Bones & More
Since I enjoyed writer/director’s Craig Zahler’s cop drama Dragged Across Concrete (2018), I gave another of his efforts a shot. Last night I watched Bone Tomahawk (2015), courtesy of Netflix. It’s a hardboiled take on the old west. The story is simple. A weird tribe of indians, dubbed “troglodytes” by another Native American, abducts three town citizens, and a posse of four tracks them. Two aspects make it a bit different than most of the genre: a sort of supernatural element and several instances of dialogue that has nothing to do with advancing the narrative. Although I felt the latter was an obvious nod to what has become vogue, it did not detract from the flick, but it did lengthen it to beyond two hours. Zahler did the same in the aforementioned movie. I imagine he’s a fan of Seinfeld. He also employed the dark lighting techniques now so prevalent for night scenes, which I’m not thrilled about. I did not recognize Matthew Fox of Lost as one of the posse until late in the proceedings. Kurt Russell, now as comfortable in westerns as Sam Elliott, stars as the Sheriff. Patrick Wilson and Richard Jenkins, both outstanding, especially the latter as the quirky old-timer deputy, round out the crew. David Arquette is his typical first-rate self as the criminal whose activities set the plot in motion. 75,000+ users at IMDb have rated Bone Tomahawk, forging to a consensus of 7.1 on a scale of ten. Made for less than two million, it matches the look of big budget fare. Its box office take was woeful, not even recouping the cost of production, but I’d bet it has since turned a handsome profit through DVD sales and rentals, and streaming. Even though a lot of the violence occurs off screen, anyone squeamish about it should pass, as plenty is depicted on camera. Fans of that will not be disappointed. Anyone who craves a visceral wallop would likely enjoy this down and dirty entry into a fading genre. It is much like the counter culture westerns of the post baby-boomer era. I added Zahler’s other directorial effort to my watch list. According to his page at IMDb, he has no works in progress. He deserves more chances. Here are Jenkins, Russell and Fox in character:
Rip Felix Rohatyn, 91, Holocaust survivor, investment banker, US military veteran and ambassador to France. One of the last common sense liberals, he helped save NYC from bankruptcy in the ‘70’s but failed to get it to change its profligate ways.
From an article at nypost.com, edited by yours truly: Government at work. Five New Jersey officials met in diners and parking lots, where they accepted cash bribes stuffed in coffee cups and paper bags from an unnamed tax attorney they promised lucrative legal work. Although it’s typical of the Garden State, it’s probably wishful thinking that it doesn’t occur coast to coast.
There was just enough sunshine to make it a pleasant on Bay Parkway today. My thanks to Ann, who bought a couple of WWII theme paperbacks for her mother-in-law, whose dad took part in the D-Day invasion; and to Jimmy, who selected The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls; and to the gentleman who, to the delight of his preteen son, purchased Old Man’s Cave (BONE #6), a beautiful graphic novel by Jeff Smith; and to the young man who went home with a Mets media guide from the ‘80’s and a plastic pitcher with the team’s logo on it; and to the man who reminds me of Nikita Khrushchev, who chose a book in Russian; and to the female manager of Chase, who donated a bag of fiction another employee bought from me through the years. I wonder if Jack has moved to another company or been promoted. I haven’t seen him in a long time.
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