Holy Motors (2012)

Directed by Leos Carax

Starring Denis Lavant and Edith Scob

Runtime 115min. - Not Rated

4 Stars (out of 4)

Check the Official Site for a screening near you.

Director Leos Carax inserts himself into the opening of "Holy Motors". He wakes up in a small bedroom. He walks up to a painted wall and locates a keyhole. The needed key is attached to his finger. The key turns and a section of the wall opens. It leads to a theater filled with a faceless audience watching an unknown film. The camera's angle eventually penetrates the silver screen and the audience becomes an afterthought.

Newtown Massacre

When my son came home from school Friday I hugged him tight. Then I yelled at him for being a brat, then I hugged him some more.  That pattern has repeated itself for the last few days. At the bottom of this post you'll find some useful links if you want to do more than hug your child.


You can't turn on a TV program right now without hearing something akin to "Our hearts and prayers go out to those affected by the events in Newtown, Connecticut." I'm not going to bore anyone with any such message. The words are empty, void of any meaning. I'm not saying people aren't sincere in their condolences, just that it doesn't much matter if they are or not.  A parent who just lost their 1st Grader doesn't care if your heart goes out to them. Not right now anyway.

I also get pretty frustrated when some reporter uses a phrase like "trying to make sense of it all". There's no sense to be made. There's no greater meaning, no silver lining, no wider perspective. What happened is not subjective, it can only be viewed as reality.

Tom Cruise Does Not Suck

I've been bothered by some things I've read on blogs and forums recently. It's an attitude really. An attitude that says "if that guy is rich and famous, but has made some misstep, then he is an douchebag". It's almost like dealing with cinematic hipsters. You know the type. They listen to unsigned indie bands and tell you that your favorite musician is a sell out. Guess what hipster, my favorite musician was unsigned once, but now they're rich and famous because they didn't suck. Even if they did put out that bad album a couple of years ago, it's not like their talent has suddenly vanished. Eat it, hipster.

Restitution - Supporting Indie Film

A still from the teaser trailer which can be found at the bottom of this post.

A while back I decided to make DustyOnMovies a sponsor of Hybrid Vigor, a mystery/thriller being filmed on location in Latvia. It's now fully funded and in production. It looks like it will be very good.

With one success under the ol' belt, I've decided to be a backer for the upcoming film "Restitution". It's a western being filmed by Matthew Pickett. What I'm really excited about for "Restitution" is that it's prinicpal photography will be done in Blacksburg, Va, the same town Virginia Tech is located and only about 15 miles from where I live.

Lawless (2012)

Directed by John Hillcoat

Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf and Guy Pearce

Runtime 116min - Rated R

4 Stars (out of 4)

Now on DVD or online streaming.

Amazon Instant and VUDU

There are a lot of things to consider when watching “Lawless”. Is it factually accurate? Is that how depression-era Franklin County actually looked? And was it really that violent? Were Chicagoan gangsters constantly making trips to the mountain moonshine stills? I have none of those answers. 

Matt Bondurant, the author of the film’s source novel, “The Wettest County in the World”, is the grandson of Jack Bondurant who serves as the film’s main character and part-time narrator. Though I’m sure he did plenty of research for his novel, I would question the validity of stories passed down through generations of moonshiners by word-of-mouth. These kinds of stories are generally told at family gatherings. Family gatherings are generally accompanied by large volumes of moonshine in Franklin County, especially when that family is historically famous for its white lightning. Large volumes of moonshine are generally not good for verbally communicating factual information.  Also worthy of consideration is a character who survives illness, a throat slashing, and multiple gunshot wounds. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the story is closer to truth than legend. Since there’s no real way for me to verify or dismiss any of it,  I’ll just have to ignore the topic altogether. Besides, separating fact from fiction has little bearing on whether or not one will enjoy a film.