What I'm Watching: Dead in Tombstone

Happy Devil's Night, everyone!  Do try and not start too many fires in honour of it, though.

Since it's Devil's Night, longtime readers know I am off watching my favourite movie, The Crow at some point today, but that also dovetails nicely into today's quickie review; Dead in Tombstone.

Now, why does it work well as a lead in?  Well, let's see...

We have a man, who is murdered by men he considers family and friends, makes a literal deal with the devil, and crawls out of his grave to seek revenge and send their souls to the fiery pits instead of his.  That sounds vaguely familiar.

The twist here, is that its set in the Old West, and they got Danny Trejo to play NotCrow.  Or as he's actually called in this, Guerrero.  When I heard the plot I was immediately intrigued by something being Crow-like, and with the added bonus of Trejo, Anthony Michael Hall, AND Mickey Rourke as the devil, it became a must see.  I waited eagerly to finally see this movie.

And hey!  It did not disappoint!

Now sure, it's no Crow.  But then, like I said, favourite movie.  What IS going to compare to that?  But still, it has a very solid plot that has worked time and again in a number of movies, and they do it well enough, with a capable cast.

The biggest problem is that the members of Guerrero's gang that he's trying to kill are largely ciphers, whom you don't know anything about, and don't really care about.  Now sure, they're murderous brigands and traitors, but still.  That other movie I am trying not to mention painted very colourful characters that intrigued you and were distinct.  They all kinda blur here, except for Guerrero's half brother played by Hall.

(And no, there is no way I buy Trejo and Hall as half-brothers.  But hey, that's a minor point, and the acting from the pair is great.)

Rourke feels a little wasted here as the devil, but the character is little more than a plot device.  But what he does do, he does well.  I just wish there was more to the role than a deus ex machina, but without the deus.

Dina Meyer is another fave of mine, and was just more icing on the already intriguing cake, and sadly also ends up on the wrong side of things storywise, with Rourke.  She ends up being too much of a damsel in distress, but she does have a few good moments here and there.  It's really not her story, however.  That's okay, though, and her presence is more than welcome.  Again, just wish they could have done more with what they had.

Where this movie really shone for me though, was the cinematography.  The lighting, the direction, the camera work, is all REALLY well done.  There are so many amazing introductions, and use of backlighting, that the quality of the craft raises the bar for this movie, and puts it on a level it would not have reached in lesser hands.  It is a western with a supernatural feel, and almost shot in a film noir style at times.  The experience is quite unique, and was a joy to watch for that alone.

The crew may not have been the most developed bunch of characters, but their deaths really shine in the movie.  There's some inventive use of effects, and creative use of storytelling.  They truly died better than they lived.

While the movie ends up being flawed, and could have fleshed out some characters, and used others better, it's still a solid movie, very entertaining, and it's a good sign that my biggest complaint is that I just plain want to see more.  And with the ending of the movie setting this up to easily become a franchise, I would very much relish the opportunity to see more of Guerrero and friends.

What I'm Watching: Modus Operandi

While we're all waiting for the next big review, I thought I'd share some thoughts on another movie I recently watched, Modus Operandi.

Yeah, you probably haven't heard of it.

In short, it is yet another grindhouse style film about a secret agent who has fallen into a drunken stupor following the death of his wife at the hands of his rivals.  But as circumstance and narrative design would have it, he gets pulled back into the spy game to track down a pair of briefcases containing sensitive informaton about a Presidential hopeful.

This movie NAILS the grindhouse style.  It was shot on Super 8, it has the requisite bad acting, and a few bits of good acting that aren't SO good that they stand out, but they are clearly having fun with this format.  Naturally, Danny Trejo as Cashay's boss is brilliant.  Everything you would expect from an over the top grindhouse exploitation film is in here.  In fact, it's almost not fair to call this a grindhouse homage.  It may as well have fallen straight out of the 70s.  This IS a grindhouse movie, made in the 21st century.

Which kinda lets you know it's not very *good* doesn't it?

The movie is slow, it's padded, and it has some random arty BS that really threw me out of the movie.  If they left the arthouse rotting fruit shots and such out, it would be okay, but they really feel like they are there to scream, "Look!  We're clever!"  But they are few and far between enough that they don't hurt the movie THAT much.  But they are there.

The story itself sounds okay, but it's presented very straightforward, in a convoluted way.  They just kinda do their thing, do what needs to be done, and its done.  But there are so many bits and pieces along the quest to get the briefcases back, that it somehow manages to be simple and complex all at once.

Now, the last ten minutes is really good, great over the top craziness, and more amazing Trejo.  But by this point, Cashay's quest for revenge has been completed, and it really feels like a tagged on scene for more gore and violence (Which isn't necessarily BAD, mind you...) and to give Trejo and others more to do, since they have some level of star power.  It just feels odd as an additional scene, especially since Cashay's role in it is over, and this is partly his story.

I will say, I have reached my limit on movies being called grindhouse homages and such, and we let that be an excuse for a film to be terrible.  Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't.  Drive Angry got the fun, the tone, and the over the top craziness of grindhouse right, without being badly made.  This movie has all the style, all the badness, and only half the charm of something like Drive Angry.

But it's fun, I liked some big parts of it, REALLY liked the music, and the directing wasn't half bad either.  But the deliberate choice to make it awful, and make it awful in such an exacting way, I think detracts from the movie.  Still, it's only about an hour and change long, and that is just about the right length, even with some of the padding.  Any longer would have been too much, and any shorter would have been a mess of storytelling.  In fact, even at this length, this movie almost goes that route

Still, I'd say it is at least worth a rental or streaming on Netflix or whatever.  If you like it, I say definitely grab the DVD then, since it has a good bunch of interviews and commentary.  I definitely want to rewatch it, since I think this movie will grow on me as I understand it more.

Modus Operandi, the best grindhouse movie of 2011.  The ONLY real grindhouse movie of 2011.

And hey.  It's still better than fucking Clown Hunt.

J