Drive(2011)From the film’s svelte neon violet, cursive lettered opening titles, we knew “Drive” had some serious mileage. Danish action director Nicolas Winding Refn (“Bronson”) answers the question that’s never occurred to film buffs but should have (at least when randomly watching “Sixteen Candles” and “Manhunter” back to back over a Madonna “Papa Don’t Preach” costume party): what would “Taxi Driver” have been if Michael Mann and John Hughes joined forces to remake the Martin Scorcese’s Classic, circa 1985? Yes, “Drive” does take place in Modern Day Los Angeles, but the mixture of long, stark takes with the nameless Driver (Ryan Gosling) cursing during a luminous Californian night, juxtaposed with montages that belong in MTV’s Reagan era video rotation make “Drive” into the most surreally striking vision of L.A since “Pulp Fiction.”
Read More
Valhalla Rising (2010)
"Valhalla Rising" does not rise Valhalla, but it might rise the hoards of dead Vikings waiting for Ragnarok because they want to hand the writer and director's asses to them due to this overwhelmingly boring film. Mads Mikkelsen has managed to bring a certain charm to the characters he's played in the past, yes even in the lame duck that was "Clash of the Titans". However, in this film he gets the shaft in the way of a character that has every opportunity to be cool and never is.
