This week we lost an extremely talented director and producer, Tony Scott. He may not have made any films that would classify him as an auteur, but he was a more than capable action director, who's body of work spanned several decades. Early reports first indicated that he had an inoperable brain tumor but according to the family and the coroner report these reports were false. Scott had left a suicide note but it didn't indicate that there were any health issues looming. He did profess the love for his wife and his two young sons though. I am terribly saddened to hear the news and his family is in my thoughts and prayers.
Scott's most loved and revered film was the iconic 1980's Tom Cruise flick Top Gun. If you haven't seen it then you are weird. He directed several other notable action films throughout his career including, True Romance, The Last Boy Scout, Unstoppable, Enemy of the State, Man on Fire, Deja Vu, Beverly Hills Cop 2, Days of Thunder, and Crimson Tide. My personal favorite film of his was True Romance. Tarantino's genre-bending script teamed with the impressive A-list spread of talented actors made for a film filled with both great action, and great dialogue. A mixture of the late 1980's action film centered around the off-center love story make for an exquisitely executed film.
Back when I first became a huge Tarantino nerd in high school I had to look hard to find myself a copy of it on DVD. It was easy for me to secure a copy of Natural Born Killers but after looking high and low in stores for weeks I still couldn't find True Romance. Finally I got the people at best buy to order it and have it in store. About a week later I watched it and it blew my mind that this hidden gem didn't seem to have a lasting appeal with it's viewers.
How was this amazing 1990's action flick flying so far under the radar? Maybe people couldn't handle a movie called True Romance that united a comic book store manager with a call girl, and that involves selling a suitcase full of cocaine. Apparently people aren't as excited as I am when they hear those things put together in a sentence (albeit a poorly formulated sentence). Maybe people these days don't see Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as suitable leads for a good movie. Maybe they don't know that Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, Samuel Jackson, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, and Val Kilmer are also in the movie. Walken, Oldman and Hopper give some of the best performances of their career and they are barely in the film. It's crazy to imagine that people haven't seen it, and don't know that it exists. If you haven't seen it, go out and find a copy of it to rent or buy because it is a great film and it is a great way to show respect to the body of work that Tony Scott did throughout his career.
If you don't feel like respecting Tony Scott, and cocaine dealing couples who murder pimps aren't really your thing, then maybe a trip to the theater is in order. Here are my picks for this weekend.
Action: Premium Rush or Expendables 2.
Kids Movie: ParaNorman.
At the end of the summer the big time studios release their duds because everyone is preoccupied getting back in gear for school and what not. It's rare to find a movie that isn't bad released during one of the last weekends of the summer. I first saw the preview for Premium Rush about a year ago exactly. I thought as an action movie it kind of looked like a dud then. Maybe I don't really appreciate bike riding as much as the next guy, but it didn't really strike a chord with me at first even though I am a big fan of JGL. Surprisingly Rush has been rousing critics, considering it currently holds a 75% on the tomatometer. Maybe at first I wasn't too open to an action film about people riding bikes, but they say it is a smartly scripted, well formulated film so I guess it doesn't really follow suit with the rest of the end of the summer releases.
If you haven't seen Expendables 2 and are on the fence about it, stop being on the fence about it and see it. The movie is a dick load of fun, and you should stop being a pussy and see it. Someone told me that it didn't really have a story, and he was dumb because he expected a story. The movie wont win any awards on plot, and isn't groundbreaking by any means, but Stallone scripted a movie that utilizes the talents of several different Hollywood action has-beens, and it's just great. Go see it if you like having a good time at a movie.
Last weekend ParaNorman, the stop animation film about a kid who's a little different, and talks to the dead (or something stupid like that), came out. With a solid 87% on the tomatometer, they say it is fun for the whole family, so if you're into fun for the whole family you might want to give that one a try.
As for the rest of the movies out there, you can probably just wait for them to come out on DVD, Netflix or TV, because it's useless to see them at this point. That is unless you haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises. If you haven't seen that, well then you're a dick and you're afraid of guns. If you're afraid of getting shot at a movie theater, then you're a total pussy, so you probably wouldn't like it anyway. If you want to see an extremely good blockbuster film, and haven't seen it yet, then stop that and go see The Dark Knight Rises.
Every thing else out there isn't worth your money right now so you can just wait until for it to come out on some other form of media. It sounds like there are a good amount of good September releases so you may just want to save your money for that, or the fall as a whole. There is a lot to be excited for this upcoming fall, so multiple trips to the cineplexes are in order. You have my picks laid out for you, so choose responsibly.
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