Film Junk » Western

Tarantino Going Western or Gangster?

Kasper — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:11:54 +0000

After the success of Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's failure with Death Proof has long since been forgotten and once again he's in high demand. What will his next project be? A Basterds prequel, perhaps? Maybe so, he has at least hinted several times at returning to the universe he created with the film, but then again Tarantino hints at a lot of stuff, promises a lot of things, and rarely keeps those promises (not counting the obvious deviation from the norm, Inglourious Basterds itself). So what is he up to? Last week he was on about a third Kill Bill film, but that isn't for a couple of years, so he's got to find something to fill in the void between now and then. What might fill that void will be hard to determine, but a hint as to what the subject matter might be has been given. While out promoting Inglourious Basterds with Eli Roth in Mexico at the Morelia Film Festival, he has apparently spilled the beans on what will come next -- sort of. Tarantino says that he would like to do a re-imagining of a lot of different genres, mentioning specifically either a western or a 1920s to 1930s Pretty Boy Floyd-kinda gangster movie. Sounds good to me. I am a fan of both gangster flicks and westerns and I personally think that there are too few movies of each genre being made these days, so go right ahead Tarantino, amaze me. What do you think, should Tarantino tackle either of these two genres next, or would you prefer if he made another movie within the Inglourious Basterds universe? Sound off in the comments below.

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Josh Hartnett to Star in Post-Apocalyptic Western Gunslinger

Sean — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:40:53 +0000

Would humanity revert to the days of the wild west if the world was suddenly thrust into a post-apocalyptic future? It's certainly an intriguing possibility, and one that could make for a great movie. Post-apocalyptic films have often borrowed elements of westerns in the past, and now director Chris Nahon (Blood: The Last Vampire) will again be fusing the two genres with a film called Gunslinger (no relation to the 1956 Roger Corman film of the same name, as far as I know). Described as a "revenge-driven tale set in the near future in the snowy wasteland of a post-apocalyptic America", the story centers on two brothers who try to track down the gang responsible for the death of their parents. Josh Hartnett has signed on to star, while Mark Williams (Running Scared, The Cooler) will produce. There's no word on who is writing the script or where the story came from, which is unfortunate, but I kinda dig the concept. What do you think, are you interested in this or are you getting sick of the post-apocalyptic genre?

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The Coen Brothers and Jeff Bridges Re-Team For True Grit Remake

Kasper — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:07:46 +0000

It has been over ten years since the directorial team of brothers Joel and Ethan Coen worked together with actor Jeff Bridges on the cult classic The Big Lebowski, but now the three are re-teaming for their second collaborative effort: a remake of the 1969 film True Grit. The original movie starred John Wayne as the aging US Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn who is hired to escort and help track down the murderer of the 14-year old girl Mattie Ross' father, a role which earned him an Oscar. But unlike the '69 film the remake will center around Ross' viewpoint as opposed to that of Cogburn. As in the original, tagging along with the two is also the Texas Ranger La Boeuf who is looking for the same murderer, but for another penalty. The Coen Brothers are not just simply remaking the film either, but have worked over the script and come up with an adaptation of the original book that resembles it more than the original film does. This is, in my book, some pretty damn exciting news! Everything that The Coen Brothers touch seem to turn to gold and adding to the mix that I am a big fan of Bridges and also enjoyed The Big Lebowski immensely, even regarding it as one of my favorite movies. I gotta say that this has jumped right to the top as one of the films I am anticipating the most. What do you think, does the remix of a John Wayne classic by The Coen Brothers sound like a good idea to you? Do you see the same Oscar potential in this as the original?

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Marilyn Manson and Nick Nolte to Star in Metaphysical Spaghetti Western

Sean — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:50:38 +0000

With Marilyn Manson's new album about to drop, it looks like his hopes of breaking into the movie industry still haven't quite panned out. His proposed Lewis Carroll biopic is stuck in limbo as far as I know, and he reportedly turned down the lead role in the upcoming remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He did manage to play the character of "Bartender" in Rise: Blood Hunter though, and now he is apparently set to star alongside Nick Nolte in a wacky project being described as a "metaphysical spaghetti western". Trust me... you can't make this stuff up. Screen Daily reports that Chilean auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky will return to the director's chair for the first time in 20 years with a movie called King Shot. The movie has picked up financing at Cannes and will likely shoot in Spain this October. The cast also includes Asia Argento and Udo Kier, and one of the producers is (who else?) David Lynch. The Hollywood Reporter adds that Marilyn Manson will "play a prophet in the Sin City-style film", which "has enough sex and violence to guarantee an NC-17 rating". I don't know anything about Jodorowsky's previous work, but based on the trailer for his movie Holy Mountain (embedded below), I'd say we're in for something awfully disturbing!

