It baffles me hours after watching “Mother’s Day” as to why director Darren Lynn Bousman’s remake of the 1980 cult classic wasn’t seen fit for theatrical distribution. As a horror film and a thriller it’s a perfectly suitable splatter film for the for the gore soaked masses and a taut suspense film for folks in the mood for a teeth grinding picture that takes place during one night and involves criminals with no place else to go. What Darren Lynn Bousman has done is crafted a chaotic film so off the cuff, it’s basically “The Desperate Hours” with more splatter and less grace behind it. As a whole it’s not the most subtle picture Bousman’s ever done. This is the guy behind “Saw” for godsake.
Tag Archives: Crime
X: Night of Vengeance (2011)
Filmed over the course of one night, it’s hard to imagine “X” being thought of as anything other than a bona fide action thriller that teams two powerful female entities together to battle misogyny and abuse that plagues their life. Though described as this sex filled romp, “X” is so much more in the end. It’s about empowerment and survival and at best, I can peg it as an Australian female version of “Judgment Night.”
Super (2010)
Why wasn’t “Kick Ass” this kind of movie? I mean granted I loved the comic book from Mark Millar, but “Kick Ass” the movie was not what I originally envisioned. “Super” from director James Gunn is what a movie about a regular man fighting crime should be. Funny, original, inventive, and dark, “Super” is that movie the big budget spectacle should have been, a story about a demented individual who tracks his sheer insanity with the use of his red costume and monkey wrench, fighting crime, and inevitably coming across real evil in pursuit of his own form of identity.
Force of Five (5 huajai hero) (2009)
When I was a kid I was introduced to a plethora of fighting kids movies, all of which featured children who could very well either kick the crap out of me, or kick the crap out of someone for me. I always marveled at the talent and display seen in films like “3 Ninjas” and it’s nice to know with a certain movie about a karate kid starring Will Smith 2.0 getting all the hype, we can marvel at true talent like the variety displayed in “Power Kids.” The Thai martial arts film from Krissanapong Rachata barely clocks in at seventy minutes and possesses about two fold the raw talent displayed in the previously mentioned stink fest. Kroo Lek and his family of orphans are a proud clan, people who earn their keep and train each other in the fine art of Thai Boxing.
Hobo With a Shotgun (2011)
Jason Eisener’s “Hobo with a Shotgun” was such a long time coming it’s ridiculous. With a movie that’s dared to defy all expectations, it’s very much a twisted balance between Troma and pure unadulterated Grindhouse madness that has the potential to reach mainstream audiences with a wider theatrical release. With “Grindhouse” flopping, and “Machete” floundering at the box office, “Hobo with a Shotgun” is a breath of fresh air, a movie so utterly filled with mind-blowing grindhouse tropes and a genuinely interesting story that you can almost feel the piss stained theater floor under your feet, while watching what essentially adds up to being a tongue in cheek and darkly disturbing take on the class warfare in America. This is Jason Eisener’s America, a world where the battle of rich and poor amounts to trips in to Scumtown USA where we lay our scene.
Transporter 3 (2008)
Frank Martin is back and is in deep doo doo for the third go around in the “Transporter” series. Now retired and taking a long needed vacation, fate comes crashing down his doors as he’s confronted with a colleague who is killed in the middle of what was supposed to be his job all along. When Frank is taken off guard he awakens to learn that he and his car can not be separated or else he and the enigmatic women in his co-pilot seat will go up in a burst of flames. “The Transporter” series has been one of my favorite knock offs of “The Driver” this millennium and Jason Statham is a wonderful successor to Ryan O’Neal as this man with tones of gray allowed more breathing room this go around.
S.W.A.T.: Firefight (2011)
By now it’s a pretty quick assumption that we may never get a truly great movie about “SWAT” the television show. What was a gritty violent and often disturbing show about life on the business as a SWAT officer became a pretty high budget and meek blockbuster vehicle for a cast of B listers who were more GI Joe and less “Heat.” Now with “Firefight” the studio behind this star-less vehicle ups the ante by pretty much assuring we’ll never see a reboot ever again with a competent cast. Which is not to say “Firefight” is a bad movie. It’s not. In fact it’s a very well made and steadily paced “sequel” that takes every precaution to do what it can with the cast of D listers who take up spots that once belonged to up and comers like Colin Farrell and Jeremy Renner and veterans like Samuel L. Jackson.