Displaying items by tag: Macon Blair

THE THICKET

US, 2024, 105 minutes, Colour.

Peter Dinklage, Juliette Lewis, Levon Hawke, Esme Creed-Miles, Gbenga Akinnmagbe, Ned Dennehy, James Hetfield, Macon Blair, Arliss Howard, Leslie Grace.

Directed by Elliot Lester.

A Western with many familiar themes portrayed in a different way.

It is a film about bounty hunters, a very unusual duo, Peter Donklage as an accomplished bounty hunter, with a telescopic rifle, Reginald Jones, travelling with his African-American partner, Gbenga Akinnmagbe, Eustace, in an auto vehicle at first and then by horseback. They do burials, are paid, but are stood up by arrogant sheriff who mocks Reginald Jones because of his height. Jones inflicts wounds on the sheriff who then deputises a pair of brothers to pursue them.

The film opens with a family disaster, a brother and sister left without a family, the sister abducted by an outlaw, Cutthroat Bill (short for Wilhelmina), a distinctively ugly and sinister performance by Juliette Lewis. She has her tough entourage, takes the sister captive, makes comparisons about beauty and appearances with herself.

The brother is wounded, decides to go on a mission to rescue his sister, encounters Reginald Jones and Eustace, tags along with them, becomes embroiled in their struggles in pursuit, eventually catching up with his sister, all travelling towards a destination, The Thicket.

As expected, the climax builds up to a violent confrontation, the telescopic rifle doing its part, Bill and her violent death, and the surprise death of the young man but the survival of his sister.

Grim and tough but an interesting variation on Western themes.

(Movie trivia: James Hatfield is the lead singer for Metallica. Levon Hawke is the son of Ethan Hawke and Emma Thurman, brother of Maya Hawke. Esme Creed-Mills is the daughter of Samantha Morton and Charlie Creed-Mills.)

1. The title, the sketches during credits, the destination for the travellers, the final visuals and the action in the thicket?
2. A variation on Western themes, bounty hunters, gunslingers (and cutthroats), African-Americans in the West, Native Americans, families and settlers, traders? And the musical score?
3. The opening, the need for clarity about what was going on, the young man and his sister, the parents dying of smallpox, the grandfather, the rider on the motorbike, the confusion, the funeral, the attack, the taking of the girl, confrontation at the ferry, the death of the grandfather, Jack and his quest for his sister?
4. The introduction to Cutthroat Bill, Juliette Lewis’s performance, her appearance, constant references to beauty, the ugliness and scars? Ruthless? Some background? Her entourage and her tough dealings with them, their personalities, beholden to her? The attack, her taking the girl, not killing her, keeping her captive, taking her dress and burning it, her henchmen’s singlet? The young girl, her age, the terror, her determination?
5. The funeral, Reginald Jones with Eustace, the burial, the bounty hunters, the confrontation with the sheriff, his taunting Jones because of his height, Jones demanding the right money, the mockery, the fight, the owner being wounded? His deputising the brothers, their pursuit of Jones and Eustace?
6. The encounter with Jack, tensions, his search for his sister, his age, inexperience, the guns? Travelling with Jones and Eustace, their vehicle, and the horses, and in the desert, the two deputised brothers and their pursuit? The fight, one brother dead? The other hiding?
7. Jack, following on, in the town, look of his sister, the saloon, the brothel, Jimmy Sue, the owner, the taunts, Jack going with her to the room, his wanting to save her, the confrontation with the owner? Jimmy Sue and joining in the search for the sister?
8. Bill, her continuing on, going to the thicket, the trading post, the shop, her encounters with Jones? His speaking loudly, helping the sister know that Jack was searching?
9. The continued travel, Bill’s men and their attack on the girl, Bill’s treatment of them? The old man, his warning to the girl?
10. The continued pursuit, Jones and Eustace and their decisions, Jack promising the property in Montana, Jones taking a stand and then relenting?
11. The buildup to the final confrontation, the girl taking an initiative, the treatment by Bill, Jones and Bill, Jones and his telescopic rifle, killing Bill? The irony of the shootout, Jack and his search, his death? Jimmy Sue surviving?
12. A variation on grim Western stories, bounty hunters, racial differences, sexual brutality, gun violence?

THE TOXIC AVENGER

US, 2023, 100 minutes, Colour.

Peter Dinklage, Jacob Tremblay, Taylour Paige, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Julia Davis, Louise Guerriorio, David Yow, Annette Badland, Macon Blair, Lloyd Kaufmann.

Directed by Macon Blair.

The Toxic Avenger was the title of a horror film of 1984, produced by the small-budget Troma Studios, specialising in horror films under the leadership of its director, Lloyd Kaufmann. Kaufmann made several sequels to the original. Almost 40 years later, he wanted to make a new version of The Toxic Avenger, thought himself too old to direct this version, has a small role in the hospital sequence, but handed on direction to writer-actor, Macon Blair (who also appears as Dennis).

This film had a larger budget, was produced by 2023 but failed to get a distributor. However, it was released in 2025, some enthusiasm for the distributors, but many negative comments from the bloggers.

This is a film which has its cake and eats it at the same time! It capitalises on the horror traditions, especially those of the small budget special effects – many exceedingly gory, of course, but an emphasis more on splatter and blood instead of grim dark horror. And it has something of a distinguished cast.

In the original, the toxic avenger was a nerdish young man. This time the central character is played by Peter Dinklage, working in a large factory, sinister in its experiments and Big Pharma, a cleaner, stepfather to a teenager, Jacob Tremblay.

On the one hand, the through line of the plot has an emphasis on family, relationships, the death of a mother, the son and his relationship to his stepfather, the boy at school, trying to dance but ridiculed, the father with a terminal diagnosis, the consequences of the stepfather’s transformation, and the role of the boy. This story pervades the film.

And there is also the through plot of the critique of corrupt corporations, Mafia and gangster connections, inept CEOs and their vanities, the sinister accomplices, the henchmen team of would-be rock stars who are commissioned to kill all opponents. Which means that the film is a critique of corrupt businesses, the consequences for public life and health.

The nerd of the original film is now a journalist but is killed off at the beginning, bequeathing his mission of exposure and condemnation to another journalist, played effectively and generally seriously by Taylour Paige. She is under threat and pursued throughout the whole film, eventually working with the Toxic Avenger and to save his son.

When the janitor invades a big dinner and confronts the CEO, played, with self-important nonchalance, by Kevin Bacon with Julia Davis as his loyal assistant, he asks for some money to cover his doctor’s bills after the terminal prognostic and the refusal of the company to pay his insurance. Pursued, he is involved in mishaps from the factory and overwhelmed by toxic sludge, emerging disfigured (and an actress performing the action of the janitor while Peter Dinklage speaks the lines). And he has a toxic atomic mop. A determined man with a mission.

The film is very much a horror-allegory about corruption in society and the need to rise against it. It certainly plays parody at times, overall satire – but, often in the spirit of spontaneous skit.

Clearly, from the title and the posters, only the horror aficionados at will be wanting to see this film – some satisfied, many dissatisfied. However, film buffs, seeing the list of the cast, may be curious to see how they handle this kind of horror satire.