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Megan Fox Shore Is Purty Fer Jonah Hex

Wintle — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:40:10 +0000

I met with Sean for lunch the other day, and at one point we discussed that most ornery of movie blog topics; finding something to say about news that offers little in the way of meaningful dialogue. The example that came up was the recent behind-the-scenes pictures of Megan Fox on the set of the supernatural Western Jonah Hex. Since my job description basically entails covering the stories no one else wants, I figured I'd take a stab at it. Besides, I wanted to talk about Jonah Hex before I vamoose, if anyone even bothers reading past that link. Jonah Hex is one of my favourite comics. For the longest time it was as close as North American comics got to Spaghetti Westerns, with morally ambiguous characters, spidery artwork and a horribly disfigured hero among other oddities. Despite its peculiarities, Jonah Hex rarely dealt with the supernatural, though the gothic atmosphere certainly gave some people that impression. That's why I'm dreading this film as much as I am looking forward to it. I think Brolin is a great pick for the title character, but I'm worried the movie is going to be trading in atmosphere and grit for zombies and cheap thrills. What kind of Western do you prefer, if any? Please remember to phrase your comments in Wild West dialects.

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The Coen Brothers to Tackle True Grit Remake

Sean — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:46:17 +0000

It seems that in this day and age, even original filmmakers like the Coen Brothers are not immune to the remake bug. It has been confirmed that their next project (after A Serious Man, which is currently in post-production) will be a remake of Henry Hathaway's 1969 western True Grit. The original starred John Wayne as a hard-drinking, eye-patch wearing U.S. marshal who is hired to accompany a Texas Ranger into Indian territory to help a young girl track down her father's killer. Truth be told, this isn't the first time the Coens have tried their hand at a remake; The Ladykillers was also a remake of a 1955 film by Alexander Mackendrick starring Alec Guiness and Peter Sellers. This will be their first period western however, even though some of their previous flicks had western elements. James Mangold's remake of 3:10 to Yuma seems to have revitalized the western genre somewhat, with remakes of other classic westerns like High Noon also in development. According to Variety, the Coen Brothers will tell the story from the girl's point of view this time. Any fans of the original out there? Are you excited to see the Coens direct this?

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Quentin Tarantino Talks Changes and Additions for Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair

Sean — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:59:20 +0000

Well we've been hearing about it for years, but I think a lot of us have long since given up waiting for Quentin Tarantino's definitive combined cut of Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2. Now that Inglourious Basterds is in production, it's probably going to be at least another year before QT even has a chance to sit down and think about releasing the so-called "Whole Bloody Affair", but the good news is that it's still there, somewhere in the back of his mind. In a recent interview with The Quentin Tarantino Archives, he said that there is actually some new material being added in the form of a new 7-minute anime sequence, described as "The O-Ren Chapter". This confirms what Uma Thurman said last year about it. On top of that, however, there are also a number of small changes/additions that are being made to Kill Bill Vol. 1. (These are also reportedly in the Japanese uncut version of the film.)

Klingon proverb quote replaced with a dedication to Master Filmmaker Kinji Fukasaku
House of Blue Leaves fight in colour, much more blood and gore
Anime scenes are gorier
Sofie Fatale loses more limbs
No "baby" cliffhanger ending
Short (music-accompanied) intermission between two parts

For a more detailed comparison, check out Movie-Censorship.com. Anyway, it sounds like QT will be dangling this over our heads just a little bit longer. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

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John Carpenter’s The Prince: Unforgiven as a Gangster Flick?

