Perplexed Sugar

I can't hear. Leaving my seat my legs shake and my head rattles. Aspirins are needed. Holy shit. What an experience. From the first seconds the picture appears and Hans Zimmer's score booms into my eardrums and vibrates the ground beneath my shoes I am transported into war. And when the credits rolled I wondered: "Why can't every movie be like this?" I think about my company as we went home. The Justice League trailer played before Dunkirk and one of them said "We need to see Justice League on that screen." I looked at them and weeped. Sadly I replied "It wasn't made in the same format." The disappointment spread from my face across theirs like a face eating virus. I know. There are so few times we get to experience something like this. Gravity being the very first, Interstellar being the second and now Dunkirk. For hundreds of movies that come out yearly, 3 movies that we saw gave us a feeling that can't be replicated at home...

Headshot Iko Uwais is slowly turning into an international superstar. His role in The Raid: Redemption catapulted him into stardom and introduced U.S. audiences to his impressive array of skills. Headshot continues that tradition by throwing Iko into another action packed narrative filled with guns, guns and more guns packed inside a martial arts slaughterfest. The movie is a non-stop violent trip with scene after scene of brutal fights and shootouts. Someone call Keanu. John Wick 3 has found it's villain. War on Everyone  John Michael McDonagh's follow-up to The Guard seemed like a disappointed to most but not to this broke writer! The adventures of these two corrupt cops who get caught in the crossfire of a British crime boss who somehow settled in New Mexico is a treat. This type of dark comedy is right down my alley with Michael Pena cursing at his fat son about his Xbox to Alexander purposely smashing parked cars as he drives down the street. ...

Whether it's the sudden twist of Oldboy to the unflinching terror of I Saw The Devil , the unapologetic fury that encases these thrillers is something Hollywood would dare to copy but never achieve. The sheer brutality that explodes on the screen shows us, the audience, that no care is taken to how we feel or expect things to end for those tortured characters we are drawn to. It's unforgiving in how the plot is stripped bare, driving us down bumpy storytelling roads that make us uncomfortable and uneasy to explore. These thrillers do not expect the viewer to know the answers and if you think you do it's probably going to be 10 times worse than what you predicted. We have been spoiled by American thrillers. The happy ending. The closed case. The weak twist. The resolved emotions. Of being driven to the edge of the cliff, only to be yanked back again as if it was some sorry prank. The need to shock our audience with pints of blood or beheaded victims. As if more go...

With news that a new season of True Detective is on the horizon with actor Mahershala Ali, it got me thinking about past seasons and what made the show so special the first time around. When I first watched season 2, like everyone else I was disappointed. 3 detectives who are about as exciting as a log on a beach try to solve a murder around a complicated and bloated plot about land deals while Vince Vaughn's character goes around the city for 5 episodes demanding money. But re-watching it years later (with captions on) some interesting elements started to shine through that California Vinci smog that I hardly noticed the first time around. It really isn't a bad season. Still better than most shows on T.V.  The first episode, The Western Book Of the Dead, is fine television with memorable moments such as Colin Farrell's character Ray Velcoro beating the shit out of a bully's dad on his front lawn. Who can ever forget the immortal words " I'll come back an...