I Got Poetry in Me
July 11th – July 24th
Hobo With a Shotgun — Like Machete, this movie came about after its Grindhouse mock trailer. This one wasn’t in the Grindhouse duo of films, but was a winner of Robert Rodriguez’s contest for such trailers. It was okay. It works in that grindhouse-y place. It’s very blood splattered. But I preferred Machete quite a bit to this one.
Source Code — Duncan Jones’ follow-up to the wonderful Moon. This is another sci-fi film that plays with reality and our sense of self. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a man (Colter Stevens/Sean Fentress) who must relive eight minutes of a train bombing in order to ostensibly save the city of Chicago from more destruction. Gyllenhaal is really strong here. And Jones impresses once again.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller — This one seems to take the revisionism a tad bit farther. In the previous films, we see a revisionism in place whereby the hero isn’t always the cowboy or the US soldier and the enemy isn’t always the Indian or outlaw. Here we are introduced to a character who is certainly a gambler but may also be a gunfighter. But it doesn’t take long to figure out that he doesn’t walk the walk. And he barely talks the talk.
The women, although almost all still whores, fare a little better here. At least they seem to be somewhat in control of their destiny. They seem at least as entrepreneurial as the men.
McCabe wears out his welcome. He is quite the annoyance. But he’s not a bad guy. He’s just not cut out for the west.
This one really made me want to revisit Deadwood. The building of the town reminded me of the first season of that show (from tents to finished buildings). Then you’ve got the bar with the gambling and a brothel. And the Chinese opium den.
