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Violent Cop (1989) a (very) belated review

Takeshi Kitano, also known as Beat Takeshi, was primarily known as a comedian but, over time, became even better known as an action/adventure star.

Mr. Kitano has appeared in many works, including many films he’s directed, acted, and written.  He’s also appeared in American films, including Ghost In The Shell and Johnny Mnemonic.  He even appeared opposite David Bowie in the 1983 film Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.

But for Mr. Kitano, one could say it was his first directorial work, Violent Cop, which really put him on the map.  Here’s the movie’s trailer.  Mr. Kitano not only directed, he stars in the film as Azuma, the proverbial Violent Cop…

I have to admit, I bought the film on a whim and because it was on sale.  While watching it, I found it intriguing and entertaining but the reviews that stated it was a Japanese “Dirty Harry” seemed a little exaggerated.

For most of the film first couple of acts, we don’t see so much as a single gun!

This turned out to be a coldly calculated storytelling technique, because while the first forty or so minutes of the film allow you to enter Azuma’s world and all seems edgy but otherwise not out of this world, there are many dark edges peeking out, one of which is presented in the movie’s opening minutes…

The movie begins (MILD SPOILERS) with a truly perplexing -in a good way!- sequence where a homeless man is enjoying a meal before he’s attacked and beaten up by a bunch of youths.  Given the way the man is left, the viewer wonders if he is still alive.

The young boys head home and one of them leaves the group to go to his house, which turns out to be in a nice neighborhood.  Shortly after he arrives at the house, Detective Azuma shows up.  He flashes his badge to the youth’s mother after she answers his knock, then heads up to the boy’s room where he proceeds to beat him up.  He then tells the youth that he and his friends better turn themselves in the next day at the police station for what they did to the homeless man.

Questions are raised: If Azuma saw what the young boys were doing to the homeless man and followed at least one of them home, why didn’t he stop them while they were beating the poor guy up?  Why did he wait for them to finish and go home before coming after one of them?

The answer, in a way, is revealed through the course of this movie, and the answer isn’t pleasant…at least with regard to Detective Azuma’s character.

The movie goes on, showing us what Azuma does.  He’s assigned a rookie (a classic police drama cliche) to tag along with him and we also find he has a sister who he cares for but who has mental issues.

He also skirts the law and isn’t above beating up a potential snitch.

But I’ll repeat: The first forty or so minutes of the film lure you into a sense of false security, a sense that things are rough but not that rough.

Which makes the film’s conclusion all the more shocking, difficult to watch, and, yes, nihilistic as hell.

While watching the film to its end, I felt -wrongly as it turned out!- that this movie was influenced by the violence present in Quentin Tarantino’s early movies.  While I’m aware Mr. Tarantino has cribbed from many works, including those released in Hong Kong and Japan, Violent Cop was released in 1989, three full years before Mr. Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs was released.

I could go into more and more of the film but I feel that would be counterproductive and involve way too many spoilers.

Suffice to say Violent Cop is a film that will shake you up and surprise you by how much it pushes the envelope.  This is ultimately not a pleasant film but that’s what makes it work so exceedingly well.  Having said that, it is also quite clearly not for everyone.

If what I’ve said above intrigues you, give Violent Cop a look-see.  For everyone else, best you stay away.

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About the upcoming Super Bowl…

New England Patriots?  I suppose that isn’t too much of a surprise yet one has to give credit -to a point!- to the Jacksonville Jaguars for giving them such a hard game and, for a while anyway, making it look like the Cinderella underdogs might just unseat the proverbial king of the mountain.

The Philadelphia Eagles, the team that will face New England, sure looked unstoppable with the suddenly surging backup QB Nick Foles.

Weird year and New England, though certainly a favorite, may get quite the game from the Eagles, provided Mr. Foles continues what he’s doing.

E. R. Torre Art, Uncategorized

Sketchin’ 19

Today I took on Constance Frances Marie Ockleman, better known as actor Veronica Lake (1922-1973).

She was another stunning beauty who starred in several unforgettable films, including Sullivan’s Travels, The Glass Key, This Gun For Hire, and The Blue Dahlia.  She would be paired with actor Alan Ladd in seven films, including three of the films I’ve listed above.

Unfortunately, her career following The Blue Dahlia was mediocre at best and heavy drinking took its toll. She would die at the too young age of 50 from hepititis.

Here she is, in better times…

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Interesting…and sad.

As many are no doubt aware, a man (I won’t dignify him by listing him by name) with a left-wing bent decided to shoot at the Republican members of Congress practicing for the annual Democratic vs. Republican baseball game.

It was a horrific act, and the fact that it appears this individual was targeting Republicans makes it all the more frightening.

Now most people view this act as what it was: The actions of a clearly disturbed individual.

Yet it didn’t stop some from demonizing the “left wing tone”, as if that was to blame for what happened yesterday.

I don’t want to get on a high horse here, but come on.

