As usual, the Hollywood brain trust has decided that instead of looking forward and creating some original work, they will instead look to the past for inspiration and take yet another great film and add it to the remake/reboot pile. The film in question this time, John Carpenter’s Escape from New York.

Granted, Escape isn’t exactly a classic in the strictest sense of the word, but it is considered by many, myself included, to be one of the best action/sci-fi movies of the last thirty years. So, much like Predators and so many others of late, I’m not exactly thrilled it will be receiving the reboot treatment.

That said, there is one potential bright spot here now that we know Breck Eisner will be handling the directing duties on the film. His recent work on The Crazies showed he’s got a lot of skills and my hope is that he’ll be able to do something really interesting and innovative with the Escape story.

In case you’re not familiar with the original 1981 film (which if you’re not, get familiar) it was set in a futuristic 1997 where a walled-off Manhattan island had been turned into a maximum-security prison. Air Force One, with the President on board, crashes on the island and newly captured super criminal and ex-war hero Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is coerced into a rescue mission. The new film will reportedly try to mix in an origin story for Snake with the story of the original film.

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Okay, I’m back on board. Last week my faith in Justified was slipping a bit, and I was growing weary of Ava. Fortunately, her screen time was kept to a minimum this week. Raylan was busy investigating an apparent suicide, but he also confronts some latent feelings for ex-wife Winona.  We are slowly becoming privy to what makes Raylan tick.  Spoilers ahead.

‘The Collection’ begins with Raylan visiting Boyd in prison, in hopes of getting a morsel of information that can put Arlo (his father) away for good.  Bad break for Raylan, Boyd has found Jesus while locked up in the big house, and he’s more interested in ministering than spilling Arlo’s secrets. Raylan leaves empty handed.

He joins Ava in the motel room, and the next morning they are interrupted by Art, pounding on the door.  A shirtless Raylan (Timothy Olyphant has not been missing any workouts) answers the door and is chided for not answering his phone.  Art tells him they need to head to Cincinnati to speak with an art dealer that Owen Carns is trying to sell some artwork to.  In the car, Art lays into Raylan about sleeping with Ava.

After visiting with the art dealer, the two arrive at the ranch of  Carns, whose property and assets are being seized for some type of money crime committed by Owen.  He’s allowed to sell his paintings to the art dealer, but the U.S. Marshals keep the proceeds.  Art and Raylan are intrigued and disgusted to find out that the paintings that are being sold are “Hitlers”, original works by a one Adolf, to be precise.  The art dealer collects “Hitlers.” He proclaims the paintings to be fakes.

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Warning: this recap contains spoilers. This episode begins with Raylan and Rachel staked out in front of a small house, waiting for any sign that the residence might be harboring the husband (and father) who just happens to be a fugitive on the run for killing a cop.  It’s day three of being crowded into an incognito van, and the only indication that there may be a man in the house is the copious amount of beer being brought in by the wife. Art tells them to hang it up, they have nothing to go on.

Raylan keeps pleading for one more day, and takes matters into his own hands.  He approaches the house, and  sweet talks the wife into letting him do some yard work in exchange for food.  She reluctantly agrees. What woman could actually turn Timothy Olyphant away?  She’s powerless, really.

That night, Raylan and Ava sip on some beers and talk before retiring to a motel room.  I certainly hope that they start fleshing out Ava’s character if she is going to be sticking around, because she is starting to come off as boring and vapid.  She giggles and builds up Raylan’s ego, completely in awe of his under-cover escapades, but it seems like he is not the type of man who needs that type of reassurance.  I have yet to see her contribute anything intelligent to any conversation thus far.

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Well, after watching the first three episodes of this new FX drama, I decided to start recapping the show. How befitting that last night’s episode ‘Long in the Tooth’ revolved around a fugitive dentist.  I worked as a dental hygienist for seven years, so I got an extra kick out of the subject matter.  (Hate to break it to you, though, there is no way in hell those two tri-furcated molars could have been extracted so easily, they practically leaped out of the victim’s mandible.  Just saying.)

