i luv cinema

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • TCMFF 2019
    • TCMFF 2019: Reflections on a Favorite Film Festival
  • Tribeca 2019
    • When Your Time is Short, Go See a Short! (Tribeca 2019)
    • LINDA RONSTADT: The Sound of My Voice
  • London Film Festival 2019
    • BFI London Film Festival 2019 – My 1st Time!
    • The Aeronauts (2019) was Fun (Kinda)
    • Knives Out: A Highlight on My Cinematic Calendar
    • A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: A Review
    • Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans ’66)
  • 100 “Must-See”
  • About Me
Home Archives for overlooked

February 12, 2013 By iluvcinema 8 Comments

Tuesday’s Overlooked Film: Near Dark (1987)

This Tuesday I place my second Kathryn Bigelow entry into ILC’s Overlooked Registry. It is (as my title indicates) Near Dark, the 1987 contemporary vampire thriller movie starring Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton. Over the years, has established quite a cult following.

large_near_dark_blu-ray7

Midwestern farm hand Caleb (Pasdar) meets up with a mysterious young woman Mae (Wright), who, it turns out is a vampire who before they part company, bites Caleb, thus initiating him into the realm of the undead. Mae rolls with a vicious cohort of fellow blood suckers led by Jesse Hooker (Henriksen) who reluctantly take Caleb under their wing.

In a parallel story, Caleb’s father (Tim Thomerson) and sister are in a desperate search for Caleb when it becomes apparent that he has been taken against his will.

Eventually the story threads merge into a denouement that one may not expect in a film such as this (at least in my mind anyways).

I will admit that this film is not for everyone (due to the level of blood and violence) and I left it knowing immediately it would require a re-watch on my part, so I can pick up on some of the details I missed in my initial viewing.

On another level I think that Near Dark is a good opportunity to see the early work of Bigelow, who is best known for her latest war films (Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty) and the FBI/Surfer Dude heist-er (Point Break).

Check out the trailer here:

——-

* Please be sure to check out other overlooked/forgotten films over at Todd Mason’s blog, Sweet Freedom.

Filed Under: Overlooked Films Tagged With: kathryn bigelow, near dark, overlooked

October 18, 2011 By iluvcinema 5 Comments

Tuesday’s Overlooked: the Hughes Brothers

At the time (the 1990’s to be exact), the Hughes’ Brothers were considered a part of the ‘new crop of emerging black filmmakers.’ Nearly 20 years on their collective output has been rather light – their body of work consists of four features and a documentary. I have previously posted a link to a video about the brothers as seen by the critic Mark Kermode. For the record, the one feature I have not seen is the documentary American Pimp (1999) that he mentions in his video.

I chose to feature them today in my overlooked segment because I feel there work is deserving of praise  and worthy of  some attention (0r at least further critical examination), especially considering they cut their filmmaking teeth in rap videos and made their feature film debut at the ripe old age of 21.

Known for raw and patently violent depictions in their films, their movies may not be suited to everyone’s personal tastes. However when you strip away this violence you will find homages to classic cinema; for example,  Menace II Society (1993) owes a great deal, at least in its narrative structure, to another film set in the City of Angels – Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950).

Released within a couple of years of John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood (1991), the comparisons between the two films were inevitable. At the time, I chose not to compare the films and as saw them instead as similar told different ways. In retrospect, I see them as ends of a spectrum. At the time there is no doubting that Boyz was groundbreaking in the tale that it told – life in South Central Los Angeles from the perspective of those who lived there. But for me, time has not been kind to this movie. It seems to play too much like a message film that you would see in an afterschool special. On the other hand, Menace has held up as a grittier, tougher film, with and more grounded sense of the place and time its inhabitants occupy.

Following the critical success of Menace, they made Dead Presidents, which is equally disturbing to watch due to its depiction of violence; but if you can get through it, it does tell a tale that even my Vietnam veteran father was able to relate to on some level. I have previously mentioned my liking From Hell (2001) ; so it does not bear my repeating what I liked about the film here. In fact, it is that post which got me to look more closely at the brothers’ filmography.

Away from the silver screen, there have also been a couple of forays into television, notably the U.S. adaptation of the British crime drama/mystery Touching Evil.

Nearly a decade after From Hell, the brothers were back in 2010 with the release of the apocalyptic The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman. Seen by many not as a total return to form, Eli received mixed reviews but in the end accumulated a worldwide box office totaling $157,107,755 (Source: Box Office Mojo).

According to IMDB, the next project in the pipeline is the neo-noir Broken City. According to the credits, Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta Jones are attached to the project that is scheduled for release in 2014. Also according to the credits, Allen Hughes will solely be directing this film.


* Be sure to check out Todd Mason’s blog for more Overlooked Films from the various contributors.

Filed Under: Recommendation Tagged With: book of eli, dead presidents, from hell, Hughes Brothers, menace ii society, overlooked

Search

Recommended Read

First True Hitchcock

UC Press, January 2022

Added to My Video Library

Repeat Performance

Centers of Film Study

  • JBFC
  • MoMA Film Screenings
  • The Picture House
  • University of California Press (Cinema and Media Texts)

Fast Film Resources

  • Alfred Hitchcock Wiki
  • Alfred Hitchcock-Master of Suspense
  • Film | The Guardian
  • Kermode & Mayo's Film Reviews
  • Park Circus
  • Rotten Tomatoes
  • The Internet Movie Database
  • Tribeca Film

Film Societies

  • BAMcinématek
  • Film Society of Lincoln Center

This is How We Blogroll

  • BBC Film: The Bulletin
  • Cinematic Corner
  • Comet Over Hollywood
  • Critical Women on Film
  • FlixChatter
  • Future of Flim (Tribeca Film Blog)
  • in so many words …
  • Kermode's Film Blog
  • Paula's Cinema Club
  • Roger Ebert
  • Sobriety Test Movie Reviews
  • Superhero Movie Talk
  • Sweet Freedom

Archives

Tweets by @iluvcinema
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact iluvcinema
totalfilm600movieblogs

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2022, iluvcinema ·Streamline Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in