Killer Joe

Oh, no! The dreaded cut to black strikes again!

Matthew McConaughey's strong 2012 continues with his dark, comic turn as the title character. Killer Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a Dallas police detective who occasionally is hired to murder people on the side. How he is not found out yet by his police brotherhood is a mystery to myself and the rest of the audience. But, I digress.

When white-trash hillbilly Chris Smith (Emile Hirsch) is $10,000 in debt to local loan shark Digger Soames, (Marc Macaulay) Chris and his even more white-trash father Ansel (Thomas Haden Church) decide to hire Killer Joe to murder Ansel's ex-wife and Chris' mother Adele. Chris has been informed that Adele's life insurance policy is worth $50,000. After Killer Joe's fee is taken, Chris and Ansel decide they can use the rest of the money.

Problems arise when Killer Joe goes over his details to Chris and Ansel. Killer Joe states that his fee is to be paid up front. Realizing that Chris and Ansel do not have that amount of money, Killer Joe decides to provide them with a different offer: Chris' sister Dottie (Juno Temple) will be held as a "retainer" until the life insurance is paid out and Killer Joe is paid for his services.

As typical with this type of story, the plan for Chris does not go off as expected. Chris begins to doubt whether killing Adele is a good plan while Killer Joe and Dottie begin a relationship, much to the chagrin of Chris. Soon, the walls for Chris begin to close in and danger lurks for Dottie along with Ansel and his current wife Sharla (Gina Gershon).

This is a hard movie to like, but also a hard one not to ignore. Director William Friedkin re-teams with writer Tracy Letts to tell a darkly comic and very violent tale that satirizes the white-trash culture. As with their previous pairing, Bug, this film gives the feeling of a play. Not as restricted as Bug, this film opens the landscape and spends a good amount of time in the daylight. Being in the daylight, though, makes this film no less dark.

Some of the acting in this film, especially from Emile Hirsch and Thomas Haden Church came off very wooden to me. I was especially disappointed with Thomas Haden Church's performance as Ansel. Ansel is played for laughs by being your typical, dumb hillbilly. Most of Thomas Haden Church's scenes come off as wooden and stiff. Emile Hirsch comes off worse, as he is basically the main character and we have to sit through his stiff acting. Neither one is absolutely terrible, but they are overshadowed by two really well-done performances.

Gina Gershon's Sharla is a very unlikable character. She is cheating on Ansel and really seems to have no care for anyone in the film. Gina Gershon plays this character as nasty as she is written, yet when the ending comes, her performance really shines. Which brings us to Matthew McConaughey. This might be Matthew McConaughey's finest performance yet. Killer Joe is a very cool customer, and throughout the whole film has the entire Smith family in the palm of his hand. Yet, you are able to see cracks in his foundation when his frustrations boil over.

The writing of the film is solid, yet maybe makes too much fun of the white-trash culture. The Smith family appears like they literally walked off the Jerry Springer show. This is shown by guzzling nothing but Budweiser, watching monster trucks on television and living in a trailer with a large dog outside. This is obviously taking all the cliches of white-trash and throwing them into one movie.

One final thing, the last act of this film is some of the finest work of 2012. Once all the issues are brought up and its time to resolve the plot, we are restricted to one location for the remainder of the film. We watch as Killer Joe and his frustrations with the Smith family finally reach a boiling point. All the remaining characters meet in one location and the entire plot attempts to resolve. Unfortunately, we cut to black! Ah, I know it's a stylistic choice, but the last 30 seconds of the film didn't make sense to me and then the film ended. Not the worst ending ever, just leaves more to be desired.

A solid film with two great performances by Matthew McConaughey and Gina Gershon anchor this dark and violent film.

7.3/10

31 In 31: Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight

Seeing as we had a Tales From The Crypt ripoff reviewed, why not review a Tales From The Crypt film.

Frank Brayker (William Sadler) is on the run from The Collector (Billy Zane). In Frank's possession is an artifact shaped like a key. Taking shelter in a boarding house with a various assortment of cliches, including: ex-con Jeryline, (Jada Pinkett) town drunk Uncle Willie, (Dick Miller) antagonistic cook Roach (Thomas Haden Church) and boarding house owner Irene (CCH Pounder).

Meanwhile, The Collector notifies two police officers that Frank is a threat. The three then head out and locate Frank. Before long, The Collector reveals himself to be evil by killing one of the officers and demanding the key artifact. Frank uses a liquid inside the artifact to keep The Collector at bay. The Collector then summons his own batch of demons to invade the boarding house and retrieve the key at any cost.

This is a fun little film that takes the best elements from the Tales From The Crypt television show and incorporates them into a film. You got yourself over the top violence, random sex, swearing and an entertaining plot.... even if it makes no sense.

The plot consists of something about demons roaming the world in darkness and using seven of the key artifacts to control the power. God intervened and scattered the keys so that light in the world... you know what, instead here is the back story from Wikipedia: "Following the creation of Earth by God, there were demons in the darkness who used seven keys for focus the power of the cosmos into their hands. When discovered, God created light that scattered the demons and the keys across the universe. The artifact that Brayker holds is the last key they need to reclaim power, and to protect it God had a thief named Sirach fill the artifact with the blood of Jesus Christ at the crucifixion, which is what creates the seals that repel the demons and prevents them from touching it. The guardians of the key, immortal while holding it, have since been passing it on, refilling it with their own blood when they die; Brayker received the key from his superior officer duringWorld War I"

Still makes no sense, but what does it matter? When you go to a movie with Tales From The Crypt in the title, you don't go for plot. Instead, the movie delivers on many of its (low) standards and promises. The film is not longer than it should be and all the actors in this film seem to know what type of film they are in as all of them have fun with their roles.

The role of roles though, goes to Billy Zane's Collector. I know I can be crucified for this, but Zane's performance steals the show so much, it could almost be Oscar-worthy. This is the role Billy Zane was made for and he embellishes every second of it. Using his persuasiveness, The Collector is equal parts charming, funny, terrifying or combinations of both. This is truly Billy Zane's film.

In the end, this is an awful movie, but for a Tales From The Crypt movie, this is top notch. With decent directing from Ernest Dickerson, an imaginative (if convoluted) plot and all actors bringing fun to the movie, this is a very entertaining affair.

Plus, Billy Zane is truly amazing in this film.