Category: Crime

Ranking the Films of Tony Scott

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Film School Rejects presents Celebrating the Films of Tony Scott.    Here are my three favorites and thoughts on each following FSR’s comments.

6. The Last Boy Scout (1991)
The second film in Scott’s unofficial “sloppy quadrilogy” (along with Beverly Hills Cop 2, The Fan, and Domino) is the best of the bunch for various reasons, but first out of the gate is the script by Shane Black. He’s riffing on his own Lethal Weapon, but while Richard Donner’s film wants to be liked, Black’s in a far more aggressive and mean-spirited mood here. Scott’s direction meets him beat for beat delivering memorable action set-pieces and a pair of charismatic leads (Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans) against an ugly story populated by uglier supporting characters. It’s a terrifically scuzzy affair delivered without the exaggerated stylistic flourishes that mar those previously mentioned titles, and it entertains like gritty gangbusters. – Rob

Craig’s Thoughts:  I was a huge fan of Shane Black (coming of Lethal Weapon and Predator) and Bruce Willis was the perfect choice to star.  I loved the combination of action and humor and remember liking The Last Boy Scout more than most folks.  The scene with the killer in the alley is priceless.

 

8. Revenge (1990)
My Kevin Costner love is well-documented and most certainly plays a role in my appreciation for this darkly somber character drama, but luckily I’m also a sucker for doomed love stories. It’s a far more sedately paced film than you’ll find across much of Scott’s filmography, and while time is given to the ridiculously steamy affair between Costner and Madeleine Stowe, even more is afforded to his desperate search for her after they’ve been violently separated. It’s not a pleasant movie for anyone involved, but its grip on human nature is undeniable as a man’s best and worst intentions and abilities lead to tragic consequences. Scott released a director’s cut of the film years later that actually runs 23 minutes shorter, and as with Mel Gibson’s Payback there’s value in both distinctly different versions. – Rob

Craig’s Thoughts:  I ended up liking Revenge a whole lot more than I thought I would.  And again, a lot more than the critics.  I’ve never seen the shorter director’s cut.  I may have to search that out.

 

3. Man on Fire (2004)
Based on A. J. Quinnell’s novel of the same name, this was a passion project for Scott that he wanted to make since the 1980’s with Marlon Brando as his lead. The original plan was adapt the novel as his second feature and set it in Italy as the country was rife for kidnappings at the time. But the director’s lack of experience saw the project escape him only to be adapted by Élie Chouraqui in 1987. Fortunately, though, he got to realize his dream eventually and the long wait paid off, because Man on Fire is a goddamn masterpiece. Denzel’s characters have rarely been this emotionally-charged or vicious as he plays a washed-up former mercenary who’s hellbent on revenge when the young girl he’s tasked with protecting gets kidnapped by some scumbags. This desire for both vengeance and redemption reignites his spark — and things get bloody. The brutality is ample and our sick demand for violent thrills is more than satiated, but the movie is also peppered with some touching and moving moments which make it so much more than your average body count action flick. – Kieran

Craig’s Thoughts:  My favorite Tony Scott movie.  Can you imagine Brando in the role?  Maybe at his peak, but Brando in the 80’s?  Yikes!

One other thought – It was difficult not to include True Romance. I love that movie and on a different day it may have edged out The Last Boy Scout.

11 Screenwriters Who Hated Their Own Movies

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Rudie Obias and Mental Floss present 11 Screenwriters Who Hated Their Own Movies.  Here are three of the eleven that I enjoyed despite the person(s) who wrote them didn’t.

1. QUENTIN TARANTINO // NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994) During the early 1990s, Quentin Tarantino sold his screenplay for Natural Born Killers to Oliver Stone and used the money to fund his debut film, Reservoir Dogs, which was released in 1992. Two years later, Stone released the film with Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in starring roles.

While it was a box office hit, Tarantino despised the production because of the changes and alterations to much of his original content. “I hate that f*cking movie,” Tarantino told The Telegraph in 2013. “If you like my stuff, don’t watch that movie.”

Years after its release, the producers of Natural Born Killers sued Tarantino when he tried to publish the original screenplay as a book, as he had done with his original script for True Romance. The producers believed that Tarantino forfeited his rights when he sold it to them, but a judge ruled in Tarantino’s favor.
(Craig’s thoughts: Oliver Stone, like Tarantino has an over-powering style of movie-making.  Tarantino was probably most upset because the movie felt more like a Stone film than a Tarantino movie.  I liked Natural Born Killers.)

 

3. KURT SUTTER // PUNISHER: WAR ZONE (2008)  Before Marvel’s The Punisher made a comeback as a TV series on Netflix in 2017, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter was hired to write a sequel to The Punisher starring Thomas Jane and John Travolta. In 2007, Sutter started writing a new script and wanted to ground the antihero in a grittier reality and move the character from Florida to New York City.

However, after Jane dropped out of the project, Marvel Studios wanted to start over with a new sequel that felt more like the comic book version of Frank Castle instead of the more realistic idea that Sutter envisioned. The end result was so far removed from what Sutter had written that he asked for his name to be removed from what would turn into Punisher: War Zone.

