Justified was a great show. Without Boyd, I'm not sure how the new one will fare, plus the complexity may be lacking with Raylan's Dad already gone.
I saw a few movies the last few weeks:
1) "Dead and Buried" -- Pretty good early '80s horror movie with a bit of a twist. No punches pulled, no politics, not afraid to gross out the audience, this is quality like they used to make them. *** out of **** stars.
2) "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" -- After surmising that Cage's performance in "The Color Out of Space" was a detriment, rather than a plus, I came upon the realization that the guy simply may be washed up. He comes full circle of this new film and makes fun of just that, and does so with gusto. Cage is back, sort of, and accepts that he's gone to garbage and seeks to fix this new typecast. Fun. *** 1/2 out of **** stars.
3) "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" -- Watch this if you want to feel awful for a while afterwards. True story. True crimes. Real monster of a man who did horrible things way back in the '70s. This '80s film was controversial when made, and also stars Michael Rooker in his first film role. Bit of trivia: Rooker is a black belt in Kyokushin Karate, and for those who are unfamiliar, Kyokushin is the hardest core form of Karate in Japan, where students train full contact without protection. Mas Oyama, the founder, once killed a bull with his fists. Much respect to anyone who has trained in this style. I have. Very hardcore. The film, though, will have you waking up the rest of the night whenever you hear a noise in the house. This guy was evil, but so were some of the other characters, too. *** out of **** stars.
4) "Foxes" -- If one ever wondered where teenage party movies from the '90s evolved from, look here. We've got interesting characters with development and focus on dialogue and evolution of their persona. They don't make films like this anymore, which is sad. *** out of **** stars.
5) "Rolling Thunder" -- In this revenge classic from the '70s we find some soldiers who return from years of imprisonment in a POW camp to home with much fanfare, only to quickly find that life at home can be just as evil and unforgiving as in the jungles of Laos. When bad things happen, they get even. Manliness prevails, no politics are present, and entertaining the audience is what movies used to be about. This delivers. *** out of **** stars.
6) "Go" -- What a wild ride this film turned out to be. Very entertaining late '90s multi-faceted romp sewn together in a Pulp Fictionesque fashion. Fun. Also for "Justified" fans, there's a few scenes with Timothy Olyphant playing a drug dealer. The '90s was the second to last decade of reliable filmaking. After around 2010 or so, the decline of Hollywood began until they descended into the politcal brainwashing superhero cesspool that they have become. Thankfully this was before those times. Very nice gem. *** 1/4 out of **** stars.
I have seen too many good movies, once again. I'm destined to watch some duds. One cannot continue to dig into the archaeological dust bin and find treasure, consistently.
