Johnny Guitar (1954) - Under Construktion

Well, its 2movies2day thanks to TCM

"a phony Western" –said by François Truffaut

Sterling Hayden
Who I will never be able to forget as Gen. Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb


Is Johnny Guitar


Or Johnny Carson


***Extra Note: Sterling Hayden, According to his IMDB biography, “cooperated with the House Un-American Activities Committee, confessing his brief Communist ties” and 'naming names'
In the movie, the character Turkey is made to do something very similar (this movie is said to be a commentary on McCarthyism)



Mercedes McCambridge
I don’t think I have ever wanted to see someone get their comeuppance more than Ema

There Will Be Blood (2007) - UNDER CONSTUKTION

"The long twisted tale of a man, an oilman"

And that man is Daniel Plainview(Daniel Day-Lewis)

He is something like an unstop-able force. So do not get in his way.

The Story in Short

Daniel Plainview is a Silver Prospector. Falls in Hole, hurts leg. Invents better way to prospect. Invention breaks, kills someone, leaves his son orphaned, but causes oil to be found. Daniel takes orphan as his own. Builds Oil Empire.........

BUT THE MOVIE IS LONG

2 hours 38 minutes

But The ENDING is Great

REWATCH-ah-Bill-ah-Tee

Well, if you have an extra 158 mins, in which you could Rewatch it, go ahead. It is too long for me, every great once in a while I might give it a rewatch, most likely to see Daniel Day-Lewis's performance. But for the most part, once is enough.

THE CAST
Daniel Day-Lewis

is this movie! And he's incredible! The emotion and fire that he is able to portay, is somthing many actors strive for, but often fall short.

For his performance, he won an Oscar for Best Actor, a Gloden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture(Drama), a British Academy Film Award for Best Actor, a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, and Best Actor awards by Broadcast Film Critics Association, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics, Austin Film Critics Association.

He is also amazing as Bill "the Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York

Paul Dano
does a great job of being the embodiment of "organized religion" and he scares the crap out of me. I honestly think that religion is the scariest thing in the world, and this movie demonstrates that in a way, my words cannot.

He was also the kid that doesn't talk(for the most part) in Little Miss Sunshine

I hated the kid actor, Dillon Freasier, he looked very uncomfortable in front of the camera, and I don't want to see him in anything else.

***Extra Note

His mother, Regina, was a traffic cop who pulled over the film's casting director for speeding[1]

ah, so thats how he got this role

Things Worth Noting
It was shot at the same time as No Country For Old Men, in fact shooting had to stop for a day on No Counrty For Old Men, due to the burning of an oil derrick.

The movie won something like a million awards, check them out at Wikipedia

This movie does an Okay job of demonstrating how the bullied become bullies, and the oppressed become opressors, but not the best.

A Brush With Death (2007)

"Some weird dude's sick dream, shot thru a crappy camera"


HERE IT IS
If you are like me, and can enjoy a good crappy movie, this is it!


First, the script is horrible, the actors are terrible (one exception), the lighting is horrible.

and right from the beginning, you know these kids had no money to shoot this thing....the crappy digital camera they used, caused this horrible fuzz effect.


So with all of those bad things, you think that would be enough, oh but it isn't! There's more


Quote-ah-Bill-ah-Tee
This movie is packed with gems, most of them dubbed in post-production.

here is one, that really stuck out, "....and that's why you don't buy tampoons at 7-11"

Not only do you get lines that are fun to repeat, the terrible delivery of the actors is something to be imitated and mocked as well. What more could you ask for?

How about someone portraying someone with a speech impediment, but doing it very poorly

not enough for you, how about a dirty old man, throwing out double entendres

and if that isn't enough, we'll try to find something else for you

F'D Up-Ness
omg, the story itself is all over the place, but on a scene by scene basis, some of the stuff going on is just messed up

Shooting Hickhikers, Feeling up/making out/photographing passed out girl (who got pistol whipped) Painting pictures in Blood, forcing disabled people to do terrible things, throwing people in freezer while still alive(and locking it), and lets not forget the acting.

During a series of flashbacks, one brother convinces the other to smash a cat with a hammer, because he wants his brother to show him, that he loves him more. Wow, once you get over how messed up that is...the kid playing the older brother, I can't find his name, but in his first scene, the intensity he showed was amazing, he honestlyy looked like one of the most evil kids i've ever seen, and definitely had the best performance out of anyone in this movie, not that, that was hard, considering this was first/only movie for most.

Re-Watch-ah-Bill-ah-Tee
I love this type of crap, ever seen Cabin Fever? its another crappy movie, which looks like a masterpiece in comparison to this, but its still crap, but I guess that movie had people you could at least recognize(i.e. Sweet Lou, the kid from Boy Meets World)

Regardless, I will be giving this movie, a few watches, mostly when I need a laugh.

