Midnight Movies: Pulp Fiction

"I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?" John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction (Miramax)

What's great about these midnight movies and library screenings is that it afford me a chance to dig back into the archives and revisit films I love. This Friday and Saturday at midnight, Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters will present Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. In 1992, Quentin Tarantino burst onto the film scene with the brash, ultraviolent Reservoir Dogs. (I remembering being pregnant when the film was screened for the press and the publicist was concerned that I might go into early labor or something horrible if I saw such a violent film. I didn't but my son is now addicted to violent action films.) The film paid homage to Hollywood B movies and Hong Kong action films. It also signaled Tarantino as a talent to watch. His second film Pulp Fiction went on to win a prize at Cannes in 1994, and make clear that he was going to continue to make an impact on the film scene.

Jean Luc Godard once said that every film must have a beginning a middle and an end but not necessarily in that order. Tarantino's Pulp Fiction reaffirms that point. Pulp Fiction interlaces three stories inspired by the lurid, popular crime fiction of the 30s and 40s - but with a fresh, hip new sheen. The film opens with a couple (Amanda Plummer, Tim Roth) contemplating a career change, which involves giving up robbing liquor stores in favor of robbing coffee houses... But hold that thought... because the film abruptly cuts away from their story to a pair of hit men (Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta) who arrive early for a job and bide their time by arguing over the sexual implications of a foot massage. (Think back to a similar style of conversation in Reservoir Dogs in which a gang of crooks argue over tipping.) Next we meet a double crossing fighter (Bruce Willis), the hitmen's boss (a memorable Ving Rhames), and the boss's wife (Uma Thurman in a Louise Brooks bob). Then after a violent climax, the film doubles back to the opening scene with sly, satisfying elegance.

In Bruges

Hitmen on holiday in In Bruges (Focus Features)
 

Irish playwright Martin McDonagh makes his feature film writing and directing debut with In Bruges (opening February 8 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas), a darkly comic tale of two hitmen on holiday in the idyllic European city that calls itself “the Venice of the North.” Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell play the Irish killers. McDonagh previously worked with Gleeson on his Oscar-winning short Six-Shooter.

10 Best of 2007

Choosing the top ten films of 2007 is like choosing which of your children you like best. I love them all but in different ways. This year the family grew larger than expected and was all over the map. You can listen to my rundown of the 10 best of 2007. I'm also including here some other noteworthy films of the year.

First, I'll mention a few films that might have made my ten best if studios had only decided to release them in San Diego. The trippy anime Tekkon Kinkreet; David Lynch's mind bending Inland Empire; the slyly ironic Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days; the abortion documentary Lake of Fire; and a pair of Johnnie To Hong Kong actioners Exiled and Triad Election (known as Election 2 in Hong Kong) all dazzled in their own unique ways. But none were deemed worthy of release here. I'm particularly irked by the fact that Johnnie To repeatedly fails to get his films released here. In these two films he served up gangster tales that were darker and more existential than what American audiences probably expect from Hong Kong actioners. He manges to mix action elements with a French New Wave freshness and Wong Kar Wai's lush stylish flourishes. To delivers consistently stunning work yet has failed to convince U.S. distributors to give his films an art house release that extends beyond a few cities. This needs to change.

Shoot ‘Em Up on DVD

Now available on DVD

Okay, I don't usually write about the DVD release of a film but I have to highlight a film that I loved from last year but which failed to generate much interest at the box office. It's not a high and lofty work of art but it is easily the most fun you'll have at an American action movie. Shoot 'Em Up (coming out on DVD January 1) delivers breathtakingly choreographed action sequences that play out like wildly elaborate Rube Goldberg devices. Clive Owen stars as a man who knows how to handle guns and women (and sometime both at the same time). He comes to the aid of an infant whose mother was killed by mobsters. Paul Giamatti is a bean counting hit man and Monica Bellucci is a luscious prostitute. Plus the film wins the award for the most innovative weapon -- a carrot. I bet Bugs didn't realize the veggie he was chewing on could be lethal but first time director Michael Davis shows that in the proper hands it can be an instrument of death.

If you are an action junkie like I am, this is the high octane fix you've been waiting for. The DVD includes the following bonus features:

Audio Commentary

Ballet of Bullets: The Making of Shoot 'Em Up

Michael Davis' Original Animatics with Optional Commentary

Deleted Scenes

Theatrical Trailer

Addictive Re-mix Trailer

Red Band (R-rated) Trailer

Here's my original review of the film, including interviews with actor Clive Owen and director Michael Davis . This film kicks ass!

