, for that matter. However, it didn’t leave an impression on me.
To be fair, I’m not really the target audience and I expect it resonated much more with many other filmgoers. Moreover, I appreciate a good amount about it and I am always happy to see strong new female voices in the film world.
In short, solid film even if it’s not totally my thing. I am excited to see what comes next, too! (@thepaintedman)
I’ve written at length about why Lady Bird is such a deeply meaningful film to me, both HERE and in various ramblings on Twitter when I get…emotional, let us say. Most of the folks in the column this week have spoken to the numerous ways in which Lady Bird is an expertly put-together and highly entertaining film.
What I just wanted to highlight for my own bit was the way the film took me completely by surprise. In 2017, there were plenty of movies that I was hyped to see for months, if not years, in advance, as the massive infrastructure surrounding blockbuster films makes sure you have a long lead time to anticipate each fresh batch of sequels and new installments. I went in to films like Guardians Vol. 2 or Spider-Man: Homecoming primed and ready to love them. Hell, in a way, I knew enough going in to movies like that to know that I was going to love them. It would’ve taken real effort for them to have failed.
Lady Bird, though, I saw with virtually no idea what it was about. I think I had seen a trailer, maybe. But basically what it came down to was being bored on a weeknight, feeling like going to the movies, and recognizing the title as something that some folks in my Twitter feed were euphoric about a few weeks beforehand. 90 minutes later, I came dancing out of the cinema, immediately texting my brother to tell him that whenever he was around next there was a movie he had to see.
I love that feeling, that moment when a movie comes out of nowhere to blindside you and claim previously-unclaimed real estate in your heart. That’s the pure, uncut high that I think we all chase as movie lovers, but it’s harder and harder to attain as you get older, especially in the current cultural climate where it feels like movies are completely digested before they even hit theaters (I feel like I’ve already consumed the new Jurassic World, for example, and it’s not out yet). Lady Bird is a reminder that you never know when something new might bowl you over, and that your next favorite film/book/show/game/whatever could be anything, made by anyone. If you had told me at the start of 2017, a year that featured new films about Spider-Man, Thor, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Wonder Woman, the rest of the Justice League, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, plus new features from Jordan Peele, Guillermo del Toro, Chris Nolan, and Steven Soderbergh,that out of all of that the film I would love the most would be the one about a teenage girl in Sacramento dealing with her mom, well, I just never would have believed you. But movies are magic, man, and this one especially has magic to spare.(@theTrueBrendanF)
When director Greta Gerwig was up for the Best Director Academy Award for Lady Bird, her face lit up with delight as competitor Guillermo del Toro was announced as the winner. I’m not very familiar with her work but this display of character raised both the director and her film on my radar immediately.
Lady Bird certainly bears the mark of such a genuine soul. The crude general beats of the story sounded like something that I’d find abrasive or uncomfortable — a high school senior fights with her mother, resents her Catholic school, and loses her virginity to her douchebag boyfriend. But the handling is not some exploitative or mean-spirited glamorization of rebelliousness. Sensitive and real, we follow the struggles of a confused girl who is trying to find herself in a world where her dreams and reality don’t seem to ever intersect.
Populating Lady Bird’s world are a number of side characters who are similarly infused with depth and emotion — a best friend with a crush on her handsome teacher. Her parents who struggle to barely get by financially. A closeted boy who grapples with being gay. A lovable drama instructor who harbors some unknowable hidden heartache. Lady Bird doesn’t tell a story so much as invite you into the world of these characters for awhile and let you participate in their humanity. (@VforVashaw)
Watch it on Amazon Prime:
Next week’s pick:
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LIONHEART: JCVD Classic Gets a Blu-ray With Heart
MVD Rewind Collection Packs Out its Release of Jean-Claude Van Damme’s ROCKY
Without Lionheart, Jean-Claude Van Damme never becomes the household name he is to this day. Among his earlier starring roles, it’s perhaps the case that Bloodsport has become the most enduring of the bunch. But Lionheart is where Van Damme becomes noticed by the American studios and charts his course to becoming a headliner and a leading man. And deservedly so. Lionheart is a fantastic piece of entertainment, and Van Damme himself gives a charismatic performance proving he’s not only got the goods for martial arts action, but can also hold his own with drama.
Lionheart was co-written by Van Damme and first-time director Sheldon Lettich. Lettich already had a history with Van Damme in writing Bloodsport, and the two of them have collaborated on many projects since. I adore the film and find that it really succeeds at what it’s going for, which is combining an underground fighting tournament with a pressing family drama that tugs at the heartstrings. It’s all about heart, making it a risky proposition at this early stage of Van Damme’s career. If it had fallen flat it could have strayed over into a kind of self parody. But Lionheart’s cast is filled top to bottom with real pros that stick the landing and make it so effective as a melodrama that it’s easy to make the comparison that this is Van Damme’s Rocky.
