Day 274: Deepwater Horizon (2016)

There is only one day left until we do Eddie’s 31 Days Of Halloween so I wanted to check out the newest Peter Berg (Lone Survivor) film. Peter Berg has been doing one film after another that are based on true stories and you can Deepwater Horizon to that list. BP (British Petroleum)  has just set up a drilling site in the ocean in the Gulf Coast and it’s time to get it going. Jimmy Harrell (Kurt Russell) doesn’t want to start drilling until all the tests have cleared and have been determined safe. Unfortunately, after a test shows that the rig is safe (even though it’s still questionable), they commence on the drilling and the rig explodes and creates the worst oil spill in US History. The film also stars Mark Wahlberg (Lone Survivor) as Mike Williams, Douglas M. Griffin (10 Cloverfield Lane) as Landry, Gina Rodriguez (Interstate) as Andrea Fleytas, John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich) as Vidrine, Dave Maldonado (Trumbo) as Kuchta, Ethan Suplee (American History X) as Jason Anderson, Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner) as Caleb Holloway, James DuMont (Dallas Buyers Club) as O’Bryan, Joe Chrest (22 Jump Street) as Sims, Brad Leland (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as Kaluza, and Robert Walker Branchaud (Stranger Things) as Doug Brown.

As far as the film is concerned, it’s everything you would expect from a Peter Berg movie where they explain what is going on and then they get right to the meat and potatoes of the film. The build up to the action is a little slow, but that is because they want to inform you about everything that happened from the negligence of BP in every single detail. Mark Wahlberg is Mark Wahlberg so if you saw Lone Survivor then you know what exactly to expect from him in this film. He just goes from a Seal to an engineer for this film. Now I am not an expert on fire, but there were some confusing moments in the film like from a far away shot, the whole rig looks like it’s on fire, but close up the control room looks like there’s no fire near it. Fires could be deceiving from far away so I am willing to let that one go. I have to give the directors props for this film because they built an oil rig just to film the movie. That is a pretty incredible fun fact for all of you out there. Every time I saw Kurt Russell in this film, I kept thinking of Backdraft, but he was amazing in the film for sure. One thing the film does for sure is they make BP exes look lie absolute idiots in this film. They make them look like fools coming up with any excuse possible as to why they should start  drilling instead of investigating. If that is what you seek plus some really good acting then check out the film. I just wanted to add that Kate Hudson still looks amazing in this film. I am going to give Deepwater Horizon an B+ for a final grade.

Day 97: The Hateful Eight (2015)

I usually reserve Wednesdays for my action film piece called Ass Whoopin Wednesdays, but sometimes there are films that supersede everything. A Quentin Tarantino film by definition is one of those films and that is why there is no Ass Whoopin Wednesday flick. So, we are checking out Tarantino’s eight film The Hateful Eight which stars Kurt Russell (Tombstone) as hang man John Ruth. All John wants to do is deliver a prisoner of his named Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to the town of Red Rock so that she can be hung. The only problem is that there is a massive blizzard and when they get to a safe place, John is having a hard time trusting a couple of guys he picked up along the way and the four other strangers he encounters in the safe house. Is John right about them being up to no good or will he get the job done. The film also stars Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs) as Oswaldo Mobray, Samuel L. Jackson (Avengers: Age Of Ultron) as Major Marquis Warren, Walton Goggins (House Of 1000 Corpses) as Sheriff Chris Mannix, Demián Bichir (The Heat) as Bob, Michael Madsen (Kill Bill Vol. 1) as Joe Gage, Channing Tatum (22 Jump Street) as Jody, Zoe Bell (Death Proof) as Six Horse Judy, Bruce Dern (Django Unchained) as Gen. Sandy Smithers, James Parks (Kill Bill Vol. 2) as O.B., and Dana Gourrier (Django Unchained) as Mindy.

