Author Archives: Keith Garlington

REVIEW: “Butcher’s Crossing” (2023)

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I’m not sure there’s a genre that Nicolas Cage hasn’t dabbled in. The seasoned cult favorite has led mainstream action films, starred in small arthouse dramas, and played in hilarious off-beat comedies. He’s been in war movies, fantasy adventures, martial arts films. He’s done voicework in animated features, portrayed Marvel superheroes, and even took on the iconic role of Count Dracula.

One genre Cage has revisited several times is the American Western. His latest film, “Butcher’s Crossing” sees him once again in the Old West, but this time within a refreshingly unique story. Directed, co-written (with Liam Satre-Meloy), and co-produced by Gabe Polsky, “Butcher’s Crossing” is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by John Williams. Contrary to the more romanticized views at the time, the book was an early deconstruction of the Old West and Polsky’s movie follows right in those footsteps.

The story opens in 1874 with an eager young man named William Andrews (Fred Hechinger) arriving in the small Kansas town of Butcher’s Crossing. Unfulfilled by life at Harvard, Will dropped out of school and travelled west in hopes of finding himself and experiencing what he in his naïveté perceives the American frontier to be. His first glimpse of the cold, unfriendly Butcher’s Crossing gives him pause. But he’s quick to toss aside his first impression, looking forward to what adventure might await.

Image Courtesy of Saban Films

Will’s first stop is to introduce himself to a crusty trader named McDonald (Paul Raci) who buys and sells buffalo hides at ever-changing market values. Will’s father once helped McDonald back east and Will hopes that connection will help get him into one of McDonald’s buffalo hunting parties. But McDonald denies him a spot, warning him that it’s a pitiless life that can ruin a man.

Not to be discouraged, Will convinces a self-employed buffalo hunter named Miller to take him on. Played by Cage who’s bald with a jet-black beard and a hard-to-decipher twinkle in his eye, Miller tells Will of a hunt deep in the uncharted wilds of the Colorado territory. It has more buffalo with thicker hides which of course means more money. All he needs is $500 to $600 to fund the hunt which Will agrees to supply with little hesitation.

Joined by a superstitious camp cook Charlie (a nearly unrecognizable Xander Berkeley) and a crass and brutish skinner named Fred (Jeremy Bobb), the four-man hunting party make the arduous journey to a sprawling patch of land high up in the Rocky Mountains. It’s there that they set up camp near a massive herd of buffalo and where Miller’s intensifying fixation leads the group down a physically and emotionally treacherous path.

Image Courtesy of Saban Films

Once it gets its pieces in place “Butcher’s Crossing” shows itself to have a sharp psychological edge. The notoriously savvy Cage makes the beguiling Miller fittingly hard to read. In one sense he’s an alluring larger-than-life presence that you can’t turn away from. But over time we can’t help but join Will in questioning Miller as his epic hunt devolves into a near maniacal obsession.

The movie’s slow-burn pacing proves to be a good fit for the story. The characters, their relationships, their circumstances – it all changes over the course of three grinding seasons in the mountains. The performances are authentic and nuanced, especially from Cage who is surprisingly (and effectively) restrained. And the stunning cinematography not only captures the natural beauty of the setting but also the remoteness of an untouched countryside.

While the film is rich with gorgeous scenery and picturesque horizons, Polsky often contrasts it with a compellingly uncomfortable close-up look at the buffalo trade. It’s a resonating conflict that brings out many of the film’s major themes. It leads to a final act that is harsh, brutal, and increasingly bleak. But it’s befitting for a story such as this – one that may have a few minor hiccups (such as underusing Rachel Keller) but that does a lot with its gritty and edgy premise. “Butcher’s Crossing” opens Friday (October 20th).

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “Killher” (2023)

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Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a camping trip goes south after a group of young friends are terrorized by a deranged killer. It’s a premise that’ll be familiar to any level of horror fan. We’ve seen variations of it for decades. The filmmakers of the new low-budget slasher “Killher” understand that. In fact, director Robyn August and screenwriter Tom Kiesche rely on their audience’s familiarity. What better way to appreciate the fun they’re having with this well-traveled sub-genre.

Unfortunately “Killher” doesn’t have enough in its tank to keep us onboard for the duration. Even at under 90 minutes, the movie runs out of gas well before the finish. It takes well-worn slasher tropes and wrings everything it can out of them. But it’s too strapped for original ideas to fill in the gaps. Even worse, the woeful final act zaps what remains of our goodwill and ends things on a really sour note.

Image Courtesy of Dark Sky Films

With her wedding day approaching, Mattie (Jenna Z. Alvarez) celebrates by setting out on a camping trip planned and put together by her best friend Eddie (M.C. Huff), a notorious prankster and horror movie enthusiast. Much to Eddie’s chagrin, Mattie invites two of her stuffier friends, Jess (Emily Hall) and Rae (Nicole Lovince), to come along. So the four embark on a supposed fun-filled weekend getaway.

The group drives deep into the forest and sets up camp next to a tent that Eddie claims belongs to (SURPRISE) Mattie’s fiancé, Jagger (Jack Schumacher). But they discover it actually belongs to a burly loner named Ed Rogers (Tom Kiesche). Mr. Rogers tries to keep to himself. But the girls, led by Eddie, are obnoxious to the point that a conflict is inevitable. To make matters worse, cracks begin to form in their “friendships” with each hour they stay in the woods.

Without going into detail, we soon learn there is a killer in the woods (you’ll figure out who it is within the first half-hour). It’s supposed to lead to an entertaining hack’em-up final act but what we get isn’t nearly as fun as it tries to be. In the last 30 minutes the campiness wears off, the characters become dull and tiresome, and the dialogue turns incredibly hokey. Worst of all is the actual killer whose desperate and vain attempts at being maniacal grows more annoying by the minute.

Image Courtesy of Dark Sky Films

I don’t want to come down too hard on “Killher” as it can only do so much within its noticeable budget constraints. And I’ll go as far as to say that August deserves a lot of credit for delivering beyond the limitations he faces, specifically in the film’s first half.

But once we hit the midway point things unravel pretty fast. By sloppily telegraphing the killer’s identity we’re left with no tension whatsoever. And the killer’s grating over-the-top performance helps turn the movie into an endurance test rather than the fun-filled genre romp that it could have been. And sadly no amount of cool practical effects or gnarly makeup can make up for the second half frustrations which end up burying this well-intended misfire. “Killher” opens October 20th in select theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

New on Home Video: “Barbie” on 4K Ultra HD + Digital

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Warner Brothers Home Entertainment is bringing the highest grossing film of 2023 to home video. “Barbie” from writer-director Greta Gerwig raked in over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office and is available to own today. This combo pack comes with six featurettes and is presented in stellar 4K UHD quality which should satisfy the film’s legions of fans. Read my full review of the movie HERE.

This 4K Ultra HD and Digital Copy of “Barbie” releases TODAY (October 17th). See below for a full synopsis and release information.

Official Synopsis

Year: 2023

Runtime: 114 Minutes

Director: Greta Gerwig

Screenwriter: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferreira, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Pearlman, Will Ferrell, Alexandra Shipp, Simu Lie, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emma Mackey, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Helen Mirren, Emerald Fennell, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney

From the Studio:

“Barbie,” the box office smash hit and global phenomenon, arrives for purchase on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD on October 17.From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig (“Little Women,” “Lady Bird”), “Barbie,” stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie (“Bombshell,” “I, Tonya”) and Ryan Gosling (“La La Land,” “Half Nelson”) as Barbie and Ken. Gerwig directed “Barbie” from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story,” “The Squid and the Whale”), based on Barbie by Mattel.

“Barbie” has taken the box office by storm, earning more than $1.43 billion worldwide to become the highest grossing film in Warner Bros.’ 100-year history; the highest grossing film ever from a female filmmaker at the domestic box office; and is the largest worldwide film release of 2023.

Synopsis: To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.

Bonus Features

“Barbie” 4K UHD and Blu-ray contain the following special features:  

  • Welcome to Barbie Land – featurette
  • Becoming Barbie – featurette
  • Playing Dress-Up – featurette
  • Musical Make-Believe – featurette
  • All-Star Barbie Party – featurette
  • It’s A Weird World – featurette

REVIEW: “Totally Killer” (2023)

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Thirty-five years ago in the quiet idyllic town of Vernon, three teenage girls were found brutally murdered. Each were stabbed a total of sixteen times. The dubbed “Sweet 16 Killer”, who wore all black and a mask reminiscent of Max Headroom meets Fallout’s Vault Boy, was never found. That grim and horrifying cloud has hung over the once sleepy little community ever since.

That’s the setting for “Totally Killer”, a new retro slasher black comedy from director Nahnatchka Khan. This Amazon and Blumhouse collaboration is an enthusiastic romp that both celebrates and spoofs the resilient horror sub-genre. But the screenwriting trio of David Matalon, Sasha Perl-Raver, and Jen D’Angelo don’t stop there. There’s also a science-fiction element to their story – more specifically, time travel. And it’s every bit as silly as it sounds.

Image Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

Make no mistake, the filmmakers know how silly their movie is. They embrace it which is why the film works as well as it does (when it works). In reality “Totally Killer” is much more of a comedy. Yes, there’s blood and bodies. But it’s the humor that fares best, especially when we’re transported back to 1987. It’s there that the utter recklessness of the eighties collides with current day fragility, opening the door for a slew of culture clash gags, many of which garner some big laughs.

Whiny teen Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) is having a hard time with her over-protective parents, Pam (Julie Bowen) and Blake (Lachlan Munro). But you can hardly blame them. They happened to be Jamie’s age when the above mentioned killings took place 35 years earlier and they’re only looking out for their daughter. But it’s getting to be a little too much which has really put a strain on their relationships, especially between Jamie and her mom.

After a hateful spat, Jamie goes off to a Halloween night concert with her best friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema). While she’s away, the Sweet 16 Killer suddenly returns and violently kills Pam. Unbeknownst to her, a devastated Jamie happens to be the next target. While at the school’s science fair the murderer chases her into Amelia’s project – a broken time machine (yep, you read that right). And wouldn’t you know it, amid the chaos the time machine fires up and suddenly Jamie finds herself in 1987.

As she tries to deal with the sudden time shock, Jamie is surprised when she runs into the three girls who will soon be murdered. And in true “Back to the Future” fashion, she runs into her teenage mother (played by Olivia Holt) who is close friends with the doomed girls. Jamie comes up with a plan – save the girls from being killed and recruit young Pam to help her expose the killer. But that’ll take infiltrating their snobbish clique. Easier said that done.

Image Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios

From there the movie goes in several different directions, sometimes clinging tight to the slasher genre; other times poking fun at it. Along the way we meet a number of side characters across both timelines. Some are fun, some are endearing, some are annoying, some are as dumb as a box of rocks. Many follow common slasher archetypes. But for the most part Khan does some interesting things with them.

Not all of the eighties references land and there are certain gags that the filmmakers run into the ground. Also making sense of the final 15 minutes can seem like a chore. But overall “Totally Killer” finds the sweet spot between serious and spoof. You’ll get a kick out of the eighties attire, the musical blasts of Bananarama, Chris de Burgh, Shannon, etc., and the numerous callbacks to chillers like “Halloween” and “Scream” among others. And while it may not add much to the slasher genre, it’ll certainly have you laughing, often when you least except it. “Totally Killer” is now streaming on Hulu.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

REVIEW: “Nyad” (2023)

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True stories of triumphing over adversity can be catnip for filmmakers. The very idea comes with so many plot points and story beats already baked into it. It’s especially true for sports stories. Netflix’s “Nyad” seeks to inspire by telling the genuinely amazing true account of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad. Unfortunately it’s told through what amounts to a rather lukewarm sports drama that also passes as a pretty standard-issue biopic.

The movie is based on Nyad’s best-selling autobiography “Find a Way”. It’s co-directed by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vaserhelyi working from a script by Julia Cox. The story sticks close to a well-used formula. We’re introduced to the impossible feat. We get the training sequences. There are the failed attempts leading to the agony of defeat. And then there’s the rise from the ashes for that inspirational one last try. It’s so by the numbers that you’ll be one step ahead for pretty much the entire movie.

Some of the film’s focus is on the friendship between Diana (Annette Bening) and Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster). Early on there’s almost a buddy movie vibe as Chin and Vaserhelyi lay out this potentially compelling relationship. They’re an interesting pair with Diana portrayed as stubborn, selfish, and narcissistic and Bonnie as buoyant, loyal, and supportive to a fault. The problem is, outside of one big scene, there is little-to-no real emotional resonance between them.

Image Courtesy of Netflix

The film opens with archived news footage chronicling Nyad’s many swimming accomplishments. But the one thing she had yet to do was make the 103-mile non-stop swim from Cuba to Key West, Florida. In fact, no one had. We learn that Diana had attempted and failed when she was 28-years-old. Now in her early sixties she’s ready to try again. Why you ask? The movie sloppily cobbles together something vaguely resembling an motivation. It involves hazy flashbacks to an abusive childhood and an even hazier allusion to fulfilling her destiny.

There’s clearly some compelling backstory to explore but the filmmakers seem far more interested in getting Diana into the water. First comes convincing Bonnie to get onboard as her coach (and enabler, depending on how you look at it). From there we’re sped through training and conditioning sequences. And despite mentioning the daunting task of raising $500,000 dollars in sponsorship money, it too is rushed and mostly happens off-screen.

After that it’s all about the small supporting cast of characters falling in line with Diana’s single-track obsession. Other than Bonnie, the only remotely memorable one of the bunch is the crusty but capable navigator John Bartlett (Rhys Ifans) who captains her support boat. Everyone else just seems to be along for the ride. There are a few clashes, especially after the first couple of failed attempts. But they’re mostly repeats of the same argument and they usually end with Bonnie or John giving in with little real resistance.

Image Courtesy of Netflix

Things pick up a bit once the “action” begins. Diane’s first couple of runs are pretty exciting as she battles both the sea and her body. But over time even these scenes lose their appeal as each new attempt grows increasingly repetitive (by the fifth try we’re rooting for her to make it just so there won’t be a sixth). The film’s final 30 minutes are particularly tedious and offer nothing new other than one ridiculous CGI underwater sequence and that inevitable moment of triumph where the music swells and everyone cheers.

As far as the performances, both Bening and Foster are solid although nowhere near career-best levels. Bening deserves a ton of credit for her deep commitment to her role, especially physically. Yet there’s little nuance in her performance and dramatically she’s often stuck in one gear. Foster is allowed a little more range but even she is handcuffed by a script that plays it safe and often shortchanges character-building.

Chin and Vaserhelyi are terrific filmmakers as evident by their films “Meru” and “Free Solo”. Sadly we only see flashes of it in “Nyad”. The movie skims over the more interesting details of its characters and their lives, caving to more formulaic feel-good storytelling that we’ve seen in countless sports movies and biopics. It’s a shame because it’s such an extraordinary true story that deserves more than such a conventional treatment. “Nyad” releases in select theaters on October 20th before streaming on Netflix November 3rd.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

RETRO REVIEW: “The Stone Killer” (1973)

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With any discussion on the best movies of Charles Bronson’s career it’s likely that many of the same titles will pop up: “Once Upon a Time in the West”, “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Great Escape”, “The Dirty Dozen”, “Death Wish”. I’m doubting that “The Stone Killer” gets mentioned much in those conversations. But what can I say, after 50 years it remains one of my favorites out of Bronson’s many crime genre forays.

“The Stone Killer” was one of six Bronson collaborations with director Michael Winner. It fell in between 1972’s “The Mechanic” and 1974’s “Death Wish”. Written for the screen by Gerald Wilson, the film is a loose adaptation of John Gardner’s 1969 novel “A Complete State of Death”. It’s one of several notably violent cop movies that came in the wake of the successful “Dirty Harry”. But this isn’t just another clone of that popular Clint Eastwood vehicle. If anything, it more closely resembles the poliziotteschi subgenre of crime movies that were popular in Italy at the time.

Image Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

In Spanish Harlem, an 18-year-old is wanted for shooting and wounding a police officer during a liquor store robbery. He runs into an old apartment building as police officers gather outside. Detective Lou Torrey (Bronson) arrives and immediately goes in after him, chasing the suspect upstairs and out on a fire escape. The young man pulls a gun and Torrey shoots him dead. We’re quickly told that it’s the third teenager shot and killed by the New York Police Department in four weeks. This latest death leads to the Mayor receiving a flood of new complaints from angry citizens.

Quickly branded a “gun-happy cop” by the local media, Lou is forced to turn in his gun and badge. Frustrated with it all, he leaves New York and heads to Los Angeles where he takes an LAPD detective position offered by his old friend and new captain Les Daniels (Norman Fell). Paired with a racist partner named Mathews (Ralph Waite), Lou nabs a drug peddler named Armitage (Eddie Firestone) who’s wanted on a murder charge in New York. Lou is tasked with escorting Armitage back to New York to stand trial. But after arriving, Armitage is gunned down in the airport parking lot by a drive-by shooter.

As Lou starts investigating Armitage’s murder he finds clues pointing to it being a mob hit. Meanwhile, a New York mafia boss named Al Vescari (Martin Balsam) begins planning an ambitious serious of assassinations. His targets are fellow dons across the nation. It’s his long-awaited revenge for “The Night of Sicilian Vespers” – a mythologized mass killing of mob bosses orchestrated by Charles “Lucky” Luciano in 1931. Needless to say Don Vescari holds a grudge.

Don Vescari’s grand plan involves hiring Vietnam vets to carry out the killings rather than the using mob guys (hence the movie’s title). Lou begins connecting dots leading to a combustible third act where the mystery and police procedural elements give way to more action. Winner let’s loose with a couple of well executed set pieces that fit right in Bronson’s wheelhouse. It all leads to a fitting payoff that’s more than your predictable run-of-the-mill finish.

Image Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

There are several great faces scattered throughout the movie and you can’t help but make some fun connections. Among the best is seeing John Ritter in an early role. He and Norman Fell were only a few years away from starring together in the extremely popular sitcom “Three’s Company”. And it’s a hoot seeing Ralph Waite, the righteous patriarch in the wholesome family series “The Waltons” play such a despicable louse.

But Bronson is the clear star of the show. While “The Stone Killer” doesn’t get much attention when it comes to his movies, he delivers a strong and well-rounded performance. Both Winner’s direction and Wilson’s script gives the tough-as-leather Bronson material that feeds his strengths. He doesn’t have a ton of dialogue, but he doesn’t need it either. Bronson has always been an actor who can carry a movie with his formidable presence. That’s certainly the case here.

VERDICT – 4 STARS