Van Damme plays Leon Gautier, a legionnaire who escapes across the sea to America to try to help his brother, who’s been badly burned by some gangsters he’d fallen in with. With some soldiers from the foreign legion on his tail, he tries to reconnect with his sister-in-law and niece (Lisa Pelikan as Helene and the precocious and charming child actress Ashley Johnson absolutely stealing the show as Nicole). Helene sees Leon as an absentee and believes her recently deceased husband went down the wrong path because of Leon’s influence, so she’s not having any of his help. Leon is undeterred, however, and utilizes his street hustler fight manager Joshua (Harrison Page in one of the film’s most standout roles) to both rise in the ranks of the underground fighting ring, and to funnel money secretly to Helene and Nicole. Finally you have Deborah Rennard chewing the scenery as the breathy, leggy, femme fatale of a villain Cynthia, who rules the underground fighting circuit and wants a piece of Leon in more ways than one.
While Bloodsport is clearly the more iconic of the two films, Lionheart is actually a fantastic fight film in its own right. As Leon rises through the ranks of the underground fighting ring, he fights a Street Fighter II-esque rogues gallery of characters in a wide array of settings. Lionheart would make a killer 2D fighting game on home video game consoles. You’ve got the kilted guy (in a garage surrounded by cars), the Capoeira guy (in an empty pool), the redneck dude (in a racketball court?), and the final boss Attila (who looks exactly like one of the guys you had to fight a hundred times in the Final Fight video games). These kinds of details aren’t exactly indicators of storytelling acumen, but it does help keep the film visually interesting. And Lettich and Van Damme really perfected their shooting and editing style here in such a way that makes each fight clear, stylish, and exciting. That gimmick where you see a single JCVD spin kick delivered multiple times in an editing burst? That’s used to perfection here.
And the screenplay legitimately does a good job of amping up the drama and tightening the noose around Leon and Joshua. I’ll admit feeling incredulity at producer Erik Karson (who directed Van Damme in Black Eagle and is prominently featured in bonus features on this disc) suggesting Lionheart is a movie unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. This is hilarious because in multiple ways it is EXACTLY like Bloodsport. It just so happens that the devices employed in the screenplays of each film both work like gangbusters. In both films Van Damme beats the odds in an underground fight tournament. In both films he’s AWOL and being pursued by officers tasked with apprehending him. In both films the odds stack against our hero increasingly, tensions rise, and the best man prevails in the end. Lionheart ups the stakes with the desperate grieving family and stands out as a heart-on-its-sleeve melodrama as a result. The cast also heightens the drama across the board in a way not achieved in Bloodsport.
America was hungry for good-guy-on-the-ropes action hero tales like Lionheart in 1990, and Van Damme broke through to a much wider audience with this film. Soon to follow would be big budget studio fare like Universal Soldier, Hard Target, and Street Fighter. Van Damme was a mainstay at the multiplex as I was growing up and I more or less took that for granted among a plethora of ripped and shredded leading men headlining massive action epics. Those times are largely gone now, and the sincere effort, charisma, and ego that it must have really taken to get Van Damme to the heights of his career now merits a lot more respect and appreciation. Lionheart is an excellent piece of popcorn entertainment that maximized its resources and hit a cultural sweet spot, and still works today as an underdog crowd pleaser that might even getting you clapping as the end credits roll.
The Package
I’m having a blast watching MVD Rewind Collection come into their own with their Blu-ray releases. Only the 8th title in this new line, we’ve already gotten two Van Damme collector’s editions and I couldn’t be more thrilled to live in this world. Packed top to bottom with interviews featuring all the major cast members (including Van Damme himself), there are literally hours of bonus features and brand new content on this disc. I watched all that stuff first before revisiting the movie itself as I’ve basically memorized this film. It’s all really great supplemental content. Sheldon Lettich comes off as quite sincere and intelligent, and has many wild stories about connections that led to, say, current-mega-producer and Tarantino-collaborator Lawrence Bender appearing in Lionheart in a small speaking role as a rich douchebag that Van Damme gets to threaten.
MVD Rewind Collection is still a little scrappy, and these home video releases aren’t necessarily polished in the way a Criterion disc would be. But none of that matters because they’re putting genuine love and effort into movies that I care about. This is the definitive home video release of Van Damme’s entire filmography at this point. With both the theatrical cut (which looks fantastic) and an extended cut (in which the extended pieces aren’t quite the same HD quality), and both a Blu-ray and a DVD, MVD is clearly offering a product that will make all other versions of this film obsolete. Hours of bonus content, multiple cuts, a commentary track, and even the fun retro slipcover that MVD includes on all their releases all stack up to make Lionheart a must-own for Van Damme fans. One of my most anticipated home video releases of this year, I’m thrilled that this disc lived up to all my expectations and will become one of my most cherished discs in my collection.
And I’m Out.
Lionheart is now available on Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack from MVD Rewind Collection
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NINJA III: THE DOMINATION — Blu-ray Screen Comparisons
See how Shout Factory’s new 4K restored Collector’s Edition Blu-ray stacks up against their 2013 release
This article contains several comparisons which contrast the older Blu-ray’s transfer with the new restoration. The frames aren’t necessarily exact matches, but should give a solid indication of the visual differences.
Shout! Factory previously released Ninja III to Blu-ray in 2013 but has newly upgraded the cult favorite to “Collector’s Editon” status with a new transfer, bonus features, and artwork.
Looking at the transfers specifically, there are a few generalizations the hold true throughout –
- Overall, the clearest upgrade (literally) with the new version is that the grain looks much finer and less chunky — likely the direct benefit of working from a 4K scan.
