Midnight Movie of the Week #187 - Red Rock West

I know what my film history professors in college taught me. (Well, I know most parts of it. I wasn't buying all they had to offer.) I know that, according to them and an article by Paul Schrader, film noir was a movement and not a genre. It lasted from The Maltese Falcon through Touch of Evil, and then it was done. According to them, nothing else is noir.

I don't mean to quibble with a professor who had a hand fetish and the writer of Taxi Driver, but there a few movies I've seen since then that make me think of Sam Spade or a Mexican Charlton Heston; movies that make me think I should never trust attractive women and movies that make me assume there's at least one sociopathic killer in every bar. The trendy thing to say about these movies is that they're "neo-noir" - which implies to me that they're inferior knock offs of film noir - but every once in a while one of these films hits all the right notes and makes me reconsider what I was once taught. (Which, of course, is something we should always do anyway. Hooray for contrarianism!)

(Is contrarianism even a word? If not, I call dibs on inventing it.)

Which brings us to today's film, Red Rock West. Directed by John Dahl (who also co-wrote the film with his brother Rick), it's a deadly game between an honest man, a deadly man, a corrupt man, and...a woman. Being noir (or at the least noiresque), it's not fair for me to put a qualifier on the woman character. Is she honest? Is she deadly? Is she corrupt? You could shake a Magic 8 Ball and get a more consistent answer than I could give you about the women of noir.  There's like five books I could write about them and I'd probably still miss several key points.

Nicolas Cage stars as Michael Williams, an ex-marine who is roaming the Wyoming countryside looking for work and stumbles into the middle of a murder scheme. Cage plays the character with his trademark twitch, but also stays true to that unhinged-yet-pure-hearted persona that he seemed to hit so well in the mid '90s. He gets caught up in that unrewarding cycle of trying to do the right thing, with his biggest mistake being that he accidentally accepts a gig as a professional killer. He thought the guy needed a bartender, but instead the guy needed someone whacked. I'm sure this happens all the time. So remember: Don't forget to ask what the job you're accepting is before you accept it.

The man who mistakenly hires Michael is played by the late J.T. Walsh, one of the '90s sleaziest character actors, and his wife is played seductively by a young Lara Flynn Boyle, who embraces the role of femme fatale with ease. Their dynamic with Cage's character allows for plenty of great interactions as the drifter tries to find the easiest exit from the small town of Red Rock that is left for him. The plot survives thanks to Michael's extreme string of bad luck, particularly when he stumbles into the film's most unhinged character - Lyle from Dallas, the hitman who Michael accidentally impersonated who is played by no less than Dennis Hopper.

By this point in his career anyone who loves dark cinema had seen what Hopper is capable of, and his turn as the killer here steals scenes throughout the film. He's not as crazy as he was in films like Blue Velvet, instead making Lyle seem like a relatively smart guy who just really enjoys money and killing. While all four of the film's stars are excellent - this is one of the most fantastic casting jobs I can think of in a movie - it's Hopper's energy in his scenes that really keeps Red Rock West feeling dangerous and exciting. Thanks to him we feel even more sympathy for our down on his luck hero, and at times he even makes us feel a little sympathy for Wayne and Suzanne, despite their attempts to kill each other.

Red Rock West doesn't look like the traditional noir - or the traditional midnight movie, to be honest - but it's so well-plotted by Dahl and so well acted by the cast that it overcomes all the cliches with ease. It's a little-movie-that-could, one that was even sold to HBO and premiered on cable before getting picked up and distributed theatrically, but it has always jumped off the screen at me as a truly special pulp thriller. Above all else, it's my favorite argument toward the idea that maybe noir didn't die off for good in 1958. The rain and the overcoats are (mostly) gone, but Red Rock West still feels like it belongs next to some of Hollywood's darkest crime stories.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

(2012, Dir. by Neveldine/Taylor.)

