The Fury

The Fury
(1978) [Trailer]
Director: Brian De Palma [IMDB]

Variety is the spice of life. Going from films like From Beyond to To the Wonder to The Fury keeps things interesting for me. One ingredient I haven't skimped out on in this gumbo of movie reviews I make is Brian De Palma. He has gotten some love from me here at WFR and for good reason. His films are truly entertaining and always aim to please. Recently I picked up this Twilight Time release for way too much money... so now, I'll tell you if it was worth it.

Synopsis: A man must fight against a secret government agency holding his son capivate because of his psychic abilities.

The Fury was a pretty awesome film. It has that cool late 70's vibe to it and resonates a strong Hitchcockian vibe to it... only with more blood. Kirk Douglas, John Cassavetes, and Amy Irving were all really good and Andrew Stevens has a very gnarly protruding forehand vein. I loved the use of gore in The Fury, while not extremely prevalent, when it's there it's effective... with the ending being the cherry on top.

Plotwise, there were a few things that felt hard to digest and some pacing issues, but overall this film is a winner in my book. If you don't feel like dishing out the absurd $30 price tag that Twilight Time releases have, go download it... it's worth a poke.

The Untouchables

The Untouchables
(1987) [Trailer]
Director: Brian De Palma (IMDB)

Synopsis: The Untouchables is Hollywood's account of the real life battle between mob boss Al Capone (Bobby De Niro) and federal agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner.)

I picked this up on blu-ray for $5 today and was pretty pleased as I've had it on my watch list for awhile now. I generally find De Palma's films to be awesome and while I enjoyed The Untouchables it did have some flaws. I felt Kevin Costner was really bland and seemed like a bad fit for the roll. There were a few lines he belted out which seemed really forced and unnatural. The score was awkward as well. I love Ennio Morricone... he actually penned one of my favorite scores ever made from the classic The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, but in this, his creation fell flat. At certain points, mainly when people are about to be killed, the score works wonderfully, but then the rest of the time it seems strange and oddly placed.

De Palma's use of interesting visuals and set pieces worked really well in this. The story was also pretty interesting and although I'm sure he veered from historical accuracy at times, it still felt grounded.

Highlights for me were the kid getting blown up, the baseball bat scene, the train station shoot out.... basically all the really awful scenes because I'm a bad person.

Blow Out

Blow Out
1981 [Trailer]
Director: Brian De Palma (IMDB)

Synopsis: A movie sound guy (John Travolta) stumbles across an accident which he recorded. Turns out it wasn't an accident and he starts to put the pieces together to solve a murder.

John Travolta seems like a cool guy or at least he used too. Now he seems like a weird airplane pilot with a creepy grin. Blow Out shows Travolta at his best... well... second best next to Pulp Fiction. If I were John Travolta and I was on Facebook, I would make this image my cover photo.

Visually this movie is pretty impressive. I loved a lot of the cinematography and De Palma occasionally incorporates the use of this split screen effect that really worked for me (reference that image above for an example.) There's also a lot of interesting mechanical shots interwoven throughout which gave this quasi training video feel to the film at times. The story is something out of an old crime noir but set in late 70's Philadelphia. There were some slow moments here and there but overall I'm glad I picked this up on Criterion Blu!

Carlito's Way

Carlito's Way
(1993) [Trailer]
Director: Brian De Palma (IMDB)

Sam Slater insisted I watch this movie. So much so that he brought it into the office for me to borrow... that's right... Williams Film Review has an office... we're big time. I wasn't sure if I had seen this film or not... 10 minutes in and I came to the conclusion that.... I had seen it. Does the fact that I forgot watching this mean it's shit, or does it mean I watch too many movies?

Synopsis: Carlito is an ex hood recently released from prison. Once he's on the outside he struggles with getting his life together, all while being pulled back into the game by his old connections.

Al Pacino and Sean Penn do a stand up job with their roles and the script in pretty engaging. The story is okay but nothing out of the ordinary, I'd say if anything they could have trimmed down the film a bit. I wasn't fan of the girlfriend, her hair really bothered me. I know that sounds trivial and I don't give a shit. The worst thing about Carlito's Way is the use of THIS SONG... barf. Besides that, I was a fan of Brian De Palma's direction in general. I truly enjoyed the last 45 minutes of the film when things really started to fall apart for Carlito... I like watching people fuck up.

Anyways... pop on this if you're in the mood for a decent crime flick.