Time has not been kind to Antoine Fuqua. Over a decade ago, he became an Oscar-caliber filmmaker (for whatever that label is worth) after Training Day vaulted him into mainstream prominence on the back of its gritty violence, no-nonsense artistry, and mesmerizing performances; in between then and now he’s output nothing but a handful of mild hits (Brooklyn’s Finest) and flops both small (Shooter) and large (King Arthur). Is his fall from grace an example of success eating a director alive? Was Training Day just an anomaly in an otherwise middling filmography? Giving credit where it’s due, Fuqua’s descent isn’t really due to lack of trying, but the trajectory of his career…
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G-S-T Review…Dead Man Down
Typically, a chorus of disapproval accompanies the arrival of celebrated foreign filmmakers in Hollywood. The studio system, so goes the familiar song and dance, will suck the life right out of their work and excise everything special about them in favor of formula and higher box office returns. There are, of course, exceptions. Alfred Hitchcock and Paul Verhoeven, for instance, produced some of their best films their respective Tinseltown tenures, but they could well be examples that prove the rule; far more often we see directors visiting from overseas, like Susanne Bier and Fernando Meirelles, get chewed up and spat out on the sidewalk, their style rendered unrecognizable courtesy of…
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Ohhh, Look…Behind the Scenes Photos For 'The Raid 2'
Gareth Evans has been planning his sequel to The Raid: Redemption for a while now, so here’s some good news: production on the film began just this week. I’m not sure if he’s sticking with The Raid 2: Berandal (which roughly translates to something like “bully” or “ruffian” in English) or if Sony will end up slapping Retaliation on it, but who cares? The Raid stands out as one of 2012’s best genre surprises and one of the tightest, most accomplished action films of the new decade. That we’re getting a sequel at all is nothing short of exciting, to say nothing of the fact that it’s already underway. To kick off shooting on the…
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Sweet International Trailer…'Journey to the West'
AKA A Chinese Odyssey. AKA one of the Four Great Classical Novels. Full disclosure: I watched the trailer for Journey to the West at least a half a dozen times this morning and I’m still not totally sure what I saw with every repeat viewing. Somehow, Stephen Chow and timeless, massively influential Chinese literature seems like a really odd mix, but that’s exactly why I pay the price of admission to see his films in the first place. I’m sure this will make slightly more sense once I’ve actually seen the whole film, though I’m willing to pick up some supplemental reading if it’ll help me attain understanding of the…
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Off the Netflix Queue…’The Aggression Scale’
Describing Steven C. Miller’s The Aggression Scale as a violent Home Alone riff feels almost too retro-hip for my liking, but it’s almost impossible not to. The similarities between the two films are clear; pit seemingly defenseless children against brutish home invaders, watch the former embarrass and defeat the latter. But Kevin McAllister didn’t know how to work a pump-action shotgun, and possessed a much cuter propensity for violence. Owen (Ryan Hartwig), his analogue here, favors all manner of sharp objects and potent cocktails of ammonia and bleach. (They both admire the efficacy of a nail through the foot.) The clearer difference, though, lies in pathos– Kevin’s just a self-indulgent…