Rockstar Recommends: Jamaican Noir (The Cinema of Dread) at Cinefamily LA

Posted: April 20, 2012 3:44PM | Author: R* Q

For a taste of International Noir, particularly in subtropical climates with a pressure-cooker of desperate downtrodden masses and ruthless crime syndicates, we’re happy to recommend our LA-area fans (or those who will be there over the next week) pay a visit to the renowned and very fun revival house, Cinefamily, to check out their Jamaican Noir: The Cinema of Dread festival starting today. Featuring Jimmy Cliff’s landmark 1972 gangster film “The Harder They Come” and several others, as they describe:

“Jamaican cinema is Third World cinema: rife with strife, bursting with the insuppressible creativity of the oppressed — don’t get it twisted. Watching a documentary like Stepping Razor: Red X and witnessing Peter Tosh wield a sword on stage while he MCs, or seeing a rasta preach literally to the hills about the need for help in his people’s struggle in the Herzog-esque Land of Look Behind, or following “Horsemouth” in Rockers on a epic hunt through Kingston to retrieve his stolen motorbike (in a kind of reggae re-working of The Bicycle Thief) will rewire your brain, and open your ears to the dark side of dub.”

Also – while it’s a couple decades removed from this festival’s focus on the heady 70s, for some pretty raw Noir action set in Jamaica – and a detective character perhaps even more trigger-happy than Max Payne himself - we recommend you track down 1999’s “Third World Cop.” Check out that film’s theatrical trailer below.

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Rockstar Recommends: “Point Blank”

Posted: March 30, 2012 10:15AM | Author: R* A

Point Blank (1967; Dir. John Boorman)

An aging, greying gunman single-mindedly out to reclaim what was taken from him must infiltrate a building teeming with armed enemy goons – get in, reach the man in charge at the top, and get out unscathed by cannily outwitting and outmanning them all. The type of job that calls for more of a myth than a man.

Starring Lee Marvin as the mysterious, unstoppable force known only as Walker and supported by an amazing cast that includes the stunning Angie Dickinson and a pre-Archie-Bunker Caroll O’Connor -  this surreal neo-noir crime film isn’t necessarily a direct inspiration of the Max Payne series or Max Payne 3 specifically, but there are many great stylistic parallels worth noting. The over-the-hill mythical hard man constantly facing impossible odds against a giant criminal organization. The haunting memories and tortured flashbacks to where it all went wrong. Even the sharp grey suit and the coincidence of a precarious helicopter-assisted cash drop orchestrated at an empty arena.

Remade in only the shallowest of plot-point respects in 1999 as the Mel Gibson vehicle “Payback”, we’d consider “Point Blank” to be the “High Plains Drifter” of Max Payne 3 Recommended films – a treat for Max fans who can appreciate a surreal take on the crime-action genre.


Previously:
Rockstar Recommends: A Chronology of Favorite Movie Shootouts and Standoffs
Rockstar Recommends: "The Killer"
Rockstar Recommends: "Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite)"
 

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Rockstar Recommends: A Chronology of Favorite Movie Shootouts and Standoffs

Posted: February 20, 2012 12:00PM | Author: R* A

As we highlight the varied cinematic influences of Max Payne 3, from the franchise's nod to Hong Kong action cinema and film noir and neo-noir, to the specific reference points of Brazilian elite police forces and dangerous underworld criminals you'll encounter in the game - today, we highlight a history of some of our favorite sequences of rugged shootouts and intense standoffs as well as movies in general with scenes of exceptional gunplay.

Certainly, Max as a character owes a debt to the great tradition of moviedom's brooding action-heroes who walk softly and wield a big stick with uncanny precision. At its best, the experience of playing any Max Payne game, but especially this new and evolved entry in the franchise, is meant to take that passively vicarious thrill of seeing a cool and unflappable hero dispense justice and revenge – and turn it into an adrenaline-pumping first-hand sensation of action. Imagine the ante being upped with the prospective of going online to face off against a lopsided army of assailants in a multiplayer mode like Payne Killer, and you'll have a pretty good sense of how we're aiming to take inspiration from these sorts of classic shootouts and faceoffs into an epic videogame experience.

