Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is arguably my favorite Quentin Tarantino’s (Inglorious Bastards, Django Unchained) movie. However, that isn’t saying a lot since he is not one of my favorite directors out there. I admit that there is an audience for his movies. I’m just not a part of that audience. For me, his films are too often over the top, are loaded with extreme and unneeded violence, and contain the foulest language you’ll hear from a big-budget movie any year that one of his movies was released. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was FAR different than his previous eight films. The story was not over the top. The cursing, while present, was used to accent a verbal exchange rather than serve as the root of it. And outside of a 10-15 minute sequence, there wasn’t any over-the-top violence. This movie was long and a bit boring, but it wasn’t bad. It also had excellent acting performances.
Category Archives: Timothy Olyphant
Snowden (2016)
I did not see 2015’s Citzenfour documentary about Edward Snowden. Had I, I might not have appreciated Oliver Stone’s (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July) biopic as much as I did. I think part of the reason I was such a big fan of Snowden was that I knew very little about it before my viewing. Sure I knew of Wikileaks and learned a lot from the news, but I didn’t pay. Snowden went from your everyday no name to one of the most controversial figures of this century. Now, if you think this movie will be completely neutral, you don’t know Oliver Stone very well. Heck, this was the same man who directed JFK. His approach has always been very anti-government, and with Snowden, it’s no different. While I haven’t loved all of his movies (Nixon, W., Alexander, Savages, even JFK wasn’t really my thing), there are certainly more than I do like. Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July are incredibly amazing, while other movies such as Natural Born Killers and Wall Street were revolutionary. Snowden might be my third favorite. Snowden was definitely softer in tone and, maybe even the scope, but was, by no means, less controversial. I don’t have a lot of complaints about the movie itself. Some people said it was too long. I did not feel that way. My only problem with it is that it didn’t make Ed Snowden as controversial as he was. Instead, it made it seem that whistleblowing on his country was the right and noble thing to do. For some, maybe most, it may have been. But what we weren’t really shown was the “other side” of the story. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable film that gave a great backstory for why he did the things he did.
Continue reading Snowden (2016)
The Crazies (2010)
I had one primary reason for watching this movie: Timothy Olyphant was the star. Olyphant was an actor I had not even heard of one year ago. F/X had a new show this season called Justified, and Olyphant was the star. I gave the show a chance. It hooked me from the first scene in the first episode. There are many reasons why I like the television show, but one of those is Olyphant. He plays the role of US Marshall well. So, I have been looking back at Olyphant’s filmography and saw he had the leading role in The Crazies. I like Olyphant, and horror movies generally perk my interest, so checking this film out was a no-brainer.
A Perfect Getaway (2009)
Before Timothy Olyphant (The Crazies, Dreamcatcher) was earning high praise for his role as US Marshall Raylan Givens in FX’s blockbuster television show Justified, he was making a name for himself in action/adventure movies, first in smaller character roles and then as a lead actor. Olyphant’s Givens on Justified is easily my favorite television character of the present time, distancing himself from Hugh Laurie’s Gregory House on House and Steve Carell’s Michal Scott on The Office.