Merrick here...
We've published a number of Muldoon's reviews in the past - he's now at Fantastic Fest sending along thoughts about some of the films he's checking out this year. First up? RED HILL and BUNRAKU...
RED HILL
I’ll try to stay as spoiler free as possible, so don’t expect a play by play. Today my mind was blown. The film kicks off with Shane Cooper [TRUE BLOOD’s RYAN KWANTEN] reporting to his new job with the local police department after transferring into a new small town. His first day gets “complicated” when an infamous murderer escapes from jail. When the gun-toting outlaw arrives in town, he makes his presence known as he begins to pick off the local cops one by one. Each kill is smart, well paced, and just fucking cool. As the body count rises, the film’s protagonist, Cooper, struggles to keep up as everyone around him either gets knocked off or cowers in the town’s shadows. Not everything seems Over the course of this cat and mouse game, Cooper begins to question the killer’s motives after outlaw “Jimmy,” played by the legendary Tommy Lewis [THE PROPOSITION] spares his life after a tense run in. He soon unravels a sinister connection between Jimmy and the town’s past… Director Patrick Hughes has undoubtedly created one of the most distinct western heroes on film to date. As a first time director, Hughes seems to really have an eye for creating striking visuals, intense action , and the ability to pack it all into a fast paced exciting movie that demands it’s place in the Cowboy Hall of fame. It’s obvious the man clearly loves, understands, and has what it takes to bring the Cowboy western back to the theater. HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, HIGH NOON , and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN all clearly inspired this movie, yet at no point did this film feel anything but fresh and fun. I don’t watch TRUE BLOOD, but RYAN KWANTEN shows his chops and clearly has some skills. I walked into RED HILL knowing nothing at all about the film. Not only did I walk out wanting to catch up on all the old Eastwood flicks, but wishing they’d screen the movie again directly after. If you want a real balls to the wall western movie, this is it.
BUNRAKU
Okay, so I had just gotten out of HATCHET 2 (which is everything you could ask for from popcorn slasher flick) and saw BUNRAKU was seating. I randomly chose a ticket to the film the day before based only on the name. While I don't live under a rock, I had no clue this film existed. Only later did I find out our very own Quint got to check out the set a while back. As I sat in one of the nearest rows to the screen (it was that packed when I went in) I was shocked to find so many people in the audience, namely an entire row of teenage girls giggling like little school girls. The thing sold out and I still had no fucking clue what the film was about. Then came up to the front, director Guy Moshe who introduced two of the film's leads Kevin McKidd, and Josh Hartnett. Now I understood why there were so many females in the audience... The film starts out with an incredibly theatrical fight scene, though there wasn't much of a fight since McKidd's character, "Killer 2" pretty much obliterated an entire gang. The narrator provided us with the basic setup - there is a complete badass, "Nicola" played by none other than Ron Fucking Perlman who runs the town from his house overlooking the city. He has with him a gang of ten killers as his bodyguards/ successors. McKidd's character, Killer 2, is the villain we get to know the best throughout the film, and he kicks the flick off with an amazingly well crafted "How dare you even think to fuck with me" beat down. The city is over run by Nicola's peons, think classy Foot Soldiers dressed in all red. The city is in a stronghold by this crime lord who just so happens to have the Mayor and the Chief of police over as regulars at his exclusive poker games. It's an understatement to say the city is in a shitty spot until Hartnett's "Drifter" character shows up demanding to find Nicola. Hartnett is given a few amazing fight scenes early on to establish the degree of his badassness and make sure we know he's no one to mess with. Meanwhile, "Yoshi" a samurai-esque badass played by Japanese pop star Gackt strolls into town. The bulk of the second act is spent establishing the Drifter and Yoshi's quests to locate Nicola and their eventual teaming up. Together the two form an incredible team called "The Gangbusters" as coined by their newly found bartender mentor played by Woody Harrelson. The two cut their way through the legions of punks, thugs, and mercenaries until they find themselves face to face with Nicola where we discover the true reasons why they fought so hard to get to him. This film is by far the best film I've seen this year. I know I have different taste than most anyone else at Ain't It Cool, but this movie kicked my ass. The style is something all of it's own. Films like WATCHMEN, 300, MOULIN ROUGE, THE MATRIX, and SIN CITY came to mind throughout the film, though nothing felt lifted off any of them. Guy Moshe is someone to watch out for. I can't wait to see whatever the hell he's got up his sleeve for his next flick. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the film. It's got a deep, thick, colorful world filled with interesting and crazy characters. This movie flat out blew me away. Trying to not spoil anything here, but Hartnett beats the hell out of a Cirque De Sole guy on a safety net, there's a car chase or two, hundreds of gallons of blood (real and digital) splat everywhere, and the story's damn fun. The idea of fighting levels of baddies in this film is in no way new, (THE GAME OF DEATH, KILL BILL, etc...) but it feels incredibly fresh. This movie's got it all, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman, hot chicks, explosions, insane fight scenes, and... The list could go on forever. If it's not incredibly obvious, I fucking loved this movie. After the film screened, the three men took back the stage for a little Q and A. While a large chunk of them were from ladies to Hartnett, go figure, there weren't really than many questions asked to Guy Moshe. Personally, my mind was so blown, I was still trying to piece together the awesomeness that just happened. I'd give my left arm for a look inside Guy's head. His visual style with this film was just absolutely incredible and like nothing I've seen before. So for walking into a movie that was not even remotely on my radar, I absolutely walked out of the theater with my jaw dragging on the floor. Go see this movie. -Muldoon