In a sequel almost nobody - save Nic Cage and some dudes at Marvel who like money - wanted, Johnny Blaze returns to the big screen for another fiery ride.  This time it's called Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and it's a sequel that wants nothing to do with its big budget predecessor.  It brings back Cage - mostly because Cage is the biggest Ghost Rider fan alive AND likes money because he has to pay for his burial pyramid - but cuts all other ties to Mark Steven Johnson's bland film.

This time the skullfire-on-wheels action is framed by the duo of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, who previously brought their hyperactive flair to the Crank films and the muddled, yet strangely captivating Gamer (don't hate, I dig it!).   The filmmakers left their mark on those films by featuring "balls-to-the-wall" action that feature no restraint, which made nudity, blood, random psychedelic cutscenes, and other acts of depravity the norm in their worlds.  A lot of people didn't like that about them, but I thought it was a blast - their films are basically video games that were filmed instead of rendered - which makes it slightly frustrating when you realize that Ghost Rider 2 has been edited down for a PG-13 rating.

Without the ability to go all the way, Neveldine/Taylor's film feels a little neutered.  It's particularly baffling too, as this is the second film released under the Marvel Knights banner that previously accompanied the uberviolent, R-rated Punisher: War Zone - a film that featured more arterial spray than most horror movies made in the new millennium.  This Marvel Knights production features a lot more dark moments than the first film did, but there are moments when the film cuts away from what could have been a brutal moment.  Perhaps the studio was worried that the first film pandered to children - which is a strange truth despite the devil-based plot - but I don't think this sequel will sell as well to the young crowd.

There's certainly more grit to this film, as the Rider looks a bit darker and a lot less cartoon-y than he did in the 2007 film.  The action takes on a supernatural tone again - especially when that Ciaran Hinds dude turns one of the bad guys into a creepy undead thing who's supposed to find a kid that might become the Antichrist - and there's plenty of night time battling with the flaming headed antihero doing his thing.  Oh yeah, and you get to see Ghost Rider urinating a stream of flame - if you're in to that kind of thing.

If there's a reason to see Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, it's certainly the star.  A lot of people are down on the overdramatic Mr. Cage, but he's pretty much my favorite thing Hollywood could do to any movie.  Heck, I once kind of defended that piece of excrement Wicker Man remake because of Cage's overacting.  Truthfully, I was a little disappointed by the lack of Cage Rage in this film.  There was one glorious mid-film scene that allowed Cage to go fully crazy, but there weren't enough moments like it.  In fact, I kinda thought the film was a little backward - the early part of the film featured a lot of Rider and not enough Cage, while the final scenes feature a ton of subdued Cage and not enough Rider.

With the directors' hands tied and Cage somewhat restrained, the whole movie just seems kinda pointless.  It was a fun ride - I'll watch it again before I watch the first Ghost Rider film again - but it doesn't have much going for it outside of the good-looking Eastern European setting and a decent cast (Idris Elba is a fun addition in a pivotal side role, and Violante Placido is nice to look at).  I'm not sure if it will please fans of the comic - I know next to nothing about Ghost Rider, except that Cage loves him - but it's little more than a passable diversion in what is generally blockbuster cinema's offseason.  You shouldn't waste your money on a 3D ticket price, but if you're interested you might have fun with the film as a rental if you really dig Cage Rage.  Even then, you're probably better off watching the more violent and more ballistic Drive Angry anyway.

Drive Angry

Ahem. *cough* Errr....excuse me.  I was supposed to put the poster there, wasn't I? Well then....

Just a moment....

OK.  Let's begin.

(2011, Dir. by Patrick Lussier.)

Oh, Nicolas Cage. Please, for my sake, never get out of debt.

Yeah, I know that most of you mock The Cage. And he's done some things to earn it, sure. But I still admire the heck out of him. Most veteran actors who need to earn a paycheck start phoning in their performances by the time they take the lead in something like Drive Angry, but Cage - true to the form he's exhibited in everything from The Wicker Man to Adaptation - never cuts corners.  He's as intense as ever in each role, and here - playing a escapee of Hell who's allegorically named John Milton who is trying to save a baby from a cult leader (Twilight's Billy Burke, the film's biggest misstep in casting) with the help of a young hottie (Amber Heard, whose posterior stars above).  In the meantime, he has to avoid a mysterious man who calls himself The Accountant (played by William Fichtner) who seems to also come from hell.