I want to start this paragraph by saying that this was an excellent film that didn’t tell you that it was a certain type of film and it didn’t live up to it. This film was exactly as it was presented and that was mostly a mystery film set in a western of sorts. I love how Tarantino calls this his eight film and it’s called The Hateful Eight which could be a nod to Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini who named his eighth film 8 1/2. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was true considering the fact that Tarantino is just as much a fan of cinema as I am. It was hard to choose a stand out performance from the film because everyone from Russell, Goggins, Jackson, and even Leigh did an amazing job in the film. What helped them was the fact that the film was well written and the dialogue is amazing as what would be expected from a Tarantino film. So as you can see, it was hard to just choose one person as a standout. The other factors that make this film amazing is that it was filmed using 70 mm film which gives it that authentic look and the soundtrack was done by Ennio Morricone. Ennio deservedly won the Oscar for best Score because it definitely fit the type of film that it was. If you are a true fan of Tarantino then do not miss out on this film, it is a classic. That is why I am going to give the film an A- and it gets that because Django Unchained was the better Western. Plus there are definitely somethings that are going to happen that you don’t see coming. 

Day 15: Bone Tomahawk (2015)

There are things that I am a huge fan of with one being that I am a fan of Kurt Russell and the second thing is creativity. That is exactly what you get with the film Bone Tomahawk which stars Russell as a sheriff in this wild west/horror style film. Everything is normal in a small frontier town until a drifter (David Arquette) mysteriously shows up. What follows is something unholy as a deputy, a doctor, and the drifter are kidnapped by cannibalistic Indians. So, the Sheriff (Russell), the back up deputy (Richard Jenkins), A sharpshooter (Matthew Fox), and the doctor’s husband (Patrick Wilson) who happens to be a cripple,  go on the journey to rescue all of them before they are eaten by the savages. The film also stars Lili Simmons (Banshee) as Samantha the doctor, Evan Jonigkeit (X-Men: Days Of Future Past) as Deputy Nick, Sid Haig (House Of 1000 Corpses) as Buddy, Maestro Harrell (The Promotion) as Gizzard, James Tolkan (Back To The Future) as Pianist, Kathryn Morris (A.I. Artificial Intelligence) as Mrs. Hunt, Zahn McClarnon (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron) as the professor, Sean Young (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) as Mrs. Porter, and the film was written and directed by S. Craig Zahler.

This is definitely one of the most unique westerns I have ever seen in my life besides Cowboys & Aliens. When I said I liked creativity, this was exactly what I was talking about because I had been trying to develop a western that was also a horror film. I am just glad that someone finally did it and did it well. The film has some real brutal scenes like a body splitting scene that you will see as the cannibals are pretty brutal and cool looking as well. thing that gets me is they look like they belong somewhere else in the world and not in the wild west. Nevertheless, the film starts out like a western film where it takes time to develop the story and then as soon as they get close that is when all the good stuff starts to happen. Kurt Russell was as good as expected and this has me excited to see him The Hateful 8. The other star of the film is Patrick Wilson who as I said is a cripple trying his best to save his wife before it’s too late. Yes, its the stereotypical kind of story, but it works in this film and you feel for this character. You want him to succeed and you want him to get to his wife (plus his wife is super hot). If you’re a fan of cannibals, westerns, horror films, and Kurt Russell then check out this film. I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.

Day 6: Escape From LA (1996)

Believe it or not, today’s Ass Whoopin Wednesday film is one that I have never seen all the way through. When I saw that Netflix had John Carpenter’s Escape From LA  available to watch online, I jumped at the opportunity to see it. The film once again stars Kurt Russell as the bad ass outlaw Snake Pilskin. It supposedly 15 years after the events of Escape From New York and the world has changed just a little bit. The president changed the constitution and he rules forever and Los Angeles is no longer apart of California in the year 2013 (only criminals and deported civilians are sent there). The problem is that the president (Cliff Robertson)’s daughter Utopia (A.J. Langer) has stolen a device that takes satellites and it can shut down power all over the world and she is somewhere in LA with the villainous Cuervo Jones (Georges Corraface) . So, the president gets Snake Pilskin into LA to retrieve the device in 10 hours or he dies and the whole world suffers. The film also stars Peter Fonda (Easy Rider) as Pipeline, Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire) as Map To The Stars Eddie, Valeria Golino (Rain Man) as Taslima, Stacy Keach (American History X) as Cmdr. Malloy, Pam Grier (Coffy) as Hershe Las Palmas, Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) as Surgeon General Of Beverly Hills, Michelle Forbes (Battlestar Galactica) as Brazen, and the film was directed by John Carpenter. To continue reading the rest of the article, please visit it on my Moshpits and Movies wordpress blog here.