This one follows the hard life of Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman
(Mad City)) who’s newly released on parole after a six year stint. He makes a real effort to do straight time
and not get involved with dumb bullshit.
He finds a place to live, gets a legit job at a canning factory and even
manages to snag a date with headhunter Jenny (Theresa Russell (Wild Things)). It’s like a dream things are going so
well. But of course this doesn’t
last. When he reconnects with his old
“bear hug” buddy Willy (Gary Busey (Drop Zone)) who likes to shoot
heroin shit goes downhill fast. Max
doesn’t partake but the telltale sign of bent up matches are left behind for
the parole officer (M. Emmet Walsh (Clean and Sober)) to find. He throw’s Max’s ass right back in the
can. After a few days the parole officer
lets him out because Max tests clean but presses hard for who was getting high. Max flips out, escapes from the officer and
goes on the run returning to a life of crime.
Hoffman is an actor I always enjoy (despite his less than
stellar reputation off screen) because he brings so much intensity to his parts
and this is a standout.His stoicism and
body language change before and after he gets busted the second time.He goes from having a contented almost serene
demeanor to shutting down and giving up on the world.He’ll say he’s ok but inside he’s
raging.Hoffman puts on the layers and
does a fantastic job.
Everyone else gives good performances as well.Gary Busey is goofy but dials it back so he’s
not bouncing off the goddamn walls. M.
Emmet Walsh is great at playing a bastard and in this one he’s the type that
smiles while he’s screwing you.Harry
Dean Stanton (Fire Down Below) joins up with Max because he can’t stand
the straight life anymore and Stanton is a lot of fun behaving like a kid in a
candy store when he finally sees some action again.Admittedly I’m not a huge fan of Theresa
Russell who’s acting is wooden most of the time but she turns out a little more
emotion than usual.She also looks like
she’s too young for the role even though she was twenty one at the time.I found that to be distracting.
When Dembo looses it and grabs the steering wheel from the
parole officer almost killing the two of them is when the movie kicks into a
whole other gear.Up until that point
it’s been a heartbreaking tale of a man who made some poor choices for sure,
but he’s also trapped in a system he can’t break free from.He feels he’s left no other choice but to
take control of his life despite that resulting in being hunted down by the
cops for the rest of his days.For him
it’s better than being kicked around and treated like a piece of trash.
The last stretch of robberies are absolutely incredible
sequences involving a bank job and a jewelry store being hit hard and
fast.Dembo and his partner are playing
with fire when they stretch the self-imposed time limit to get in and get
out.They’re nail biters and
exhilarating because you want to see these guys succeed.We know their story so we’re on their side.These crimes almost seem justified for a
lifetime of abuse by cops, prison and society.The issues are complex with no clear answers and criminal shit is all
they know so how are they supposed to integrate into the outside world at the
snap of a finger?
I get a lot of Heat vibes from this piece so I wasn’t
surprised to discover Michael Mann wrote the initial screenplay.However, other writers were eventually
brought in and his name was dropped from the credits.But the code of a con and the attitude Dembo
takes on in the second half where he’d rather die than spend another second of
his life in prison parallels Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro).Stanton also reminds me of Michael Cheritto
(Tom Sizemore) in that they get off on the juice of the score.The tight and potent robbery scenes are another
moment reminiscent in Heat where they basically combined the two ideas into
one epic bank heist.
The movie is based on the book “No Beast So Fierce” written
by ex-con Edward Bunker while still in prison.It’s not an autobiography but most of the shit he writes about happened
to him at some point.Bunker’s personal
experiences makes the story feel very authentic and tragic.It gives the film a power that’s difficult to
replicate without first hand knowledge.
Interestingly Bunker stuck around in the movie biz and went
on to write Runaway Train and act in some big movies like The Running
Man, Tango & Cashand Reservoir Dogs (which similarly
involves a jewelry store heist, apparently Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of Straight
Time).He also has a small role in
this picture as an old associate of Dembo’s turning him on to a poker game
score.
It boggles my mind this film isn’t more well known.I’ve never heard or read anyone talk about
it.Hell, I didn’t even know about the
movie until like two months ago.This
thing is criminally underappreciated in my opinion.It’s kind of one of the best urban crime
dramas and character dramas I’ve ever seen.You should really check it out next chance you get.
A brand new road rager is loose on the streets and it goes
by the bland name of Unhinged.It’s about a psychopath named Tom Cooper (Russell Crowe (Virtuosity,
The Nice Guys)) who terrorizes a woman (Caren Pistorius (Mortal Engines))
and her son (Gabriel Bateman (Anabelle, Child’s Play (2019))) because
they honked at him at a light.Tom was
sitting there for a spell with a green so the honk, while long and therefore
aggressive, wasn’t totally unjustified.Anyway, Coop then starts to murder her friends and family while
demanding she apologize for her actions.The guy’s got a screw loose, as they say.
The main thing to know about the film is it relies on so
many goddamn coincidences to unfold the way it does.The victim’s car needs to be an old model
with no security features, the protagonist explicitly states she turned off her
passcode on her phone, she needs to have a tablet with her that has a data
connection, Tom needs to have a spare flip phone on hand to place in the
victim’s car and on and on.This piling
up takes away some of the fun of the concept.In that sense the script feels like either it was written by someone who
doesn’t quite understand modern technology (Carl Ellsworth (Red Eye,
Disturbia)) or this thing has been laying around for a couple of decades
and was hastily updated.
