I’m truly devastated to hear the David Lynch, one of the few true visionaries of our age, has passed away. His death was not totally unexpected. He had recently opened up about his health difficulties. But it’s still hard to believe that David Lynch is no longer with us. He was 78 years old and he was one of the best. I’m sure we all have much more to write and share about him in the future. For now, I’m still coming to terms with the news.
From What Did Jack Do?
What can I say about this 2004 action horror film that can do it justice at just how it perfectly represent what I call a “guilty pleasure”.
Van Helsing by Stephen Sommers (him being at his most Stephen Sommersist) was suppose to be a new action franchise with Hugh Jackman as it’s lead. One must remember that in 2004, Hugh Jackman was still at the height of his popularity as an action star with roles as Wolverine in the X-Men film franchise and, in another guilty pleasure of mine, Swordfish.
This film was suppose to catapult him to the stratosphere and taking the action star role from aging ones such as Arnold Schwarzenneger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis. Instead Stephen Sommers reached for that brass ring and failed, but did so with a mish-mash of horror properties blended haphazardly to give us a film that tried to be too much yet also not enough.
Hugh Jackman in the title role was more than game to try and prop up the film’s convoluted plot. Kate Beckinsale was stunning as usual and hamming it up in what I could only guess is here version of a Transylvanian accent. Even Richard Roxbrough in the role of Dracula, miscast as he seem to be in the role, gave a campy and scenery-chewing performance that his performance went past bad and circled back to being entertaining.
Yet, for all its flaws, I actually enjoy Van Helsing for what it was and that was a modern version of those Abbott and Costello mash-up with the Universal horror characters of the 40’s and 50’s. One cannot mistake this film on the same level as Nosferatu (Murnau, Herzog and Eggers versions) and Sommers definitely cannot be mistake for the three auteurs who had their own take on the abovementioned film. But Sommers does make thrilling, though some would say repetitive, action films.
Did I turn my brain off watching Van Helsing?
I sure did, but it still didn’t stop me from being entertained…and I cannot ever sat anything bad about a film with Kate Beckinsale in a tight black-red leather corset. It’s against some sort of law to do so.
Previous Guilty Pleasures
“Juuuuust a bit outside!”
Rest in peace, Bob Uecker, one of the great voices of baseball. Every team should have been as lucky as to have a broadcaster like Bob Uecker.
Here’s a new AMV to usher in my return (hopefully for much longer than before).
Song: Blinding Lights by The Weeknd
Anime: Call of the Night (Yofukashi no Uta)
Creator: Pyrothemusical (As always, if you enjoyed this video, we encourage you to subscribe to the creator’s channel and give them lots of likes and nice comments)
Past AMVs of the Day
They Live (1988, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)
Today, we continue to wish John Carpenter a truly happy birthday! Needless to say, today’s scene that I love comes from a Carpenter film, 1988’s They Live. Though They Live was apparently not a huge box office success when it was first released, it’s a film that feels more relevant with each passing day. Carpenter is often described as being a great horror director but, with this film and The Thing, he shows that he’s a master of capturing cinematic paranoia.
There’s definitely a reason why They Live continues to find new fans over 30 years since it was originally released. Who hasn’t experienced that secret message of “OBEY!”
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 77th birthday to one of this site’s favorite filmmakers and a patron saint of the independent spirit, the great John Carpenter!
In honor of the man and his legacy, here are….
6 Shots From 6 John Carpenter Films
Halloween (1978, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cudney)
The Fog (1980, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cudney)
Escape From New York (1981, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cundey)
The Thing (1982, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cundey)
Prince of Darkness (1987, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)
They Live (1988, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Gary B. Kibbe)
It’s always interesting to compare American films about the UK with the films made by the people who actually live there.
American films about the UK are all about meeting quirky people, visiting clean and brightly-lit castles, maybe falling in love with a member of royalty, and perhaps discovering that your father is actually a member of Parliament played by Colin Firth. If the action moves out of London or into Scotland or Wales, one cab be assured that it will involve an American having car trouble outside of a goat farm and then meeting an eccentric but handsome veterinarian. If the film takes place in Scotland, the veterinarian and his randy father will wear a kilt. The same thing will happen if the film is set in Wales because most Americans don’t know the difference between Scotland and Wales.
