Frontier Crucible, Starring Thomas Jane

There was a time when you could easily find paperback westerns written by Harry Whittington in most drug stores and supermarkets. Unfortunately, book distribution has changed drastically, leaving behind “category” authors like him. Yet, people still enjoy a good western. Sixty-one years after the debut of the last movie based on a Whittington novel (the Spaghetti Western Adios Gringo), Travis Mills’ Frontier Crucible, based on Desert Stake-Out, releases today on DVD and BluRay.

Merrick Beckford is so hardnosed, he even has street cred with the Apache. That is why Major O’Rourke enlists the gunslinger to shepherd a wagon loaded with medical supplies to a border town facing an epidemic. There will be no cavalry to attract attention—just him. It is a tall order, but Beckford must agree he represents their best hope. Indeed, sometimes a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do—and Beckford is all man.

He also instantly recognizes Mule Charlie McKee and his son Billy are bad news—and their trail mate Edmund Fisher is even worse. However, the innocent couple they were escorting need his help. Jeff Butler was badly shot when an Apache war-party attacked their wagon, while his wife Valerie decidedly does not like the way Fisher looks at her—and neither does Beckford.

The taciturn gunfighter also suspects he might have personal reasons to dislike the McKees and Fisher, but he agrees to doctor Butler as best he can. However, things grow increasingly awkward, because Beckford remains adamant on heading south, whereas everyone else wants to head north.

Frontier Crucible is a highly functional western that fully capitalizes on its Monument Valley backdrops. It truly looks archetypal. However, the two-hour-plus running time is a bit excessive. It would probably be quicker to read Whittington’s novel.

Nevertheless, Miles Clohessy and Thomas Jane are terrific circling each and intermittently sparring as Beckford and McKee. Jane has become one of the leading big-screen cowboys of his time, in films like The Last Son, Apache Junction, and DC Showcase: Jonah Hex—and its pretty clear why. Once again, he struts and snarls with authority. Likewise, Clohessy broods with forceful resolve as Beckford. This is the same Clohessy who is a standout in Pendragon Cycle as the hotheaded Uther, he has nice range as a potential action genre leading man.

DC Showcase: Jonah Hex

Nobody cowboys harder than Jonah Hex. The scarred bounty-hunter is so hardnosed, it is practically a super-power. The live-action movie did not do him justice, but this animated short did. Once again, it is an example of how DC straight-to-DVD animated films are vastly superior to both Marvel and DC live-action tent-poles. On the day of what is sometimes listed as his in-world birthday (11/1), get a taste of his cool steeliness and hot lead in Joaquim Dos Santos’s 12-minute short, DC Showcase: Jonah Hex.

In the 1980s, Jonah Hex was just about the last western comic book title that still cranked out new issues. However, there was a non-fantastical macabre vibe to Hex’s world that was far from traditional. Joe R. Lansdale’s screenplay captures that sensibility perfectly.

Hex soon blows into town hot on the heels of Red Doc, an outlaw wanted dead or alive. Unfortunately for Doc, he will soon be stone cold, thanks to the seductive treachery of Madame Lorraine, the proprietress of the salon and upstairs areas, where, you know. She is no Miss Kitty, that’s for sure. Madame Lorraine makes a practice of killing and looting horny drifters like Red Doc. She assumes she can do the same with Hex. Right, good luck with that.

Dig, Starring Thomas Jane

Apparently, you do not need any permits to do salvage stripping or excavation work around condemned buildings in New Mexico. Ordinarily, we would applaud such regulatory liberty, but it works against the independent contractor who is taken hostage with his daughter in K. Asher Levin’s Dig, which releases Friday on VOD and in theaters.

When Scott Brennan’s daughter Jane sneaked out of the house to party with the wrong crowd, he and his wife Linda tried to drag her back home. Since fate was feeling particularly manipulative that night, Linda was killed in a road rage incident on their way back. Ever since, both father and daughter have blamed themselves for her death.

