Many will site Rage Against the Machine’s debut, self-titled album as their best. It was (is) powerful stuff from a then 22-year old Zack de la Rocha and 28-year old guitar savant Tom Morello, when their album slipped in between the Nirvana and Pearl Jam grunge tidal wave back in 1992. But it was precursor, a raw album of a band seeking to fine tune its perfect blend of punk, funk, metal, and hip hop. The message was in the lyrics, one of revolution and civil disobedience, but the energy of the band hadn’t peaked.
Then in April of 1996 came Evil Empire.
Evil Empire is Rage Against the Machine’s signature work. It is a stirring, violent, whip-smart lyrical masterpiece with a flow from song to song lacking in the debut album. It was the album of my teens, the CD always in the changer or ready to alter the mood of a party. The past 20 years have only increased my admiration from what de la Rocha, Morello, drummer Brad Will, and bassist Tim Commerford created.
It kicks off with a get-you-off-your-seat rock wallop, the short and twisty “People of The Sun.” Then it follows up with one of the band’s biggest hits to knock you back down, “Bulls on Parade.” The one-two punch of Morello’s bendy chords and de la Rocha working to snap off his angry lyrics with a perfect hip-hop cadence is serene.
https://youtu.be/wH15-L9xnRY
From there, Rage Against the Machine settle into a steady and balanced groove of thumping funk charges (“Vietnow”, “Revolver”), spinning anger (“Snakecharmer”)”, and work their way to one of the other big hits of the album: “Down Rodeo.”
I had no reason to identify with “Down Rodeo,” a white teen from a decent small town without much animosity and social injustice in my life. Without wading too far into political waters, I didn’t have any reason for de la Rocha to grab me… but he did. It spoke to the power of his simultaneously shrill and grizzly voice, and to the lyrics he was spitting at me. They were eye opening, and they pointed me in the direction of questioning rather than accepting.
“Rollin’ down Rodeo with a shotgun/These people ain’t seen a brown-skinned man since they grandparents bought one.”
The refrain is deliciously layered, and these few words changed the way I perceived the world outside my bubble. It was time to step outside my comfort zone and question authority.
In the latter part of Evil Empire, Rage Against the Machine goes from hip-hop heavy (“Without a Face”) to anthemic (“Wind Below”), before flexing their punk muscles in “Roll Right.” And then, right when you suspect all the aggression has been spilled out on the studio floor, they tie everything up with “Year of tha Boomerang,” maybe the most balanced and fiery indictment of The Power Structure. And Morello screeching guitar intro tells the listener they aren’t off the hook yet:
Rage Against the Machine would have two more albums – Battle of Los Angeles and the fantastic cover album Renegades – before breaking up in 2000 and taking off into other projects (the announcement of de la Rocha leaving the band came on the heels of Tim Commerford climbing the stage decorations at the MTV Music Video Awards). And both have their merit.
But none of them hold a candle to the completeness of this sophomore effort. It’s Rage peaking, hitting their sweet spot before inner turmoil and political dissidence would dissolve the camaraderie in the band itself. Happy 20th anniversary, Evil Empire.
Disney and Marvel Studios released a new television trailer with new footage of Spider-Man fighting the Winter Soldier (Bucky).
“Dude! You have a metal arm! That is so cool,” said Spider-Man.
‘Civil War’ has a run time of 2 hours and 27 minutes, the web-slinger will reportedly get 30 minutes of screen time. Ten minutes of Peter Parker and 20 minutes of Spider-Man.
Captain America: Civil War is directed by Anthony & Joe Russo from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, Captain America: Civil War picks up where Avengers: Age of Ultron left off, as Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain.
The film stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Chadwick Boseman, Emily VanCamp, Daniel Brühl, Frank Grillo, William Hurt, Tom Holland, and Martin Freeman.
Captain America: Civil War is set for release on May 6.
This week’s episode of Outlander, “Useful Occupations and Deceptions,” moved around a lot but didn’t accomplish much in the way of plot development. The only serious developments were Jamie and Murtagh’s developing a plan for stopping the Jacobite uprising and Claire’s realization that the stammering Mary Hawkins is actually her 20th-century husband Frank‘s ancestor. Claire’s inner monologue describing the implications of Mary Hawkins’s lineage represent another brief return for Outlander to the Fantasy genre, back from Romantic Historical Fiction. Also, Claire and company met Mother Hildegarde (Frances de la Tour)–the harpsichord-playing nun with a keen medicinal sense–and her dog Bouton–who can apparently smell infections (woof).
