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| Trejo in Machete Kills. |
In this week's Voice Film Club podcast, our critics discuss Captain Phillips and Machete Kills, both out on Friday, October 11.
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| © 2013 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
| Tom Hanks is just so noble in Captain Phillips. |
In Captain Phillips, directed by Paul Greengrass, Hanks is “just so noble” says The Village Voice's Stephanie Zacharek, while L.A. Weekly's Amy Nicholson wishes the Hanks of Joe Versus the Volcano would return. Finally, the Voice's Alan Scherstuhl dubs him “the reasonable dad of American culture.” Nicholson and Zacharek give Captain Phillips a recommendation–if only for its final ten minutes.
“It was love at first sight” for Zacharek with Danny Trejo in Machete Kills. He just “stands there looking really cool and sturdy and brave and weathered,” she says.
See also: Danny Trejo: Who's Your Badass
But she notes that the sequel to Machete may wear out viewers in a way the first one didn't. Trejo is “pure charm and scar tissue,” says Scherstuhl, and Nicholson praises the action sequel's ridiculous, creative violence. Charlie Sheen plays the United States president, in a role that should be very enjoyable for viewers. Mel Gibson shows up in the film as well, winking and acknowledging his awful personal life.
Recommendations:
Zacharek recommends the 1963 film The Haunting by Robert Wise. “It's maybe like one of the scariest movies ever made, and you really see almost nothing,” says Zacharek. The film is out now October 15 Blu-Ray.
Scherstuhl recommends God Loves Uganda, a documentary about Kansas City-based missionaries who travel to Uganda to teach the kids about Jesus, abstinence-only education and the evils of homosexuality. Not coincidentally, Uganda makes homosexuality punishable by death. It's an upsetting, beautiful film.
Nicholson recommends 2007's indie horror film The Signal, a three-part horror comedy directed by three different directors.
Listen to the Voice Film Club podcast here.
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