JERED LETO IS HITCHING A CROSS-COUNTRY RIDE WITH DANNY GLOVER AND DENNIS QUAID IS TRACKING A SERIAL KILLER IN "SWITCHBACK" (1997)

 

About ten years or a little less after his masterful script for the original Die Hard movie, Jeb Stuart got his first outing as writer and director with this often-slimed action thriller. I say often slimed because not many a good review has been garnered through the years and many potshots, tomatoes and slime has been slung it's way. Sure, it's not an instant classic leaving a lot to be desired with pacing, a bit of a mixed-up plot and oh god, Dennis Quaid but I'm here to tell ya this is a more than adequate thriller with a lot of pluses like photography and one great, actually one of my favorite Danny Glover performances. In a roundabout way the film is part crime thriller, part road trip, part murder mystery and part train movie. 

Jered Leto and Glover work great together and the pair really are the film's protagonists. R Lee Ermey really proved he could act in this after his drill sargeant natural in Full Metal Jacket. The always enjoyable William Fitchner rounds out a great cast which includes Ted Levine and Leo Burmester. 

Give this one a shot if you haven't seen it before, currently streams on Starz, Direct TV and all VOD outlets.  3.0 stars/5

JOHN BOYEGA IS "BREAKING" (2022) INTO A BANK - IS THIS REALLY A MODERN VERSION OF DOG DAY AFTERNOON?

 

BREAKING heralds its arrival as a modern day version of Dog Day Afternoon, the 1973 bank robbery movie with Al Pacino. While it makes a gallant attempt, those are pretty big shoes to fill and it's doubtful that fifty years from now BREAKING will be remembered on any level even close to Dog Day. Nonetheless, British actor extraordinaire John Boyega gives an admirable performance as a hostage-taking robber who simply wants eight hundred dollars the VA took from him by error to be put back into his account. 

Of course all this brings out the SWAT team and a laid-back negotiator played by Michael K Williams.  With the robber also involving a news anchor, his ex wife and the bank manager in his ordeal, the race is on to diffuse the situation. 

The movie is just a tad too chatty for a bank robbery flick, it seems to want to be more of a character driven piece. I may have stuck at least one or two more action oriented scenes in. Still, it's more than a worthy addition to the bank robbery genre. BREAKING is available on all the VOD outlets.  3.0 stars/5

DAVID LYNCH TELLS "THE STRAIGHT STORY" (1999) FOR A CHANGE IN THIS DISNEY CHARMER STARRING RICHARD FARNSWORTH IN HIS FINAL ROLE

 

David Lynch directs Disney? That's right and what a film it is. 

Richard Farnsworth in his final role plays the true story of Alvin Straight, an elderly man determined to ride a lawnmower across Iowa to Wisconsin. He's trying to visit his brother who just had a stroke and mend their broken relationship before they die. Farnsworth was dying from terminal cancer during shooting and threw himself headlong into what he knew was his last performance and earned a well- deserved Oscar nomination. 

Sissy Spacek is also awesome in this and it seems the professional reviews through the years haven't mentioned that enough. Gorgeous cinematography and a dreamy score by Angelo Badalamenti round out a film that really it's hard to say anything bad about. G-rated and suitable for the whole darn family plus a great pick for a diverse crowd (like Thanksgiving lol) to please the whole room. Straight Story is of course available with a Disney subscription but also on all the VOD outlets. Enjoy, it's a must-see.  5 stars/5

TAR (2022) - I'M A BIG TODD FIELD FAN BUT SOMEHOW I DIDN'T SEE THE SAME FILM EVERYONE ELSE DID

 

Never in a million years would I have thought I would land up jumping ship on a Todd Field movie. But alas it did happen - I hit the stop button about ten minutes before the end. Brilliantly directed no one can deny but I just could not get into this character. I wouldn't care if she was a conductor or lead singer for a rock band. Nor would I care if she's male, female, straight or lesbian. I just could not find anything to latch on with her character, no idea of what she wanted, where she was going, her background, nothing. It's as if I was watching a documentary on a famous conductor but with actors.

There are not many directors who can say they put out a movie and instantly the accolades and award nominations start flowing like manna from the sky. But this was and is the case with Field. I thought In The Bedroom was a brilliant achievement. He got two incredible performances out of Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson on that one. Little Children was excellent especially Winslett and Patrick Wilson but the whole inclusion of the sex offender character in the movie and particularly the ending was unsettling. Now with Tar comes a character I can't get into that also has some ugly sexual stuff going on. Even with Blanchett's obviously incredible performance there are so many other appeasable (or not) characters she could play. As far as masculine roles like this one strives for I could see her doing something amazing with a remake of The Conversation and her as a female Harry Caul character. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Anyways, that's my take on it, obviously I'm a little disappointed. I feel like a Peter Gabriel fan who's waited 16 years for an album to finally come out which I don't like and the last one wasn't that great to begin with. Objectively, I'll go 4 stars on it, in my heart more like 1.5.