Without further ado, enjoy this chronology of some of our favorite scenes and trailers from classics and guilty pleasures alike...

Paul Muni in “Scarface” (1932)



Over 50 years before De Palma’s landmark remake, Howard Hawks pushed the envelope in this original Pre-Code era crime classic of the early 1930s. If you've only ever seen the remake, we highly recommend you look up the original which tracks very closely story-wise - including the finale where immigrant gangster Tony Camonte and his beloved sister are sieged upon in a bloody and bullet-laden life-or-death standoff. 

James Cagney in “White Heat” (1949)



"Top of the world, ma!" One-man-army standoffs in the movies don't get much more iconic than Jimmy Cagney's Cody Jarrett defiantly shooting it out til the bitter, raging, and literally explosive end against an entire police force.

Victor Mature & Lee Marvin in "Violent Saturday" (1955)



A great, tense technicolor Noir starring Victor Mature and Richard Egan as small-town folks that get caught in the middle of a vicious bank robbery perpetrated by a scheming crew of hoods. It all leads to a climactic showdown at a local farm just outside of town, with Mature holed up in a barn fending off the crooks with help from Amish farmer Ernest Borgnine.

Franco Nero in "Django" (1966)



Long before it became fashionable in the 1980s for lone movie heroes to indiscriminately rain down a bulletstorm on legions of baddies, and several years before Sam Peckinpah would disturb the traditional order of the Western genre with his ultraviolent "The Wild Bunch", this spaghetti Western starring Franco Nero as an Eastwood-esque gunslinger set the stage. Not to be confused with the recent Japanese rendition or the upcoming Tarantino homage. 

Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry in "The Enforcer" (1976)



The morally complicated, snarling archetype of no-nonsense trigger-happy detective as iconically portrayed by Clint Eastwood (a role originally offered to both Frank Sinatra and John Wayne). Hardly a practioner of prudence and mercy, Dirty Harry employs a machiavellian approach to policework and the satisfaction he seems to get out of blasting a crook with Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson is palpable.

Sam Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron" (1977)



The legendary Sam Peckinpah takes on the art of the war film with the same brutally visceral approach he pioneered with "The Wild Bunch". While stark depictions of the violent savagery of war have been an appropriate tradition of war films from "All Quiet on the Western Front" through "Saving Private Ryan" and beyond - this one was surely a turning point for the genre.

Charles Bronson in “Death Wish I, II & III” (1974; 1982; 1985)



Originating as a slightly more subdued thriller and bit of social commentary adapted from Brian Garfield’s 1972 novel about a liberal NYC accountant who turns into a merciless vigilante after a violent attack on his family – the series went full-on Rambo by the mid-80s with Bronson taking on an entire neighborhood of caricaturish thugs straight out of a Police Academy movie. Check out the multiplayer videogame-esque scene from Part III above.

Bruce Willis in “Die Hard” (1988) and “Die Hard 2” (1990)



The 1980s brought us a barrage of brawny, heavily-armed action heroes gunning down foreign villains with steel-jawed seriousness - from Stallone's Rambo, to Schwarzenegger's "Commando", to Chuck Norris' busy 80s filmography (special acknowledgment as well of course to Jack Howitzer). And while Arnold had been known to crack wise on occassion, it was Bruce Willis' John McClaine that turned the action hero from a humorless self-righteous killing machine into a much more relatable, and likeable witty character - leading to a new trend and trope of jokesters in the throes of gun battle. The sequel featured the franchise's most epic gun battle seen above.

John Woo's “Hard Boiled” (1992)



We previously had featured "The Killer", as an exemplary reference point of the Hong Kong action film vibe that's inspired the Max Payne franchise since the beginning. We'd be remiss not to include this one as well in our lineup - neck-and-neck with "The Killer" as the best of the John Woo / Chow Yun Fat collaborations. Tense and very stylized - the scene above is a standout as a long take of Yun Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai shooting their way through a hospital.