With all apologies to Belinda Carlisle, what follows is Hell on Earth for our characters.  Said Hell primarily takes the form of car chases and gun battles, some even take place while a gruff Cage chomps cigars, has clothed sex with a waitress he previously showed no interest in, and talks like Nicolas Cage.  Lussier and writer Todd Farmer again take joy in mixing chaos and full frontal nudity - also having used the technique (can I call that a "technique"?) in their remake of My Bloody Valentine - turning Drive Angry into an over the top action/horror film very quickly.  I probably should be as annoyed by their antics as I am by Hatchet II's, but the difference is that I find this film ridiculously fun, not bland and lifeless.  

Speaking of Hatchet II, it's one of many films I've seen in the past few years that claims to be throwback to films gone by - but Drive Angry is one of the few films I've seen that actually feels like an honest-to-goodness drive-in feature of years gone by.  Sure, it's shinier than those films were and was filmed in the dreaded 3D (I only saw the 2D version, thanks to my Igor-eyes 3D and I aren't friends), but the car chases, gun fights and satanic imagery are right out of the '70s.  And it's freakin' refreshing to see a good old fashioned Satan Cult film once again.  It is a lost topic in the new Hollywood, but I still believe modern horror took its biggest nosedive when the spiritual was separated from the supernatural.

That said, Drive Angry is not a straight horror film by any means.  Though it does deal with Satanic cults and even takes us into a CGI hell (literally, not metaphorically like in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie), the film is primarily about cars going fast until they crash and flip, with guns going off at random times.  It sounds stupid - and it is stupid - but the film is so tongue in cheek as it speeds through its plot that I couldn't help smiling.  Fichtner's turn as the agent of Satan is especially indicative of this, as he plays the role with a sly grin that makes some of his off hand comments and antics completely memorable.  If nothing else in the film sticks with you, I doubt the scene in which Fichtner speeds toward a police blockade with "That's The Way (uh huh, uh huh) I Like It" playing will fade from your mind quickly.  It's over-the-top cheese at its finest.

So yeah, I kind of loved Drive Angry.  It's not entirely defensible, and it could almost fall into that guilty pleasure category - if I believed in that kind of thing.  Cage gets to do over the top things in fast cars, Heard looks as good as ever and packs a solid punch once again, and Lussier and Farmer keep it light and fun throughout.  It's not great cinema, but I couldn't stop myself from running it through the DVD player twice. I'm a sucker for a double dose of cheese.

Midnight Movie of the Week #66 - Neil LaBute's The Wicker Man

I KNOW.  You're already clicking away from here, and I don't blame you.

No really, come back here.  This is no April Fool's joke, I swear.  Just stop being such a Kanye and lemme finish.....

Like you - if you're sane and awesome, that is - I adore The Wicker Man.  Yes, I'm talking about Robin Hardy's 1973 masterpiece, which saw the late Edward Woodward match moral wits with Christopher Lee on a strange potentially pagan island.  It is undoubtedly one of the most uinque, fascinating, intriguing, and memorable films ever made.  I need to be clear from the start here: I am in no way endorsing the idea that this version of The Wicker Man is a) a good remake of that film or b) a good movie.  But as its release nears a five year anniversary, I'd be remiss not to point out what the film has become.

This afternoon, I asked FMWL's Facebook likers and my own Twitter followers what movie they think is the last five years' version of Plan 9 From Outer Space.  If the reference doesn't work for you, what I felt I was asking is "What movie from the last five years do you feel is both terribly inept and at the same time as watchable as a gigantic train wreck can be?"

