A Texas Funeral (1999) - Stars shine in Herron's under-seen and underrated dramedy

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+ Best Box Office Disaster + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Best Texas Movie of the Year + Most Under-Appreciated Movie of the Year  

 

A Camel and an old Buick on the flat plains of Texas on this sepia-toned poster for William Blake Herron's A Texas Funeral

The patriarch of the Whit family has past away, so the family gather in the house in Texas around the time of the funeral with their time there and engagement with the old man's will laying bare some secrets, resentments and envies - among the family's virtues.

A Texas Funeral is written and directed by great Illinoisan filmmaker William Blake Herron (Skin Art (1993)).

It is a refreshing, thoroughly well-made, Texan yarn, which both has the child's perspective (the boy is enormously well acted by Quinton Jones (Walker, Texas Ranger (2001, TV-series))) on the incidents in the strange family, along with adult issues concerning race, wealth, abortion and sexuality. From being a realistic drama about a colorful family, A Texas Funeral turns into a condensed boiler-room type story in the vein of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), when all the characters stay together one night, but it is still managed to feel natural, when dawn breaks, and Herron ties several very satisfying ends together on his funny and moving, worldly story.

There's outstanding performances from the fine cast: Robert Patrick (Kill Speed (2010)), Chris Noth (Crossing Jordan (2001, TV-series)), Grace Zabriskie (Psycho Sushi (1997)), Jane Adams (Wonder Boys (2000)), Isaiah Washington (Hurricane Season (2009)), Martin Sheen (Badlands (1973)); and particularly Patrick and Sheen are masterly. Michael Bonvillain (Felicity (1999-01)) has done the excellent photography. A Texas Funeral is a thoroughly pleasurable nightcap kind of movie.

 

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1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a 2-minute scene with Chris Noth from the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain - likely a box office disaster

[A Texas Funeral premiered 7 September (Venice Film Festival) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place in October 1998 - ? in Texas. It was released in Italy and Germany in 2000 and 2001, and it is unclear whether the film was ever released more widely than at a couple of minor film festivals in the US. Its gross is unreported. Most likely this points to the independent film being a box office disaster. Herron withdrew from directing but did return as a screenwriter with The Bourne Identity (2002). Patrick returned in The Angry Beavers (1999, TV-series) and theatrically in Shogun Cop (1999); Sheen in 3 TV credits prior to his theatrical return in A Stranger in the Kingdom (1999). 678 IMDb users have given A Texas Funeral a 6.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of A Texas Funeral?

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) - Spiegel's vampire heist disappoints

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A red-tinted, murky, dusk-like darkness hangs over this poster for Scott Spiegel's From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money

A gang of criminals plan to rob a bank in Mexico but before they get to it, they are attacked by some blood-hungering bats that carry a frightening virus.

From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money is written by Duane Whitaker (Stripteaser (1995)) and co-writer-director Scott Spiegel (Intruder (1989)), with Boaz Yakin (Max (2015)) contributing story elements, as the sequel to Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). It is something as rare as a vampire heist movie, which lends it a certain 'fun-to-watch' quality.
But although Spiegel's direction has clear Tarantino ambitions, (Quentin Tarantino stars in and co-wrote the original film with pal Rodriguez and executive produced this pic), it lacks finesse: Exaggerated action and unfortunate effects mar Texas Blood Money, which also is bogged down by a sorely unengaged lead performance from Robert Patrick (True Blood (2012-14)). After the exhilarating original film, the earth-bound failure of this sequel is a shame.

Related posts:

Scott Spiegel: Hostel: Part III (2011) - Spiegel ends Roth's beloved gore franchise  

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 
Evil Dead II/Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) - Campbell, Spiegel and Raimi's crazy, gory classic (co-writer)
From Dusk Till Dawn franchise: From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza

Listen to an interview with Spiegel here

Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: Unknown (mainly a direct-to-video release domestically and in many other markets)
= Uncertain (but likely successful commercially)
[From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money premiered 16 March (USA) and runs 85  minutes. Shooting took place in South Africa. The film was reportedly intended to be a test venture for Dimension Films of the direct-to-video market, but it was also theatrically released in several markets. The film's gross and video sales are not immediately available online, but there is a good chance the film was successful. Another sequel followed, P.J. Pesce's From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter. Later came From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series (2014-16). Spiegel eventually returned to directing with My Name Is Modesty: A Modesty Blaise Adventure (2004). Patrick returned in The Vivero Letter (1999). From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money is rotten at 9 % with a 2.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money?

The Faculty (1998) or, Teacher Encounters of the Third Kind

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+ Best Sci-fi-Horror of the Year

 

An attractive young cast, a brooding color scheme and hyping quotes make up this poster for Robert Rodriguez's The Faculty

Herrington High School in Ohio seems like a completely average high school with average teachers and students. But now the latter are beginning to suspect that their teachers and the student body's jocks may be ... extra-terrestrials!