Tom Berenger in "Sniper" (1993)



Taking cues from the lone warrior soldier craze of the 1980s and a tagline lifted from Christopher Walken's "one shot" motto in "The Deer Hunter", this one refines the Rambo mold to be a sniper expert - dispatched on a mission duelling against enemy forces and rival sharpshooters in the jungles of South America. Some classic Don LaFontaine voiceover work in this 1990s trailer.

Pacino, DeNiro, Kilmer etc in “Heat” (1995)



Perennially atop many lists of all-time great shootout scenes, this 10-minute, unrelenting sequence of Kilmer, DeNiro and their gang facing off against Pacino and his police force at the scene of a bank heist is indisputably one of the best. Above is a pretty neat behind-the-scenes feature looking into how the scene was made - watch the original sequence here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL9fnVtz_lc].

Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” (1998)



The last great American war film. A standard-bearer in the footsteps of "Platoon" and "Full Metal Jacket" a decade earlier - this one shocked audiences' and critics' sensibilities with its unrelenting, and honest, depictions of the horrors of war. With scenes like the jarring sniper sequence above, it featured a level of violence very against type for Best-Director-winning Spielberg, and helped to spark a resurgent trend of war epics through the early 2000s ("Black Hawk Down", "Pearl Harbor", etc).

The Wachowski Brothers’ “The Matrix” (1999)



Finally, at the dawn of the millennium came this blockbuster action shooter with a surreal, sci-fi slant. The stylized shootout in the lobby with its balletic slow-motion, impossible physicality, and innovative technical camerawork took the cues of Hong Kong action cinema to a entirely new level.

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Rockstar Recommends: "The Killer"

Posted: January 06, 2012 10:15AM | Author: R* A

The Killer (1989; Dir. John Woo)



"He looks determined without being ruthless. Something heroic in his manner. There's a courage about him, doesn't look like a killer. Comes across so calm..."

So describes Hong Kong detective Li to a police sketch artist the mysterious lone assassin he finds himself fascinated with...

While Film Noir and particularly NYC-set detective films are often pointed to as being a key influence on the heritage of the Max Payne franchise, many forget that the touchstones that inspired the series are a bit more international than that – especially the canon of over-the-top Hong Kong shoot-em-ups as pioneered in the 1980s by directors like John Woo and Ringo Lam. Of those, “The Killer” is perhaps the best – with its stylized, over-the-top, slow-motion sequences of balletic gunplay; its melodramatic touches that underscore the action (white doves, mystic sounding vibraphones, candle-lit churches); and the role of the talented yet conscienced killer, played by Chow Yun-fat in one of his many collaborations with Mr. Woo before they both became Hollywood names.

“The Killer” tells the tale of professional assassin, Ah Jong – with no super powers, no sixth senses – but just an almost preternatural ability to sense, react and respond to impending danger in a split-second with razor sharp reflexes and deadly accuracy with a gun of any kind. Just as quick to dispatch a hit with cold-blooded precision as he is to risk his own life and limb to protect an innocent caught in a crossfire - the brooding and conflicted Ah Jong struggles with his own conscience and with issues of guilt and loyalty in his relationships with the detective who hunts him, the longtime friend and business associate who contracts him, and the sweet lounge singer he cares for. All that said, action film aficionados will probably delight most in those insane slo-mo bullet-riddled shootouts from start to finish.

NB – Rap fans will get an extra kick of out of this one, recognizing many scenes (from the English-dubbed version) as being sampled liberally on the 1995 classic album, Only Built for Cuban Linx... by Raekwon the Chef of the Wu-Tang Clan.
 

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Rockstar Recommends: "Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite)"

Posted: November 10, 2011 12:08PM | Author: R* A

Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite) (2007)

As we prepare for our first game set in the fascinating, beautiful and often very volatile land of Brazil, we present the first film in a new series of Rockstar Recommended movies to help prime you for the atmosphere and setting in which Max Payne will find himself plunged this spring.