They do not talk much anymore, partly because of their issues and partly due to the effects of the gunshot, which rendered her nearly completely deaf. In his quest to purchase her ocular implants, Brennan agrees to a dodgy high-paying gig stripping a deserted house miles outside Las Cruces. The sleazy Victor also requested a jackhammer and other excavating equipment. It turns out there is something buried deep under the house Victor does not want found when the house is demolished, so he and his sociopathic girlfriend Lola take Brennan and hostage, forcing them to dig it out.

Any film can be compelling if it is executed with style or inspiration, but Dig is about as run-of-the-mill as it sounds. Even the name is boring. The only thing really notable about it is the casting of Thomas Jane and his real-life daughter Harlow Jane as Scott and Jane Brennan (in a way, that makes her Jane Jane). In fact, they often bicker like they really are father and daughter, giving the film credibility, but also making it painful to watch.

Vendetta, on Redbox

It is not that this is a great movie, but its time is now. Violent crime is way up and progressive DA’s increasingly refuse to prosecute criminals. Inevitably, we are going to see a bounty of vigilante films to supply the need cathartic justice. William Duncan represents a lot of frustrated fathers and family members, when the cops and the system fail him in screenwriter-director Jared Cohn’s Vendetta, which releases tomorrow through Redbox.

Danny Fetter is about to be initiated into his father’s crime syndicate, based in small town Eatonton, Georgia, by gunning down the daughter of William Duncan. She was actually a bad random selection, because her father picked up a lot of skills in Iraq and Afghanistan. The DA is willing to let Fetter plead to a weapons charge and a parole violation, since Duncan did not actually see him pull the trigger. He just tackled Fetter trying to escape.

Instead, Duncan bludgeons the killer to death with a baseball bat. Old man Donnie Fetter and his junkie son Rory think they should be the only ones getting away with murder, so they come after Duncan and his wife. Meanwhile, the super-helpful Detective Chen keeps lecturing Duncan on the need to keep the peace.

There is a reason why the original Dirty Harry became a sensation when it first released and the sociopolitical circumstances are similar today. However, Dirty Harry was also an excellent film, which Vendetta is not. Yet, it is zeitgeisty, probably more than Cohn intended or realized, because it taps into deep, widely-held anxieties and frustrations.

In light of recent news, it is sad to see Bruce Willis portraying Donnie Fetter. Honestly, this isn’t the role his fans would probably choose for him go out on. (Again, American Siege was not a great film either, but there is a poignancy to Willis’s performance that arguably redeems it.)

The Last Son

Isaac Lemay has been cursed by a tribal elder, who has apparently read his Sophocles. The old man actually called it a prophecy, but the way Lemay lets it consume him definitely makes it a curse. Told he will one day be killed by one of his offspring, Lemay sets out to systematically kill his kin in Tim Sutton’s The Last Son, which releases today in theaters and on-demand.

Killing is what Lemay does best. It is what earned him the “curse.” However, he still found time to visit many prostitutes. Anna is one of the last, whose sons are not yet accounted for. Lemay makes quick work of the one she acknowledged, but Cal, the one she gave up for adoption for his own protection, is a slippery outlaw. In fact, he is a lot like his old man.

Cal’s feelings towards his mother are a little confused (again, see the literary allusion above), but the man who makes her swoon is Solomon, a hardboiled cavalry officer. Having been raised by the Cheyenne as a foundling, Solomon always remains a bit of an outsider in white society. Nevertheless, he is determined to bring to justice the outlaws who stole a gatling gun and murdered a detachment of troops. Yes, that would be Cal and his associates.

This is a dramatic change of pace for Sutton, who was previously known for moody art-house fare like Memphis. There is still a whole lot of brooding in Last Son, but everyone also takes care of Western genre business. As Westerns go, it is super-revisionist, but there is also a pinch of Weird West too, which makes things interesting.