You have to have a really short term memory to forget the various things a certain now President of the United States said on the campaign trail…

While there certainly have been examples of nasty left wing statements in the recent past, I don’t recall any prominent left wing candidate or politician make a statement quite like this one.

On the plus side, there has been talk by others both on the left and right of the need to reach out across the aisle and work together.

In that respect I hope this lone maniac’s actions -vile as they were- may bring, in the long run, something more positive in our politics and our politicians.

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Movie thoughts…The Mummy

It’s my understanding there is a review embargo for the Tom Cruise starring The Mummy, which I suppose is the first of the “Universal Monsters” movie series (there was a Dracula movie before this which was originally supposed to be the first one but it did so poorly both critically and at the box office that it has been essentially forgotten, or am I hallucinating this fact?).

The embargo is, according to some pieces I’ve read here and there, until Thursday, the day before the film is officially released this week.

Doesn’t sound all that encouraging, though I’m intrigued enough with the film’s trailers that I’ll likely give it a shot at some point.  By the way, the opposite happened with Wonder Woman.  There was a review embargo that was pushed back to an earlier date as early word was very positive and the folks at Warner Brothers wisely realized it would be to their benefit to allow the good word to get out as early as possible.

Looks like that may not be the case with The Mummy.

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The Next Day

Frankly, it was tough getting through yesterday.  I feel exhausted because I couldn’t get all that much sleep and of course its all because of the death of David Bowie.  I couldn’t help but read the wealth of retrospectives, condolences, and examination of what made him so damn good.  It was overwhelming.  It was sad.  It was well-deserved.

As I’ve mentioned many times before, David Bowie was my all time favorite musician but as good a musician as he was, he was much more than that.  He was also a successful movie actor, a shrewd businessman, an artist, and a patron saint to those who felt outside the bounds of “normal” society.  He most certainly had his flaws as well, including heavy drug use and, some have said, a cut throat mentality regarding musical collaborators.

Moving beyond all that, to me David Bowie was and is an artistic inspiration.

While other rockers sit back and appear comfortable belting out their past greatest hits to increasingly greying audiences, Mr. Bowie kept working hard and creating new and interesting stuff, the last of which, the album Blackstar, was released a mere two days before his passing.

As I said before, I’m very tired today yet alive and looking forward to another day in which to work on my latest novel.  My story isn’t quite done yet and there’s plenty of inspiration to draw from one David Robert Jones.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Bowie.

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Smokey and the Bandit (1977) a (very) belated review

To begin, yes, I have seen Smokey and the Bandit many, many times before.  So much so, if fact, that while watching again for the first time all the way from beginning to end in probably twenty to thirty years (ouch!) I could recite bits of dialogue and was very familiar with scenes as they were playing out (watch out for Burt Reynolds breaking the fourth wall!).

Still, my daughters hadn’t seen the film and, after watching the two-part Gas Monkey episode dealing with the restoration of a Pontiac Trans Am nearly identical to the one used in Smokey and the Bandit and, along the way, visited Burt Reynolds (the poor guy looks really old), curiosity was raised and a desire to see the film was awoken.

So we put the film into the machine, sat back, and watched.

To begin, Smokey and the Bandit is probably not an easy film for modern audiences to enjoy as I and so many others did back when it was first released.  The pacing, greased lighting in 1977, plays out slower by today’s standards.  And, let’s face it, CGI has allowed filmmakers to create far more destructive and amazing stunts than those offered within this film.

Still, for those who stick around, Smokey and the Bandit remains THE quintessential action comedy, with heroes who aren’t afraid to smile and laugh and enjoy what they’re doing, compared to the modern “dark” heroes we see all too much of today, with their perpetual scowls and bad attitudes.  Indeed, this was one of the more pleasant aspects of revisiting the film: to see people on the screen having what looks like genuine fun.

In fact, the only one who doesn’t appear to be having any fun at all is the “villain” of the piece, Jackie Gleason’s Sheriff Buford T. Justice, though he is more of an authoritarian spoil sport (and a very ineffective one at that) rather than someone to be genuinely feared.  He’s boisterous and hilariously foul mouthed but, like the Coyote in his perpetual mission to capture the Road Runner, you know from the outset he will never get his hands on his prey.

Burt Reynolds absolutely sparkles as the “Bandit”, the man who runs interference in the smoking hot black Trans-Am for his equally gregarious “Snowman” (Jerry Reed, providing a great and memorable soundtrack as well as acting), his partner in crime.  The crime they’re involved in?  Transporting -with a tight time limit- a shipment of beer from Texas to Georgia, something which back then was considered bootlegging.

Yes, even the so-called “crime” the two are engaged in is hardly the type of stuff one would figure the law would -or should- care about.

Into the fray arrives Sally Field’s Carrie, a free spirit who left Sheriff Justice’s dim witted son at the altar, and whose presence in the Bandit’s car provides not only romance (the only thing missing from this action/comedy), but also the reason why the foul-tempered Sheriff continues his dogged pursuit of the Bandit well outside his territory.

Smokey and the Bandit was never meant to be anything more than a fun time at the theater, and in that respect and despite the movie’s age and slower pace it remains just that, an absolutely delightful experience.  The young ‘uns may not appreciate it or the (by now) less impressive stunt work, but revisiting this film after all these years -and willfully forgetting the many sour attempts to replicate its success- hasn’t diminished the original.

“We’ve got a long way to go…and a short time to get there.”

What are you waiting for?  If you haven’t seen it in a while or never seen it at all, give Smokey and the Bandit a look.  You won’t regret it.

Highly, highly recommended.

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Shades of Geraldo Rivera…

I’m a sucker for these kinds of stories:  A very old floor safe was discovered in a Cincinnati bar.  The owner wasn’t aware of the safe, which was lost/forgotten for decades…so he called in a safe cracker to open it and see what might be inside.

Watch the results for yourself:

http://on.aol.com/video/old-safe-found-at-otr-business-opened-517893674

I suppose many of you may not recall the Geraldo Rivera reference above.  Relates to this:

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Why Should A Writer Retire?

Absolutely brilliant short essay by Jimmy So for Newsweek that touches upon a subject near and dear to me, the actual “work” involved in writing:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/06/26/why-should-a-writer-retire.html

For me, writing falls very much in the category of work.  Heavy, often frustrating and almost always mentally draining work.  The moments are few when I don’t think about skipping the work of the day/hour and getting out of my chair to “take it easy”.  Yet there is another huge chunk of me, paradoxically, that looks upon the works I’ve already done and is so damn proud of them and craves and encourages and demands I continue working and get even more books or short stories out there.

To be a writer, you have to be disciplined and willing to spend long hours alone in your mind, often being a harsh task master and culling the good ideas from the all too frequent bad ones.  And then, once you’ve got that magical first draft done, you switch roles and become your own harshest critic, dissecting each work and sentence and paragraph and chapter over and over and over again until you finally feel your work is ready to be released.

Once released, you can enjoy your accomplishment….at least for a minute or two.  Its not too long before that voice in the back of your head tells you to get working on your next story…and make this one better than the last, OK?

Which is my cue to get back to the latest book of the Corrosive Knights saga, sitting in the hard drive patiently waiting for me to get to her…

Movies, Uncategorized

Skyfall (2012) a (right on time) review

So, the new James Bond film Skyfall:  Good or bad?

Would you believe…both?

Usually when I settle down in my theater seat and watch a film, I tend to soak in what’s going on before me.  I try not to be too terribly judgmental of the things going on…unless, of course, there’s just no way to avoid critiquing them.

In the case of Skyfall, it is a credit to director Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, and all those in front of and behind the cameras who delivered a movie that it moved as well as it did.  In fact, so well did it move that with one exception, it wasn’t until after the movie was over that I realize the screenwriters delivered a truly underwhelming, ultimately silly story.

How silly?

Well, to get to that I do have to go into…

SPOILERS!!!

Still here?

All right, here goes:

The entire plot of the villain of Skyfall, Javier Bardem’s Silva, is to kill Judi Dench’s M.

That’s it.

That’s all.

OK, if you want, you can add to the fact that Silva also wanted to destroy her career as well.  But that secondary goal was achieved fairly early on.  No, she wasn’t completely repudiated in the MI6 circles, but she was already being pushed into retirement as a kindness by her superiors.  Her career was effectively done.

Thus, when Bond shows up unannounced in her flat (so much for security!), it could just as easily been Silva there to kill her.  Had he been there instead of Bond, the film would have been over close to two hours earlier!

Still, at that point we as viewers weren’t aware of Silva’s endgame.  Instead, we get some great scenery as Bond gets back into the service after being thought dead (death and rebirth are a big subtext within this film).  He follows an assassin and winds up meeting the beautiful Severine (Bernice Marlohe) who eventually gets Bond to Silva.

Severine’s story winds up being the one truly sour element of the film to me while first watching it and before realizing what the whole story entailed.  Her total screen time runs to little more (perhaps even less!) than ten minutes and Bond’s flippant comment following her death was needlessly cold (he showed more emotion to the loss of his Goldfinger Aston Martin car than to her!).  Yet in that brief time with her I felt she should have had far more to do than be a tragic messenger delivering Bond to Silva.

What a missed opportunity!

But getting back to the film in general:  Yes, the plot/story ultimately is so small scale and full of logic flaws that I can’t blame some for hating the film outright.  Yet I can also sympathize with those who love the film because the fact of the matter is that this film moves like lightning and entertained me to the point where I only considered most of its defects after the fact.

In the end, I recommend Skyfall.  It may not be among the all time best of the Bond films and the villain’s goal may be underwhelming, it is nonetheless a pretty good ride.