Hitman

Timothy Olyphant is Agent 47 in Hitman (20th Century Fox)

Video games and movies continue in an increasingly incestuous relationship. Hollywood, hoping to cash in on the popularity of video games and its much in demand demographics, has turned to video games for the basis of movies going back to the silly Mario Brothers. More recently it's been games such as Doom, Silent Hill, AVP and DOA. But then you have renowned directors such as John Woo taking time off from directing movies to make the game Stranglehold, inspired by his own Hong Kong movie Hard-Boiled and starring real life action star Chow Yun Fat. Now the game Hitman (opening Nov. 21 throughout San Diego) arrives on screen to see if it can tap into that highly attractive and potentially huge gamer demo.

Eastern Promises

The real star of Eastern Promises--director David Cronenberg (Focus Features)

When I interviewed David Cronenberg years ago he said something that still sums up his approach to filmmaking: "Most Hollywood filmmaking these days is the cinema of comfort. Im not looking to make comfortable cinema, theres enough of that around and thats the easiest and safest stuff to do. Somebodys got to do the other stuff." And that somebody is still Cronenberg. He's reteaming with his A History of Violence star Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises (opening September 14 throughout San Diego), a dark tale about the Russian Mafia--but that's only the surface.

Blood will have blood says Macbeth in Shakespeare's bloodiest play, and that holds true in Eastern Promises. The film opens with blood: bloodletting in the form of a graphic throat slitting, and the bloody hemorrhaging in a fourteen-year-old girl who dies giving birth. But both ultimately lead back to the same bloody source, a Russian crime family with ties to the Vory V Zakone. Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is the family patriarch, a grandfatherly old man that we find doing a lot of the cooking in his posh Trans-Siberian restaurant. His son Kirill (Vincent Cassel) is brutish and often drunk. He's the heir-apparent to the throne but his father doesn't seem willing to acknowledge that. Moderating between the two family members is Nikolai Luzhin (Mortensen), a chilly, impeccably dressed "chauffeur" whose carefully groomed exterior masks a ruthless brutality.

Shoot ‘Em Up/Interviews with Michael Davis and Clive Owen

I'm a British nanny and I'm dangerous... Shoot 'Em Up (New Line)

At this year's Comic-Con, filmmaker Michael Davis and actor Clive Owen sat on a panel for their new film Shoot 'Em Up (opening September 7 throughout San Diego). By the end of the ten minutes or so of clips, the crowd of 6400 attendees in Hall H were hooting and hollering their approval and begging for more. But can the film sustain that level of energy throughout? Listen to my radio feature or read the extended interview/review.

I spoke with both Davis and Owen at the Comic-Con about their film. Owen arrived at the round table interview looking like he had just stepped off the cover of GQ. He wore a suit and tie--definitely over dressed for the Con. But he brought a touch of class to the room of bedraggled journalists. He's also drop dead gorgeous... and a really nice guy to boot.

Smokin’ Aces

Jeremy Piven as Buddy "Aces" Israel in Smokin' Aces

Joe Carnahan gained an indie rep with his gritty cop thriller Narc. Now he tries his hand at flashier filmmaking with an over-the-top action film, Smokin' Aces (opening January 26 throughout San Diego). The film stars Ray Liotta, Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Piven, Andy Garcia and Alicia Keys.

Batman Begins

So it begins... Batman gets a reboot with Christain Bale as the latest Caped Crusader (Warner Brothers)

DC Comics' Batman franchise is given a fresh start in Batman Begins (opening June 15 throughout San Diego) courtesy of director Christopher Nolan and actor Chritian Bale. The film takes us back to the beginning to find out exactly how Bruce Wayne became the Dark Knight.

Back in 2000, there was talk of making a film called Batman Year One based on the new Batman comics co-written by Frank Miller and serving up a darker vision of the caped crusader created by Bob Kane in 1939. Miller was going to adapt his work to the screen and indie director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) was scheduled to helm with everyone from Brad Pitt to Ben Affleck rumored to star. Miller's script generated hope among fans that a definitive Batman movie might be in the works. But that production stalled, Miller got fed up with Hollywood abandoned the project and was convinced instead by Robert Rodriguez to adapt his solo work Sin City to the screen. But the collected comics known as Batman Year One still provide the inspiration for what transformed in Batman Begins. Although Miller probably could have penned a better script than the one delivered by director Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, Batman Begins does deliver the best installment of the Batman film series.