Apache Junction

This crummy Arizona town is a safe harbor for outlaw and cavalry alike. However, the townsfolk have more to fear from those who represent the law than those who live outside it. It is all quite eye-opening for a proper aspiring journalist like Annabellle Angel, who finds herself sympathizing more with the prostitutes than the soldiers. That also means she will side with the somewhat notorious outlaw Jericho Ford in Justin Lee’s Apache Junction, which opens Friday in New York.

When a major San Francisco paper asked for volunteers to cover Apache Junction, Angel was the only one to raise her hand. She knows she is out of her depth, but it is the only way to get her foot in the door. Captain Hensley is openly dismissive of her, but his thuggish men are even worse. Fortunately for her, Ford just happened along at the right time, but leaving three of Hensley’s men dead in his wake ignites a war.

Again, it is just weird to see the bad guys wearing the Union Army uniform in a contemporary western, since they are the ones who beat the Confederates in the Civil War. In this case, Hensley’s men are really, really bad, but Oslo Pike, the scummy gambler-bounty hunter Hensley aligns with, is even worse.

Frankly, the whole idea of Apache Junction functioning as open city doesn’t make much sense and it is really tough to believe Hensley would respect it. However, the premise gives Thomas Jane a few interesting scenes as saloon-keeper Al Longfellow, who serves as the de facto mayor. He is fun to watch chewing the scenery, in a grizzled, drawling kind of way. Also, Danielle Gross is way better than the film deserves portraying Mary Primm, the you-know-what with a heart of gold.

Tribeca ’19: Crown Vic

For decades, Ford Motors has been the unchallenged dominant manufacturer of police cars. The Crown Victoria Police Interceptor was the primary reason why. They had a powerful V8, easy handling, and were cheap to repair. It is easy to figure why taxi owners liked to buy the decommissioned cruisers. The LAPD is now phasing out the classic four-door, probably replacing them with hybrids constructed with recycled plastic and good intentions. Officer Ray Mandel is old school when it comes to cars and everything else. His trainee will also appreciate having the Interceptor’s crash-resistant body out in front of them during his long, dark first night on the job in Joel Souza’s Crown Vic, which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.

Mandel will not haze Nick Holland per se, but he definitely gives him plenty of snark and bark. Rather remarkably, Holland has never seen any action, even though he transferred from Oakland. He is about to get what he asked for, in full force. The night starts with some comically ugly cases, but it will get progressively darker. Mandel might be flexible when it comes to details, but he isn’t crooked. The same cannot be said with confidence of Jack VanZandt, a steroid-raging undercover cop who will be riding in Mandel’s zone this fateful night.

Yes, of course you are thinking Training Day for obvious reasons. However, Mandel will go maverick in very different ways than Denzel Washington did. In fact, we are largely willing to follow him, because of all the escalating hassles and mayhem Souza puts them through. Of course, it defies logic that the two cops could be involved in so many incidents, several of which involving shots fired, without bothering with any reports whatsoever. However, Souza’s narrative is intended as a microcosmic depiction of every that can possibly go wrong in a cop’s night, so go with it.

Thomas Jane has done some interesting work lately in films like 1922 and Before I Wake, but this is still a showcase for him that will surprise people. Somehow, he manages to be simultaneously ferocious and subtle as the hardboiled Mandel. Jane sets off so many fireworks, he largely overshadows Luke Kleintank as freaked out Holland, but he makes the most of it when his rookie character snaps. Josh Hopkins is a spectacular mess as VanZandt, starting out completely off the rails and constantly careening further out of control, while David Krumholtz is quite a creepy little weasel as his bad news partner.

Souza and company do not necessarily want us to be reassured by the prospect of cops like Mandel on the street, but they do try to help us understand their reality. They endure a lot of stress and danger for very little thanks. The Interceptor keeps rolling, but it is a tense ride, which cinematographer Thomas Scott Stanton shoots with the perfect Edward Hopper-from-Hell late-night light and shadow. Highly recommended for fans of cop movies, Crown Vic will definitely come back around after premiering at this year’s Tribeca.