“Elite Squad” (original Brazilian title “Tropa de Elite”) is a picture very well known as a breakthrough hit in its native Brazil several years ago, but slightly less known on other shores – something which may change with the release of its blockbuster sequel (the highest grossing film in Brazil’s history) getting a proper U.S. release this coming weekend. Based on a book released the year prior, and adapted for the screen by writer/director/producer Jose Padilha, the film is his second in a trilogy of movies concerning the special police forces of Padilha’s native Rio de Janeiro (released between the disturbing 2002 documentary “Bus 174” and the 2010 smash-hit “Elite Squad 2”).

The titular ‘Tropa de Elite’ refers to Rio’s BOPE special forces police squad (nicknamed ‘skulls’ after their intimidating crest) – a highly trained guerilla-style paramilitary unit that steps in when the city’s police force can’t hack it – which, in Rio’s most dangerous favelas, appears to be much of the time.

Inspired by true stories recounted by ex-BOPE officers and set against the backdrop of the Pope coming to visit Brazil in 1997 and wishing to stay with Rio’s bishop who resides adjacent to one of the worst slums in the city – the squad is called up on to clean up immediate crime by any means necessary. Filmed on location in the same real-life favela as 2002’s “City of God”, the production was mired with shootings, police raidings and hijackings as revealed by the director himself.

The film touched a raw nerve with local law enforcement and politicians with its depiction of police corruption (especially rife at municipal levels), the precarious relationship between the law and the powerful drug lords that rule the favelas – and the brutal extremes that both sides will go to enforce and assert their authority.

While of course Max Payne 3 is set in São Paulo, a couple hundred miles from Rio, the social issues stemming from the disparity of wealth persist in both of Brazil’s major cities, perhaps even more so in São Paulo’s currently booming economy where luxury skyrises belie a persisting crime rate of robberies and home invasions – and where the BOPE-equivalent special forces of GOE (specializing in riots, prison uprisings and high-risk hostage situations), GATE (specializing in hostage situations and disarming bombs), and GARRA (specializing in cases of theft, robbery and assault) are regularly called into action.

Look for some of “Elite Squad”’s intense sequences of BOPE soldiers carefully raiding favela warzones and caught in deadly shootouts versus heavily-armed drug dealers and lookouts who wield assault rifles and Uzis as part of daily life – whether recreationally at baile funk parties and while playing foosball, or during police payoffs and drug transactions with middle class drug peddlers.
 

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Rockstar Recommends: "Scene of the Crime"

Posted: October 12, 2011 4:15PM | Author: R* A

Scene of the Crime (1949; Dir. Roy Rowland)

For those wrapped up in the allure of 1940s Los Angeles and the hardboiled detectives, conniving criminals and glamorous femme fatales that inhabit it - and for those PC gamers out there getting ready for L.A. Noire's release in just a few weeks -  we've got another in our continuing list of favorite and apropos Film Noir entries for you to check out.

Set all around L.A., a team of homicide detectives led by Lieutenant Mike Conovan (screen great Van Johnson, known mainly for a career of classic war films but who here plays a complex, nuanced detective) set out to solve the murder of a fellow officer who was gunned down in cold blood by a mysterious and elusive suspect described as having a twisted hand and mottled face. Some great sequences derive from the three generations of LAPD detectives on the team, the lieutenant balancing the tutelage of young rookie Detective Gordon (nicknamed "C.C." for the way he emulates Conovan like a carbon copy - check out the trailer for a prime example of him being schooled in the trade) and the sensitivity of dealing with his elder and mentor Detective Piper who's struggling with accepting his own aging acumen and ability.