I have to point out Russell Crowe’s accent. When he rolls down his window at first he
puts on a hilariously thick southern twang.I was getting very enthusiastic for the potential of the character.But in a very bad move the drawl is dropped
after this scene.It’s middle of the
road American accent after that.
Setting that bit of oddness aside a combination of how
Cooper was written and Crowe’s performance takes the movie into a darker place
than I think the filmmakers intended.The
character is a vicious out of control murderer who isn’t enjoyable to hang out
with.And Crowe plays him damn mean.Beside one scene where he pretends to be
normal before bashing a guy’s face in he doesn’t joke around or take any sort of
pleasure in his torment.And the
material isn’t nearly well written enough to be taken more seriously.By the end it’s a pretty depressing affair with
Crowe pummeling mother and son and it’s just nasty.
I have to admit Unhinged is a fitting title for the
harsh messy picture it is.Unfortunately
it’s also kinda ungood.
Changing Lanes
Man, I remember the trailer for this movie like it was
yesterday.Two supercharged individuals
get into a car accident, it doesn’t get resolved because they’re both in a
hurry and then somehow all of a sudden each of their lives goes down the
drain.Now some of that does happen but
those marketing folks pulled a switcheroo on us.This is way more of a drama than a high
concept thriller.
Basically the story’s split between Ben Affleck (TheVoyage of the Mimi, Paycheck) who plays a slimy Wall Street lawyer and
Samuel L. Jackson (xXx, xXx: State of the Union) as a insurance salesman
who’s also a recovering alcoholic.Affleck has the more exciting story involving high stakes fraud,
courtroom shenanigans and surreptitiously digging up info on his shady bosses. But Jackson is definitely the more interesting
character who struggles to not take a drink while dealing with rage issues.Plus his wife is divorcing him and moving with
their kids across the country to Oregon. On top of all this he’s got Affleck up his ass
demanding he return a very important file that was left behind at the accident.
Out of everyone though Kim Staunton (Heat) who plays Jackson’s
wife probably gives the best performance.She’s angry, frustrated, worried and fed the fuck up with her husband’s
bullshit.So much emotion is carried
through so well.I could’ve had more of
her in the movie but at the same time the relatively small amount of screen
time makes her scenes stand out.
The only other thing I want to mention is the editing is
whacked out in a few spots, most notably the accident that kick starts the
whole plot.I have no idea what the fuck
happened. I think Affleck was trying to
change lanes at the last second before an exit and hit Jackson but I can’t be
sure.
Changing Lanes isn’t terrible guys.I guess I wish they picked one character’s
story to tell instead of cramming two half movies together.But as it is there are good messages on class
and morals and looking within to try to better oneself (the title has multiple
meanings).
Joy Ride
This one thinks it’s some smartass high level thriller but
it’s definitely not that clever.Initially
the base idea of a trucker terrorizing a smaller car has an updated Duel
vibe.They flesh out the idea by giving
the villain a name, voice, personality and motive.They also expand the story beyond the road
and car related gags.The first half or so
is passable and builds a decent amount of tension but then the last stretch of
the movie gets pretty stupid.What
doesn’t help is there’s way too long of a break in the action before the third
act deflating any edge that was gained.
I think one of the main things the filmmakers were banking
on is the feeling that bad guy Rusty Nail (voiced by Ted Levine (Birth)
but psychically on screen by Matthew Kimbrough (The Limey)) is
omnipresent so you can never rest easy.However, it comes off more like he magically appears whenever you need
him.So he’s more of a slasher villain
but in a negative way.
I dunno, I have so many issues with the script which was
written by J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness) and Clay Tarver (Silicon
Valley).Weak characters, pacing
problems, the nonsensical reason a CB radio is installed in the protagonist’s
car, there are several times when the film seems like it’s over but keeps going
and etc.As the picture drags on the
less sense it makes.
Don’t bother with this one.It’s no joy ride.
The Hitcher
Out of the four pictures on this list The Hitcher is
the best by far.In fact this last
viewing blew me away.There are so many
elements to love and the execution is impeccable.
To briefly sum up you have a teen named Jim (C. Thomas
Howell (Red Dawn)) who’s hired to drive a car across the country but while
cruising through Texas he keeps falling asleep at the wheel. So to help stay awake he decides to pick up a
hitchhiker.His name’s John Ryder (Rutger
Hauer (Nighthawks)) and he’s pure evil.Almost immediately the guy reveals he’s a murderer and toys with Jim all
throughout the movie by either trying to run him off the road or killing cops
who get in his way so he can keep the game going.
One of the coolest aspects is the whole thing feels like a
dream.And you could interpret this as
literal when Jim nods off towards the beginning causing him to nearly smash
into a semi.But of course I like to
think that all this is really happening.The story moves very fast and is constantly changing with Jim
encountering Ryder, escaping from him, coming across his handy work at an
abandoned car later on, surviving a gas station explosion and finding a severed
finger in his French fries all within the first thirty mins!So much happens.Every five minutes we’re in some new insane
situation.
I could go on and on about the incredible performances,
excellent cinematography (John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road)) and crazy
fucking script (Eric Red (Near Dark, Bad Moon)) but it’s better to
experience it yourself.Suspension of
disbelief is relatively high but the tradeoff is badass scene after badass
scene.The use of slow mo, the lack of
people inhabiting this world, the delight Ryder gets out of the chaos all contribute
to the fever dream.It’s part thriller,
action movie, horror movie, Hitchcockian high concept, it’s fucking relentlessness.You gotta check this one out.
But please seriously, don’t ever pick up hitchers.It’s sooooo dangerous.
