Film & TV on DVD - John Doe News & Reviews

Greetings Film Fiends and welcome to John Doe's Film Blog. 30 years of dedicated celluloid obsession has meant that I have seen a few films. Drawing attention to some of the lesser discussed gems that I love. Cult classics, obscure curios and quality genre pictures. This blogs purpose is to translate some of my passion for these films and with luck, inspire you the reader to go check em out.

Coming Soon Thriller - Film & TV on DVD

No Country for Old Men (2007) - Trailer Included

December 17th 2007 00:01

Dusty Noir Enlightenment

Coming Soon: To be released on January 24th 2008

Special thanks to the wonderful people at Paramount Pictures for the invite to this advanced screening.

No Country for Old Men Poster - Released january 24 2008

Written and Directed by: The Coen Brothers
Based on Novel by: Cormack McCarthy
Starring: Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Kelly MacDonald, Garret Dillahunt, Woody Harrelson, Barry Corbin

The cinematically gifted storytellers known as the Coen Brothers return to their former glory with a lone-star meditation on declining cultural morality. Based on the original novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men is a deceptive and divinely engineered daylight Noir set against the backdrop of a modern day western.

It’s the story of 2 million dollars in a stolen briefcase from a drug deal gone bad. The welder on a hunting expedition (Josh Brolin) who finds it, the psychopathic hit-man (Javier Bardem) who ruthlessly tracks him and the seasoned Texas Sheriff Tommy Lee Jones who struggles to comprehend the maelstrom of violence and greed that represent contemporary times.

The film opens with the arrested maniac Anton Chigurh being put in the back of a police car on the barren country road under enigmatic but inferred gruesome circumstances. Cut to the station and in the foreground the arresting officer tells his tale on the phone. In the background the brutal killer frees his cuffed hands. In the blurring of a lens exploding with the chain linked strangulation of the deputy.

This begins a daisy chain of events that link 3 central characters. Llewelyn Moss flees with the cash. Anton is on a bloody rampage of violence. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell tries to make sense of it all.

Javier unleashes the rage

John Doe Says:
Inventively scripted, beautifully shot with authentic characters, No Country for Old Men pulls you into its lariat spinning yarns with cunning wit. The action scenes are swift and gruesomely honest, calculatedly abrupt.

Writer/Directors Joel and Ethan Coen match the Miller’s Crossing, Man Who Wasn’t There and Blood Simple perfection here. Letting us soak in the daunting doom and tumbleweed dust bowl atmosphere emanating from each panel.

The disciplined pace allows the audience to contemplate the loaded dialogue that twangs with regional dialect. The modulated sound editing punctuates moments and manipulates the meaning of others.

Opulent in character, the script surprises and engages as it should. Carefully hiding the contemplative sub text within the husk of a slow burn thriller, it is the understanding of character and astonishing choices to omit key plot points that satisfies.

Every line and thespian gesture seems to carry metaphorical baggage to be chewed over like good tobbacy later. The performances are appropriately dense in silent strength and it’s refreshing that all three pivotal parts are penned with survivalist wisdom. These are no dummies, self aware and more importantly attuned to the repercussions of their actions. Be it murder, theft or investigation.

The malevolent Javier Bardem (Perdita Durango, Live Flesh, Sea Inside) doesn’t need words to frighten with this inherently violent being. Unstoppable, a whirl wind of carnage, the eyes so cold and calculating you can see his detached submission to barbaric tendencies. Graced with a spiritual body language the part of Anton is an instant nominee for any villainous hall of fame. The androgynous hair cut adding to the discomfort.

The ever reliable Tommy Lee Jones’ (Natural Born Killers, Heaven and Earth, Executioners Song, Three Burials) usual persona is given added dimension with the whimsical and prophetic lines of the role. Reminiscent of his own superb turn in Three Burials.

Ex Goonies member Josh Brolin (Flirting with Disaster, Dead Girl) breaths a sympathetic life into his man of few words and we understand his motives every step of the way. His audition tape for the part was shot by Robert Rodriguez and Directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Sexy Scottish imp Kelly MacDonald (Trainspotting) does a convincing Texan accent and as the wife of in over his head Llewelyn there is an innocent charm.