- The new picture is generally brighter and of higher contrast, which is not necessarily a good or bad thing.
- The picture is now slightly cropped, introducing thin black mattes on the top and bottom. It’s a very small loss, but as the image is no wider than before, a seemingly unnecessary one.
Additionally, a couple other notes before jumping into the comparisons —
- Colors and vividness are often a matter of personal preference. There are definite variances here, but as the screens indicate, no particular identifiable sweeping changes — some shots are warmer, others cooler. Some more vivid, others less so.
- I think it’s fun to compare transfers and meaningful for people to see the differences — but in the long run these are things most viewers, myself included, would never notice under normal viewing circumstances. It’s only in direct comparison that most of these differences are evident, and you shouldn’t let small differences in a transfer hamper your enjoyment of this film on any disc.
The Comparisons
Besides being noticeably less gritty, This first shot from the opening credits demonstrates a cooler palette and a stronger contrast.
Top: Old // Bottom: New Conversely, here the newer image is less vivid and more filmlike. It’s also evident that the grain is much finer now.
Top: Old // Bottom: New Here’s perhaps the least impressive shot I pulled from the new transfer. Comparing the sky in these shots, the old disc retains color information while the new release washes out to white. And just generally speaking this scene looks kind of harsh now – the older shot is clearly favorable.
Top: Old // Bottom: New Here’s a spot where the colors appear more muted now…
Top: Old // Bottom: New …but then again we also see the opposite. In this comparison, the new transfer is much more vivid, so much so that the sword resembles a lightsaber. It also seems a bit murkier and less defined.
Top: Old // Bottom: New Here’s another look at how much finer the grain presentation is. Whether from a lower resolution scan or from digital compression, the old transfer has a much more “marbley” structure.
Top: Old // Bottom: New Coloration appears richer and more lifelike in the new transfer below.
Top: Old // Bottom: New Here’s another instance of how the brighter, higher contrast image introduces some white-out in the patches of sky that peek through the trees.
Top: Old // Bottom: New I don’t have any particular observations on this last comparison, I just love James Hong.
Top: Old // Bottom: New
Conclusion
Comparing the two transfers, I don’t have a clear favorite. The new transfer has a much cleaner and finer appearance, but I think in terms of color representation, I prefer the older transfer which is overall more natural looking (though as I noted, this varies scene to scene). If you own or plan to buy a large-screen TV, the finer grain structure and clarity will have a more meaningful impact on your viewing. If that’s not a concern, then the old transfer may actually be preferable.
Besides a new 4K-sourced transfer, the new Collector’s Edition also boasts several new special features. The transfer alone isn’t a slam-dunk upgrade, but these additional features make the new disc the definitive version for fans to own.
- NEW Interview With Actress Lucinda Dickey
- NEW Interview With Actor Jordan Bennett
- NEW Interview With Producer And Stuntman Alan Amiel
- NEW Audio Interviews With Production Designer Elliot Ellentuck And Co-Composer Misha Segal Featuring Isolated Tracks From The Original Score
- Theatrical Trailer (In HD) With Optional Trailers From Hell Commentary With Screenwriter Josh Olson
- Audio Commentary By Director Sam Firstenberg And Stunt Coordinator Steve Lambert
Get it at Amazon:
Except where noted, all 16:9 screen images in this review are direct captures from the disc(s) in question with no editing applied, but may have compression or resizing inherent to file formats and Medium’s image system. All package photography was taken by the reviewer.
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ABOMINABLE: REAR WINDOW Meets Man In Suit Monster Movie
Writer/Director Ryan Schifrin Takes A Bite Out Of Bigfoot [MVD Rewind Collection Blu Review]
Jimmy Stewart leers out of his window, immobilized, and possibly witnesses something horrible happen. What should he do? What CAN he do? Should he have witnessed in in the first place? Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window has inspired dozens of filmmakers to take these tropes and spin them their own way. Just this past year I saw a South African take on the formula called Number 37 from up and coming female filmmaker Nosipho Dumisa. D.J. Caruso took his turn in 2007 with Disturbia. In 2006, however, writer/director Ryan Schifrin (son of legendary Hollywood composer Lalo Schifrin, who did the score here) posited the following take on the formula: What if Rear Window, only Bigfoot?!
What came out of that filmmaking process is a fun experiment known as Abominable. The recently paralyzed Preston Rogers (Matt McCoy doing his best updated Jimmy Stewart) returns to his mountain cabin with a physical caretaker he can’t stand (Oscar nominee for best make up in Passion Of The Christ Christien Tinsley as Otis). Attempting to face his fears, grieve the loss of his wife in the accident that paralyzed him, and generally move forward as best he can, Preston soon finds himself observing a gaggle of young ladies partying in the cabin near his. Soon one of them is seemingly captured by a mysterious shadowy figure. It becomes clear that Bigfoot is on the loose, and Preston (trapped in his home and generally encumbered by his disability) must rise to the occasion and try to save the day before the malevolent creature makes a meal of everyone on the mountain.
