Gareth Evans is pretty much the director who helped usher in the latest renaissance in action films. His films show that action can be done without reling on quick cuts and fast edits. Gone are the days of Christopher Nolan staged fight scenes that shows no life whatsoever and the nausea-inducing edits by Paul Green grass in his Bourne franchise.
Well-known for his work in Indonesia, especially with the Raid franchise, Gareth Evans is now trying his hand in something a bit different, but still looks to be in his wheelhouse. This time around it’s through the largesse of Netflix that he will be making his next project titled Apostle.
The film has been under the radar throughout much of its production and post-production, but with less than a month remaining til it’s October release, Apostle may have just become one of my most anticipated films of the year.
With a cast headlined by Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen, Apostle looks to combine Evans’ stylistic action with period horror. Will the combination be a balanced mix or will it be too much of a good thing and the whole thing falls apart? We’ll find out on October 12, 2018.
I like this video because the story it tells can be viewed either negatively or positively.
Now, if you take a literal interpretation, it would appear that the video details not only a possible demonic possession but also an intergalactic invasion of some sort. I mean, when graffiti comes to life, it’s probably reasonable to be a little bit concerned. I guess it depends on how good the artists are in your area.
However, I tend to view the video much more positively, as a celebration of the vibrancy of music, art, and freedom! Myself, whenever I watch this video, I want to go out and dance in the middle of the night. Actually, I do that most nights anyway but still, this video always puts me in a good mood.
(Or an even better mood, as the case may be.)
How you view it will probably depend on how pessimistic or optimistic you are right now.
I hope everyone is safe and dry as this week comes to a close. Hurricane Florence has been pounding both the Carolinas and Virginia, the home of not only TSL contributor of Patrick Smith but also several of our readers! All of you are in the thoughts of the Shattered Lens.
Captive State is the latest science fiction epic from director Rupert Wyatt. Wyatt previously proved himself with Rise of the Planet of the Apes so I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with the story of an Earth that has been taken over by aliens. Captive State will be released in March of 2019.
Harmony Korine returns to the beach with The Beach Bum. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron, and Snoop Dogg, this appears to be an unexpectedly light-hearted film from the mind behind Kids, Gummo, and Spring Breakers. The Beach Bum will be released on March 22nd.
Judging from the trailer, The Boat appears to be Christine-in-the-water. The Boat will be released on September 22nd.
Finally, a legendary punk rocker struggles to stay sober in Her Smell. Judging from this teaser, it does not appear to be working.
It feels like it’s been awhile since out Latvian friends at Kus! unleashed a new foursome of Mini Kus! releases an an always-undeserving world, but fear not, they’re back with their latest set (#s 67-70, respectively, priced at $6 each — but I’ll hook you up with a link to buy them all together at a package discount price at the end of this Round-Up column), and I was particularly excited to check these out since they’re all by cartoonists whose work I’m more or less entirely unfamiliar with. Let’s see if they managed to make a fan of this grizzled old comics veteran —
First up is Mariana Pita’s Day Tour, an intriguing little story about the joys of doing nothing versus the sheer effort it takes to do even the most simple things sometimes. It’s an ambiguous tale, and in the end you’re left to wonder whether…
18 and Life was based on a true story, about an 18 year-old boy who accidentally shot his best friend with a gun that he thought he was unloaded and who was given a life sentence as a result. Did the video do justice to the real-life tragedy? Let’s break it down.
0:01 — The video starts in prison, with the usual tracking shot of men smoking behind bars. Ricky is already serving his sentence, thinking about how his life got so messed up.
0:27 — At the time this song was recorded, Sebastian Bach was Skid Row’s lead singer. In 1996, Bach was fired from Skid Row when he suggested they accept the opening spot on KISS’s latest tour.
0:45 — Ricky ends up on the patio, where his best friend is waiting for him. Fortunately, Ricky has not been injured by all of that broken glass so, after saluting his father, he and his friend go off to have some fun, 80s style.
1:16 — Secret handshakes, 80s style!.
1:27 — Hanging out, 80s style!
1:31 — Setting shit on fire, 80s style!
1:39 — Breaking and entering, 80s style!
1:46 — Shooting liquor bottles in an alley, 80s style!
1:51 — Not following common sense gun safety rules, 80s style!
2:00 — Wasting your life away in prison, 80s style!
2:09 — Vandalism, 80s style!
2:18 — Ricky is Tipper Gore’s worst nightmare.
2:23 — They’re back to playing with the gun. Will these youngsters never learn?
2:34 — Is his friend begging or daring Ricky to shoot him? This part of the video is open to interpretation. In real life, the shooting happened because the gun was believed to be empty but, in this video, they’ve both been firing gun so they both know it’s loaded.
2:35 — Ricky has obviously read Watchmen, but he probably still doesn’t understand why Richard Nixon was still the president.
2:53 — Ricky shoots his only friend. But why? Ricky does not look shocked and we saw him firing the gun earlier so there is no reason to believe that Ricky, unlike the real person who inspired this song, didn’t know it was loaded. Was Ricky crazy? Was Ricky angry? Or was Ricky just stupid?
3:13 — Ricky throws his gun into the fire, which has been raging for at least two days now.
3:26 — In 2017, Sebastian Bach announced that he was having a “singing-related” hernia operation because, in his own words, he literally “sang my guts out.”
3:37 — In prison, Ricky ponders how different his life would have been if he wasn’t an idiot.
3:49 — Did anyone ever put out that fire? It looked serious.
This video was directed by Wayne Isham, who has been everyone’s go-to video director for decades. The song was Skid Row’s biggest hit and it was also the most played video on MTV in 1989.
Clint Eastwood returned to America after his amazing success in Sergio Leone’s Man With No Name Trilogy as a star to be reckoned with, forming his own production company (Malpaso) and filming HANG ‘EM HIGH, a Spaghetti-flavored Western in theme and construction. Clint was taking no chances here, surrounding himself with an all-star cast of character actors and a director he trusted, and the result was box office gold, cementing his status as a top star.
Clint plays ex-lawman Jed Cooper, who we meet driving a herd of cattle he just purchased (reminding us of his days on TV’s RAWHIDE). A posse of nine men ride up on him and accuse him of rustling and murder, appointing themselves judge, jury, and executioner, and hang him. He’s left for dead, until Marshal Dave Bliss comes along and cuts him down, taking Jed prisoner and transporting him to nearby Ft. Grant. Evidence…
Through the Shattered Lens 