Totally worthy of being mentioned alongside the best of the Coen Brothers filmography, John Doe fell in love with this films look and tone almost instantly. The skilful storytelling and transcendental cinematography took JD to another geocentric universe and successfully dazzled and enriched.

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Posted By: JohnDoe - Category: Crime, Coming Soon, Thriller

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The Lookout (2007) - Trailer Included

November 30th 2007 00:00

The Heist of Life

No Australian Release date at the time of writing this review

Writer/Director: Scott Frank
Starring; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce McGill, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher, Jeff Daniels, Carla Gugino, Alberta Watson

“Once upon a time, I woke up. I took a shower with soap.” – Chris Pratt

Guilt is crippling, guilt is harrowing and guilt dictates our lives, this is a core theme that grips the synapses in this dramatic thriller of emotional riddles.
“Start at the end. Can’t tell as story if you don’t know how it ends.” – Lewis

As the film begins we meet Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon Levitt), a popular kid with athletic abilities and a youthful indestructible confidence. In the drivers seat with his girlfriend and buddies one dark night he decides to turn the headlights off so the gang can admire a swarm of fireflies.

The tragedy that follows is the catalyst for Chris’s tragic condition, rendering him unable to recall the specific events of that evening. A debilitating vagueness as opposed to amnesia cripples his mind and leaves his reality clouded and personality a mysterious.

Limited in his options after intensive therapy Pratt re-enters society in an attempt to assimilate and make sense of his vacant existence. That’s the hook, to share more would spoil the organic twists to come from manipulation and a bank heist.
“My old man used to say to me, probably the only thing we ever really agreed on, was that whoever has the money has the power. You might wanna jot that down in your book. It's something you're gonna need to remember." – Gary Sprago

The colours of The Lookout

John Doe says:
The central character of Chris may be a merging of Memento’s Lenny and The Machinist’s Trevor Reznik. The similarities end as an involving plot operates in unison with a doomed tone of sombre intrigue to take us on a new exploration into the nature of identity.

A case study in primal human interaction where greed is original sin and the lust for money is the essential tool for survival in modern civilisation. Using dark humour as if it shot from a sniper rifle in the hands of an ambiguous stranger and structured to be pondered while watching, The Lookout occasionally struggles to maintain momentum.

Scott Frank Directing his pawns

Writer turned Director Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Minority Report) makes sure his debut feature does not rely on his controlled, character study screenplay alone. Vying for a distinct look of balanced de-saturated colour cinematography that leaves the sub text of scenes drenched in cinematic atmosphere when beside a more boldly painted background.

If I had to find fault it’s with the pacing around the second act which gets into a haphazard rhythm that isn’t required until the last quarter of the running time. Some people will find the room left for air in the editing as compensation for emptiness, but it is a critical metaphor for Chris’ inner monologue.

Star Joseph Gordon Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun) follows up the haunting Mysterious Skin and engrossing Brick with another multi dimensional lead that says more through body language than dialogue. Proving himself one of John Doe’s favourite up and comers his performance here is another exercise in minimalist gesture and emotional detachment.

Flaky Jeff Daniels (Arachnophobia, Purple Rose of Cairo, Radio Days, Timescape, Gettysburg, Pleasantville, Gods and Generals, Goodnight and Good-Luck, Squid and the Whale) seldom gets the opportunity to show his range. As Chris’ only real friend the blind man Lewis, he convinces and also injects smiles amongst the foundation of melancholy.

Isla Fisher ( I Heart Huckabees) is a long way from her Paradise Beach or Home and Away days. She looks fantastic but her limited moments onscreen aren’t as honed as the rest of the cast.

Carla Guigno (Sin City, Entourage, Spy Kids) is under used and her scenes seem superfluous to proceedings. As a saucy parole officer she’s easy to believe but her only real purpose is to show Chris trying to act as normal as he possibly can in an attempt to pick her up.

This is another one of those films John Doe picked up on DVD while he was in the U.S due to a lack of an Australian Cinema release. Shameful really, The Lookout may not be a masterpiece but it certainly warrants a screening and was far more engaging than most over polished, more MTV orientated films of similar intent. (John Doe glares in the direction of Butterfly Effect)

Here is the American Trailer for the film.