“Useful Occupations and Deceptions” – The Recap
While Jamie works to figure out a way to cut off funding for the Jacobite uprising, Claire feels unfulfilled in her life as an 18th century Lady. Of course, Claire’s lack of fulfillment may have something to do with her lack of intimacy. Jamie is still recovering from his rape at the hands of Black Jack Randall and is even unavailable lately as a bed warmer due to the demands on him in his twin roles as wine merchant/4th-dimensional battler of history.
Jamie’s quest to alter history keeps him out at brothels a fair bit: it seems this is where Charles Stuart holds most of his meetings. In one such meeting involving Jamie, Joseph Duverney, and Charles Stuart, Charles reveals that the Jacobite cause can now boast of having three wealthy English backers. This information catches Jamie off guard, convinced as he is that the only way the Jacobites will get their funding is through King Louis XV of France. Determined to learn the truth of Charles’s claims, Jamie enlists the services of a young pickpocket who will steal letters to and from Charles.
Back at the Fraser house, Claire’s sexual frustration builds to a fever pitch when she walks in on Murtagh and her Lady’s maid, Suzette, “frolicking between the sheets” as Murtagh puts it. After snapping at and then apologizing to Murtagh, Claire tells him that she recently found out that Black Jack Randall is still alive and can’t decide whether to tell Jamie or not. Murtagh commiserates but doesn’t offer much insight into the matter. As Murtagh returns to Suzette, Claire makes her way to her new friend Master Raymond‘s apothecary shop in order to get Suzette some prophylactics.
Claire runs into her newly minted nemesis, le Comte St. Germain, at Master Raymond’s whose ship was burnt after Claire identified it as being infected with smallpox. The two exchange frosty glances and pleasantries but nothing more. Master Raymond excuses his dealings with St. Germain reminding Claire that their shared profession often demands that they deal with a number of people they’d rather avoid. Raymond provides Claire with Suzette’s prophylactics and suggests that if Claire’s feeling unfulfilled that she volunteer her services as a healer at L’Hôpital des Anges, a nearby charity hospital run by nuns.
Claire’s into some freaky stuff
Claire’s new volunteer work makes her unavailable one night to help Jamie try to determine how to go about stopping the Jacobite uprising. So, when she comes home after a long day of tasting urine and exposing her unborn child to any number of infectious diseases, Jamie is a bit miffed. Claire agrees to avoid helping anyone who’s infectious–that’s always easy to do when treating the ill–and to try to be more available to Jamie.
At tea with Louise de La Tour and Mary Hawkins, Claire remembers why she recognized Mary’s name: she saw it in Frank’s family tree. More surprising than the realization that she’s been having tea with one of her husband’s ancestors is Claire’s memory of who Mary Hawkins’s husband was/will be, Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall. This means that Claire must not prevent the naïve Mary Hawkins from marrying the sadistic Black Jack. Otherwise, history would be altered in such a way as to prevent Claire from ever traveling back in time, because if Frank had never existed then Claire would have never gone to the circle of stones that brought her back to the 18th century.
While Claire treats wounds and is treated to the spectacle of Bouton’s diagnostic skills, Jamie intercepts letters to and from Charles. One such letter is written in musical code and (wouldn’t you know it?) the only person who can help interpret the code is Mother Hildegarde. Mother Hildegarde, after some “Baroque-ass” name-dropping–apparently she corresponds with Bach–, is able to identify that the piece of music changes keys wildly. So, Mother Hildegarde determines, as Jamie notes in a particularly uninspired bit of script-writing, “The key is the key.” The letter is decoded and the three learn that Charles’s English benefactors are real. The man who sent the letter turns out to be the Duke of Sandringham intent upon meeting Charles.