When it comes to creature design and execution, Abominable really can’t be beat. A lumbering “man in suit” style creation, Bigfoot looks absolutely fantastic in this film, and generates quite a few kills done with practical gore effects that are charming and bloody. And in a fairly unprecedented move, this new scan and HD release actually redoes the few computerized effects that were in the original film, digitally enhancing the creatures eyes to make them glow and more closely match what the director had always intended. That’s not the only thing updated for this edition. The entire HD scan was re-edited from scratch (to match the original) and re-color timed as well. So MVD Rewind Collection’s loving release on Blu-ray of Abominable really is a totally different experience of the film than one might have gotten on DVD.
None of that means the film is perfect. The leering gaze and questionable ethics behind Jimmy Stewart’s plight in Rear Window is more or less absent here as the mythical creature begins wreaking havoc on our nubile young ladies. Those ladies also feel a little dated. Almost nothing more than a meal for Bigfoot, they’re hollow characters for us to observe through binoculars as they’re killed off in clever gore gags. Perhaps if made today the lead character could be a female, which would add a level of complexity that isn’t quite present here. The film nerd in me also can’t help but observe some of the “cheats” used to make the film tick. It is clear that sets and strategic cutting were used to make it feel like Preston really could see all the action we see from a couple of different windows in his cabin. Those tricks are effective enough and laudable for a low budget feature, but they were noticeable and feel a little cheap. The same goes for the sequence in a cave featuring some “name” actors in Lance Henriksen and Jeffrey Combs. Henriksen’s scene, almost totally detached from Preston’s story arc, and filmed later on in production, feels exactly like the kind of classic low budget scene devised solely to get a name like Henriksen’s on the cast roster and pad out the brief runtime.
But all those nits being picked, Ryan Schifrin does a good job of calling in every favor he could and creating one of the best Bigfoot movies of the entire subgenre. From a Drew Struzan poster to a Lalo Schifrin score, not to mention appearances by Henriksen, Combs, and Dee Wallace Stone, there’s a certain buy-in that those involved in the film gave and it adds to the long term appeal of the project. Christien Tinsley’s practical effects are a blast top to bottom, from the creature design and execution, to the gore gags that rival the best slasher films of all time. Abominable thrives when its monster is front and center. And at a tight 92 minutes, the Rear Window riff never overstays its welcome.
The Package
MVD Rewind Collection’s most exciting package yet, Abominable really gets the treatment it deserves with this Blu-ray release. Including an intro and commentary track, as well as archival SD bonus features from the original 2006 release (not to mention the original Drew Struzan artwork intact on the cover), there’s a lot of supplemental content that really draws out some of the special elements found in the film. Then there’s the aforementioned guerilla-style upgrade that Schifrin undertook to bring Abominable into the high definition age. It’s just charming to see a creative team come together with a distributor and lovingly restore a film that might have otherwise gotten lost to the ravages of insanely fast technological shifts.
Watching Abominable on this release actually improves the overall experience of the film, something simply not possible via streaming or VOD. From the packaging to the generous bonus features, this love letter to Abominable is so endearing it makes you look past some of the film’s shortcomings and celebrate its new life here on Blu-ray.
And I’m Out.
Abominable is available June 12th, 2018 on Blu-ray + DVD from MVD Rewind Collection.
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Two Cents Rocks Out with A BAND CALLED DEATH
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
The history of art, in any of the myriad forms it takes, is littered with almosts. The director with an incredible vision who couldn’t bankroll the projects they wanted, or who were shut out of the system because of their gender or ethnicity. The brilliant writer who just couldn’t get published. The painter who got swallowed alive by their demons before they had a chance to blossom.
And, in perhaps the most American permutation of this phenomenon, there’s the garage band that never quite made it out of the garage, even when the talent is there. Culturally speaking, we tend to focus only on the one-in-a-million shots that eventually yielded success. Failures, even noble ones, just don’t play as well.
Which brings us to Death. A Band Called Death. The band was formed by the three Hackney brothers, who came of age in Detroit during the ‘60s and ‘70s, the sons of a Baptist preacher. But whereas the record labels were nigh-on printing money with Motown hits, the Hackney brothers, led by visionary brother David, chased a far different sound.
A Band Called Death, from directors Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett, examines a musical revolution that wasn’t meant to be. Decades later, surviving brothers Bobby and Dannis and their family reflect on the close-shaves they had with stardom. Bad luck, bad decisions, and a sonic landscape that just didn’t have a place for them resulted in Death’s sound being snuffed out before it even had a chance to be heard.
But A Band Called Death, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this month, worked to rectify that, with even acclaimed rockers like Alice Cooper and Jack White exalting the brothers for being decades ahead of the culture. It may not be the traditional route you take to stardom, but you never know just how someone will find their way free of being an ‘almost’.
Next Week’s Pick:
In a cinema landscape littered with blockbuster juggernauts and carefully polished awards bait, Lady Bird came out of nowhere last year to be a sleeper hit. While many in the indie fold knew Greta Gerwig for her luminous screen presence and terrific screenwriting, it’s fair to say that her directorial debut launched her and leading ladies Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf into a whole new stratosphere.
