“Wolf Creek” – (99 minutes, Australia 2005, rated R)
“I’m going to do something now they used to do in Vietnam. It’s called making a head on a stick.”
This is an earlier effort from the team which brought us “Rogue” reviewed here earlier this month.
Three backpackers, two girls and a young guy, traveling the Australian Outback get stranded at Wolf Creek national park when their car refuses to start.
They are so far from the nearest town, their only choice is to wait until dawn before even considering starting out for it on foot.
Russian Ridge is a part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. This district manages more than 60,000 acres in 26 preserves. Of these 26 preserves, 24 are open to the public for hiking, cycling, and horseback riding. They are free to the public and open year round from dawn until dusk.
This is lighter fare, of the kind both grown ups and children (though not too small) would enjoy for both its lessons and visuals. This is the third of Michel Ocelot’s animations we have watched and while all three are distinct and original, there is a common humanistic thread to his tales that is enchanting. Ocelot’s background covers virtually every aspect of animation from background artist to director, producer and narrator.
See a scene here:
I don’t believe his name is well known here, although he certainly is widely recognized in his field.
“I got one foot on both sides of the fence, I can’t move, I can’t jump.”
Lou Ford (Casey Affleck) is a Sheriff’s deputy in a small town in West Texas, easy going and friendly with all. As a matter of fact, Lou does a lot of favors. He takes care of his community, no fuss, no muss.
That is until the Sheriff (Tom Bower), a good old boy drowning despair in alcohol, asks him to tell a hooker living on the outskirts of town to get a move on. Joyce (Jessica Alba) doesn’t take the news well, and slaps, then hits Lou. This exchange triggers something in him that he buried many years earlier. He gives Joyce a whipping with his belt and there starts a relationship based on animal lust and forceful, dangerous sex.
This also presents Lou with an opportunity to settle old scores. As he put it himself, “the problem with growing up in a small town is that everyone thinks they know you”.
Woof. What a week. And a half. Starting a new job, in a different industry has thrown me off my game somewhat, and here I am apologizing to our fantastic readers for this late review.
The Midnight Movie Madness shall continue! But now on weekends instead of Wednesdays. Ah well, working in service industries (is there anything else left?) has taught me to grovel.
Have I got a good one for you, now…? I developed an inclination for this movie as soon as I saw that Les Claypool not only did the score, but appears in a small role, as a vengeful hillbilly wearing a priest’s collar and a Stetson. We like the funk here at JBoD, and Claypool’s so funky he was turned down by Metallica when he auditioned with them in the 80’s. Their loss and probably a good thing as he went on to front Primus. The man is not only an extremely talented musician, he is local, born in Richmond California, across the bridge from us.
“Pig hunt” might not be everybody’s cup of tea, particularly people unfamiliar with California. It seems to cram a lot, too much color, too much weird…. But this is California! The movie has a plethora of strange characters from weird hippies carrying Kukri knives (they HAVE to draw blood once they are unsheathed), to crazed rednecks, not to mention the odd group of friends going to these here parts near Boonville (in Beautiful Mendocino county) from San Francisco.
They are so far from the nearest town, their only choice is to wait until dawn before even considering starting out for it on foot.