Sandringham’s involvement bolsters Jamie’s spirits, positive he can convince the Duke that the Jacobite uprising is a bad investment choice. Unlike Jamie, it’s not all smiles for Murtagh and Claire. The two realize that if Jamie meets with Sandringham then he’ll also meet Alex Randall, the Duke’s servant and Black Jack Randall’s brother, and it won’t take long for Jamie to learn that Black Jack isn’t dead. When Jamie leaves the room, Murtagh insists that Claire tell him that Black Jack is still alive. Instead, she simply remarks on how good it is to see Jamie so happy.
“Useful Occupations and Deceptions” – My Critique
Although “Useful Occupations and Deceptions” featured one of the show’s rare discussions of time travel, the only content that sets Outlander apart from similar Romantic Historical Fiction shows like The Tudors, my general complaint is that it’s too much of the same in a season that seems obsessed with setting the stage. And, it was a strange choice to have Claire note that she recognized Mary Hawkins’s name in “Not in Scotland Anymore” and then to confirm the relatively obvious reason for her recognizing the name in “Useful Occupations and Deceptions.”
Also putting my kilt in a twist is a problem I’ve been having with this season in general. As it seems that the Jacobite uprising could be unstoppable, why don’t Jamie and Claire just retire to a safe place, have several children, and raise them as Scots? That seems a more positive way to ensure that Highland culture survives. “Useful Occupations and Deceptions” should’ve addressed this problem if only by having Jamie or Murtagh dismiss the notion of leaving as cowardly.
Another month comes and goes in 2016. This means new releases are coming to Netflix. Strap yourselves in and find out what geeky shows and movies you should be watching this month.
1. Lolirock Season 1 (May 1st)
Did you binge Glitter Force and now need more magical girl in your diet? Then check this French animated series out. Looks to be a combination of Jem and The Holograms and Sailor Moon. Since it’s about a group of girls who also sing in a band, it will no doubt be filled with the sugary pop songs much like Glitter Force was.
2. The Nutty Professor (May 1st)
There was a time when movie fans actually looked forward to Eddie Murphy films. Want to know why people enjoyed them so much? Then look no further than the Nutty Professor, a comedy where Murphy plays multiple characters and drops so many one liners you’ll find yourself quoting them for days to come.
3. Sixteen Candles (May 1st)
The classic John Hughes film which showed how hard it is being a teenager. For those who are tired of My Super Sweet 16, check out this movie, where Sam’s (Molly Ringwald) family actually forgets her birthday and she has no choice but to deal with it. Combine this heartbreak with a day which just won’t end and you have a film you need to check out.
4.Pleasantville (May 1st)
Every wanted to live in the perfect sitcom world you used to watch on TV? No, of course not. You’re a geek; you want to live in a world where it’s possible to get bitten by a radioactive spider and take a ride in the TARDIS. Still, this film explores how the perfect worlds presented in TV just wouldn’t hold up when real world thinking is added to them and how a little emotion can go a long way.
5. The Replacements (May 2nd)
This is a sports movie for those who don’t like sports movies. Picture this, a group of former athletes including a SWAT team member, some bouncers, a soccer star are recruited to play football with Keanu Reeves as the quarterback and Gene Hackman as the coach. Sound entertaining? You have no idea and you owe it to yourself to check this gem out.
6. Shanghai Knights (May 4th)
Even Jackie Chan’s more hardcore fans will agree some of his films are hit or miss. Still, this one is definitely one to check out. The sequel to Shanghai Noon, Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson must team up once again to journey to London to find a missing Imperial seal and stop a plot to assassinate the royal family. Oh Jackie, how do you get into these situations?
7. Goosebumps (May 11th)
The surprisingly entertaining film about the classic scary novel series finally makes its way to Netflix. Watch as Jack Black plays R.L. Stine who has to go up against all the classic creatures he wrote about. It will make you want to go back and read some of your classic stories. Or at least watch the old TV series. All five season are on Netflix by the way.
8. American Dad: Season 10 (May 17th)
Despite the fact it had to switch networks, American Dad didn’t lose any of its charm in the transition. In the season, Hayley goes blond, Stan becomes a campus security guard, and Wheels and the Legman are once again on the case. This is definitely one you’ll want to binge on.
9. Lady Dynamite (May 20th)
A new series from the guy who created Arrested Development….what? You need more? This is a comedy from the guy who gave us Arrested Development. You owe it to him to check it out…wait? You’ve never seen Arrested Development? *Sigh* Okay. Then you have two things to watch this month.
10. The Do-Over (May 27th)
It’s an Adam Sandler movie…Wait, wait! This one looks like people are going to be shooting guns at him…Thanks for coming back. Anyways, this is the second of Sandlers “made for netflix” films. Though we prefer not to talk about the racial offensive Ridiculous 6, this new film has him starring with David Spade. So hopefully it will be entertaining at the very least.
It was recently announced that Hanna-Barbera, the studio known for their classic cartoon series, was launching into the movie business, planning out their own shared cinematic universe. The project that will be kicking this off is their ‘Scooby-Doo’ film, which has been titled ’S.C.O.O.B’. And while it’s hard to say exactly what this movie will look like, based off the gritty, realistic, more mature reboot we’ve been seeing these days, the film will likely look a little something like this.
Our world is not just ours. While humans have remained the dominant species on the planet, supernatural creatures have begun to rise up and strike back. Humans now have to contest with various evil spirits. A cult known as the House of Mystery has begun calling upon said spirits to inhabit their bodies, as they want to harness their evil powers and take over the world. The government needs a unit to help combat the supernatural – they need the “S.C.O.O.B.” Initiative.
S.C.O.O.B. (Squadron for the Combating Of Occult Beings) is a secretive supernatural task force, formed in secret, without anyone knowing aside from essential personnel. S.C.O.O.B. takes in four twenty-something operatives, based upon prior experiences dealing with the supernatural. Fred Jones is a soldier who was adopted & raised by General Edward Jones, the man who heads S.C.O.O.B. Daphne Blake is a rich heiress, with parents who are experienced vampire slayers of olden times. Velma Dinkley is a genius and supernatural researcher, who uses her knowledge of the creepy creatures to make traps & weapons to kill them.
The protagonist of the film is Shaggy Rogers, a young stoner who has had no real experience fighting evil. But a couple years earlier, while Shaggy was in high school, he was smoking weed with his friend Dewey in a secluded shack on the Blake Family estate. They set the shack on fire, and Dewey pushes Shaggy out to save him, dying in the process. Heartbroken, Shaggy starts crying into the pages of an ancient tome the two had found and were making fun of. As it turns out, it was an occult book that channels Dewey’s spirit into the nearest available vessel – the groundskeeper’s great dane. Shaggy has raised Dewey as his pet-slash-friend every since.
When the five are assembled, they go through group training. Insert montage of the three main kids kicking ass, while every single training tool manages to put the beat-down on both Shaggy and Scooby (the moniker coined by Fred, sarcastically suggesting Scooby is nothing more than their mascot). While Fred, Daphne, and Velma are all capable, Shaggy and Scooby hang off more to the side, which makes it hard for them to fight as a unit. Despite General Jones’ insistence they fight as a team, no one is willing to compromise. Daphne sees the others as unworthy, Velma sees the others as idiots, and Fred sees the others as petulant teenagers. Shaggy knows he doesn’t belong, and wants to leave, but Scooby insists that they stay, hoping that they could potentially find a way to get Dewey his human body back.
One night, the army base is attacked by a robot-ghost-hybrid creature (Spooky Space Kook). The three main kids go after him, but he’s too strong for them to take on. However, while they’re struggling, Shaggy & Scooby come up with a plan – they lure it into the training room, where they use the same machines that beat them up in the montage to beat up the monster. Realizing their plan, Fred, Daphne, & Velma lend their own combat prowess to use the machines as a distraction to mask their own attacks. Shaggy takes a cattle-prod to the monster, causing him to short circuit.
The monster turns out to be Sargent Henry Bascombe – Fred’s best friend, and the only soldier who was kind to Shaggy. Henry tells them that the House of Mystery is just as interested in Shaggy’s potential medium skills as S.C.O.O.B. was. Knowing how important Shaggy and Scooby are, the others promise to help the two along in their combat training. Velma especially begins to help Shaggy and Scooby in their research to find a way to bring Scooby’s human body back. The gang begins going out on real missions, taking down progressively bigger & badder monsters.