Lady Bird is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review on any MCU film to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
The Team
There are three kinds of documentaries I enjoy. The first type includes documentaries that explore and/or celebrate things I am interested in — like favorite bands, filmmakers, or interesting true crime stories. The second includes documentaries that are so well done they make something I didn’t think I cared about into something I’m very intrigued by. But it’s the third type that really has the chance to leave the deepest impression on me.
Take a topic I care about and tell the story in a way that makes it unforgettable. In other words, combine types 1 and 2. And, A Band Called Death does just that.
As soon as you tell me that I’m about the learn about a proto-punk garage rock act that I’ve never heard of, I’m in. Combine that with incredible direction and an amazingly constructed bit of storytelling and you have the formula for one of my all time favorite documentaries.
Amazing music and a compelling tale make this the stuff that true legends are made of. (@ThePaintedMan)
A Band Called Death’s secret weapon is the music from the titular band. There are many (many many many many many) versions of this story littering both fiction and non-fiction, and to be honest, each telling lives and dies on how good the actual art (be it a film, a book, or music) being created actually is. If you invest a ton of energy into establishing how ‘important’ or ‘special’ a particular artwork or artist is, and then it doesn’t live up to what you’ve established, you’re left with…well…Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
Luckily, the music Death conjured up is exactly as good as Alice Cooper promises (proving, once again, that Alice Cooper cannot lie), and that earns your ticket for the tempestuous ride that the brothers Hackney embark on as they try, and fail, to bring their sound to the national stage.
The directors are wise enough to back off and let the brothers and their family and friends tell their own stories, trusting that their chemistry and charisma will be enough. It is, and A Band Called Death is stronger for the sincerity this approach allows. (@theTrueBrendanF)
This was more bittersweet and hauntingly touching than I’d expected it to be. I guess I thought I “knew the story” before watching it, but the subjects here are as compelling as the overarching “plot” of the band’s rediscovery. These brothers from Detroit are the stars. Long live Death. (@ed_travis)
No doubt the promise of the untold origin of punk before punk is the big draw of this story, and to that end it does not disappoint. The music of Death is both incredible and groundbreaking. But watching A Band Called Death, it’s the family that takes the spotlight, eventually unwinding into a saga spanning the next generation of the Hackney family.
Death is not only the name of the band and critical conceptual basis for elder brother David’s vision, but an intrinsic component of the story in a way that no one in the band could ever have anticipated, an irony that is lost on them, nor the filmmakers. It’s ultimately devotion to God and each other that helps them battle demons and weather trials.
Thankfully the documentary itself is also very well made. Directors Mark Covino and Jeff Howlett get to the heart of the story and let the brothers do the talking, editing to achieve a comfortable flow and structure and infusing the story with impressive motion graphics that keep things interesting visually and bring photographs to life.
I originally watched this film in its Drafthouse theatrical run and cried freely throughout. When the lights came on, I immediately declared it my favorite film of 2013, which it remains. Revisiting it again five years later, none of its incredible power has dissipated. (@VforVashaw)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuwTUhLR6Jk
Get it at Amazon:
Next week’s pick:
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THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING: Self-Aware Swamp Romp
MVD Rewind Collection Brings A Campy Comic Book Film To High Definition
For such a bizarre character, Swamp Thing has seen a lot of primetime adaptation. And for someone who’s never read a single Swamp Thing comic book… I’ve seen a whole lot of Swamp Thing in my day. It seems bizarre to think of now, but in my childhood I spent a whole lot of time watching shows on the USA network, and Swamp Thing was right up there on heavy rotation. That show, my first exposure to the character and property, was actually pretty dark and brooding. It felt seedy and dangerous; each episode reminding you to “beware the wrath of Swamp Thing”.
It wasn’t until much later that I experienced the films. Viewing Wes Craven’s 1982 Swamp Thing feature felt really jarring. Dick Durock’s first (?) donning of the swamp suit is a legitimately terrible onscreen look for the character. Running around like a giant green condom, I’ve never quite been able to get past this key element. I might be open to arguments of the film’s quality, but as of now, not even Adrienne Barbeau could convince me to be a fan.
At some point in my youth I must have also seen the sequel in bits and pieces on television, because Heather Locklear has always been wrapped up in the Swamp Thing lore in my brain. But taking a deep dive into Jim Wynorski’s 1989 film The Return Of Swamp Thing was a very fun home video experience and now handily tops all of the Swamp Thing entertainment I recall taking in over my life.
Knowing exactly what it wants to achieve and setting out to do just that, The Return Of Swamp Thing is a humorous and oddly sweet action adventure that wants nothing more than to entertain you with its quirkiness from start to finish, and deliver the mutated, Spanish-moss-ridden, sweaty swamp goods. Louis Jourdan chews the scenery as the villainous Dr. Arcane (returning from the first film), who will stop at nothing to… mutate creatures and… somehow gain eternal life? Dick Durock (who legendarily played Swamp Thing in both films and all 74 episodes of the USA tv show) gets a major upgrade into a suit that looks virtually identical to the one used in the show. The suit functions perfectly in making Swamp Thing look both heroic/menacing, and monstrously freakish. Perhaps most importantly, Heather Locklear stars as the romantic lead. Yes, that’s right, Heather Locklear has eyes for Swamp Thing, and that plays out as amazingly as you’d think it might.