A generous 4 ♥'s are awarded to this enjoyable high school life farce/genre film homage, which pulls a fast one on one of the big cliché movie types of the 1990s: the high school-set melodrama-comedy. The Faculty is written by Kevin Williamson (Scream (1996)), based on a script by Bruce Kimmel (The Creature Wasn't Nice (1983)) and David Wechter (Midnight Madness (1980)), and directed by great Texan filmmaker Robert Rodriguez (Machete Kills (2013)).
James Cameron's masterpiece Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) is among the appreciatively referenced films, and the T-1000 himself, Robert Patrick (Big Love (2011), TV-series) is employed here and bad-ass as usual. He is one in a celebrity mecca in The Faculty that also counts, among others: Usher Raymond (People You May Know (2017)), Famke Janssen (Eulogy (2004)) is great here, Jordana Brewster (The Fast and the Furious (2001)), later talk show icon Jon Stewart (Mixed Nuts (1994)) in a wild superman-like part, Salma Hayek (Wild Wild West (1999)), a cute Elijah Wood (The Romantics (2010)), an annoying Josh Hartnett (I Come with the Rain (2009)), Laura Harris (Just the Ticket (1999)) SPOILER as the awesome mega-monster, Summer Phoenix (The Believer (2001)) in a small role and Christopher McDonald (Fanboys (2009)).
The soundtrack is bolstered by an inferno of 90's rock, which feels appropriate for The Faculty. Rodriguez knows how to stage a very entertaining genre treat, and despite plot holes, this movie is a hoot.

Related posts:

Robert Rodriguez: 1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza
Desperado (1995) - Rodriguez' second Mexico actioner is a sexy, latino fireball

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 40.2 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty - but at least a box office success
[The Faculty premiered 12 November (USA) and runs 104 minutes. Kimmel and Wechter's script was written in 1990 but did not find buyers until the hugely successful release of Scream (1996). Williamson was commissioned to rewrite their script and make it more 'hip'. Williamson was poised to direct but passed in favor of his own creation, the inferior Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999). Shooting took place in Texas, including Austin and Dallas, from April - June 1998. The film opened #5, behind fellow new releases Patch Adams and Stepmom and holdover hits You've Got Mail and The Prince of Egypt, to an 11.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it enjoyed a successful run of 16 weeks. Regrettably, the film's worldwide gross is not reported, but the film was at least a box office success and likely a big hit. Rodriguez returned with Spy Kids (2001). The Faculty is rotten at 53 % with a 5.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Faculty?

Cop Land (1997) - Stallone faces corruption and turns in some good acting in fine crime drama

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+ Best Crime Drama of the Year

Big leading men on the poster for James Mangold's Cop Land

QUICK REVIEW:

A taciturn cop in Garrison, New Jersey (Sylvester Stallone (First Blood (1982)) will have to be stumped on his feet many times, before he decides to clean up his town.
Cop Land is a very well-played cop crime thriller with a dream cast who all worked for scale to make it happen: Harvey Keitel (The Piano (1993)), Robert Patrick (The Sopranos (2000)), Robert De Niro (Casino (1995)) and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas (1990)) are some of the dirty cops, but Stallone trumps them all in his best acting performance to date. 
The film is well-written and directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line (2005)), who is unfortunately now fixed on throwing years of his career away into yet another superfluous Wolverine film. Before Cop Land, Mangold had only made one other feature, the romantic drama Heavy (1995).
Cop Land may not be unforgettable, but SPOILER the shoot-out at the end with the tinnitus is hard to forget and has real power, and it is a fine movie.
Paradoxically, considering its relatively small budget, this was a star-studded Miramax production with some very high pressure on its shoulders, and although it received good reviews and made money, it still wasn't considered enough. Stallone went out in 2008 to say that Cop Land "hurt" his career and started "the beginning of the end, for about 8 years". He's back in business now, and it's curious to think that he thought himself down for those 8 years considering the credits he still have from the period, but now, apparently, Stallone wants to risk career-slump again, because he is venturing out of the action genre for some 'real' acting again now in John Herzfeld's upcoming Reach Me (2014).

 

Related post:

 

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Sylvester Stallone gained 40 lbs. to play Sheriff Freddy Heflin in James Mangold's Cop Land

Watch the trailer here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 44.8 mil. $ (US and Canada only)
= Big hit

What do you think of Cop Land?

Gangster Squad (2013) or, Good Men vs. Bad Men!

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Los Angeles is ravaged by the Jewish gangster boss Mickey Cohen, but one good police chief wants to get rid of him, and he gets a pertinacious, tough cop to lead the group which is to crush Cohen.
Gangster Squad is highly stylized and handsomely produced, but cartoonish in its simplified representation of reality; good vs. bad.
Reality yields to action and gore in this forgettable, thoughtless, - but entertaining - shoot-em-up-movie. It is based on true events but takes so many liberties in its storytelling that it is more fiction than historical by any reasonable account.
Sean Penn (Mystic River (2003)) goes theatrical with his heavily make-up-created villain. Ryan Gosling (Drive (2011)) not so much plays a character as merely being a sex-steaming model for the film. The macho-picture that is Gangster Squad also mauls over one of its few female roles, Josh Brolin's wife in the movie (Mireille Enos), who only plays functional second banana to the inelegant, stomping picture.
It is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland (2009)), who had to reshoot a scene of a shooting at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood following the Aurora-shooting (during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises that killed 12 people and injured 58). The real-life massacre also changed the trailer and pushed back the release of Gangster Squad by around 6 months.
The squad that is the basis of Gangster Squad has also been the basis of another movie, Lee Tamahori's better Mulholland Falls (1996).
Since the relative flop of this and Fleischer's movie before it, 30 Minutes or Less (2011), he has reverted to TV gigs for the time being.


Related posts:

Ruben Fleischer: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

30 Minutes or Less (2011) or, Idiots and Lesser Idiots

'Pulp' version of the Gangster Squad poster

 Watch the film's in-your-face trailer right here

Budget: 60 mil. $
Box office: 105.2 mil. $
= Minor flop

What do you think of Gangster Squad?