Mike Flanagan’s Before I Wake

Most people think butterflies are pretty and completely harmless, but Lepidopterophobia, the fear of butterflies really is a thing. It sort of makes sense when you consider the traditional association between butterflies and the souls of the dead. Technically, it is a death’s head hawkmoth in Silence of the Lambs, but we’ll still give them that one. Young Cody Morgan is a butterfly lover, but he will turn his foster parents Lepidopterophobic in Mike Flanagan’s Before I Wake (trailer here), which finally gets an American release via Netflix, starting today.

Mark and Jessie Hobson are still grieving the loss of their little boy Sean, but they believe they are ready to be foster parents. On paper, Morgan would be a perfect fit for them, because they all know tragedy. His single-mother died at an early age and he experienced mysterious mishaps in his subsequent foster homes. Unfortunately, what happened to his previous fosters will soon start happening to the Hobsons.

It begins with the strange but ostensibly beautiful manifestations of butterflies while Morgan is asleep. However, as he becomes interested in his late pseudo-predecessor, Sean starts to appear before his stunned parents. Somehow, Morgan has the power to project his dreams into the waking world. Jessie Hobson finds it a solace, but her husband suspects it is deeply unhealthy. Regardless, Morgan always struggles to stay awake, because he knows something sinister and Slender Man-ish also haunts his dreams.

It is a shame Wake was caught up in the bankruptcy Hell of its original distributor, because it is a mature and deeply resonant film, especially by horror genre standards. Fortunately, Flanagan is still well on his way to being a genre brand-name, thanks to his terrific Stephen King adaptation, Gerald’s Game and the expectation-exceeding Ouija prequel, Origin of Evil. However, Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane do some of their best work as the Hobsons, so they really missed out not getting a wide theatrical release.

There are plenty of horror movies that use the death of a child as its catalyst, but Flanagan & Jeff Howard’s screenplay addresses it with uncompromising honesty. You can see in the performances of Jane and Bosworth that this couple is still hurting. In a small but memorable role, Jay Karnes adds an authoritative but compassionate tone to the film, as Jessie Hobson’s support group leader.

There are definitely some scary moments in Wake, but there are also strong elements of psychological mystery. If you like horror, but your family or roommates don’t, this might be one you could sneak past the gatekeeper. It is a quality film, so it is nice to finally have it available for consumption in the U.S. market. Enthusiastically recommended for horror and dark thriller fans, Before I Wake starts streaming today (1/5) on Netflix.

1922: More Stephen King on Netflix

It seems like 98% of Stephen King’s fiction is set in Maine, but hardcore fans will recognize the semi-fictional town of Hemingford Home, Nebraska. The dustbowl burg played a tangential role in The Stand and It, but it was the primary setting of one short story and one novella. The latter joins Big Driver and A Good Marriage as the third of the four novellas published together in Full Dark, No Stars to be adapted for the screen. The Nebraska plains are indeed bad lands in Zak Hilditch’s 1922 (trailer here), which premieres today on Netflix.

Wilfred James was born to work the land, but his dissatisfied wife Arlette, not so much. Ironically, she is the one who inherits one hundred prime acres from her father, but she intends to sell out to a pork agribusiness and open a dress shop in the sinful metropolis of Omaha. Of course, she intends to take their fourteen-year-old son Henry (or Hank, depending on which parent is calling him) with her. It also stands to figure the pig processing plant would render Wilf’s eighty acres unfarmable. Hence, he rather resents her for these plans, but most of all, he just hates her for being her.

James has murder in his heart, but he lures Hank into his plan, using some nefarious bait. The shrewdly observant farmer recognizes his son is head over heels for Shannon Cotterie, who probably is the girl next door, but that still a decent hike’s distance. Mean old Arlettte speaks of her in course, dismissive terms and her scheme would obviously separate the smitten teens, so she is going to die. Unfortunately, the actually killing is much messier than anyone expected. Then the rats start feasting on her corpse stashed in their abandoned well. No matter how hard he tries, James cannot eradicate the infestation. In fact, the rats become progressively more aggressive.