Locklear’s Abby Arcane enters the picture as the villainous Dr. Arcane’s innocent step daughter, who has a somewhat spiritual connection to plants and wants to learn what happened to her mother, long since disappeared without explanation from Dr. Arcane. Locklear isn’t what one might call “good” in the movie, but she’s certainly a willing champ, spouting out humorous dialog and convincingly communicating such a pure and gonzo spirit that falling in love with a plant monster fits right into the bizarre milieu of this world. There are even some comic relief kids who are trying to get a picture of Swamp Thing with their dad’s camera to make a quick buck. This kind of thing can go either way, but these kids are charming and so very late 1980s. Derek Spencer and Grant Morris wrote a movie with a tongue in cheek tone that clicks together to make this comic book adventure feel just right.
The Return Of Swamp Thing is having fun at all times. The comedic elements are all there, whether you like them or not, but the 1980s mutant craze is on full display as well, with tons of bizarre creatures created with practical in-camera effects like the leech man, the roach-faced dude, and my personal favorite, the guy with the elephant growing out of the side of his head. There’s also a bunch of “man in suit” fights and a big “siege the compound” climax that feels straight out of pretty much every 1980s action film.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you The Return Of Swamp Thing is high art. But it is a successful film that achieves all that it sets out to accomplish. Giving the audience all kinds of weird sights, sounds, laughs, explosions, mutants, and even human-on-Swamp-Thing love scenes, it would be virtually impossible not to get a kick out of this fun swamp romp.
The Package
The MVD Rewind Collection is really having a great time with their roster of releases, retro packaging, and bonus features. The discs aren’t this super polished, ultra slick product like you get from major studios. There were navigation hiccups in their Black Eagle release. And the discs are adorned with a simple white label. But featuring retro packaging on the slip cover, and reversible art work, as well as a fantastic line up of titles thus far (Return Of Swamp Thing is spine number 5), MVD Rewind is quickly becoming a home video boutique to keep an eye on.
This disc in particular actually does look fantastic, featuring an all-new HD transfer of the movie, and is packed with bonus features. Wynorski has literally over 100 directorial credits to his name (though “his name” is very often a pseudonym) and he’s all over this release with interviews, commentaries, etc. It seems it was easy to bring together a bunch of the talent for interviews on this release since they’re all good friends and have worked together on seemingly dozens of projects. The bonus features are nothing to write home about as individual elements… but as a whole you get a great sense of the humor and family that was behind the creation of this weird monster movie.
And I’m Out.
The Return Of Swamp Thing is now available on Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack from MVD Rewind Collection.
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THE DEBT COLLECTOR: Two Bit Hoods, Top Notch Crime Film
The Scott Adkins & Jesse V. Johnson Collaboration Hits New Heights
I became aware of The Debt Collector’s writer/director Jesse V. Johnson through my rabid Scott Adkins fandom. Now, after Adkins/Johnson collaborations Savage Dog, Accident Man, and The Debt Collector in just a short 2 years, I have fully boarded the Jesse V. Johnson train, loaded up my Netflix queue with half a dozen of his previous directorial works, and am ready to sing the man’s praises all over this land. With decades of experience as a stuntman, Johnson came up the hard way and earned his stripes. Now with 50 stunt credits, 10 writing credits, and 17 directing credits to his IMDb profile, it’s time for Jesse V. Johnson to be a household name, especially among action aficionados.
What Adkins and Johnson have going with this rapid fire collaboration is something truly special, as together they seem to be elevating one anothers’ craft and utilizing one anothers’ skill sets in a spectacular way. Both are able to stretch themselves and push their agendas to make films that far exceed the standard expectations of the DTV action genre they are a part of. While with Accident Man Scott Adkins was able to write, produce, and star, Johnson was able to both write and direct Savage Dog and The Debt Collector. And while I enjoyed all three of those films immensely, it actually does feel like each of the three got progressively better than the last, leaving one quite excited about the future prospects of this collaboration.
The Debt Collector finds Adkins starring in a genuine buddy film, sharing the spotlight with co-star Louis Mandylor (also a mainstay in DTV action cinema, and who turns in his absolute best work here). They play French and Sue, respectively, with French being the new guy on the debt collection beat (struggling to pay the bills on his dojo… classic), and Sue being the drunk and washed up pro who’s been low level enforcing for decades. Ahhh, did you hear that? “Low level”. It’s impossible to stress how refreshing it is that The Debt Collector takes us deep into a sleazy world where the stakes may be high for our characters, but nothing earth shattering is going down. This isn’t some massive scale alien invasion, but rather an intimate tale about a few two bit hoods; and in those scenarios, character counts.
Most DTV action films aren’t created for the big screen, and likely wouldn’t thrive as a wide release. Times have simply changed. If you ask me, though, The Debt Collector would have fit right into a big screen wide release. Straight off the bat the camera work is skilled and the script (co-written by Johnson and Accident Man co-writer Stu Small) crackles with one-liners and insults that feel right at home among Shane Black-style buddy action comedies. Adkins gets to use his British accent as French and between that and his growing comfort with Johnson as director, he gives his absolute best and most loose performance as an actor thus far in his career. Yuri Boyka of the Undisputed franchise probably remains the character Adkins was born to play, but French is his most fully realized and fantastically showcases his physical abilities and stretches his comic and dramatic potential as well. Mandylor is somewhat of a revelation as Sue, taking French under his wing with a steady stream of verbal abuse, but slowly revealing a shell of a soul still underneath the drunken exterior.
