MOVIE REVIEW | Monsters (2010)

“Y’know… it’s different looking at America from the outside… in. Y’know just sitting right outside, and looking in.”

Gareth Edwards’ next movie is one of the Star Wars spin offs. Gareth Edwards’ last movie was the massive budget, big summer blockbuster latest take on Godzilla. Before that, he had only made one feature length movie. It had no stars and was made for almost no money. So, how does a dude go from making a no name, no budget debut, to getting the keys to franchises like Godzilla and Star Wars? He used his no stars and no money, and made a really cool movie that proves you don’t need stars or money. That’s how.  

Six years ago, a space probe crash landed back on Earth. Landing in Mexico, it resulted in large, dangerous, killer aliens rampaging in the area. To combat them, much of northern Mexico and the southern United Sates have been declared an infected zone and quarantined. America has even gone to the trouble of building an enormous wall the keep the creatures out. Working as a photo journalist in Mexico, Andrew (Scoot McNairy) is given a new assignment by his boss. Andrew must find his boss’ daughter (Whitney Able as Sam), who is in Mexico, and get her back to America.

MOVIE REVIEW | Killing Them Softly (2012)

“They cry. They plead. They beg. They piss themselves. They call for their mothers. It gets embarrassing.”

Why are movies about bad guys doing bad things so appealing to audiences?  It can’t really be escapism if were watching these people who we’d never want to be, committing acts we’d never want to commit.  And with a lot of them, we know going in there’s not gonna be some idealised ending where the bad guys pay for their sins and the good guys win the day.  Buggers me what it is about these movies, but I do know that I love them.  Including the undeservedly overlooked at the time, and kind of forgotten already, Killing Them Softly.

A few years ago, Markie (Ray Liotta) organised the hold up of his own illegal card game.  He was the prime suspect, but managed to throw everyone off the scent.  Recently, he spilled the beans, but enough time had passed that he got a pass.  Which makes him an obvious patsy and fall guy if anyone else decides to rob his card game. Which is exactly what happens when Johnny (Vincent Curatola) hires low level scumbags Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn) to do just that.