Film Review: KILLER JOE (2011)

Director: William Friedkin
Writer: Tracy Letts (screenplay/play, “Killer Joe”)
Running time: 99 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 18

Genre: Crime/Thriller
UK Release date: 29^th June 2012

Watched on DVD Sunday 11^th August 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is another film I didn’t know all that much about before viewing. Aside from the fact that Matthew McConaughey’s performance was very well received, I have managed to stay pretty well free from spoilers on this one. Very violent in places with some very dark comedy, I found it a pretty good watch. Here’s a very brief summary before I give you my thoughts.

Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) finds he owes Digger Soames (Marc Macaulay) a large amount of money when Chris’s mother steals his drug stash. He seeks the help of his father, Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) and stepmother Sharla (Gina Gershon) when he hears his mother has a life insurance policy. The plan is to hire a cop, Killer Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), to murder his mom and make it look like an accident. The Insurance policy is due to pay out to Chris’s little sister, Dottie (Juno Temple). But there’s a stumbling block; they don’t have the money to pay Joe up front. Fortunately for them, Joe has taken a bit of a shine to Dottie and decides to take her as his retainer. Chris reluctantly agrees to this, but none of them feels comfortable breaking the news to Dottie on the night she is supposed to get together with Joe. Will she go along with it? Will Joe hold up his end of the bargain before Digger’s thugs get a hold of Chris? Will it all go according to plan or is there a further twist or two in the tale? These and many more questions to be answered.

Because it’s based on a play the action does all seem to occur in one place; predominantly the Smith family trailer. I didn’t find this too distracting but I did find it a little claustrophobic at times. All of the performances were truly excellent but I have to say the critics were right; Matthew McConaughey really does stand out in this one. There are some really violent scenes in this one so I definitely wouldn’t recommend it for younger viewers; the 18 Certificate is definitely more than a guideline here. I really liked the underlying dark humour throughout; it gave the narrative a little more interest. Over all, an interesting watch with some nice touches; it doesn’t have any particularly stunning effects but it’s a well crafted character-driven piece. Well worth a look if you get the chance.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED

My score: 7.7/10.

IMDb Score: 6.8/10 (based on 33,600 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1726669/

MetaScore: 62/100: (Based on 38 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 77/100 (based on 155 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 61/100 (based on 76,768 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/killer_joe/

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LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KillerJoeTheMovie
Official Site: http://www.killerjoethemovie.com/
Trailer:

Film Review: EASY A (2010)

Directors: Will Gluck
Running time: 89 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Teen
UK Release date: 22^nd October 2010

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 22^nd October 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

As some of you may know, I’m not big on comedies. It may be because I have a peculiar sense of humour, but, for the most part, what Hollywood thinks is funny is usually antipodean to my opinion (bet you’re looking up what ‘antipodean’ means now). I’ll still keep trying them out form time to time though… you never know, there just might be someone out there in ‘La La land’ on the same wavelength as me! And so we come to ‘Easy A’; a teen comedy (not encouraging so far), all about a girl of (alleged) easy virtue (still not encouraging, but hey, I’ve come this far…). Well, despite many misgivings, I must say it wasn’t half as bad as I thought it might be (& that’s high praise from me!… for a comedy). Now, since I’ve been accused of giving too much away in my plot summaries, I will just give you the very briefest outline of what it’s about (you’ll probably get more from the trailer than I usually give away… but, (sigh), if I’m getting complaints I guess I’d better pare it down a tad or 12).

Olive Penderghast is at high school and she lies to her friend, Rhiannon, about sleeping with a boy (for reasons I won’t go into). As they do, rumours spread like wildfire, and before she knows it, Olive finds herself with an unwanted reputation. The question is… what is she going to do about it?... So there you go, the new and improved ‘outline’… Hope you liked it and I didn’t spoil the entire movie for you… If I did then you have my profound apologies.

I said earlier that I didn’t find this film too bad, well, I might even go so far as to say I actually enjoyed parts of it quite a bit! I thought Patricia Clarkson as Rosemary (Olive’s mother) and Stanley Tucci as Dill (her dad) provided a great comic foil for her character. Her favourite teacher, Mr Griffith, played by Thomas Haden Church, and his wife, played by Lisa Kudrow, also added another dimension to the piece. Of course, it was Emma Stone, as Olive, that held the whole thing together, and I thought she put in an excellent performance. Honourable mentions go to; Malcolm McDowell as Principal Gibbons, Penn Badgley as Woodchuck Todd, Amanda Bynes as Marianne, Dan Byrd as Brandon and Aly Michalka as Rhiannon.