Taking place over a single weekend, French gets financially desperate enough to tap an underworld connection he has in “Mad Alex” (Streets Of Fire’s Michael Pare), a student at his dojo and himself a part of Tommy’s (Vladimir Kulich) debt collection operation. Tommy pairs French with Sue, and they’re off together on their first day. The low stakes action sequences in the earlier part of the film are great fun, allowing the leads to establish a system for their shakedowns, give Adkins a showcase for his incredible physical skill, and cement the character dynamic between our leads. As the weekend progresses, stakes become higher as Tommy sends French and Sue on a job for notorious crime boss Barbosa (The Candyman himself, Tony Todd). You just know things are going to go south with Barbosa, but the hows and whys are all surprising and escalate to a remarkably gritty and even emotional climax that can only be achieved through strong writing, performances, and direction in a character-based film such as this one.
I adore The Debt Collector. It nails the sleazy underground world of Los Angeles, looks fantastic (far better than most films of this type), and perhaps most importantly achieves what it sets out for both as a buddy comedy and as a throwback to gritty 1970s crime films. The script is propulsive, the stakes ever deepening, and it never skimps on action even as it does the hard work of fleshing out and developing our characters. Adkins and Mandylor have remarkable chemistry and manage to make a real connection between their characters that changes both of their fates in the course of one weekend. And while I’ll spoil nothing about the barn-burner of an ending, it’s a risky and refreshing conclusion that honors its 1970s roots and takes chances that you’d absolutely never see in the latest four quadrant Hollywood blockbuster. Action fans should rush to see The Debt Collector at their first possible opportunity. It’s not a grand, sweeping narrative, and it’s all the better for it. Get in the Cadillac (but watch the whitewalls) with French and Sue, take a ride with them, and you’ll find an absolutely top tier crime/action/comedy/drama that’ll leave no bone unbroken.
And I’m Out.
The Debt Collector hits DVD and Digital June 5th from Archstone Distribution via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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THE BIRTH OF A NATION: Racist Lies of 1915 Shed Light on Racist Lies of 2018
A Cinematic Masterwork Does Irreparable Harm [Twilight Time Blu-ray Review]
“The Ku Klux Klan, the organization that saved the South from the anarchy of black rule” — Title Card from The Birth Of A Nation by D.W. Griffith, 1915
“Our ancestors trounced an empire, tamed a continent, and triumphed over the worst evils in history… We are not going to apologize for America. We are going to stand up for America.” — Donald J. Trump, President of the United States Of America, May 25th, 2018
While it’s clear that D.W. Griffith’s The Birth Of A Nation is a seminal work of narrative filmmaking and will forever live in infamy as a result (being seen by new eyes generation after generation) that doesn’t mean one can’t wish it were never made. And how I do wish it were never made. This is something I’ve rarely, if ever, said about a film. But then again, I’ve really never seen anything like The Birth Of A Nation.
Far from a silent film aficionado, I believe this is the very first silent feature film I’ve ever seen aside from Melies’ A Trip To The Moon. (I confess this to my great shame). The format has always felt like a challenge for me, so far back in the historical filmmaking tool kit as to play clunkily. But Griffith does manage to craft an engaging (if overwrought) tale that relatively quickly attenuated this newcomer’s film watching rhythms to those of the silent era. Again, as a total novice I find it odd that actors are speaking to one another as shots and scenes play out, watching their mouths move and not knowing what they’re saying. Relying on title cards to fill in details, context, and dialog was an oddity that I thought would prove too much for me, but which I actually adjusted to with a surprising quickness. Experiencing the 3 hour silent epic has opened me further to exploring films of this era, despite having a violent reaction to the messaging of the film itself.
I’ve long understood D.W. Griffith’s film to be a titan of early cinema, blazing a trail so unexplored that almost all of the storytelling tropes we know and love today have at least some of their origin in Griffith. Such concepts as cross cutting between scenes that are happening simultaneously, as well as tracking shots, close ups, and massively staged battle sequences are often credited to Griffith as their innovator. I will say that personally I found the experience of this story to be quite fascinating and surprisingly accessible. Storytelling techniques utilized here felt very familiar and shockingly modern. For example, Griffith obviously has grandiosity in mind with the title of his film. But he wisely seeks to tell the story of a nation through the perspectives of two families: The Stonemans of the North, and the Camerons of the South. Old chums ravaged by the Civil War (and doing some ravaging of their own). This is highly effective and hearkens to the huge roster of key players we’re required to get to know intimately if we’re to follow such modern epics as Game Of Thrones or The Lord Of The Rings.
As the first half of The Birth Of A Nation races on, a pre-war visit between the two families plants the seeds for high melodrama as the younger sons soon die at one another’s hands on the battlefield. Dramatizations of key battles play out with technical marvel and Abraham Lincoln is portrayed as a fair victor who will deal magnanimously with the defeated south. The first half of the film comes to an end with a dramatized sequence of Lincoln’s assassination and it’s quite compelling. In fact, while the first half of The Birth Of A Nation depicts much in the way of institutional racism, propagating the concept of the “happy slave” among other ills, there’s nothing quite so willfully ignorant and lie-filled as the coming second half of the film.
