Thursday, October 13, 2022
Natural Born Killers - WB 20 Film Collection Thrillers
- Commentary: Yeow! I had never seen this movie before! What a production! What a statement! I love it, unabashedly. Kudos, Oliver Stone! You continually surprise and delight me! I'll certainly be watching this one again!
One of the more insteresting aspects of this film is the number of stellar actors that Oliver Stone was able to draw into the production. In addition to all the well known actors who played thoroughly credited roles, there are (at least) four actors who appeared only in the Director's Cut (which is the edition I have) and at least four actors who simply participated without credit. All these actors are represented in their own sections in the table below.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Woody Harrelson Mickey Knox Juliette Lewis Mallory Wilson Knox Robert Downey Jr. Wayne Gale Tom Sizemore Det. Jack Scagnetti Tommy Lee Jones Warden Dwight McClusky Rodney Dangerfield Ed Wilson Edie McClurg Mrs. Wilson Sean Stone Kevin Wilson Russell Means Old Indian Man Lanny Flaherty Earl Evan Handler David Balthazar Getty Gas station attendant Director's Cut Actors Ashley Judd Grace Mulberry Rachel Ticotin Prosecutor Wanda Bisbing Peter & David Paul Simon and Norman Hun Denis Leary & Bret Hart prison inmates Notable Uncredited Actors James Gammon Redneck Buddy Mark Harmon Mickey Knox (TV) Adrien Brody David Pasquesi Arliss Howard Owen Traft
Originally published in this journal on 081416.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1994
Directed by Oliver Stone.
Labels: gang-movie, oliver-stone, robert-downey-jr, tommy-lee-jones, woody-harrelson
Thursday, June 09, 2022
No Country for Old Men
- Commentary: This movie definitely captured the imagination of film critics. On RogerEbert.com alone, articles of commentary bleed into a second page.
I've seen the movie more than once. For me, it's both disturbing and revelatory. It comes to my mind a fair amount. Which is why I decided to add it to my collection. More, later, when I watch it, yet again, without having to check it out of the library this time, or scour the few channels to which I have access to see if anyone's playing it.
Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Tommy Lee Jones Ed Tom Bell Javier Bardem Anton Chigurh Josh Brolin Llewelyn Moss Woody Harrelson Carson Wells Kelly Macdonald Carla Jean Moss Garret Dillahunt Wendell Tess Harper Loretta Bell Barry Corbin Ellis
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2007
Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen.
Labels: josh-brolin, neo-noirC, revisionist-western, thriller3, tommy-lee-jones, woody-harrelson
War for the Planet of the Apes
- Commentary: This final Planet of the Apes reboot is probably the hardest to follow. Apes and humans have engaged in an all out war. The war, itself, is blamed, simultaneously, on bad human actors, bad ape actors and, well, inevitability, which is what mars the events portrayed in the film. About half the war is between two arms of the military against one another, one of which is holding the apes captive. It is hard to determine, frankly, if the second branch of the military is ape friendly or if that even matters.
At any rate, Caesar's dies at the end of this movie, thus bringing his biography to an end, as well. The apes as a group, however, survive and look forward to continued existence.
There has been talk about a fourth Planet of the Apes Reboot film. I'm not sure this is necessary, or even desirable. It will have to be a damned good one, taking a completely different trajectory, thus requiring some super thoughtful creativity. If you've watched the initial Planet of the Apes Sextilogy, you'll know that the movies declined in quality and thoughtfulness as the stories continued. I hope that isn't the fate of this Planet of the Apes Reboot.
Finally, once again, here are the results of my search crawl on RogerEbert.com for, simply, "Planet of the Apes movies". It pulled a lot of material, continuing on to a second page. Go ahead. Click and try it yourself. I'll bet there are even more articles on these movies than there were on 8/7/21, when I performed my crawl. These movies, the old ones, the middle one by Tim Burton, the "new" ones seem to be endlessly fascinating to our species, even as we are creating them, ourselves. Ver-r-r-r-(roll that "r")y Inter-r-restingk!
Update 6/9/2022: This post was originally published on 1/16/2021 but disappeared from public view. I am now reinstating it.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Andy Serkis Caesar Woody Harrelson The Colonel Steve Zahn Bad Ape Toby Kebbell Kobo Gabriel Chavarria Preacher Judy Greer Cornelia Karin Konoval Maurice Terry Notary Rocket Michael Adamthwaite Luca Ty Olsson Red Devyn Dalton Cornelius Sara Canning Lake Aleks Paunovic Winter Amiah Miller Nova Max Lloyd-Jones Blue Eyes Roger Cross Rod Wilson
Here's the Wikipedia write-up on this movie.
Release Date: 2017
Directed by Matt Reeves.
Labels: action2, adventure2, andy-serkis, animal, biography1, cgi-animation, drama2, military, popcorn-and-soda1, science-fiction1, super-hero1, tragedy1, violence1, war1, woody-harrelson
Friday, April 22, 2022
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Commentary: Under construction.
This is yet another movie that warranted two dedicated write-ups at Roger Ebert's website [the first review is linked to the title of this post, the second is immediately previous to this bracketed phrase] and several mentions in further articles about festival nominees and winners.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Frances McDormand Mildred Hayes Woody Harrelson Bill Willoughby Sam Rockwell Jason Dixon Abbie Cornish Anne Willoughby Lucas Hedges Robbie Hayes Željko Ivanek Cedric Connolly John Hawkes Charlie Hayes Peter Dinklage James
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2017
Directed by Martin McDonagh.
Labels: §4, detective1, john-hawkes, peter-dinklage, woody-harrelson, željko-ivanek