THE Back Cover
well, here is what gets most people angry with the movie, the back cover plot synopsis gives quite a different impression of what the moive is going to be. It mentions something about a ghost, and the girls spending a night in a haunted house.......blah blah blah.....forget all that, this is a completly different movie, and is nothing like what is written on the back of the dvd, which this movie went straight to.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

"The Coen Brothers, doing what they do"

I'm a big Fan of the Coen Brothers, The Big Lebowski is in the upper echelon of my favorite movies, and one thing I have learned about the Coen's.....the more you watch their movies, the more you like them. (I've seen Big Lebowski something like 73 times, if not more)

And I am going to need to watch this one a few more times.

THE PLOT

A drug deal goes bad. Man stumbles apon aftermath. Finds Money. Takes Money. Runs. Is Chased by Hitmen............

Re-Watch-ah-Bill-ah-Tee

Yup! This thing grabbed hold of me, and I want to know if it will do the same thing the second time I watch it. Plus, you've got great casting, great story, realistic emotions, and its the Coen Brothers.

Also, after you watch this movie, it leaves you with this odd, unsettling feeling.....kind of like the feeling you get after you watch Night of the Living Dead, which I love

The Cast
Javier Bardem
Is creep-ah-lee amazing in this movie, and his haircut is just creepy all together. For his haunting portrayl of Anton Chigurh, he won a Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
*this made him the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar [1]

His acting was so good in his first scene, that i feared he forgot he was acting and thought he might really choke the other actor to death.

Josh Brolin
who I can barely recognize from his Goonies days, and had a hard time believing he was the same person portraying George W. Bush in W, got his role by shooting an audition tape while filming Planet Terror, which he’s awesome in.

*also this film has a similar missing reel feel at one point

Tommy Lee Jones
Who in real life is suing for $10,000,000 in unpaid wages from the film.

Woody Harrelson
who is also great in Semi-Pro


Kelly Macdonald who is also in Trainspotting, which I have sadly, not seen yet

At this point, I must make a note of how great the Coen Brothers are with choosing actors for minor roles. I love their choices in The Big Lebowski. (i.e. Jack Kehler)
Barry Corbin
is in one scene, and I loved him in Held Up

Beth Grant
is hill-air-e-us in her short on screen appearance, and she is also in Little Miss Sunshine as one of the pageant officials

Stephen Root
back again, two days in a row

Gene Jones
who I want to see do more, portrayed a gas station attendant who’s life rested on his calling a coin flip

Kathy Lamkin

who was amazing, was also in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and had a small role in The Heartbreak Kid

Thomas Kopache

who has about 12 secs of screentime, made an impression on me

Brandon Smith

who is in Jeepers Creepers He’s also in a terrible TV movie, that is sooooo slow, License to Kill, but it has Denzel Washington in it, so yeah.

Things Worth Noting
In the novel (but not in the movie), Sheriff Bell says of the dope-dealers, "Here a while back in San Antonio they shot and killed a federal judge." Cormac McCarthy set the story in 1980. In 1979, in San Antonio, Federal Judge John Howland Wood was shot and killed by rifle fire by a Texas free-lance contract killer named Charles Harrelson. Actor Woody Harrelson (Carson Wells in the movie) is his son. [1]

The Coen Brothers used a photo of a brothel patron taken in 1879 as a model for Anton Chigurh's hair style. Looking at its weirdness after getting the hair cut, Javier Bardem said "Oh no, now I won't get laid for the next two months".[1]

Javier Bardem’s character uses a coin at times to decide peoples' fate, like Tommy Lee Jones Two-Face in Batman Forever

Over Her Dead Body (2008)

“A lackluster romantic comedy, that might have you laughing…..every once in a while”

Eva Longoria, gets crushed by an ice sculpture of an Angel, on her wedding day. Leaving her fiancée, Paul Rudd, sad and unwilling to move on….. So, his sister takes him to a psychic…..blah blah blah

Re-Watch-ah-Bill-ah-tee
Well, if you like romantic comedies, watch it once, then you decide…..otherwise, if you're not a fan of romantic comedies, avoid it all together.
I however, am going to watch it at least once more, because Paul Rudd had me dying.

THE CAST
Paul Rudd
I’m a fan. Big fan of his delivery, he kills me in Anchorman, 40 yr-old Virgin, and Knocked Up. He is the reason I bought this movie, and luckily it was worth it……he was funny, that is what I expected……everyone else? That is another story. But, he's also great in Dewey Cox, Reno 911, and he’s ok in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Role Models.

