Probably the most intriguing element of New Jack City is the way it consciously invites comparisons to other movies. Blaxploitation is referenced repeatedly, with characters watching Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song on TV, and one character calling another "Superfly" while monitoring an undercover operation. And in a key scene, the villain watches the ending of Scarface in his home, perhaps unaware of the irony presented by his enjoyment of the movie. But I think that last point of comparison is key…
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Evil Angels 1988
The Important Cinema Club podcast recently did an episode on Meryl Streep and one of the more intriguing insights they offered was that Streep's portrayal of the kind of characters she chose to play brought with it a certain tension. Namely, if I can paraphrase, there was a certain dissonance between these dressed down, unglamorous characters and the fact that they were being played by the First Lady of Acting, bringing the full force of her formidable, carefully calibrated talents.…
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The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean 1972
"Who are you?"
"Justice, you sons of bitches!"
Not great, but charmingly eccentric, and Paul Newman is at his lovable scoundrel best. The reference to Theodore Roosevelt screams John Milius. Also, I completely forgot that this had a musical interlude in the vein of "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", but with Newman palling around with a black bear.
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Evil Dead Trap 1988
One of the pleasures of Evil Dead Trap is seeing a convergence of several lines of influence. There are the fingerprints of David Cronenberg, whose Videodrome is cited early in the movie. The heroine, who works for a late night investigative program that seeks out edgy, extreme content, receives a snuff video in the mail and decides to dig further. There are the great Italian horror directors. The colour schemes bring to mind Mario Bava and Dario Argento, with aggressive…