1922 is not the scariest King adaptation ever, but it ranks highly in terms of atmosphere and sense of place. This American Gothic tale wouldn’t be as convincing if it were set on a hardscrabble Down East maple syrup farm. It boasts a potent sense of loneliness and disconnection from human society. There are some chilling moments, but generally, 1922 is more akin to really strong Twilight Zone and E.C. Comics stories. Yet, there are plenty of genre elements, including ghosts, swarming rats, in media res confessions, Freudian misogyny, and cows living in the farm house.

Thomas Jane is really terrific growling and sighing as the haunted (literally) Wilf James. He is chillingly manipulative in the early scenes, yet it is shocking to see him laid so low by karma in the third act. Jane also makes a convincing case for the lead role if anyone is looking to produce the Tom Waits story. The counterbalancing Molly Parker is wonderfully tart and nasty as Arlette. Plus, the ever-reliable Neal McDonough puts the exclamation point on the film as Cotterie’s well-to-do father.

Netflix really seems to get how Stephen King should be done. Instead of bloated tent-poles, they are acquiring lean and mean adaptations from interesting filmmakers, like Hilditch, whose These Final Hours is one of the most distinctive end-of-the-world films in the last five years. Like Gerald’s Game, it features a first-class cast that well suits the material, but probably lacks the sort of Q-scores Hollywood would put its faith in. Highly recommended, 1922 starts streaming today on Netflix.

Standoff: Laurence Fishburne Gets Villainous

You haven’t seen a cemetery this isolated since Night of the Living Dead. It makes sense for someone in hiding to hold a memorial service there, but it is curtains for all when a hitman gets the drop on them. The nearest house belongs to Carter Greene, which is sort of convenient, considering he is one the brink of suicide. However, he puts everything on hold when a twelve year-old witness seeks his protection. The combat veteran will dig-in with her for the duration in Adam Alleca’s Standoff (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

Poor little orphan Isabel has already had quite a time of it. She still clings to the camera given to her by her deceased father, which will be significant when her aunt’s soon-to-be-late boyfriend takes her to visit her parent’s grave. She does indeed manage to get a snap of the killer at work, sans mask. Somehow she reaches Greene’s house just in time. Still grieving the son who died due to his own negligence, the former soldier was one or two shots away from ending it all. Instead, he gets a flesh wound in the leg from the killer, returning the favor with some twenty gauge buckshot to the waist.

Since they are out in the middle of nowhere, the killer can simply let his siege play out. Greene has the advantage when it comes to relative blood loss, but the killer has an overwhelming ammunition edge. He has a full clip, whereas Greene only has one short-range, wide dispersing shell left. The killer is also better at talking trash, but Greene is surprisingly resourceful—and in need of redemption.

Standoff is a perfectly good reminder that you can’t make a pizza without plenty of cheese. Let’s be honest, Laurence Fishburne’s villainy muscles have atrophied since his career-making performance as Ike Turner. However, he delivers some howlingly ludicrous lines with gusto. You have to give him credit for chewing the scenery like a champ, making Standoff rather watchable. It also leaves Thomas Jane as the strong, silent type, which was surely a relief to him.

To continue giving credit where it is due, Ella Ballentine is also quite good as the ticky and withdrawn Isabel. She comes across as a convincingly messed-up kid, without ever trying the audience’s patience. We never want Greene to kick her down the staircase, which is often the glaring weakness in films like this.

Frankly, Standoff really isn’t that manipulative either. Alleca is much more concerned with the tactics and strategies employed in each skirmish. Of course, there are preposterous plot holes all over the place, but at least everyone came to play. It is a total B-movie, but it is worth a stream when it inevitably turns up on Netflix, which should be in about twelve hours after its release. In the meantime, it opens this Friday (2/12) in New York, at the Cinema Village.