225) The Hunted (2003) Dir: William Friedkin Date Released: March 14, 2003 Date Seen: July 16, 2012 Rating: 3.5/5
226) Rampage (1987) Dir: William Friedkin Date Released: October 30, 1982 (Wow, what a nasty Halloween surprise this was, eh?) Date Seen: July 17, 2012 Rating: 3.75/5
228) Killer Joe (2011) Dir: William Friedkin Date Released: July 27, 2012 Date Seen: July 17, 2012 Rating: 4.5/5
229) Sorcerer (1977) Dir: William Friedkin Date Released: June 24, 1977 Date Seen: July 20, 2012 Rating: 4/5
I wrote two pieces about Friedkin's films, one a review of his latest film and one as a feature-profile-interview-thing. The only film listed above I did not cover in either piece was The Hunted, which is just as well as that film is a strong B-movie but not much more than that. Well-directed cheese, basically, with a good lead performance from a charismatically out-of-breath Tommy Lee Jones.
Anyway: my Killer Joe review is at Capital New York and my Friedkin profile is over at Press Play.
Off-and-on great filmmaker, but RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, though well-made, was a foul piece of Zionist anti-Muslim propaganda. Shame on Friedkin for that.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think that was the first film by Friedkin I saw in a theater. I saw it with my grandparents, who usually took me to the movies. I haven't seen the film since, alas. I would however like to revisit it.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Killer Joe tonight. Your high rating gives me high hopes. I kind of agree with Seismic that Rules of Engagement isn't very good; to be sure, it's got some tremendous action sequences, but its portrait of Muslims is problematically unflattering (though Friedkin stressed in interviews that it wasn't meant to be an anti-Muslim film), and the film's right-wing message about firing on angry mobs isn't delivered convincingly, though the attempt is noble. Bug was a fantastic return to form, though, so I'm still a big fan of his work.
ReplyDeleteThe French Connection, The Exorcist and To Live and Die in L.A. are his masterpieces IMO, though I haven't seen a majority of his 70's/80's work and haven't seen *any* of what he did in the 90's.