Sean — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:52:11 +0000

It's been a long time since we've seen something new on the big screen from legendary horror director John Carpenter. Ghosts of Mars was his last theatrical release, and that was all the way back in 2001. Since then he has taken a long hiatus, for the most part content to simply cash cheques while other people remade his films. He did do a couple episodes for the Masters of Horror series on Showtime though, which may have shaken loose the cobwebs and inspired him to get back behind the camera. His next movie, currently in pre-production, will be Scared Straight starring Nicolas Cage. Aside from that, though, we've heard about all kinds of other possibilities on the horizon including a flick called L.A. Gothic, a graphic novel adaptation written by Steve Niles, and the long-rumoured Escape From Earth. Now we've got details about yet another movie in development by J.C. that is essentially "Unforgiven as a gangster movie". According to CHUD, Jeremy Passmore, co-writer/co-director of Special starring Michael Rapaport, has written a script for John Carpenter called The Prince (no relation to John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness). It's a crime movie about a former gangster in Las Vegas who is trying to lead a straight life, raising his daughter on his own. When she goes missing however, the trail leads back to his past life, and an ending that is "brutal and violent and dark". It sounds like this is probably just one of many projects on Carpenter's plate, and may not even get made, but I do find it interesting that it's another non-horror film. The mention of Unforgiven as an influence is pretty intriguing as well, since we all know that John Carpenter loves his westerns. Maybe he's decided to leave the horror genre to the young, up and coming filmmakers, and stake out some new territory instead?

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Sukiyaki Western Django Blu-ray Review

Sean — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:25:00 +0000

Sukiyaki Western Django Directed by: Takashi Miike Written by: Takashi Miike and Masa Nakamura Starring: Hideaki Ito, Masanobu Ando, Yusuke Iseya, Kaori Momoi, Quentin Tarantino If you're fan of both westerns and samurai films, then you're probably well aware that the two genres have a history of influencing each other. To be more specific, '60s westerns borrowed a lot of elements from the samurai films of the '50s, which in turn cribbed notes from the classical era westerns in the '40s. It's easy to see that they often deal with similar characters and themes, so when Japanese auteur Takaski Miike decided to create his own modern mash-up of spaghetti westerns and samurai flicks, it seemed like an appropriate and potent blend of styles. Truth be told, I wasn't really sure what I was getting into with Sukiyaki Western Django, and now that I've seen it, I'm still not quite sure what I got. It certainly delivers on the promise of paying homage to some of the movies and directors that Miike loves. However, as a whole, I can't say it really did much for me. Outside of some interesting visuals, the film is tedious and borderline incomprehensible, and feels like some sort of inside joke that I just didn't get. The story is essentially a remake of Sergio Corbucci's Django but transplanted to feudal Japan, where a mysterious gunman comes to town and finds two clans at war with each other for control of a legendary treasure. Both sides vie for his loyalty, but he ultimately has more to gain from playing them off against each other instead. Needless to say, a bloodbath ensues. Takashi Miike is recognized by some as the father of torture porn, having directed such horror flicks as Audition and Ichi The Killer, and it's no surprise that there's a fair amount of blood and gore here. As far as action goes, however, the movie is hit and miss. There are definitely some Sergio Leone-influenced stand-offs and epic gunfights, but also a lot of modern Asian action tricks and CG bullet time stuff that doesn't really mesh all that well together. The battle royale near the end with the gatling gun, and the one-on-one revolver vs sword showdown were somewhat exciting, but not enough to make up for the rest of the movie. Now I don't always think it's fair to criticize a foreign film for having non-English actors stumble through English dialogue, but in this case, it was clearly a stylistic decision by Miike and I think it was probably a mistake. It is very hard to follow what is being said because many of the actors are simply speaking phonetically (even Miike himself doesn't speak English), and although it is initially amusing, it really starts to drive you nuts after a while. It also doesn't help that the dialogue itself is somewhat nonsensical at times, but thankfully there are English subtitles (they don't seem to be enabled by default, which is weird because I believe they were included with the theatrical version of the film). While the involvement of Quentin Tarantino no doubt helped raise the profile of this movie, Tarantino fans will probably be disappointed to find out that his role is actually rather small. Trust me though... once you hear him attempt to adopt a Japanese accent speaking broken English, you'll be glad he's not on screen for longer than 10 minutes or so. Even though Tarantino's involvement is pretty limited, the movie does seem like another one of his patented retro b-movie tributes. Heck, there's even a weird animated interlude that comes out of nowhere. Perhaps if Tarantino had been on-board as an actual producer, he might have been able to inject a little more fun into the film (Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, while not exactly the same thing, are so much more enjoyable to watch than this). For me, the one redeeming aspect of this movie was the visuals. The oversaturated flashbacks have a really vibrant look to them, and the highlighted reds pop within the rest of the sepia-toned footage. The painted backdrops were a cool touch, and for the most part the costume designs are a creative mix of old and new styles. When all these elements come together on screen, it makes for some amazing imagery. During some of the film's more epic moments I was reminded of some of the recent films by Zhang Yimou like House of Flying Daggers or Curse of the Golden Flower. Sukiyaki Western Django is definitely a movie that is tailor-made for a very specific audience, and if you're a part of that audience, you may have a blast with it. It played as part of the Midnight Madness program at TIFF last year, and I can only assume that it went over like gangbusters there. Outside of that crowd and that atmosphere, however, there's a good chance this movie will only serve to test your patience. Still, if you're the type who seeks out oddball foreign films, this unique pastiche of genres and sensibilities might be just what you're looking for. Extras on the Blu-ray release include deleted scenes, a "making of" featurette that runs nearly an hour long, and a digital copy for portable media devices. -- Sean

