Drive Angry 3D

Get some. 

I know it's not the most popular opinion out in the world of film right now, but Drive Angry is a work of art. Pure pulp, 70's style exploitative Grindhouse art. In fact, the only thing that could make this film more born of the 70's midnight movies is if Nicolas Cage were played by a Van Peeble and had the word "sucka" in his catch phrase. But, as it stands in 2011, simply being named Milton and having the balls to literally drive out of hell with stolen goods is enough. Milton is a violent criminal serving time in Hell for his bad, bad deeds. He witness his daughter get raped and murdered on Earth, and sees his baby granddaughter get stolen for a ritual sacrifice by the people who murdered his little girl. Naturally, like a bat out of... he takes the fastest car he can, steals the most powerful gun known to any world, and takes the trash out. 

Let me reiterate this - a man escapes from Hell, hunting a satanic cult who is about to sacrifice his granddaughter, and to top it off? He himself is being hunted by Satan's right hand man, known only as The Accountant. And he picks up a hot blonde hitchhiker. And - though this may be a spoiler alert - he has a gunfight with about ten people, while having sex. If this movie got any cooler, my face would have fallen off.

More after the cut -- 

In Theaters This Weekend

I can't say anything but "hell. yes."

I don't know what to make of this week. Five releases as we move toward the end of this month. Drive Angry (which offers Nicolas Cage in 3D), Hall Pass (a sure to be irreverent film by the Farrelly Brothers), two French dramas  (Of Gods and Men and Heartbeats), and The Grace Card (the lastest in a long line of church-produced films).

What makes movies like Drive Angry so much damn fun are that, usually, they are original works. It's like someone answers the challenge that Hollywood can't tell an original story anymore. So, a director or group of directors, decide to shake things up by taking four or five genres, three or four ridiculous stories, two or three of their favorite actors, and make one hell of a movie. Drive Angry is the result of that. For an example - the film is about a man who escapes from Hell to seek vengeance on the satanic cult that murdered his daughter, all while picking up a hitchhiker and being hunted by a man known only as "The Accountant". What makes things cooler? Cage's name in the movie is Milton.

Sadly, this isn't the only movie I can focus this post on. So, we're back to the format, with a trailer for each release -


starting with Drive Angry.


More after the cut --

Season of the Witch - Part II

In my initial review of Season of the Witch, I promised a second part, after going into detail about why it's not so bad, as long as its not taken seriously. Much like Nic Cage's other outings recently (notably, The Wicker Man) the comic gold mined from the project is invaluable. But, here in this, I want to take a closer look at what it is exactly that makes this film something special. Not something good, but... special.

It's the hair. 

More after the cut -- 

Season of the Witch - Part I.

Nicolas Cage, realizing which movie he's in.

There's a lot to be said about Season of the Witch. Whether or not any of it is good... you'll have to decide that for yourself. After nearly 90 minutes of American actors doing impressions of British actors doing American accents (think... Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves), my decision was pretty much made for me as to what I could say. 

More after the cut -- 

True Grit is a true hit.

The latest film from the Coen Brothers has passed the $100 million mark, specifically, the $110 million mark, and the success is just bound to keep growing. This is the first film for Joel and Ethan to pass this mark domestically, and it speaks very highly of where film might be headed over the next couple of years.

Our movie made how much?

Numbers like this make me a bit hopeful for the immediate future, as a filmgoer. We can see the impact, both financially and in popular culture, that Black Swan has made - here, below, is a recent Jim Carrey/Black Swan spoof -