After Lincoln’s assassination, Griffith’s film takes a much less grand historical approach and instead adapts a novel by Thomas Dixon called The Clansman. In this half of the film, the northern Stoneman family become radical abolitionists hellbent on putting the noble south under the boot heels of the vengeful black armies flexing their new power after the abolition of slavery. The noble Camerons have no choice but to found the Ku Klux Klan to deliver the south from these rage-filled carpetbaggers and marauding black soldiers. Ultimately attempting to vaunt an anti-war message, Griffith depicts a south so shattered by war and the ascendant black man (empowered by politicians hellbent on punishing the confederate states) that former Union and Confederate soldiers will band together under the white hoods of the Klan in order to valiantly fight against the soldiers who would pursue the South’s white women and defile the Aryan race.
Truly, explicitly vile and fanciful to boot, The Birth Of A Nation can be misconstrued as nothing less than revisionist propaganda portraying a noble South blessed by whiteness and a savage animalistic horde of black soldiers and carpetbaggers who’ll stop at nothing to destroy the plantation way of life and defile the sacred bloodlines of the former slave owners. Wildly popular on a scale previously unseen at the time of release, The Birth Of A Nation toured the country at a time when a narrative like this was ripe to plant seeds into people’s minds. Often credited for reinvigorating a dying KKK, there’s no doubt in my mind that the technical brilliance of The Birth Of A Nation made a hateful and false grand narrative palpable for wide audiences and fomented an utterly sinful worldview that requires whites to own none of their culpability in the slave trade and failed reconstruction. It’s impossible to know just how fully this objectively false narrative infected the thinking of citizens all across the south who experienced this film as a modern, technical marvel unlike anything they had ever seen before.
Perhaps most egregiously, watching The Birth Of A Nation today, in 2018, under the scourge of Donald J. Trump’s embarrassing presidency, one can almost trace a direct line from the popularized hate of The Birth Of A Nation to the lies and racism our sitting president used to inflame his base and grasp power through division, falsehood, and grand conspiratorial narratives that appease the ignorant and promote a singular, decidedly white, redemption narrative.
The great modern embarrassment of Donald Trump was indeed the impetus behind my desire to watch the film, and no doubt on the minds of the good folks at Twilight Time who are releasing this restored film amid such fraught times. Grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this seminal film preserved with care from over 100 year ago (twice as long since the film was released in 1915 as it was removed from the actual Civil War), I nonetheless personally renounce not only the hurtful narrative Griffith chose to tell, but also the campaign to sanitize and soften the impact of that choice. Griffith himself seemed to believe in his own story, and also claim that it was not explicitly racist. It is.
The mere fact that the triumphant climax of the Cameron family saga is a horde of white-hooded Klansman riding to the rescue of a town assaulted by evil freed slaves makes explicit the propagandistic nature of the film, and it turns my stomach. That many today use the same kind of propagandistic techniques to weave a tale of noble whites and opportunistic blacks and foreigners and refugees is equally cringe inducing and demands full on repentance.
That, as a nation, we’ve refused to own, wrestle with, and grieve the institution of slavery and the injustice done to all African American and Native people has resulted in the the current state of disarray and hate we are experiencing. May lies and propaganda like D.W. Griffith’s The Birth Of A Nation and self-serving narratives spun by our great modern demagogue be silenced. And may we do the work necessary as a nation to own our culpability, sharing with all peoples the onus of leadership and community going forward.
And I’m Out.
The Package
Disc 1:
- The Feature Film (191 Minutes) Restored by Patrick Stanbury With the Original Joseph Carl Briel Score, conducted by John Lanchbery in Both 5.1 and 2.0 Audio
- 1930 Sound Reissue Prologue D.W. Griffith in conversation with Walter Huston, star of his 1930 sound film Abraham Lincoln.
- 1930 Sound Reissue Intermission and Introduction to Act 2 Huston recites sections from Woodrow Wilson’s A History of the American People.
Disc 2:
- Outtakes and Original Camera Tests
- Stills and Collections Gallery
- Silent Feature: The Coward (1915 ~ Produced by Thomas H. Ince, Directed by Reginald Barker)
- Silent Short: The Rose of Kentucky (1911 ~ Directed by D.W. Griffith)
- Silent Short: Stolen Glory (1912 ~ Directed by Mack Sennett)
- Silent Short: The Drummer of the 8th Original Edit, The Drummer of the 8th 2015 Re-Edit (1913 ~ Produced by Thomas H. Ince, Directed by Jay Hunt)
- The Birth of a Nation Score Recording Sessions in 5.1 Audio
- D.W. Griffith on Lux Radio Theater with Cecil B. DeMille
- The Birth of a Nation: The Legacy Directed, Written and Edited by John McCarty
- The Clansman: From Stage to Screen Directed and Edited by Daniel Griffith
- Text Essay: We Can Never Censor the Past by Kevin Brownlow
The Birth Of A Nation is now available on limited edition Blu-ray from Twilight Time