I also just rewatched Clueless, the movie, after about 8 years, and I completely forgot that he was in that. He also does the best Robert De Niro impression, in Knocked Up.



Eva Longoria
who doesn’t seem to be trying very hard in some scenes, also had a small role in The Heartbreak Kid, which I did enjoy. I also enjoy her height, which is 5’2”


*more at Egotastic


Jason Biggs
Comes off as cheese-E, e-spesh-ah-lee early on in the movie, but he did bring some comedic relief, so thanks for that.

Of course we all know him from American Pie, but he is one of the few joys in Boys and Girls, and he’s great in his short role in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, a personal favorite.

Lindsay Sloane
Who I could barely recognize, underneath her Haylie Duff/Kat Dennings Haircut, was Big Red in Bring It On



Stephen Root
This guy is in a bunch of good/ok movies, this isn’t one of them, he actually is kind of lackluster in this, but who cares? Whenever I see him, all I can think about, is his Swingline stapler, and “I said no salt!”

Other than Office Space, he’s also in Dodgeball, Drillbit Taylor, Grind, Finding Nemo, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

And this guy has been on almost every TV Show, Roseanne, Home Improvement, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Murphy Brown, Blossom , NYPD Blue , Party of Five , Malcolm in the Middle , Just Shoot Me!, Grounded for Life , Frasier

Of course he was Jimmy James on NewsRadio

And here's the one that really makes you official Seinfeld

And I had no clue, he was the voice of Bill Dauterive and Buck Strickland on King of the Hill ,



Jack Conley
Is a cab driver for about 30 seconds. He also has a small role in one of my favorite movies, as a DEA agent in Get Shorty.


He also has a small role in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, which is friggin’ hill-Lare-e-us
.....also in Payback, The Cell, Fun with Dick and Jane *these were all watched somewhat recently


Wendi McLendon-Covey
Makes a small appearance, but I only know her because of Reno 911

Kali Rocha
Who you might be able to remember from Meet the Parents, plays a Angel.


OTHER THOUGHTS
it is super duper easy to shoot someone as a ghost.

-Keep camera in one position, shoot just the set with no one in frame, then shoot the actors, then edit a-cord-ing-lee

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)

Courtesy of Netflicks, this gem arrived in the mail today

"the movie with the guy that has a chainsaw for an arm"

This sequel/pseudo-remake of Evil Dead, re-imagines and expands on the story told in the 1981 Cult Classic Evil Dead.

Staying at a remote cabin in the woods, an evil force is unleashed into the world, when a tape is played, that reads from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, or Book of the Dead.

Now, for those that loved the first movie, this movie re-tells an abridged version of that story, in about 7 mins. However, it does not capture some of the beauty in the original. (i.e. the burying of his girlfriend, is not as cinematically pleasing. Some of the force shots, are not as impressive)

Also I loved Evil Dead for some of the cheese-E effects and other little things, such as the moons you can see blatantly cut in, or the make-up that changes from second to second.

Well, have no fear, this movie has plenty of its own cheese-E-ness. The make-up did get a lot better, so if you were hoping for bad make-up again, you will be disappointed. However, cheese-E cartoon effects are all over the place, plus you get cheese-E miniature model sets, which are very easy to recognize for what they are.

One Big Difference From Original

Sadly, there is no rape by the woods/branches/twigs/vines scene, but instead we get a headless naked corpse dance.

Re-Watch-ah-Bill-ah-tee

Hell Yeah!!! As soon as the credits stopped rolling, I was at the scene selection screen, skipping right to Ash beating the crap out of himself, then to the scene where he attaches the chainsaw to his arm. OMG! That is probably one of the greatest things i've ever seen.

but you want more reasons? here you go short and sweet:

-Claymation

-Time Travel

-Talking Deer

-Laughing Lamps

-Bruce Campbell

The Cast

Bruce Campbell

No longer being trapped under bookshelves, Bruce Campbell is now the epitomy of Badass.


If you have yet to witness the amazing-ness-a-nin-tiss-a-tee that is Bruce Campbell, you need to watch this movie, but first watch Evil Dead,

so that you can see how cheese-E he can be, and see how many bookshelves he can manage to get trapped under.

But, honestly, he is amazing in this.....now, you do get some cheese, like his delivery when talking to his girlfriend, but that is exactly what I wanted. Now, with having noted his cheese-E-ness, I must say how amazing he was phyiscally in this. When his hand was trying to grab the butcher knife, OMG I fell in love with him. How anyone could not respect this man, is beyond me.

I wonder if Jim Carrey used this scene for inspiration in Liar, Liar