Bone Tomahawk

Although advertised as a "Horror-Western", 2015's Bone Tomahawk doesn't hit with wall-to-wall scares or even much gore, relative to it's 132 minute runtime. While some seeking out a straight horror film may find this a bit disappointing I think it's a very engaging film. 

Shortly after a drifter comes to the small frontier town of Bright Hope he is shot in the leg by the town Sheriff (played by Kurt Russell) and taken to jail under suspicion of murder. The town's doctor Samantha O'Dwyer called upon to treat the prisoner's wound. However, in the middle of the night the drifter, the doctor, and the deputy who was at the jail, all go missing. Upon finding an arrow in the building and consulting with a local Native American, who identifies the arrow as belonging to a savage troglodyte clan, the Sheriff quickly gathers together a small group of men to assist him in searching for the missing persons. This group consists of the doctor's husband Arthur O'Dwyer (played by Patrick Wilson) who despite having a broken leg insists on going, the 'backup deputy' Chicory (played by Richard Jenkins) and John Brooder (played by Matthew Fox) who has some experience with this type of matter. 

This movie is only a couple of years old and it had a very limited theatrical release, so I won't give anymore of the plot away because I do recommend seeing it. The film is a slow-burn, yet very suspenseful because you never know what may be waiting for this ragtag group just over the next ridge. This movie doesn't have a ton of action and relies heavily on good performances from the main cast to carry the heavy lifting. Luckily, I think all of the acting is solid throughout.

If you're a fan of Westerns and you haven't seen Bone Tomahawk, then I definitely recommend checking his one out.

 4.5 out of 5

Hamlet & Hutch

I'm a big fan of the late, great Burt Reynolds, and I even wrote a piece a while back about 10 of his movies that I recommend people see (you can check that one out HERE). However, until today I had not seen the 2015 Direct-to-DVD film Hamlet & Hutch. 

In the film Reynolds plays Papa Hutch, an old theater actor who is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's. This forces him to move from New York to the Georgia and in with his granddaughter and his 11 year old great granddaughter, Liv. Hutch and Liv quickly develop a bond based on their mutual love of both acting and a greyhound appropriately named Hamlet. Toward the latter third of the film both Hamlet and Hutch go missing. Hutch turns up at a church relatively quickly, but Hamlet remains missing until the sappy, predictable, 'if you believe hard enough' conclusion.

Overall, it's not a great movie. The production quality is low and the acting is hit and miss (mostly misses). I wouldn't recommend it, but it's not completely unwatchable.

 I give this one a 1 out of 5.

In the Heart of the Sea

Released in late 2015 In the Heart of the Sea, or as I like to refer to it 'Chris Hemsworth vs. A Big Whale', didn't do well with critics or at the box-office. While I do think there are parts of a good movie here, it doesn't completely deliver the goods.

The film is about an old man named Thomas (played by Brendan Gleeson) recounting the story of his survival when he was a young lad aboard a whaling ship named Essex in 1820. Crew of the Essex is played by some pretty good actors like Benjamin Walker as the Captain, Tom Holland as the young version of Thomas, and Chris Hemsworth as Owen the first mate who's accent is inconsistent throughout. There's a lot of sailing around searching for whales early on, and this part of the film could've been trimmed down a bit. However, the whole thing picks up when the crew encounters a Moby Dick-esque whale that destroys the Essex, leaving them stranded on the ocean in much smaller whaling boats. They drift along helplessly with little food or water, and even reluctantly decide to cannibalize the dead. After several weeks stranded at sea a few men who survived are actually rescued. There's also a bit toward the end about the whale oil company trying to deny that a whale destroyed one of their ships, but this didn't add much to the film for me.

Overall, I like a lot of these actors, Ron Howard is a good director, and there are some really captivating visuals. There just isn't enough to push this one over the line from solid movie to great movie.

I give it a 3 out of 5.

Have a suggestion for a review?

Leave a comment below.