I'm back again and this time I'm review two films. One awesome and the other....pretty bizarre. I think you already know which is which.
Why Didn't I See Copshop?
Pretty simple, I didn't know of these film's existence. I only found out about it months later, when I do believe I saw some I follow on Twitter saying it's a pretty awesome movie.
What is Copshop?
Copshop is a action thriller movie. It was produced by Sculptor Media, Zero Gravity Management, G-BASE Film Production, Raven Capital Management, and WarParty Films and distributed by Open Road Films. The story is con artist Teddy Murretto has purposely got himself sent to jail by punching a rookie cop named Valerie Young, all in the hopes of hiding away from hitman Bob Viddick. However, Bob pretends to a drunk and gets himself places in the same police station as Teddy. Now the station has becoming an all out battleground amongst the con artist, the hitman, and the rookie cop. Copshop was written by Joe Carnahan and Kurt McLeod and directed by Joe Carnahan.
My Thoughts
The Good: One thing I loved about Copshop is the action. I did enjoy the slight hand-to-hand stuff, but it's the gunfights that truly make this an awesome. I don't know how Joe Carnahan was acting behind the camera, but I can only imagine he was enjoying every moment, because it really seems like this is his type of action to film. Now when we don't have action, there's some really great suspense going on. At the beginning, you're really getting anxious for sh*t to hit the fan once Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo's characters are finally in the same room together. I mean it, I was just sitting there slowly getting more and more uneasy once the pieces started falling into place. I also want to give credit to the acting. Usually I would credit a one or more people in a film, but with this, I give credit to everyone. Whether they're supposed to be serious or not, everyone looks like they're having a blast with this film. I also really enjoyed the dark humor in this. There's this one great scene where at cop at a desk is talking to a hired assassin about the assassin's own mugshot. It's quite a hilarious scene. The last thing I want to praise about the movie is how it felt. When I was watching this, I just couldn't help but get an old-school gritty action film vibe from this. Mainly from the 70s. Heck, the score and opening credits itself seems like something that came from the 70s, and it's pretty awesome.
The Bad: I've got nothing to say.
The Okay: For a huge part of the film the pacing is really good. Where I think it loses some of it's steam is with the ending. It almost kind of drags. But I can forgive that because we're still given a well paced action flick, prior to the ending.
Final Verdict: Great.
Why Didn't I See Prisoners of the Ghostland?
Now I actually was focusing on reviewing this film, but I later changed my plans. Instead of this, I decided to review Cry Macho. Because my train of thought was, it's Clint Eastwood, and because he's such a legend in the movie industry, people would've been more interested in that movie, as suppose to this one, and review it later. But then I realized I wasn't gonna be able to review this, because I had reviews for season 2 of Doom Patrol, Ghostbusters II, and the 1984 version of Dune. So I had to cancel a review for this film, and save it for this segment.
What is Prisoners of the Ghostland?
Prisoners of the Ghostland is a horror western action film. The movie was produced by Untitled Entertainment, Patriot Pictures, Union Patriot Capital Management, Boss Boss Bang Bang, Eleven Arts, and XYZ Films and Saturn Films and distributed by RLJE Films. The story is the Governor's "granddaughters" has been kidnapped and gets stranded in the Ghostland. He has demanded notorious criminal named Hero to go and get her back in five days or the suit he gave him will self-destruct. Now only is Hero setting out of a journey to find the girl, but also to seek redemption. Prisoners of the Ghostland was written by Reza Sixo Safai and Aaron Hendry and directed by Sion Sono.
My Thoughts
The Good: I think it goes without say that Nicolas Cage is the best part of the entire movie. Regardless of the quality you can always count on Cage to deliver an entertaining performance. Whether he's going over the top (which he does and it's great), or plays it straight. Now this is my first time watching a Sion Sono film, and I gotta say, he's pretty good. Whether you like the movie or not, you can't deny you shot this incredibly well.
The Bad: My true issue comes from the pacing. The film only clocks in at 1 hour and 43 minutes, but it felt just a little bit longer than that. It felt like I was sitting through I film that was more in-line with a 2 hour runtime than an hour.
The Okay: Where some of the gray areas come in is with the action. It's alright. It's shot and done very well, but overall it did feel just a bit standard. Now this is a truly bizarre movie. And from what I'm understanding (cause remember, this is my first time watching a Sion film), that's pretty much the norm for Sion Sono. Why am I bringing this up? Because if there's anything I learned from watching a lot of Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews, is this could or won't benefit a film. So I believe, this film's weirdness shouldn't be frowned upon, but should be watched carefully, because it could get a cult following in the near future.
Final Verdict: Okay.
Anyhow, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Sept 15th for a brand new Raiders of The Lost Media. For that one I'll be entertaining one piece of the world of WWE. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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