TWO OF JON VOIGHT's BEST MOVIES ARE STREAMING ON TUBI NOW - THE ODESSA FILE (1974) & RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985)

 Peter Miller (Jon Voight) is a freelance reporter who obtains an old diary left by a Holocaust survivor. In it are written his experiences in a certain concentration camp and the atrocities committed by one Edward Roschmann also known as The Butcher (Maximillian Schell.) Miller decides to try and find him and bring him to justice but there's a much stronger motive that's revealed later. 

I don't think many people realize what a well-done film this is. Filmed almost entirely on location in Germany as Miller's quest leads him on an increasingly dangerous mission. Mary Tamm, a seasoned British actress plays Miller's girlfriend and her performance borders on Oscar-worthy. The climatic scene when Miller finally confronts Roschmann is done in a wonderfully long take, the banter between Voight and Schell a wonder to behold. Factor in a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and you have one of the true cinematic gems of the seventies. A must-watch for fans of espionage action thrillers.  4.5 stars/5

 
The origins of Runaway Train actually date back to the mid-'60's and was orginally conceived by a Japanese director. Several times the film came very close to being made only to be, no pun intended, derailed. In 1982, the company that owned the rights asked Francis Ford Coppola to suggest a director and Coppola recommended a friend, acclaimed Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky. Andrei knew Jon Voight which is how he became attached. 

Both Voight and Eric Roberts were nominated for Oscars, this may be Voight's all-time best next to Midnight Cowboy. He totally becomes his character, Manny, a truly hardened criminal. Most of the film is actually filmed in Montana and I was surprised to learn all the train interiors were done in LA. Also majorly worth mentioning is John P Ryan as the warden Ranken hell-bent on stopping Manny and the runaway train. One of those films that just hits all the marks perfectly.   4.0 stars/5

ONE MORE - Another early '70's Jon Voight incredible performance was his take on Pat Conway a true story of a teacher that made a significant impact on poverty-stricken children on an island off South Carolina. Hard to find but You Tube has one up below.    

Conrack  4.0 stars/5

AUBREY PLAZA HITS ONE RIGHT OUT OF THE PARK WITH A THRILLING PERFORMANCE IN JOHN PATTON FORD's ENGAGING "EMILY THE CRIMINAL" (2022)

 

Aubrey Plaza absolutely kills it in this story about a student saddled with debt and unable to find work who starts working for some credit card scammers. Acting as a dummy shopper she purchases increasingly risky goods and gets in deeper and deeper with the thugs until she decides to just run her own operation. But even though she's great at what she does, that doesn't mean she's without her internal struggles and Plaza's brilliant performance brings this all out in perfection. 

It's also nice when a first-time director succeeds so admirably and you can bet we'll be keeping an eye on what John Patton Ford will be creating in the future. As an old fart I must say I am really starting to dig a lot of the new generation of filmmakers. The Safdie Brothers, Sean Bakers and Edgar Wright's of this world make me still believe in the future of cinema among all the Marvel super hero bullshit. 

Emily The Criminal is currently streaming on Netflix, all VOD outlets and is also on sale for only five dollars on Vudu this weekend only. Trust me, you'll want to watch it a second, third and who knows how many times. Makes a great double feature with David Mackensie's Hell Or High Water.  3.75 stars/5

JULES WILLOX FINDS HERSELF "ALONE" (2020) ON THE ROAD IN THE WOODS WITH A PSYCHOPATH IN THIS WELL DONE SURVIVALIST THRILLER

 

Deep in the Pacific Northwest, recently widowed lady Jessica (Jules Willcox) is trying to flee the city. It's a decision she'll soon regret when her little road trip gets caught in the crosshairs of "the man" also known as just Sam (Marc Menchaca.) Sam's trying to perfect the art of creepy stalking and first torments Jessica on the road before eventually capturing her for some fun in the basement. She eventually escapes to the woods for a nicely done third act. Will she ultimately evade her pesky tormentor or will Sam the man win? It's worth finding out in this taught and tidy thriller that wastes no time with mindless subplots. 

Unlucky to have come out during a time when nobody was going to the movies, it's a bit of a dirty shame. Had this been released during a more traditional movie buying phase I'm sure it would have done much better financially. This is validated by it's streaming record, most rented on Google Play and others. Currently streams on Hulu and all the VOD outlets. The genre may be overplayed to hell and back but when it's done right like this flick it just proves people still love a good survival story.  3.0 stars/5