Posts by Jeremy Butler

“Some people are lucky enough to find their true passions. That’s okay, because their passion makes them feel like somebody. Sometimes it’s the only thing that keeps them moving. I know some people don’t get mine. My passion is jumping rope…competitively, but I like it.”

Growing up I can remember a desire to tie my parents up; did anyone else share that desire? Don’t get me wrong, this desire was not meant with malicious intent, but to simply grasp the full attention of my parents. Well, for Olyesa Rulin’s character in Family Weekend, that desire is a reality. (Yes, the irony of a movie being considered a reality is not lost on me; just go with it.)

Things needed to survive a zombie apocalypse: a secure location to hole up in, water (lots of water), canned goods, a hatchet, and a high-powered rifle (preferably with a scope). Luckily for Jim, the main character of State of Emergency, all these things just happen to fall into his lap. Produced by the Clay Brothers (Haven’t heard of them? That’s okay, neither have I.), State of Emergency is their second feature film, and though it ultimately shows promise, it could have been better with a few tweaks.

State of Emergency dives right into the story, dropping the audience right into the middle of the crisis. As the film opens, four people barricade themselves in a room; one man braces himself against the door as something tries to force its way inside, then the other man enters the frame. Armed with a rifle, he takes up a defensive position and gives the nod to his partner to move away from the door and let the threat in. Wordlessly and without argument, the man bracing the door steps away and moves behind his rifle-wielding friend. Suspense builds as the two await the door opening, and then boom….the audience is transported three days earlier without discovering what’s behind the door.

“Solving the following riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt."

Never question the importance that a title plays in the success of a film. The title is the first thing that you encounter when discovering a new movie. Let me set the scene: you are at home, bored and looking for a movie to watch so you go to a Redbox kiosk or log onto your Netflix (given that video stores are close to extinct at this point); you narrow your selection down to two titles. The first is a film has a generic title that starts with “The”; the second is a little film entitled John Dies at the End. Now honestly, which title is most likely going to interest you?

It is truly amazing the career that Tom Green has had when you really sit back and think about it. Tom has made a career as an oddball whose antics would either make you laugh hysterically or raise a brow with suspicion of his mental state. His personality has taken him to many heights, from a Canadian Public Access show to MTV, MTV to the silver screen, but it wasn’t until he got in front of the camera and documented his battle with testicular cancer that many people would stand up and take notice of Hollywood’s strangest man. Speaking of stand-up, it appears that after tackling television, film, and rapping (seriously!), Tom is turning towards stand-up for his first comedy special Tom Green Live.

Before this DVD found its way to me, it had been years since I heard the name Tom Green. To this day I can’t think of him without imagining some of his crazy antics, like the scene from Road Trip where he put a live mouse in his mouth, or practically any scene from Freddie Got Fingered (a film that to this day remains the most surreal experience I ever had watching a movie). However, as I watched him enter from the crowd and take the stage, I immediately felt a change. If this had been years ago, perhaps around the time of Freddie Got Fingered, I would have been entertained, but sadly I’ve matured since then, and it appears so has Tom.

Timing is everything in life; being in the right place at the right time could mean great fortune. Of course the other side of that coin is that being in the wrong place at the wrong time could mean great misfortune; want to guess on which side the coin landed in Stand Off? (Hopefully you guessed misfortune; otherwise stop reading now.) Brendan Fraser leads the comedy about a botched robbery which eventually transformed to an even bigger mess. I’ve been a Brendan Fraser fan dating all the way back to Encino Man, and I was especially excited when he achieved action hero status with the The Mummy franchise (the final film excluded of course), but every now and then, it’s nice to see an actor return to familiar territory.

Fraser stars as Joe Maguire, a South Boston antique seller hiding out overseas after a hit is put out on his life by his mob boss father-in-law. While hiding out, Joe meets Sophie (YaYa DaCosta, Tron: Legacy), the store owner across the street from his cousin’s shop, and the two strike up a relationship. As a romantic gesture, Joe decides to make dinner for Sophie. Upon returning to from the market Joe witnesses the same suspicious character who has been lurking around the store going inside. Unsure whether the man plans to rob the store or collect on the contract out on his life, Joe brandishes a firearm and prepares to enter unaware that a copper (how they refer to policemen or policewomen across the pond; doesn’t that sound cool) has seen him remove the weapon, but we’ll come back to that.

“They cry, they plead, they beg, they piss themselves, they cry for their mothers. It gets embarrassing. I like to kill ‘em softly. From a distance.”

Brad Pitt demonstrates that very well during one of his execution scenes. Killing Them Softly is director Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of the 1974 novel, Cogan’s Trade by George V. Higgnins. This film is Dominik’s third go-around serving as both writer and director (the other two times being Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James), and I must say that he seems at home with double the amount of work.