Walker - 1987 - Dir. Cox

All right, so I wasn't terrifically blown away by Repo Man BUT DAMN, Walker sure was bitchin'. I think probably a great deal of my love for the film stems from Joe Strummer's score. I know as soon as the movie began with a ton of Mexican soldiers running to his almost Carribbean-y score, I knew I was in for a treat. It so perfectly illustrated the lightness in tone but severity of the subject matter especially back in 87. I dunno, where Repo Man seemed terribly confused and aimless, Walker feels WAY tighter. Even as the film falls apart in violence and anachronism, it falls apart in a much tighter manner, with an organized message. The film isn't shy about going over-the-top especially with Peter Boyle as some kind a maniacal Vanderbilt, the camera rarely backing up from his giant mug. There's plenty of men walking around in posses firing randomly to awesome music. The end sequence all with the fire and slow-mo, I had to watch it twice. Ed Harris as the title role plays the madman fairly quietly. Even considering how quickly he goes nuts, he just seems fairly reasonable the whole time. I guess that's the thing about Ed Harris, he just doesn't ever really seem all the insane. It worked really well, because the world around him is exploding at the seems with madness, Ed Harris seems to be the calm center... except he's kind of the craziest fuck of them all (OH MAN! There's definitely a shot where he looks BATSHIT insane though). And Tim Allen's Little Brother from Home Improvement is Ed Harris's little Brother, and man, I love watching small TV actors be all large in movies. When he runs around, shooting people looking cool, I COULDN'T stop thinking about home improvement. Actually the film has a lot of neat actors in it, not really name actors but like... the guy who plays GEORGE MASON and Richard Edson! I mean, the movie is silly, violent, over-the-top, brimming with style, and you know, it still has a lot to say. It may not be the smartest film around (certainly not subtle) but I can't say I've seen a movie like this and enjoyed it in a long time. I wish I hadn't known so much about the film before I watched it though, there were some things I would have loved to be a surprise.

What's cooler than Ed Harris standing around wearing that? Ed Harris STRUTTING around wearing that!

Repo Man - 1984 - Dir. Cox

HARRY DEAN STANTON! I heard about this movie, well, I dunno. This was one of those movies that's sort of haunted me all my life. Probably because it was on TV a lot but I never really sat down a watched it, because it looked boring and because I was probably ten or something and if I was going to sit and watch Emilio Estevez act, hockey and children had better be involved. But word of Repo Man being a SUPER quirky 80's comedy kept getting back to me, and it stuck in my mind. So now, on August 4th... 2009, I've watched Repo Man. It was okay. Meh... I like Harry Dean Stanton, that man... he's an up and comer. He always has been. It's appropriately weird enough. There's aliens and conspiracies and punks and a kind of half-hearted attempt to have everything mesh coherently. The movie seems to run by its own rules, mostly. I feel like I can't critique it because of what it WANTS TO BE. It wants to be strange. And it is. That however, doesn't stop me from saying it's pretty boring about halfway through. I'm a fairly forgiving guy when it comes to random and goofy bullshit. Hell, I usually prefer it that way. But maybe it overstayed its welcome a bit, or maybe the execution just didn't work, whatever the reason I got a little tired of it all. I didn't really care because ANYTHING could happen. It was kind of like Lock,Stock without the SUPER EDITING. Guns, drugs, various groups of people all clashing for a thing (A Malibu). No one is really all that sane or intelligent. It felt like a lot of modern goofy movies like Smokin' Aces, things like that really took note from this movie. In the end, the first act had me going, all the different elements had me going, it was a strong start... just derailed by... well, what seems to be the movie's seemingly purposeful (but no less dull) derailment.

DON'T FUCK WITH EMILIO ESTEVEZ!