After sustaining too many losses from the S.C.O.O.B gang, the House of Mystery makes their big play – they kill Daphne’s parents, and take over their estate. The House of Mystery plans to use the supernatural energy at the mansion, turning it into a portal to summon more horrors into the real world. Velma believes that, if Shaggy can interface with the same book at the estate he cried into with Scooby, he can not only close the portal to the spirit world, but possibly bring back Scooby’s human body. Before they can piece together a concrete plan, the House of Mystery leader – Sir Harry Kingston (Ghost Clown) – spirits into the base, kills General Jones, and warns the S.C.O.O.B-ies against meddling with the House’s operations.
Without the General’s guidance, and with both Fred & Daphne’s parents killed, the gang is unstable and unsure of what to do next. That said, they know they have to go in and do whatever they can to stop the House of Mystery. They go to the mansion, and get split up almost instantly. Shaggy & Scooby fight a nightmare version of the groundskeeper (Miner 49er), where Scooby realizes he can stand on two legs & fight like a human. Fred & Daphne fight off nightmare-ghost copies of her now dead parents (Phantom Shadows). Velma is temporarily blinded by Wax Phantom’s goo, but she uses her underutilized strength & skill to take out Wax Phantom and Creeper all by herself.
The five finally make it up to the top floor of the mansion, facing off with Kingston. Unfortunately, they are not strong enough to defeat him, and Shaggy get captured. Kingston tells them the only way he’ll let them live is if they give up Scooby. Shaggy doesn’t want to let that happen, but Scooby agrees. As Scooby steps into the portal, he turns around and kicks the tome over to the now-released Shaggy. Velma helps Shaggy translate the passage about dispersing evil spirits while Scooby keeps Kingston from interfering. Shaggy completes the spell, causing Scooby, Kingston, and all the evil creatures to disappear. The gang is thrown out of the mansion by a big ol’ burst of magic, as the mansion catches on fire.
While everyone is happy the evil is gone, the gang searches the mansion, trying to find Scooby. Shaggy is in tears, crying out “Scooby-Doo! Where are you?” Scooby climbs out through the mansion rubble, revealing himself to be alive, but still a dog. Scooby says that he could’ve gotten his human form back & pass into Heaven, but he wasn’t ready to say goodbye and leave his close friends. While the governmental program is shut down, the gang decides they have to keep operating, in case any more supernatural powers arise.
The Kickstarter project which was initially dubbed as Slasher Vol 1 Summer Camp basing the survival horror gameplay from iconic 80’s camp films such as The Burning and of course Friday the 13th. (Now if they would’ve mentioned Sleepaway Camp with an Angela Baker surprise killer I would’ve been 100% with the vague title!) However with the game creators being huge fans of the Friday the 13th series specifically, it was beginning to mimic more of that particular atmosphere more than anything else.
With already having the well-known Kane Hodderstunting as the slasher, Harry Manfredini on the musical score, and the legendary Tom Savinion special effects, it was no mystery that the only thing missing in the equation was licensing for the undeniable Friday the 13th vibe. Soon enough the word of mouth got around to Sean S. Cunningham who ended up personally contacting Gun Mediaabout the too familiar camp slasher themed video game and basically giving the small indie group the proper licensing as well as full support since he was absolutely in love with the project.
Such an amazing success story all spawning from a group of horror-loving friends, who had the initiative to put their years “what if” scenarios to actually paper and make it work. But the fun certainly doesn’t stop there! Along with scoring the famous franchise title rights, and acquiring some of the most renowned icons in horror movie history, Gun Media is also on the quest of changing the way we all look at survival horror game play.
Over the weekend at PaxEast, the Friday the 13th Game panel further spoke on their visionary quest, in which will no longer present the player with conflict in a linear fashion. The 1v7 multiplayer game play allows the opportunity for one player to be Jason while the others are camp counselors, but all randomly generated so it’s sort of a surprise each session. Although the camp counselors will embody stereotypical 80s horror movie tropes, no character is technically better than the other. Each character will have advantages and disadvantages, but at the end of the day it will all be dependent on the choices you make during the game. Thus recreating that familiar ‘choose your own ending’ adventure that all of us 90s generation kids grew up reading with the Goosebumps series.
