Be Kind, Please Rewind

He’s Corn on Macabre. He’s the…

Vidiot

Week of October 5, 2018

Corn mazes are the tastiest places to get lost. First up…

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

To solve America’s issues with Mexico the cartels should build a border wall out of cocaine bricks.

Instead, the Defense Department in this action-thriller has vowed to eradicate trafficking.

When suicide bombers detonate in Middle America, the Secretary of Defense (Matthew Modine) suspects the Mexican drug cartels were involved in getting them across the border. In retaliation he gives CIA operative Graver (Josh Brolin) carte blanche to start a war between the cartels by kidnapping the daughter of a kingpin. Graves hires a cold-blooded assassin (Benicio del Toro) to do the dirty work.

Lacking the moral center and unexpected twists and turns of the first Sicario, Day of the Soldado is a leaner, meaner, more action-heavy sequel that seems to revel in killing Mexicans. While both performances are gritty, the story is fear driven and hateful.

And while pitting cartels against each other can be risky, it works in NAFTA.  Yellow Light

Hotel Artemis

When staying at a hotel for criminals it’s important not to give your car keys to the valet.

Fortunately, the guests in this action movie can easily steal another ride.

As L.A. residents riot over drinking water restrictions, two brothers Sherman (Sterling K. Brown) and Lev (Brian Tyree Henry) rob a bank where Lev ends up getting shot. To save him, Sherman goes to a nurse (Jodie Foster) who provides medical attention to felons from inside a fortified hotel.

But can those defenses keep The Wolf-King (Jeff Goldblum) from reclaiming the prize that Sherman stole from him during the heist?

Set in the near future for no real reason, this ensemble has the star power but the immoral characters they play are clichéd. And while the dialogue tries to sound slick it ends up as flat as the action.

Incidentally, criminals make the best patients because they never sue for malpractice.  Red Light

***Neon Sign of the Cross***   

From Dusk till Dawn

Criminals flee down to Mexico so they can invest their loot in tequila companies that they can later sell for millions.

The fugitives in this horror movie however are just hoping to reach a criminal sanctuary.

Abating police after robbing a bank, the Gecko brothers (George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino) kidnap a lapsed preacher (Harvey Keitel), his son and his daughter (Juliette Lewis) so that they can use their RV to cross the border and reach a safe haven for thieves. But as they wait in a Mexican dive bar for their escort, the ersatz family must fend off Spanish-speaking vampires.

While Tarantino’s script is chockfull of his sharp dialogue, quirky characters and outlandish violence, his acting is not as laudable. Thankfully Robert Rodriguez’s stylized direction more than makes up for the auteur’s scene chewing.

Although it is hard to believe vampires would infest a country abundant with crosses and Jesus portraits.

He’s a Sugar Skull Fracture. He’s the…

 Vidiot