MOVIE REVIEW | Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

“You said don’t shoot him, right? Well I didn’t; I choked… Look, Easy, if you ain’t want him dead, why you leave him with me?”

To me, Denzel Washington is one of those dudes who seemingly arrived in the world a fully fledged movie star.  In my movie watching lifetime, he’s always just been there and he’s always been awesome.  So it’s odd to think there was a once a time when he was up and coming, making his bones and still scratching around for that first lead role, that first big break out.

His first opportunity came with Spike Lee’s Malcolm X in 1992.  But that was some prestige, award baiting stuff.  He followed it up the following year, co-starring with Tom Hanks in Philadelphia.  But in 1995, Denzel the Movie Star burst onto the scene with couple of big ass, big budget, big spectacle blockbusters.   He hit with Crimson Tide and he missed with Virtuosity.  He also took on something a little more interesting, with the noir-tastic Devil in a Blue Dress.

MOVIE REVIEW | Colors (1988)

“There’s two bulls standing on top of a mountain. The younger one says to the older one: Hey pop, let’s say we run down there and fuck one of them cows. The older one says: No son. Let’s walk down and fuck ’em all”.

Dennis Hopper began his directorial career in style. With Easy Rider, he made one of the most influential, iconic and revered movies of the last half century. Over the next 40 years, he only made eight more, and none came anywhere near the critical or audience success of his debut.

For someone who started with something so ground breaking, and who seems to have one of the most unique points of view in Hollywood (and who was never afraid to express it), I’m surprised by how anonymous the rest of his filmography as a director is. In fact, when I decided to watch Colors, it was based on the two lead actors. I had no idea Hopper directed it until his named popped up in the opening credits.