David Cranmer's Blog, page 37

Very Best

For those who celebrate Christmas, I wish you the very best the holiday has to offer and I hope the eggnog is spiked to your satisfaction.

Jane Got A Gun (2016)

In 1871's New Mexico Territory, Jane Hammond's (Natalie Portman) husband Bill (Noah Emmerich) returns home from having been bullet riddled by the revenge seeking Bishop Boys (Ewan McGregor, Boyd Holbrook). After stabilizing him, she gets her young daughter to safety and seeks out assistance from an old boyfriend, Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton), who at first is reluctant to help, still smarting from losing her years before. He eventually does and through well-sprinkled flashbacks we learn about their relationship and why the Bishops are seeking to kill Jane's husband in the first place.

This film opened to mixed reviews and died at the box office but don't let that discourage you from watching one of the best Western action movies of recent memory led by Ms. Portman in a memorable performance. From a tear-stained face as she says goodbye to her little girl to the steel in her eyes as she guns down a gunslinger, she puts her stamp on the genre as an intelligent, complicated protagonist. And in an era where the emphasis has turned to revisionism or hybrid Westerns, damn if it isn't nice to have straightforward storytelling with a climax that actually delivers the goods. Jane Got a Gun may have had a troubled, lackluster start but this film will age well.

Django (1966)

A classic that still kicks ass half a century later and still inspiring tributes like Quentin Tarentino's Django Unchained (2012) though all pale in comparison to this spaghetti Western that was itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961). Franco Nero is Django who is first seen dragging a coffin near the muddy Mexico and United States border. After rescuing the beautiful Maria (Loredana Nusciak) from being crucified on a burning cross, he goes to a nearby ghost town and makes a saloon his base of operation. Django then for reasons, at first, that's only known to him wages a one-man war against two local warring factions led by Major Jackson’s klansmen and General Hugo Rodríguez’s revolutionaries. He seems to be setting himself up against insurmountable odds but no worries, pilgrims, all the help he will need is in that coffin.

Diablo (2015)

Psychological Western has Civil War veteran Jackson (Scott Eastwood), once known as General Sherman's best killer, searching for his kidnapped wife. Always hypnotizing Walter Goggins plays Ezra who seems to know Jackson from his military days and begins murdering anyone who comes in contact with him. We discover before long to what degree the war has unhinged Jackson when an old 'friend' played by Danny Glover seems unusually terrified warning his granddaughter, "He's killed more men than you met in your lifetime."

Far from a perfect film, with an unsatisfying ending, benefits greatly from stunning cinematography courtesy of Dean Cundey and a evocative musical score by Timothy Williams.

The Waste Lands

Thank you for joining me on a journey of Stephen King’s The Waste Lands (1991), the 3rd book in The Dark Tower series. We just finished our journey across the beach in The Drawing of the Three, drawing Eddie and Susannah Dean into Roland's world and ending the pitiful life of Jack Mort. Eddie is off heroin, and Susannah's previously split mind has merged into one—but Roland Deschain is troubled. It seems by killing Jack Mort and allowing Jake Chambers to live, he has created a paradox ... and it's tearing his mind apart. What's next for this new ka-tet? Will Roland be able to rectify this butterfly effect? Join us as we make our journey into The Waste Lands.

Ranking The Doctors

I watched quite a bit of Doctor Who over the weekend resulting in my ever changing list of favorite Doctors. Currently the order:

Matt Smith
Tom Baker
David Tennant
Patrick Troughton
Jon Pertwee
Peter Davison
Christopher Eccleston
Paul McGann
Peter Capaldi
William Hartnell
Sylvester McCoy
Colin Baker

If I were to include The War Doctor (John Hurt) he would place in the top five easily. How about you? Any fans of the Time Lord?

China 9, Liberty 37 (1978)

China 9, Liberty 37 (1978) directed by Monte Hellman is a B Western with an A performance by Warren Oates. Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi), within minutes of being hanged, gets a reprieve from some greedy railroad company men if he will murder Matthew Sebanek (Warren Oates) who refuses to budge from his property that the company wants to gobble up. Clayton agrees, but he becomes friendly with Matthew instead which is complicated by the man's alluring wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter) who falls for the hunk assassin. A low-budget oddity that maintains interest thanks to Hellman's devotion to strong character development, and, well, Oates—he is an acting force of nature that's never dull. Plus this forgotten '70s film has the added curio of infamous director Sam Peckinpah in a rare acting gig.

My friend Randy Johnson went into a little more plot detail with his 2009 review at Not The Baseball Pitcher blog.

China 9, Liberty 37

China 9, Liberty 37 (1978) directed by Monte Hellman is a B Western with an A performance by Warren Oates. Clayton Drumm (Fabio Testi), within minutes of being hanged, gets a reprieve from some greedy railroad company men if he will murder Matthew Sebanek (Warren Oates) who refuses to budge from his property that the company wants to gobble up. Clayton agrees, but he becomes friendly with Matthew instead which is complicated by the man's alluring wife Catherine (Jenny Agutter) who falls for the hunk assassin. A low-budget oddity that maintains interest thanks to Hellman's devotion to strong character development, and, well, Oates—he is an acting force of nature that's never dull. Plus this forgotten '70s film has the added curio of infamous director Sam Peckinpah in a rare acting gig.

My friend Randy Johnson went into a little more plot detail with his 2009 review at Not The Baseball Pitcher blog.

For the Love of Spock (2016)

I've been a Star Trek fan ever since my mom and dad bought me a phaser that fired plastic rings (I easily imagined myself slicing and dicing Klingon warriors and salt vampires), and also a book called Star Trek: The Prisoner of Vega (can still remember that story sentence by sentence yet I haven't read a single page in decades).

For the Love of Spock (2016) is a documentary directed by Adam Nimoy, son of Leonard Nimoy who played the iconic figure for five decades. This treasure trove of information, interviews, and never before released video only deepened my appreciation for the show and the thoughtful, intelligent man who embodied the half-Vulcan character. Like the McQueen bio I mentioned a few days ago, there's much deeper themes here than just another valentine for Trek enthusiasts. Recommended for all.

Here's a link to the trailer.

Oy!

I've been on a reread of Roland of Gilead's adventures and am currently at The Dark Tower: The Waste Lands, Part IV. Hope you join me over at Macmillan's Criminal Element blog. Here's a sample:

Jake names the straggling billy-bumbler Oy and begins caring for it, adding a “boy and his dog” warmth to the proceedings along with some depth to the world in which Roland lives. Kind of like a racoon but with a longer neck, Oy shows off his ability to mimic sounds that he hears. It’s explained that once upon a time, many homes in Mid-World had billy-bumblers traipsing about—much like our own pets—and they possibly have a greater intelligence than first observed. I’m really taken with Oy, and I’m getting the vibe he will take a large part in the Dark Tower quest as we go along, and to some purpose.