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Sam Mendes to Direct Preacher: The Movie

Sean — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:01:54 +0000

Big news this week for fans of Vertigo Comics... specifically Garth Ennis' Preacher series. Once upon a time, Preacher was headed to the big screen with James Marsden and Samuel L. Jackson set to star. Unfortunately that project fell through (check out some early character designs), but then HBO optioned the property as a potential TV series. It sounded promising, until it was recently confirmed by writer Mark Steven Johnson that the project was, once again, basically dead in the water. He did, however, say that there was still hope on the horizon for a Preacher feature... so to speak. And it looks like he was right. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news today that Columbia Pictures have picked up the rights to the comic, and Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) has signed on to direct. Neal Moritz (The Fast and the Furious, I Am Legend) is producing along with Jason Netter (Wanted). No word on a cast or a screenwriter as of yet. This is certainly among my top choices for comics I would love to see adapted, although I don't want to get my hopes up too soon. Something tells me that the movie is just too controversial to be done properly. This is supposedly the reason that HBO eventually let it go, and if something is too controversial for HBO, what are the odds a big studio will actually see it through to completion? Let's keep our fingers crossed.

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Hell Ride DVD Review

Sean — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:31:18 +0000

Hell Ride (DVD) Written and Directed by: Larry Bishop Starring: Larry Bishop, Michael Madsen, Eric Balfour, Dennis Hopper, Vinnie Jones, David Carradine With Quentin Tarantino routinely taking a good 3 or 4 years in between directorial projects, it's understandable that his fans would be clamoring for just about every little movie that the man chooses to associate himself with. Indeed, he has become a fairly reliable brand name in the industry: simply slap Quentin Tarantino on a movie poster and watch the box office respond in kind. Except... well, there was that whole Grindhouse debacle last year, and although his "Quentin Tarantino Presents..." banner started with relatively successful movies like Hero and Hostel, it has since been applied to Hostel: Part II and Killshot (a movie with so much negative buzz that it has sat in limbo without release since 2006). Now comes Larry Bishop's Hell Ride, another retro love letter to the genre films of yesteryear with Quentin Tarantino executive producing. The difference here is that Bishop himself was the star of a number of late '60s/early '70s exploitation biker flicks (including The Savage Seven and Angel Unchained), and he brings a certain level of authenticity to the project. Tarantino got a chance to meet Bishop through producer Laura Cayouette, and told him that it was his "destiny" to write and direct the best biker movie ever made. Five or so years later, Hell Ride was born. Now I'm no expert on biker movies, but it seems to me that Hell Ride has managed to miss the mark in a pretty big way (although it's certainly not for lack of trying). Bishop and Tarantino assembled a downright bad ass cast for Hell Ride, including Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, David Carradine and Dennis Hopper. How is it possible to have so much machismo on screen, and yet ultimately deliver very little in the way of interesting action or dialogue? Sure, they all have cool nicknames like "The Gent", "Eddie Zero" and "The Deuce", but the characters have very little to distinguish themselves from each other, and the back story is a bit confusing, if not downright boring. Bishop himself stars as Pistolero, the leader of the Victors, who is seeking vengeance for the death of his main squeeze at the hands of rival gang the 666ers. However, there is also a secret revealed about the young one they call Comanche (Eric Balfour) that complicates things. For the most part, I had no idea who was fighting who or why in this movie. I understood the general revenge plot, but there was also a promise to protect a mysterious stash, and the threat of mutiny as well. There seemed to be a lot of double crossing going on, but I didn't understand why. True to the genre, the movie has plenty of