Tagarchief: Michael Madsen

Dungeon Classics #35: Sin City

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Sin City (2005, USA)

Director: Robert Rodriguez
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba
Running Time: 124 mins.

The cinematic masterpiece Sin City weaves together three interconnected hard-boiled mysteries filled with sex, blood, and violence, all set in the criminal haven of Basin City. With its noir-inspired silhouettes of men in long coats, gravelly voiceovers revealing inner thoughts, and splashes of color that contrast with the shadowy streets, every frame of this film is a visual feast. Each of the three stories revolves around tough, beautiful women with big hearts who find themselves in serious danger, aided by male loners. Bruce Willis plays Hartigan, an aging cop with a bad heart who is determined to protect young Nancy from a sadistic, murderous pedophile. Mickey Rourke portrays Marv, a psychopathic brute made of concrete, who fights on the side of good as he seeks revenge on the men who killed Goldie, a prostitute who gave him the night of his life. Clive Owen is Dwight, a mysterious figure who helps the women of Old Town cover up the murder of a corrupt cop, staving off a potentially bloody conflict. Robert Rodriguez’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s iconic comic series is one of the most successful graphic novel-to-screen translations in cinematic history. Shot and edited by Rodriguez himself, it’s a remarkable technical achievement. But the film’s brilliance doesn’t stop at the visuals, its cast and screenplay are equally stellar. Miller’s sharp, punchy dialogue, already compelling on the page, is brought to life perfectly by an ensemble of outstanding actors: Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Rosario Dawson, Benicio Del Toro, Rutger Hauer, Alexis Bledel, Elijah Wood, Michael Madsen, Brittany Murphy, and Clive Owen. The performances elevate the material into something extraordinary. Without a doubt, Sin City is Rodriguez’s finest work to date. It’s a true work of cinematic art.

QT8: The First Eight

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

I was 13 years old when I saw the video Reservoir Dogs at my local video store. There were – for me at the time – not many familiar actors in it. But the cover looked pretty cool with guys in suits with guns. Plus there was a lot of praise on it from critics, so I decided to give it a shot. I had no idea what to expect, but Jesus Christ was it a good movie! Ridiculously great filmmaking. One of the best movies I had seen at that point and to this day still.

It is funny to hear all these actors in the documentary QT8: The First Eight basically relate to the exact same experience. Tim Roth, shown while being carried in the warehouse by Harvey Keitel, remembers talking to Keitel about what they had just shot and saying: “Man, this is going to be a really great movie!” Keitel agreed.

Reservoir Dogs premiered on Cannes in 1992, very prestigious for a debut, and it was a great success. Everybody wanted to meet Quentin there and he became a movie making star overnight. Everybody said: “Can you believe this guy? He can write and direct and it’s sensational stuff.”

For a long time I was jealous of Tarantino. And when I watch this documentary I still am. I mean, wouldn’t it be something to be able to write screenplays like this guy? And this is also a shared emotion by many people interviewed for this doc. Talent like this is rare. Many people, including me, tried to write scripts like him. But to no avail.

His first screenplays – True Romance and Natural Born Killers – he had to sell to pay the rent. True Romance was originally told in non-chronological order Tarantino-style. Oh and the pop culture loving Clarence, basically Quentin’s alter ego – died at the end. Luckily Tony Scott changed that. At least I for one liked the happy ending.

Tarantino wanted to become a director, so he wrote a script that he could do on a low budget: Reservoir Dogs. Harvey Weinstein distributed the film. After that everybody in Hollywood wanted to work with him, but the Weinstein’s got to produce all his movies up until The Hateful Eight. Then the scandal broke out, and Tarantino – who according to Michael Madsen had known about Weinstein’s misconduct for some time (read Tarantino’s confession-story here) – switched to Sony for his ninth movie Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

And this Weinstein-business is the only major stain on Tarantino’s career. That, and pushing Uma Thurman to do a car stunt in Kill Bill, which went wrong causing permanent physical problems for her. No good, Mr. Quentin. But there is a lot to balance it out. He is described by everyone in the doc as a very nice guy who enjoys life, and appears to be a great friend for his many cronies.

Pulp Fiction, that followed Reservoir Dogs, is one of the masterpieces of the past 50 years. Michael Madsen, for whom the part of Vincent Vega was originally written, was committed to Wyatt Earp at that time. Nightmare! He takes it well, commenting on the extremely successful casting of John Travolta. “It is one of main reasons the movie worked.” Plus Travolta can dance and Madsen – who did a dance scene in Reservoir Dogs – can’t, at least in his own opinion. “They would have had to change the script into that they don’t win the dance contest.”

How do you follow up a masterpiece like Pulp? You don’t. Just make a very good genre film instead starring Pam Grier, queen of the blaxploitation movies Quentin went to see during his childhood. Jackie Brown is a beautiful film about people trying to figure out what to do with their lives. Then he made another genre film with a strong female lead, a mash-up between Hong Kong cinema and a spaghetti western. Kill Bill is an astonishing accomplishment. Bit of trivia: The razor the Bride uses to escape from the coffin in Vol. 2 is the same used by Mr. Blonde in the torture scene in Dogs. Everything is related in the Tarantino universe.