Films about the UK that are actually made in the UK tend to be visually moody and full of people dealing with economic uncertainty while living in depressingly tiny flats. The cities are often portrayed as being covered in graffiti and no one, not even the film’s hero, is ever particularly happy. British films about the UK are full of melancholy, rainy atmosphere and are often as violent as American films about the UK are quirky.
Dead Before They Wake takes place and was filmed in some of the darkest corners of Glasgow. Nathan Shepka plays Alex, a nightclub bouncer who occasionally takes on other jobs. He’s someone who knows how to handle himself in a fight and he often returns to his small and cramped home with split knuckles and a bruised face. At the same time, he’s also a loving son whose deaf and very ill father is in a retirement community. (His father encourages Alex to settle down and get married.) Outside of his father, the only person with whom he has an regular contact is Gemma (Grace Cordell), a teacher who moonlights as a stripper to make extra money. (That said, she still finds herself receiving an eviction notice.) Alex pays Gemma to have sex with him but it’s obvious that there’s something more to their relationship than just a transaction. They’re two people lost in an increasingly dark world.
Alex is approached by a shabby but well-intentioned attorney named Evan (Sylvester McCoy). Evan hires Alex to track down a 14 year-old girl who Evan believes has been abducted by a sex trafficking ring. The girl’s mother is a heroin addict. The girl’s father is a government official. Alex reluctantly takes the job and he soon manages to link the girl’s disappearance to a low-rent operation run by Amar (Manjot Sumal). Amar is someone who is very protective of his own teenage daughter but who has no problem with the idea of abducting girls who are the same age or younger and forcing them to work in his makeshift brothel. While Alex tries to find a way to infiltrate Amar’s operation, a mysterious man named Holden (Patrick Bergin) watches from the shadows.
Though the plot may remind some of Taken, Dead Before They Wake is far more thoughtful than any Liam Neeson’s admittedly entertaining thrillers. Alex is not a former secret agent with a precise set of skills. He’s just a tough guy who knows how to throw (and take) a punch and his investigation of Amar’s operation pushes him over the edge not because he’s trying to rescue a family member but because Alex is a human being who cannot believe or forgive the amount of depravity that he discovers during his investigation. Throughout the film, there are hints that Amar’s operation is actually fairly small-scale when compared to some of the others. A meeting with a representative of a national syndicate brings to mind the scandals of the late British DJ Jimmy Savile, who may not be well-known in the States but who, in the UK, became a symbol of depravity when it was revealed, after his death, that he was a prolific pedophile and sex abuser whose actions were largely ignored and sometimes even covered up by the British establishment.
Throughout Dead Before They Wake, there are scenes and details that establish that the film is more than just a revenge flick. Gemma’s struggle to survive financially is handled with sensitivity and Grace Cordell gives an authentic performance in the role. The scene where she tries to hide her growing fear upon learning that a picture of her dancing has appeared online and been seen by at least one of her students is wonderfully-acted. The film contrasts Alex’s small flat with the large home that is owned by Amar and the film opens with a disturbing scene that shows just how exactly Amar kidnaps the girls who he then gets hooked on drugs and forces to work for him. Dead Before They Wake is about much more than just action.
Dead Before They Wake does have its flaws. Towards the end of the film, we’re expected to believe that one character overlooked something so obvious that it momentarily makes it difficult for us to suspend our disbelief. But, for the most part, this is a disturbing and effective thriller, one that concludes on a proper note of Scottish melancholy.
I love watching movies that are filmed in my home state of Arkansas. We’ve had our share of big stars show up in the Natural State. Burt Reynolds, Billy Bob Thornton, Bill Paxton, Robert De Niro, Dennis Quaid, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise and Andy Griffith have all filmed really good movies here. Martin Scorsese directed one of his very first movies in southern Arkansas. It’s going to be fun revisiting some of my favorite Arkansas movies and sharing them with you!
I live out in the country in Saline County, Arkansas. Back in 1996, Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed and starred in a little film made right here called SLING BLADE (1996). It’s one of my favorite movies. Here’s a picture of our son and daughter sitting at the same table at Garry’s Drive-In Diner where Billy Bob Thornton and John Ritter sat in the movie.
