Machete Kills

It started out as a kind of joke, with director Robert Rodriguez filming a trailer for a fictional movie called Machete to be part of the grind house experience that he and Quentin Tarantino were trying to recreate with their double feature called Grindhouse.  Six years and two actual movies later, Machete is still kind of a joke, one that people with a certain sense of cinematic humor will never grow tired of. In this edition of the story, Machete (Danny Trejo) is recruited by the President (an hilarious Charlie Sheen billed as Carlos Estevez) to go to Mexico and assassinate a crazed terrorist who is threatening to nuke America unless they help bring peace to Mexico.  What follows is a series of increasingly absurd action sequences that only seem to exist to up the ante in ways that Machete can kill bad guys. By the time he kills a guy by throwing his intestines into the rotating blades of a helicopter, you will know if you have the sense of humor (or the stomach) to watch the rest of the show.

Thief

It looks absolutely gorgeous, has some very cool action scenes and features a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream that still has the capacity to blow your mind as you watch the movie. On top of all that, though, this big screen debut from director Michael Mann also features an astounding performance from James Caan, the kind that even the actor (in the extras) calls one of his best. One scene in particular, where the thief (Caan) opens his heart to a woman (Tuesday Weld) in a brightly lit diner, is worth the price of the disc. The rest of the film is an action caper about the thief being blackmailed into doing a job for the local mob guys. When he is pushed too far, the way he stands up for his beliefs – the epitome of their actually being honor among thieves – gives the movie an edge that has only grown keener over the 32 years since its theatrical release.

The Contradictions of Fair Hope

When is started, more than a century ago in rural Alabama, Fair Hope was a benevolent society that helped poor people in the community, generally newly freed slaves, by providing money for burial or other support when a family member became ill. Today, it’s…well, it’s something completely different, something that may have the founding members spinning in their graves. The organization itself is basically the same, it’s just that, over time the annual celebration and fundraiser for the charitable organization has evolved, or devolved if the truth be told. What was once a family affair where a few society members might have set up a grill to sell some fish to other society members, or where a few members might have snuck off into the woods to drink a bit or, heavens above, dance, has evolved into the single wildest party every known. Instead of a humble fish stall, there are now tents with strippers/prostitutes, tents where you can buy guns and tents where you can buy and use drugs. The film explores the greed that causes the change, but also takes a look at how the society uses that greed to stay alive. It’s both fearsome and fascinating.

First World War Centenary Collection: The Somme

“On the morning of July 1, 1916, 120,000 British soldiers prepared to fight the greatest battle of the First World War on what would be the worst day in British military history.” A sentence like that may sum up what  happened at The Somme, but to truly understand and appreciate the sacrifices that were made that day -- sacrifices on both sides of the trenches – you need to settle back and watch the three movies included in this excellent collection. The first film, The Somme, gives us an overview of the battle by using historical footage and historical reenactments to recreate what life – and death – was like for the soldiers who fought that day. Battle of the Somme: The True Story is a documentary that delves a bit deeper into the historical narrative of the film to separate actual footage from propaganda film used to inspire those left behind. Finally, the aptly titled Instruments of Death: The Great War – The Somme 1916 explains in great detail how modern warfare changed forever with the battle along The Somme.

Within the Whirlwind

There have been a lot of movies made about Stalin’s reign of terror, but far too many of them have focused on the ‘terror’ side of the equation with all the subtlety of a sledge hammer. They try to shock the audience without ever taking the time to give them characters they can understand and identify with. For her movie, writer/director Marleen Gorris (Mrs Dalloway), working from an autobiography by Eugenia Ginzburg, takes a much different, and in a way much more successful approach. In telling her story of the Stalin purges, she focus on the story of one woman and lets what she goes through on a personal level speak for a nation. It helps, of course, that she has an actress as talented as Emily Watson to play the lead, and watching Watson navigate the emotional waters of the role is an absolute treat. The story falters a bit along the way, with the high level of tension that Gorris builds in the pre-arrest days of Ginzburg’s life strangely missing from the scenes in the gulag. The journey ends on a note, though, that makes the trip worthwhile.

The Great Chicken Wing Hunt

Like a lot of great storytellers before him, Matt Reynolds is obsessed. Unlike a lot of those artists, who have been obsessed with everything from a woman to a great white whale, Reynolds is obsessed with the wings of a flightless farmyard bird – particularly when they are fried to golden perfection and dipped in a spicy sauce. The lengths that he goes to find the perfect chicken wing are impressive, if a bit nuts: 16 days, 72 stops, 2,627 miles and 270 types of wings. If this was a Food Network special, the film would be all about the wings, how they are made and what makes that special one perfect. While the ultimate goal of the trip may be to find that perfect wing, the film is more of an exploration of obsession, friendship and endurance than about anything the people in the film actually eat. You get just enough back-story on each of the people that Reynolds invites along on his quest to make them stand out as individuals, and the way they all deteriorate along the way as the miles and chicken bones pile up is fascinating.

A Chorus Line

You might look at the cover and wonder if it’s worth it, if you will enjoy watching a 29-year old film of a musical that made its Broadway debut in 1976. Well don’t think about it too much, because the answer is a resounding YES. Directed by Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, Chaplin) the film follows a group of young (and not-so-young) dancers as they go through a hellish audition process before a talented jerk of a director named Zach (Michael Douglas). While some of the situations may come across as a bit  dated and cliché – the old chorus girl trying to keep up with her younger competition, the gay chorus boy trying to prove his family that real men dance, too – the cast does a pretty good job of making them feel alive. The same goes for the music, although "Dance Ten looks Three,” once a show-stopper is a bit embarrassing now. Best part of all is the dancing, which Attenborough captures with a visual flair that is sorely missing from the majority of modern dance movies, where the editing does the heavy lifting. In A Chorus Line, you know the  people on screen are dancing for real and it’s brilliant.