Then he went on to make another feministic movie with powerful girls in it. Death Proof is a clever slasher flick / carploitation movie shot by the maestro himself. With an unforgettable Kurt Russell as Stuntman Mike. After that came his war movie effort. Inglourious Basterds is unlike any war film ever done before. It is storytelling at his best. Django Unchained is another historic film and it’s brutal. It might just be a little too funny for a film about slavery. But Tarantino likes to hand out justice to his characters. Hitler gets machine gunned to death in Basterds and in Django, the black hero – after having killed a ton of slavers – rides off into the sunset with his girl, an image you won’t find in many westerns.

The Hateful Eight, the final movie treated in this doc, is in a way Reservoir Dogs redone as western. Everything comes full circle. Even Weinstein’s story. Apparently John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth (played by Kurt Russell) is based on the monstrous Weinstein. He gets a big fat lesson in the film. Tarantino said many times that he wants to quit at ten movies, because otherwise he fears the quality will go down and people will say: ‘This one is not so good, but this guy used to make great movies’. Let’s hope he will break his word and continue to make movies forever. His style and voice are unique and irreplaceable in Hollywood. Whatever happens, currently nine films are in the can. And I will certainly keep enjoying his work till the end of my days and share it with friends. When you absolutely, positively, want to blow away everybody motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.

5 marketinggeheimen van Grand Theft Auto

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

GTA V
Afgelopen week ging GTA V in première, een gegarandeerde miljoenenhit. Op de eerste verkoopdag, woensdag 18 september, bracht het spel al 800 miljoen dollar op. Niet slecht voor een spel met een budget van ‘slechts’ zo’n 165 miljoen dollar.

Voor wie het nog niet kent, Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is een interactieve misdaadgame. In een open stedelijke omgeving heb je als speler de vrijheid om allerlei activiteiten te ontplooien. Daarnaast kun je missies voltooien, waardoor je geleidelijk een groot misdaadimperium opbouwt.

De lancering van een GTA-spel heeft veel weg van de première van een James Bond film. De entertainmentbladen schrijven over niets anders, hongerige fans speuren het internet af naar nieuwe informatie en winkels blijven op premièredag langer open om de duizenden gamers te bedienen die het spel direct willen hebben. Wat verklaart het succes van deze misdaadserie?

GTA biedt spelers:

1. Product leiderschap
Een nieuwe GTA-game staat garant voor het beste wat je kunt krijgen op gaming-gebied. De makers bij Rockstar North melken geen voorgangers uit, maar benaderen ieder deel alsof het de eerste is. De gebruikte technieken zijn altijd state-of-the-art zodat ook verwende gamers nog verast worden op het gebied van gameplay en graphics. Ook op het gebied van scripts en stemacteurs nemen de makers alleen genoegen met ware excellentie. Een GTA-game spelen staat garant voor een unieke interactieve spelervaring. Er is geen spel dat zoveel vrijheid en mogelijkheden biedt.

2. Waar voor je geld
Behalve de technische en verhaalsaspecten, zitten er zoveel activiteiten in een GTA-game, dat spelers er gemakkelijk 100 uur aan kunnen besteden zonder dat het saai wordt. Auto’s stelen, helikopters vliegen, motorracen, daten met mooie vrouwen, overvallen plegen, ingame games spelen, pizza’s bezorgen, base jumpen, een bendeoorlog beginnen…. Het houdt niet op.
Daarnaast is de stad helemaal volgestouwd met verassingen voor spelers die alle hoeken en gaten willen verkennen. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – het op Scarface gebaseerde deel – is bijvoorbeeld in een huis de douche te vinden waar de beruchte kettingzaag scene van Scarface zich afspeelde. Gamers die het spel kopen, worden dus meer dan voldoende beloond voor hun aankoop.

3. Een cult sausje
De misdaadwerelden van GTA waarin je je als speler bevindt, zijn doordrenkt van popcultuur. De muziek, de kleding, de fictieve merken… het zou allemaal uit een Tarantino-film kunnen komen. De fans van GTA, houden doorgaans van de misdaadfilms die aan de basis staan van deze games. Zo is GTA: Vice City gebaseerd op Scarface, één van de populairste cult films aller tijden. De acteurs die in de spellen de stemmen verzorgen, zijn ook vaak afkomstig uit gangster klassiekers. Denk aan Ray Liotta, Samuel L. Jackson en Michael Madsen. Hiermee heeft Rockstar North een grote groep fans weten te binden.