With quintessential black and white Noir cinematography (the underground bookie outfit's police-style criminal lineup scene in particular) and a screenplay full of riotous pulp-fiction dialogue ("I'm no Humphrey Bogart. He gets slugged and he's ready for action; I get slugged and I'm ready for pickling"), this one has much that L.A. Noire fans should appreciate - from double-crossing dames, to eccentric interrogations, all the way to an explosive climactic shootout and some third-act twists and turns that you really won't see coming.

We hope this rare MGM Noir makes it to DVD soon, in the meantime keep on a lookout for re-broadcasts on TCM and other classic cinema programming venues.

Previously:
"Crime Wave" aka "The City Is Dark"
"The Naked City"
"He Walked by Night"
 

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Rockstar Recommends: “True Confessions”

Posted: August 05, 2011 10:33AM | Author: R* Q

True Confessions (1981; Dir. Ulu Grosbard)



“The war’s over, people are bored... They gotta have something to sink their teeth into.”

A perfect summary of why the notorious Black Dahlia murder case, and other lurid murder cases, were so outrageously popular in the public fascination during the late 1940s. In this case, fictionalized as the murder of wannabe starlet and ‘party girl’ Lois Fazenda in the shockingly underappreciated “True Confessions” from 1981.

Certainly a superior film to the more recent “Black Dahlia” picture from 2006, “True Confessions” has much that should interest fans of L.A. Noire absorbed by the setting and era of crime and corruption riddled Los Angeles in the post-war years.

A detective story (written by two of the literary world’s most esteemed authors, husband and wife Joan Didion and the late John Gregory Dunne) with a cynical and hard-nosed LAPD homicide detective hunting for answers, an investigation into LA’s sleazy 1940s stag film industry with assistance from the LAPD vice desk, and a grand conspiracy of secrets that leads to the archdiocese of Los Angeles and embroils the detective’s own brother.

Made just a few years after “Chinatown”, it’s hard to imagine United Artists weren’t inspired by that film’s success and really loaded the cast with some of the finest American actors possible – including stars Robert DeNiro as the tortured and soft-spoken Monsignor Desmond Spellacy and Robert Duvall as his brother, the relentless Detective Tom Spellacy, plus a movie buff’s dream team of character actors like Charles Durning, Burgess Meredith and Dan Hedaya (who you may recall not only from Cheers of course, but from our previously recommended “Blood Simple”).

Definitely a somber and serious crime drama more so than some of the pulpy noirs and neo-noirs we’ve recommended this year, but also well worth seeking out for a quality story featuring some of the screen’s great actors in their prime – and to delight in a bit more 1947 style police work: where it’s all no gloves, no warrants, and shoot-first to get that perp.


Previously:
A Film Noir Round Up Part Two – The Neo Noirs
Rockstar Recommends: “Chinatown”

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Watch “Reefer Madness” (1936)

Posted: July 01, 2011 10:30AM | Author: R* Q

Many of you have inquired about our next piece of L.A. Noire DLC, the Vice desk case “Reefer Madness” coming on July 12th, and about its relation to the cult film of the same name from 1936. As opposed to the previously released “The Naked City” case which was indeed based directly on a motion picture counterpart, “Reefer Madness” actually has nothing in common storyline-wise or inspirationally from the movie with which it shares its title (aside, of course, from the aspect of the case relating to a certain illegal substance).

The 1936 cult film which popularized the titular phrase was originally released as “Tell Your Children” and was one of several propaganda-esque pictures made in the era to shock and frighten the public about the dangers of drug use (alongside “Marihuana”, “The Cocaine Fiends” and others). Through the years however, the over-the-top movie, which depicts marijuana users going insane due to the drug’s effects and being driven to crime and death, has gained a legacy for exactly its opposite intended effect – having become popular as a campy and ironic example of laughable sensationalism. “Reefer Madness” was revisited and gained a new life starting in the heady drug days of the 1970s with (no doubt smoke filled) midnight screenings – and today has even inspired a tongue-in-cheek musical choreographed by Paula Abdul.

Above, courtesy of Archive.org, you can watch this public domain camp-fest in its entirety. Enjoy.

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