Following the Friday the 13th movie theme, the game will take place in a “semi-open world” environment on Camp Crystal Lake. The plot of the game does not take place in any particular era in relevance to the movie series, but Gun Media was extremely persistent of making sure each scene of the video game resembled the movie sets to a T as well as creating new visuals for the rooms or areas that you never got to explore while simply watching the movies. Although striving to make every fan of the Friday the 13th franchise heart melt with every detail being identical to the movies, each character spawn and random elements used in the game will be placed somewhere different on the map every time. Gun Media essentially strives for a challenging multiplayer experience stating that:
“We don’t want this game to be fair at all.”
With it being a multiplayer experience, each round will last about 15-20 minutes max but can end as soon as 5 minutes if the player is excellent with Jason. However, it’s truly up to the player how they want to go about the game, in which you can go straight in seeking brutal kills or if you’d rather play the mysterious, creepy Jason waiting in the darkness for each camp counselor to fall into your traps that is always an option too. Jason will also have certain abilities that the camp counselors will lack such as sensing the environment and the camp counselor’s fear. The longer Jason remains in the game, the stronger the abilities become.
As mentioned before, the game is about how YOU decide to play, and the same goes with the camp counselors. When playing as a camp counselor, you will have objectives in which you can team up and try to accomplish in order to get to safety, or you can be a dick, leaving your team in the dust to simply hide out until the match is over. Either way, prime objective for the counselors is to avoid Jason at all costs with Gun Media summing up the core gameplay being:
“Hide and seek plus murder.”
Or in other terms
“It’s sort of like UntilDawn but you’re friends are hunting you.”
Wrapping up their Q&A that night, Gun Media was sure to clear up that although they have thought about the possibility of crossing into the famous Freddy vs. Jason realm that it will sadly not be happening due to license restrictions and being a completely different license than what was obtained with Sean S. Cummings. Along with this movie question, they also settled the likelihood of any of the camp counselors having special surprise powers to defeat Jason in reference to the telekinesis ability in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Once again Gun Media is determined to have somewhat of even playing field for each character stating:
“We never wanted to create a class system that would make everyone want to play a specific powerful character.”
In any event, whether you’re a fan of horror films or survival horror video games, in general, be sure to keep an eye out for this epic multiplayer release as it will be available to PS4, PC, and XBOX ONE this Halloween season! Pre-orders are already in effect, as well as having a ton of different memorabilia that will further help the Kickstarter project! To help support, pre-order or become a backer to this historical video gaming event, check out the official Friday the 13th Game page for further details.
It may be time to start getting excited about The Sisters Brothers, John C. Reilly’s upcoming adaptation of Patrick DeWitt’s Western dark comedy. Joaquin Phoenix is now flirting with joining Reilly in the film, obviously as the second brother.
If you’re unaware of The Sisters Brothers, here’s the book’s synopsis:
Patrick deWitt, a young writer whose “stop-you-in-your-tracks writing has snuck up on the world” (Los Angeles Times), brings us The Sisters Brothers, a darkly comic, outrageously inventive novel that offers readers a decidedly off-center view of the Wild, Wild West. Set against the back-drop of the great California Gold Rush, this odd and wonderful tour de force at once honors and reshapes the traditional western while chronicling the picaresque misadventures of two hired guns, the fabled Sisters brothers. The most original western since the Coen Brothers re-interpreted True Grit—you’ve never met anyone quite like The Sisters Brothers.
The story sounds fascinating and incredibly cinematic. Phoenix isn’t confirmed for the role, but let’s all hold out hope. The Sisters Brothers will also be directed by Jacques Audiard, the visionary behind 2009’s thriller A Prophet and 2012’s Rust and Bone. This has potential to be something great, and Phoenix and Reilly sound like a perfect match.
Green Room is one of those films that is sure to sneak up on you, in terms of just how invested you find yourself in the characters and their story when the bodies start hitting the floor. In its own way, it is a very human story of horror and survival, driven by choices often made by people in panic mode, and the panic feels earned.
Though it is brutal and gory in its violence, that brutality and gore never feels gratuitous, and that says something about the filmmaker, Jeremy Saulnier, about his talent and vision for this story. It’s as good a thriller as audiences have seen all year thus far, and quite likely will be among the best in the genre by year’s end.
What’s it about?