I got a few answers, most notably Tommy Wiseau's The Room, Uwe Boll's House of the Dead, The Happening, The Love Guru, and Ax 'Em.  At the same time, I was surprised to find that no one mentioned Birdemic: Shock and Terror, as I assumed it and The Room (which is actually from 2003, but became popular recently) to dominate the voting.  Along the way, I had most certainly already planned to cast my vote for LaBute's vision of The Wicker Man.

This Wicker Man is about as bad as you could expect a remake to be.  It loses the religious edge of its predecessors, lets Nic Cage hilariously overact his way through the third act, adds in a ton of random violence against women, and has the pacing of three Plan 9 From Outer Spaces.  Oh, and it takes on a useless teaser of a final scene (featuring recent Oscar nom James Franco, even!), just in case someone thought a DTV sequel would be in the future.  It takes every wrong step imaginable....and yet it's permeated nerd culture quickly.

Like Plan 9, the film's flaws - primarily regarding Cage's delivery of lines like "HOW'D IT GET BURNED?  HOW'D IT GET BURNED?" and "NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEES!!!" and the amount of spinkicks and bear-suited beatdowns he delivers to these freaky communal women - have become their own kind of beast and taken over several corners of nerd culture.  The former Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew quickly took a shot at the film through their Rifftrax enterprise, while animated gifs of Cage's bear suit antics quickly spread across message boards.  When YouTube became a sensation, clips of the film - including remixes of Cage's dialogue and hordes of imitators followed.  LaBute's film was even extended for DVD, letting in the now infamous "Not the Bees" - which was only heard and not seen in the theatrical version - loose upon us all.

The presence of Cage - the former Oscar winner and blockbuster action hero - only strengthens the connection to Ed Wood's "masterpiece" in my eyes.  Though it was unknown at the time, Cage spent much of the last decade fighting financial demons which lead to the actor filing for bankruptcy within the last couple of years.  Cage's path to The Wicker Man parallels the presence of the late Bela Lugosi - who also a big name that had fallen on hard times - in Wood's film.  The actor later admitted he realized the film was "absurd" while making it, and it's easy to see that when watching the film on screen.

Most fault Cage for where this Wicker Man ended up, and it's hard to defend his performance.  But I like to look at Cage's performance like I would look at the performance of a quarterback who's down by 30 points in the first quarter.  He had nothing to lose once things were out of control, and he had to finish the game.  Cage seems to be trying his hardest to make each line he reads seem increasingly dramatic and powerful, but the audience's interest is already gone from the derivative story, poor pacing, and ridiculous characters.  Cage is left as the most talented sailor on a sinking ship, and his frantic attempts to save the proceedings look comical to the onlooker who already knows that all are doomed.  Quite frankly, I don't think Nic Cage - as over-the-top as he is - is this movie's problem.  In fact, he's probably the best thing that could have happened to it; it'd be a footnote in remake history without his performance.

On the other hand, I can't imagine how LaBute thought anything he did with this film was a good idea.  The once acclaimed writer/director fashioned this film his own way, and the results can be seen as a misfire by even those unfamiliar with the original film.  This is a production that was certainly not needed, but LaBute dove in and started changing the pieces around to his liking anyway.  There's a lesson to be learned by all filmmakers trapped inside this version of The Wicker Man, and LaBute missed it entirely.  Instead, he offered up one of the most misguided films of recent memory - which only adds to the comedy value of the film that he thought should be taken seriously.

Again - this is a really, really, ridiculously bad movie.  I just finished rewatching it for this post, and I kind of want to call the whole thing off and say "Y'know what, eff The Wicker Man remake.  That flick is the worst thing I've ever seen".  But that's the beauty of a movie that's truly so bad it's good.  It leaves you intrigued by how anyone could get things so wrong, charmed by the ridiculous unintentional humor that's trapped within, and completely exhausted by how bad the whole thing is.  Those are the same feelings I get when I watch Plan 9 From Outer Space, and they are echoed completely by Neil LaBute's The Wicker Man.  And, as much as I hate to admit it, I kind of love the fact that a film can do that to me.

Long live the bees!

(By the way, I need to know - How DID it get burned??????)