“I threw away the first draft written by Nick Santora and did a page one rewrite,” Sutter wrote of the project in 2008. “I changed the locations, the characters, the story. I dropped Frank in a real New York City with real villains, real cops, real relationships. To me, the Punisher deserved more than the usual comic book redress. It shouldn’t just follow the feature superhero formula. Apparently, I was the only one who shared that vision.”

(Craig’s thoughts: I’ve only seen Punisher War Zone once, but I liked it a lot better than The Punisher starring Jane and Travolta.  I agree with Sutter that The Punisher needed to be grounded in a grittier reality and thought War Zone did a fine job.  Perhaps another viewing is in order.)

 

4. AND 5. LANA AND LILLY WACHOWSKI // ASSASSINS (1995)  During the mid-1990s, Lana and Lilly Wachowski sold the screenplays for Assassins and The Matrix to producer Joel Silver for $1 million per film. Assassins was the first to go into production, and Richard Donner signed on to direct with Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas attached to co-star.

Although Assassins was one of the hottest unproduced screenplays at the time (you can read the Wachowskis’ original version here), Donner didn’t like the darker tone and artsy symbolism, so he hired screenwriter Brian Helgeland to do a page-one rewrite to make it into a standard action thriller instead. The Wachowskis were not happy with the decision to tone down their screenplay, so the siblings wanted their names to be taken off the project, but the Writers Guild of America denied their request.

“The film was not really based on the screenplay,” Lana said in a 2003 interview. “The one thing that sort of bothered us is that people would blame us for the screenplay and it’s like Richard Donner is one of the few directors in Hollywood that can make whatever movie he wants exactly the way he wants it. No one will stop him and that’s essentially what happened. He brought in Brian Helgeland and they totally rewrote the script. We tried to take our names off of it but the WGA doesn’t let you. So our names are forever there.”

If there’s a silver lining to this story it’s that the experience with Assassins led the Wachowskis to want more control over their work—so they decided to become directors; they made their directorial debut with Bound in 1996.

(Craig’s thoughts: I was excited when it was announced Richard Donner was directing Sly in Assassins.  Although not as great as I hoped it would be, Assassins was still a lot of fun.  I’ve never read the Wachowskis’ original script so I have no idea if that might have been the way to go.  Still, the money that they received from selling Assassins led to The Matrix (the original) and THAT is a classic.)

Mignola & Golden’s Joe Golem: Occult Detective Returns!

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Mike Mignola, best known as the creator of Hellboy, has teamed with best-selling novelist Christopher Golden and artist Peter Bergting for Joe Golem: Occult Detective – The Drowning City, a five issue mini-series premiering in September.  This will be the third mini-series featuring Golem with the first two being Joe Golem: Occult Detective—The Rat Catcher and the Sunken Dead and Joe Golem: Occult Detective—The Outer Dark.

Source: Paste.

Action at Cemetery Beach!

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Cemetery Beach sounds like something that readers of this site would enjoy.  Created by writer Warren Ellis with art by co-creator Jason Howard, Cemetery Beach will be an action fan’s fix.

“​Jason wanted to do an action book, so I wrote something that starts with a conversation in an interrogation room, ignites four pages later, and doesn’t stop until the end of the final issue—which he’s drawing right now, so when issue #1 comes out, the whole series will be in the can,” said Ellis. “It might be the most relentless action book I’ve ever written.”

For more information check out the Cemetery Beach press release from Image Comics.

Stephan Franck Interview – “Silver” Conclusion and More!

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Stephan Franck is the genius (writer & artist) behind Silver which he describes as…

… an original universe built around Bram Stoker’s original Dracula, and it begins 40 years after the events of the novel, into the noir/pulp era of the 1930s. You meet James Finnigan, who is the most notorious conman/gentleman-thief of his day, as he teams up with Rosalynd “Sledge” Van Helsing (granddaughter of the original Van Helsing, and altogether the last of the Van Helsings), to steal a mystical treasure hidden in Dracula’s castle. Finn, of course, brings his known associates—a fun assortment of conmen and grifters of all kinds—as well as the kind of amoral attitude that puts him immediately at odds with Sledge. Lastly, the team enlists Tao Leu (or more accurately, he enlists himself), who is a 10-year-old boy with the gift of second sight and who might be the biggest scoundrel of them all.

With the fourth and final volume now on Kickstarter, Franck sat for an interview with Johhny Hughes at Comic Crusaders.

Jack Carter & John Wick by Andy Bennett!

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Last week I shared Andy Bennett’s riff on a Jack Carter and Lono from 100 Bullets.  I liked Andy’s work on it so much, I’ve ordered a Jack Carter & John Wick piece for pick-up at HeroesCon this year.  Although Heroes is still a couple weeks away, Andy shared with me the piece that will be waiting for pick-up.  Yowzers! (And don’t you just love the nod to Tango & Cash?)

If you’d like to see more art from Andy, you can by clicking here.