sex and violence, which might be enough for some viewers. However, with a slow pace that seems to be trying to emulate Sergio Leone, the movie just isn't nearly as fun as I thought it should have been. The dialogue in particular is laughably bad. It felt like Bishop was trying to inject some Tarantino wit into the script, but it's painful to watch line after line come across more clunky than campy. (Actual quote: "Your thoughtfulness has given me the burning bush. Glad to have the fire marshall arrive on the scene. Extinguish the fire, Mr. Fire Chief. How about we get that fire hose out?") I will admit that it is enjoyable to watch both Michael Madsen and Dennis Hopper when they are on screen since they somehow manage to take their ridiculous lines and still have fun with them, but Bishop seems to be taking things maybe a little too seriously for his own good. It's also hard not to raise an eyebrow when you realize that his own character is written in such a way that he is either nailing hot chicks or turning them down in almost every single scene. The recent FX series Sons of Anarchy is a serious crime drama and looks at biker gangs in terms of organized crime rings, but Hell Ride certainly makes no such claims. It is a throwback to an era gone by and subscribes to a theory of style over substance, but unfortunately the style isn't all that captivating either. Seeing every character introduced with a freeze frame and a caption displaying their nickname gets old after the first few times. I was reminded of both Tony Scott's Domino (not all that surprising considering it was a favourite of Tarantino's), and Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects, both movies that seemingly proclaim themselves to be a lot cooler than they really are. On the plus side, Hell Ride does actually look really nice, although in some ways it betrays the retro grindhouse feel; cinematographer Scott Kevan has also worked on Death Race and Stomp The Yard. The soundtrack was also pretty decent, with a collection of cool surf and '60s rock and roll tunes not unlike Pulp Fiction or Desperado. Ultimately your love for this movie will depend on whether or not you see Larry Bishop as the real deal (ie. an auteur with talent), or just one of Tarantino's idols who was given a shot that he didn't really deserve. The DVD is filled with plenty of extras including an audio commentary track with Bishop and Scott Kevan, and a number of featurettes detailing The Making Of Hell Ride, plus the Babes, Guys and Choppers seen in the film. Last but not least, we also get exclusive access to Michael Madsen's Video Diary! Sweet deal. Some of these things may go a long way to convincing you that Bishop is a man with a vision, but I'm still not completely sold on the movie. If you ask me, it made for a much better trailer than feature film, and as pathetic as this might sound, the whole time I couldn't help wishing that Tarantino had simply wrote and directed the thing himself. But hey, if it helps any, I think the DVD just might have the coolest artwork I've seen this year! -- Sean

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Josh Brolin is Jonah Hex?

Sean — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:09:30 +0000

Here's comic book casting rumour #2 this morning. It has been previously announced that Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the duo behind Crank and Pathology, are going to be directing a Johah Hex movie based on the DC Comic book about an outlaw gunslinger with a scarred face. When a conceptual image of Thomas Jane as Hex appeared online earlier this year, everyone thought the role had been locked down. As it turns out, the image was completely fabricated. Now Hollywood Elsewhere has a possible scoop on the role of Jonah Hex, and according to their source, Josh Brolin has just signed on the dotted line. (Brolin's rep is, however, currently denying it.) We all know that Josh Brolin has had a pretty amazing year, rising back to fame after performances in such movies as Planet Terror, No Country for Old Men, American Gangster and now W. Is Jonah Hex just the icing on the cake? It certainly won't be the biggest comic book blockbuster, but it could be a pretty cool role for him. And I don't doubt for a second that studios are now desperate to talk to him about any role they have involving a cowboy hat. What are your thoughts on Brolin as Jonah Hex?

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