Het succes van GTA wordt verder vergroot door:

4. Verhalen delen
Zodra je klanten verhalen gaan uitwisselen over je producten, heb je het beste marketinginstrument ter wereld in handen. De interactieve wereld van GTA, maar ook de missies die je als speler uitvoert, bieden hier alle mogelijkheden toe. ‘Er stond een mannetje te pissen bij die ene missie, en toen heb ik met een machete zijn hoofd afgehakt’. Gamers delen graag hun gewelddadige prestaties met elkaar, en de nieuwste GTA-spellen bieden hier ook nog eens vele online opties voor, zoals het filmen van je gruwelijkste misdaden en waanzinnigste stunts.

5. Anticipatie creëren
Een uitgekiende marketing campagne, zorgt er steeds voor dat gamers al lang van te voren lekker worden gemaakt. In korte trailers worden hints gegeven voor karakters en verhaallijnen, terwijl de fans zien wat voor prachtige en realistische omgevingen de makers nu weer hebben samengesteld. De trailers gaan uiteraard direct viral. Hoe dichter bij de release datum, hoe meer er wordt weggegeven. Gevolg: liefhebbers kunnen niet meer wachten het spel te kunnen spelen en de nieuwe mogelijkheden te verkennen.

En dat kan nu! Maar alleen op de Playstation 3 en X-Box 360. PC-gamers (zoals ik, snik) moeten nog een tijdje wachten.

Icon 4 - V

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld


‘Let’s go to work’

Directed by:
Quentin Tarantino

Written by:
Quentin Tarantino

Cast:
Harvey Keitel (Mr. White / Larry Dimmick), Tim Roth (Mr. Orange / Freddy Newandyke), Michael Madsen (Mr. Blonde / Vic Vega), Steve Buscemi (Mr. Pink), Lawrence Tierney (Joe Cabot), Chris Penn (Nice Guy Eddie Cabot), Eddie Bunker (Mr. Blue), Quentin Tarantino (Mr. Brown), Randy Brooks (Holdaway), Kirk Baltz (Marvin Nash)

‘Mr. Brown, Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, and Mr. Pink.’
‘Why am I Mr. Pink?’
‘Because you’re a faggot, all right!’

Meet the Reservoir Dogs. It’s 1992, and cinema firebrand Quentin Tarantino has just exploded onto the scene. Reservoir Dogs is easily the most impressive directorial debut of the 1990s – arguably of all time.

Joe Cabot and his son, Nice Guy Eddie, assemble a six-man crew for a daring diamond heist. None of the men have met before. To maintain anonymity and protect against betrayal, each is given an alias. Despite meticulous planning, the robbery goes catastrophically wrong. Someone talked. At the rendezvous point – an abandoned warehouse – the crew turns on each other in a deadly showdown.

This relatively simple premise is executed with striking ingenuity. Tarantino crafts a masterful nonlinear narrative, shifting back and forth in time between the heist’s setup and its bloody aftermath – yet never showing the actual robbery. Background details are revealed with precision, each revelation tightening the suspense until the traitor is unmasked and tensions reach a violent climax. It’s absolutely riveting cinema.

Since its release, Reservoir Dogs has inspired countless indie filmmakers hoping to capture the same low-budget brilliance, but few have come close. Why? Because they can’t write a screenplay this sharp, that’s why. Tarantino delivers more than just clever structure – he populates his film with complex, vividly drawn characters. And then there’s the dialogue: razor-sharp, darkly funny, and endlessly quotable.

At times, the film plays like a black comedy of the highest order. Yet it never loses its edge as a hyper-tense thriller. “My heart is beating so fast I’m about to have a heart attack”, Mr. Blonde says at one point and the same could be said for the audience. Whether it’s Mr. Pink’s frantic getaway, the desperate escape attempts, or the slow-burn mystery of the undercover cop, the tension never lets up.

The atmosphere swings from effortlessly cool – see the iconic opening credits—to grim and downright brutal. The casual banter gives way to explosive violence with little warning. The warehouse itself becomes a chamber of horrors: Mr. Orange bleeding out for most of the film, the infamous torture scene – it’s disturbing and hard to watch, and that’s exactly the point.

The cast seals the deal. With actors like Harvey Keitel and Steve Buscemi delivering Tarantino’s dialogue with perfect rhythm, even conversations about Madonna or tipping become electric. Chris Penn gives what might be his best performance, and Lawrence Tierney is unforgettable in his final tough-guy role.

Tarantino’s debut might still be his finest work. Pulp Fiction may be equally brilliant, but it occasionally meanders. Reservoir Dogs, in contrast, never loses momentum. It’s lean, vicious, and near-perfect – a film so good it’s almost a curse. Tarantino didn’t just enter the scene with a bang; he set the bar impossibly high from the very start.

Rating:

Quote:

MR. WHITE: “What you’re supposed to do is act like a fucking professional. A psychopath ain’t a professional. You can’t work with a psychopath. You don’t know what these sick assholes are gonna do next.”

Trivia:

Michael Madsen auditioned for the part of Mr. Pink. But Tarantino told him: “Here’s the thing: you’re not Mr. Pink, you’re Mr. Blonde. And if you’re not Mr. Blonde, then you’re not in the fucking movie.”