If you are not familiar with Justified, Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Damages)  plays Raylen Givens, a U.S. Marshal who is disciplined after a “justified” killing of a criminal by being relocated from Miami to eastern Kentucky, his childhood stomping grounds. Givens was a character created by novelist Elmore Leonard, and the pilot of the series “Fire in the Hole” was based on a short story featuring the character. Each week Raylen tracks down some sort of fugitive, and so far each episode has been self-contained, which is a nice change of pace from serial dramas like Lost, Breaking Bad, or Fringe.

There is no way you can pick a random episode on any of those shows and really understand what is going on. Justified has recurring characters, but you are not going to be completely lost if you just now start watching it, so go ahead and set your DVRs. The show is a breezy, fun hour of television that won’t make your head hurt with theories, conspiracies, and convoluted storylines. I enjoy all those  show components, but sometimes I am in the mood for something a little less complicated.

Olyphant is enormously likable in the lead role. It is about time he have a starring vehicle, and his affable demeanor is perfect for the smarmy, sexy Raylen. He sports  a confidant swagger and he never  goes anywhere without his trusty hat (of the cowboy variety.)

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I first became aware of director Sebastian Gutierrez when I watched one of his first films, She Creature. I’ve followed his career since that time and watched most of his other movies with interest. His latest, Elektra Luxx, the sequel to his ealier film Women In Touble, chronicles the exploits of former porn star trying to change her life now that she’s discovered she’s going to be a mother.

I caught up with Gutierrez during the recent SXSW Film Festival where his film screened to a packed audience, not once, but twice. Here’s what he had to say about the film, his creative process and working with his movie star wife Carla Gugino.

The Flickcast: This film is a sequel of sorts to your earlier film Women in Trouble, correct? Was your plan always to make a sequel to that film? I also heard you are actually going for a trilogy, correct?

Sebastian Gutierrez: Yes, it’s a trilogy. We felt that Star Wars, LOTR, etc. shouldn’t be the only stories allowed to spread out over three movies and thought we’d compete with them.

TF: If you had to tell someone who had never seen Women In Trouble what Elektra Luxx is about, what would you tell them?

SG: It’s about one day in the life of a recently retired pornstar as she tries to make it in the straight world.

TF: How did you approach making the film? Was their a complete script or was some of the film improvised?

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It is getting more and more difficult for filmmakers to breathe new life into the tired zombie genre as of late. The most successful zombie movies in recent memory are infused with humor (Zombieland) or introduce a new spin on the classic tale (Pontypool.) The Crazies is a cool little horror film that works because its zombies are not quite typical zombies, which I found more believable and thus more scary than a true zombie movie.

Time for me to fess up. I haven’t seen George Romero’s 1973 film that was the original source material for this film, so this was all a new concept to me.

The Crazies opens with a nifty juxtaposition of small town tranquility and calm (the whole town is watching a local baseball game) with modern day horrors, as a man pointedly walks across the baseball field with a shotgun. He doesn’t look like a zombie.

Instead, he appears to be channeling Michael Douglas’ character from Falling Down. As the horrified crowd looks on, the local sheriff  David (Timothy Olyphant) shoots the man before he can harm anyone.

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The Crazies, a remake of the 1973 George Romero film of the same name, has gotten it’s second theatrical trailer and it ups the creepy factor. The first trailer set up a great mood of unsettling psychosis that pervades a town; even if it might have given a little too much of the movie away.

The story is, “a small town in Iowa, starts seeing it’s inhabitants go crazy, after a mysterious toxin infiltrates their water supply.” The new film stars Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, written by Scott Kosar (The Machinist) and Ray Wright (Pulse), and directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara).

The second trailer, lives up to the name of “crazy” as there’s psycho laughter; crazed, zombie-looking people, and the always great black and white fade out freeze frame. One of the best parts of the trailer is towards the end, when I actually jumped out of my own seat – if you’re a guy, you’ll probably know which moment I’m referring to.

Overall, though, I’m pretty interested in seeing this when it comes out in February of 2010. All I can say is, this is why I only drink Diet Coke.

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