Thornton stars as Karl Childers, a developmentally disabled man who was abused as a child by his parents and the other children in the community. At the age of 12, he murdered his mom and her teenage lover Jessie Dixon with a sling blade. After 30 years in the mental hospital, the state decides he’s no longer dangerous, so they give him his stack of books and send him on his way. Karl has no clue of how to get on with his life, but the administrator of the hospital (James Hampton) helps him get a job as a small engine mechanic in his hometown. Hanging out at the laundromat one day, Karl meets a boy named Frank (Lucas Black) and helps him carry his bags of clothes back to his house. The two become friends and start hanging out a lot together. Frank introduces Karl to his mom, Linda (Natalie Canerday), and her gay best friend and boss, Vaughan (John Ritter). Karl also meets Linda’s abusive and alcoholic boyfriend, Doyle (Dwight Yoakam). Karl grows to love Frank and Linda. When he witnesses a drunk Doyle’s abusive and threatening behavior towards Frank and Linda one night, Karl starts thinking that Doyle may really hurt his friends someday. He decides he’s going to make sure that can never happen.
First and foremost, I love SLING BLADE because of Billy Bob Thornton’s performance as Karl Childers. He had been developing the character of Karl for many years before the movie was made. He loved pulling “Karl” out when he was just hanging out and goofing around with his friends. He based his character on bits and pieces of so many different people in his life. As a native Arkansan, many of the words he says and the way he says them reminds me of different people I’ve known over the years. His opening monologue where he describes the murders of his mother and the young Jessie Dixon is a masterpiece in and of itself. Thornton created a truly unique character, and that’s extremely rare these days. It’s a performance for the ages and continues to inspire terrible imitations to this day!
The remainder of the cast in SLING BLADE is so good and natural. Lucas Black is phenomenal as Frank. Billy Bob Thornton has been asked how he got such a great performance from the then 12-year-old boy from Alabama. He says he didn’t get that performance; that’s just the kind of actor Lucas Black is. The relationship between Karl and Frank is the key to the film working, and Black is perfect. Natalie Canerday is excellent as Frank’s mom, Linda. She’s from Russellville, Arkansas, so her accent is authentic, and she just blends perfectly into the film. John Ritter provides a very solid supporting performance as Linda’s gay friend who cares deeply for her and Frank. Thornton was part of the cast of Ritter’s early 90’s sitcom with Markie Post called HEARTS AFIRE. He actually wrote this screenplay while working on the show. The two were great friends off camera and Ritter actually worried that he wouldn’t be able to give a serious performance opposite Thornton’s portrayal of Karl. And then there’s country music superstar Dwight Yoakam as the abusive bully Doyle Hargraves. He’s simply great in the film. He doesn’t just portray Doyle as a monster either. There are many people in this world like Doyle Hargraves, and Yoakam is able to capture that. Director Jim Jarmusch has a memorable cameo in the film. He sells Karl his “french fried potaters.” And the great Robert Duvall even makes a short appearance in the film as Karl’s dad. Duvall was over in the Memphis area filming his own movie A FAMILY THING, which was written by Thornton. He just made the 2 hour drive over for the day and filmed his scene.
Every scene filmed in SLING BLADE is filmed here in Benton and Saline County. The opening and closing scenes between Thornton and actor J.T. Walsh at the “nervous hospital” were filmed at the old Benton Services Center, which is now a psychiatric nursing home just outside of Benton. I’ve driven by the location of the home where Linda and Frank lived. I drive by the laundromat where Karl meets Frank every time I go eat at Garry’s Sling Blade Drive-in. I’ve driven out to the bridge over the Saline River that is prominently featured in the film (see picture below). Heck, I even went to college at the University of Central Arkansas with one of the young ladies who interview Karl at the beginning of the film. I love this movie, and I’m so proud that it was filmed in my backyard.
SLING BLADE is an incredible film with a truly unique character at its center. The film is at times funny, heartbreaking, violent, slow, awkward, dramatic, and thrilling. It’s a resounding success for Billy Bob Thornton as a director, actor, and writer, even winning him an Oscar for his screenplay. I give this film my highest recommendation.
I’ve included the trailer for SLING BLADE below:
Past reviews in the #ArkansasMovies series include:
by John Ruger
This cover is from 1930. Needless to say, that’s a big snake.
Right now, I have a cold so I can relate to the song’s title. It’s a good song and a straight-forward video. No, it’s not a cover of the song from Top Gun that played whenever Tom Cruise looked up at the sky.
Enjoy!
Through the Shattered Lens 