A down-on-their-luck punk band named “The Ain’t Rights” – bass guitarist Pat (Anton Yelchin, Star Trek Into Darkness), guitarist Sam (Alia Shawkat, “Arrested Development”), drummer Reece (Joe Cole, The Secret in their Eyes), and vocalist Tiger (Callum Turner, Victor Frankenstein) – have hit the skids, literally. Low on cash, with nothing but lousy gigs in recent memory, they take a booking at a “skinhead” bar out in the middle of the woodlands near Portland, Oregon, agreeing that it will be their last before heading home.
But the chances that it will be their last gig ever increase dramatically when they get caught up in some bloody business backstage in the green room. A standoff ensues when the band and locks themselves in to wait for help, while the bar owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart, X-Men: Days of Future Past) and his henchmen outside lay siege to the room while preparing to make the whole mess, along with the band, disappear.
Stewart, talent cast deliver a taut thriller
While just about everyone in the Green Room ensemble delivers fine acting work, any discussion of the acting in the film must begin with Patrick Stewart. Yes, his character her is about as different as possible from his famed TV role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” but Stewart bring that same undeniable presence, the same bearing to his cold, efficient turn as Darcy. Stewart makes the ruthlessly pragmatic Darcy a terrifying antagonist without a wasted word or gesture, which makes the role all the more memorable.
Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots (who starred alongside Yelchin and Colin Farrell in the 2011 remake of Fright Night), and Macon Blair, who starred in director Jeremy Saulnier’s last film, 2013’s critically acclaimed Blue Ruin, all offer up fine, committed performances along with Stewart’s in Green Room. In fact, the film may turn out to be in the years to come one of those films people look back on and marvel at the collection of talent on screen.
Fine writing and direction … to a point
Jeremy Saulnier’s writing in Green Room never fails to sound authentic to the characters and their situation. His staging of the siege that dominates the film’s second act is also worthy of praise, as the tension pervading those scenes makes for truly compelling cinema.
That said, Green Room does lose some steam in the film’s third act. It’s as though Saulnier wrote himself into a corner and struggled to find a way out that was as compelling as the way in. Not to say that the film’s climax is a letdown; rather, it just doesn’t live up to the promise in the film’s setup.
Worth seeing?
Green Room is absolutely worth seeing, especially if you’re a fan of thrillers. It’s a smart, down-and-dirty experience, one not for the faint of heart or stomach thanks to the gore brought to life by some rather convincing make-up effects.
Rest assured, however, that Green Room is not a genre film that relies on blood and violence to get the job done. It’s the talent on screen, behind the camera, and in the script that keep you engaged in Green Room, and may have you wanting to see it again.
Green Room
Starring Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Joe Cole, Callum Turner and Patrick Stewart. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier.
Running Time: 94 minutes
Rated R for strong brutal graphic violence, gory images, language and some drug content.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ is filming now, and a few images have surfaced on the internet giving fans their first look at Nathan Fillion as Wonder Man.
Wonder Man is Simon Williams, one of the founding members of the West Coast Avengers. It looks like Marvel is starting Williams off in Hollywood and skipping his complicated origin story. Simon Williams first debut in Avengers #9 (1964) and given powers by Baron Zemo. The character was shelved after DC Comics sued Marvel Comics.
“You know, years ago we brought out Wonder Man, and DC Comics sued us because they had Wonder Woman, and… I said okay, I’ll discontinue Wonder Man. And all of a sudden they’ve got Power Girl [after Marvel had introduced Power Man]. Oh, boy. How unfair,” said Marvel Comics’ then-publisher Stan Lee said in 1978.
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ is written and directed by James Gunn and stars Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana, Kurt Russell, and Pom Klementieff.
The Cosmic Heroes return to the big screen on May 5, 2017.
What do you think of the direction the Marvel Cinematic Universe is taking with Wonder Man?
The cast list has come out regarding Showtime and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks reboot and apparently everyone who has free time is going to show up in this thing. It’s impressive.
Of course the regulars are back, Kyle McLaughlin is there, but Michael Cera is on this list. Tom Sizemoreis in there. TOM SIZEMORE! Matthew Lillard is on the list. I see Ashely Judd, Monica Bellucci… the names swing wildly from one end of the Hollywood spectrum to the other.
Here’s the full released list, courtesy of Deadline:
The cast fits the eccentricities of Twin Peak’s master, David Lynch. The show won’t be here until 2017, date unknown. That should give you enough time to scan this list.