A witty script with some great dialogue made a welcome change from many recent (so called) comedy efforts I’ve seen spewed out of ‘tinsel town’ in recent years. It also has a pretty good soundtrack with some tunes even I recognised! There is a minor problem with it though… The way Olive chooses to deal with her problem is dragged on a bit too long and after a while it gets a bit monotonous. Fortunately it picks up though and it got saved from a lower score by a rather cool ending (sorry… no clues). Over all, although not perfect, I found this a witty, pretty well written and entertaining comedy… Recommended.

My Score: 7.1/10.

IMDb Score: 7.1/10 (based on 61,651 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1282140/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86/100 (based on 174 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/easy-a/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
[first lines]
Olive Penderghast: The rumours of my promiscuity have been greatly exaggerated.

Woodchuck Todd: Screw all these people, Olive!
Olive Penderghast: Haven't you heard? I already did.

Rosemary: Not to mention how have you been dressing this past few day. No judgement, but you kind of look like striper
Olive Penderghast: Mom!
Dill: [to Olive] A high-end stripper, for governors or athletes.

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/easya/
Trailer:

Film Review: SIDEWAYS (2004)

Co-Writer/Director: Alexander Payne
Running time: 126 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance
UK Release date: 28^th January 2005

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 13^th August 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

As this is the 150^th film I’ve seen this year I wanted to watch a film I enjoyed first time around, and what better, I thought, than the 2004 wine comedy ‘Sideways’. Well, it happened to have it on the Sky+ hard drive and it was due a watching anyway. I did enjoy this film quite a lot first time around, probably because I could identify with one of the characters. This time, maybe a little less, but I still found it a pretty enjoyable watch. Here’s a brief summary before I give you my thoughts on the matter.

Two guys, Miles and Jack, set of for a wine tasting week in California. Jack is to be married the following week and it’s kind of a stag week with just the two of them (which I did find a little odd). Now Jack is an actor, he had worked in TV before, but now finds most of his work in commercials. Miles is an English teacher who has ambitions to become a novelist. On their first night they go to a local restaurant where they meet Maya, a waitress. Miles knows her from trips he had made to wine country in the past (he’s a bit of a wine buff). Jack notices that Maya is interested in Miles and tells him so. Miles is hesitant, but also intrigued. Jack has also made it clear that he wants to get laid before he get married, and the next day he uses all his charms on Stephanie, who works at a winery and also knows Maya. They all decide to get together for a meal and things are going well until Miles gets drunk and decides to phone his ex-wife. They all end up back at Stephanie’s place where Miles and Maya talk, but things do not progress at this stage. Jack, on the other hand, is having a wild time with Stephanie! As the days go by, Jack and Stephanie see more and more of each other, leaving Miles to his own devices. Eventually he gains the courage to see Maya again, but will it last? Will Jack get away with not telling Stephanie that he’s getting married? So many questions… Most of which I cannot answer here for fear of the Spoiler Police forcing me to drink Merlot! I guess you have to have seen the film to get that little in-joke.

A really well scripted film with a lot of dialogue, little of which is wasted. It’s a real character piece and there are some great characters to get your teeth into here. Performance-wise, I couldn’t fault any of the leading cast; Paul Giamatti did a superb job as Miles, Thomas Haden Church was a tremendous foil for Giamatti as Jack, Virginia Madsen was great as Maya and Sandra Oh did a fantastic job as Stephanie.

Although neither of the leading men are particularly likeable, both are liars and one is a cheat, I did find myself feeling a little sympathy for Miles. He hadn’t made the best of what he had and was now in a situation where the lies were getting too much. Could he learn to be more honest? At the end of the day I did enjoy watching this film again, I guess my only criticism is that it is a little too long. What I did like very much though is the ending… No, I’m not going to tell, but it’s a worthy ending to an entertaining film… Recommended.

My Score: 8.1/10.

IMDb Score: 7.8/10 (based on 76,620 votes when this review was written).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97/100 (based on 213 reviews counted when this review was written).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sideways/

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/sideways/
Trailer: