Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Deepwater Horizon (2016)

Director: Peter Berg
Writers: Matthew Michael Carnahan & Matthew Sand (screenplay)
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Douglas M. Griffin, John Malkovich
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller



Remind me to never watch another Peter Berg directed movie!

Damned if this wasn't the exact same structure as Patriots Day: I laughed when once again I seen Mark Wahlberg waking up with the wife in the 'quiet family life before the big event' opening scene. Same happy-dappy family stuff with mindless fluff talk. Filler material.

Then when we finally get to the big oil rig there's more filler...with on the job, derp dialogue, that was spoken so fast and with such fast edits and crappy hand held camera work that I got nothing out of it, other than the oil well wasn't right. The only interesting part was the story of noodling for giant catfish.

Then after 47 minutes into the film we finally get to the action....I thought this is where the film gets good! Ha, the most boring action scenes I've seen, sure the fireballs were big, but true action comes from narrative, not CG...and thanks to the director's ADD style of video game editing, we don't have time to care about the workers on the oil platform.

Then ugh, the director does the same thing in Patriots Day, he ends his film with clips of the real people telling their heart warming stories, talk about manipulating the audience, oh and it's more filler material.

What a crappy, crappy style of film making.

The Naked City (1948)
Director: Jules Dassin
Writers: Albert Maltz & Malvin Wald (screenplay)
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor
Genre: Film Noir

The Naked City is a docudrama style film noir - crime drama filmed entirely on location in New York City. The film follows two detectives Barry Fitzgerald and his young assistant played by Don Taylor as they use modern criminal methodology to find the Bathtub Killer who's killed a beautiful young woman.

The Naked City is a film that almost never was, Universal Pictures executives didn't know what to do with this hybrid film and wanted to scrap it, but thanks to the family members of producer Mark Hellinger, they made Universal release this movie, as it was in Hellinger's contract to do so. Mark Hellinger is also the voice of the narration that dominates the first part of the film.


What's amazing about this Academy Award winning film (Best B&W Cinematography & Best Editing) is that it was shot in only 84 days, and exclusive shot in the streets and buildings of New York City. No studio shots at all. This give us a window back to NYC circa 1948 as we see sights and sounds that are absolutely authentic.

While the voice over narration is kind of odd and gets in the way at times, its also necessary as it was impossible to record sound on many of the street shots, thus a voice over narrator was used to fill in the missing sound blanks. Once we settle into the film the narration is infrequent and the actors take over and deliver up a fine little docudrama noir.


Especially good to see was Barry Fitzgerald as an experienced Homicide detective on the trail of an elusive murderer. Barry is wise, patient and while he uses his years of experience in police work, he's also teaching his young and green assistant. The film takes a low key approach and shows us the leg work that goes into tracking down 1000s of leads in a criminal case. I found the story interesting and exciting especially the police procedural parts.

The film making style is fresh and very different. A must see for any film noir fan.
+

Director: Henry King
Writers: William Bowers & William Sellers (screenplay)
Cast: Gregory Peck, Millard Mitchell, Jean Parker, Helen Westcott, Karl Malden
Genre: Western

A gunfighter who has grown weary of his chosen profession, rides into a dusty one horse town, to once again see the girl that he loves. There he finds his old friend has become the town's new sheriff. He also finds that a young hot shot is trying to kill him... just so that the youngster can earn the title of: the man who killed Jimmy Ringo.

Gregory Peck's favorite movie of all the great films he made was, The Gunfighter. It's easy to see why. The Gunfighter when it came out in 1950 was one of the first westerns to show a more complex character than the typical good guy - bad guy shoot 'em up film. This isn't an action western, it's about a man who in his youth was full of himself and hellbent to be the fastest gun in the west. When we catch up to the older and now wiser Jimmy Ringo, he's become a man full of regrets over the life style he chose.

As soon as he comes into town a crowd gathers outside the bar where he's hold up and they won't let him alone. He's trapped in the bar like a circus sideshow. Little kids point and cheer, the town's ladies protest his very presences.

The film is amazing as it shows this big, bad man.... as being small and alone as he sets in the back corner of the empty bar. He's like a trapped animal with no peace. Even though he's not wanted by the law, his reputation effectively condemns him.

The hopelessness of the main character reminds me of a western-film noir, in that his actions have already sealed his fate with no way to escape them. Gregory Peck is efficient at the sorrowful gun fighter Jimmy Ringo, he brings a sense of burden to the role that works well.

Jimmy Ringo is loosely based on the real Johnny Ringo who survived the shoot out at the OK Coral. Yes that's the same Johnny Ringo as in Tombstone (1993), though here he's a much different character.

The cinematography is by one of Hollywood's greats, Arthur Miller. Miller makes good use of depth and empty spaces to show the utter isolation of Jimmy Ringo.

I thought this was one of the better westerns I've seen.

+

Director: William Castle
Writers: Robb White (screenplay), Anthony Boucher (novel)
Cast: William Prince, Jim Backus, Christine White
Genre: Mystery, Thriller