Tag: Reservoir Dogs

Abigail Review

From Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (the filmmakers known as Radio Silence), Abigail sautés between a crime thriller and vampire tale. It doesn’t completely land that From Dusk til Dawn style jump off and it overstays its welcome. There are lively breaks in the gory repetition and that’s thanks to some quality casting.

The title character is a young girl (played by Alisha Weir) who we first see practicing her ballet moves in an empty theater. She’s being tailed by six criminals engaged in a snatching plot. They succeed in the abduction, at least theoretically. The mastermind behind the taking (Giancarlo Esposito) provides a creepy old house for them to hold Abigail for 24 hours until the ransom is met. The operation has a strict no real names policy (think Reservoir Dogs), so the group is named after Rat Packers. Melissa Barrera is Joey and she’s tasked with being Abigail’s sole point of contact. We quickly figure out she kidnaps with kindness and is our heroine. She also has a drug problem and might’ve abandoned her son, but she’s rather virtuous compared to the lot.

That includes former detective Frank (Dan Stevens, clearly having a ball and looking a bit like Bradley Cooper), spoiled brat and computer hacker Sammy (Kathryn Newton), and demented getaway driver Dean (Angus Cloud). Low IQ muscleman Peter (Kevin Durand) and Marine Rickles (Will Catlett) complete the sextet.

The young captor doesn’t waste much time engaging in mind games with the unwelcome house guests. In what might have been a juicy twist if the trailer and ads hadn’t clearly spelled it out, she’s a bloodsucker who has been around much longer than her appearance suggests. As if that weren’t enough, she has a father whose name sends chills down the spine of those who hear it.

Abigail should be more of a guilty pleasure than it is. There are times when it flourishes. Stevens steals the show while Barrera is saddled with a semi-serious and boring backstory. Some of the exaggerated violence is reminiscent of Radio Silence’s Ready or Not from 2019. That can be a good thing though it’s a reminder that the pic five years ago was superior. Alisha Weir’s performance is certainly a plus as she switches up the cadence of a preteen and a centuries old devourer of souls.

Despite some clever moves, this ultimately stalls in the third act and takes a while to ramp up in the first place. Its bucket of blood falls on the half empty side a little too often.

**1/2 (out of four)

Ranking Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino made a little news recently when he indicated that he’s likely to direct perhaps one more feature film. Whether this holds true or not – we shall see.

For loyal readers of this here blog, you may have picked up that Q.T. is my personal favorite director working today. It got me thinking – how would I list the ten pictures that this mad genius has directed?

Well, I went ahead and did it and it is sure wasn’t easy, but here goes…

10. The Hateful Eight (2015)

Last year’s Western – with a dash of Agatha Christie murder mystery thrown in – is the first and only Q.T. pic that I didn’t award four stars (it got three and a half). As I put it then – even Tarantino’s “worst” is better than most director’s “best”. That holds true here and it’s pretty darn solid.

9. Death Proof (2007)

One half of the double feature Grindhouse (the other is Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror), Death Proof is a gloriously fun homage to 1970s car racing features with a terrific twisted turn by Kurt Russell. One of the few Tarantino projects that flopped. It didn’t deserve to and is a must-see.

8. Django Unchained (2012)

It’s his highest grossing movie to date. Django is the controversial revenge flick set during slavery times that earned Christoph Waltz his second Oscar for a Q.T. entry and gave Leo DiCaprio a sinister role, showcasing a side of his we had yet to witness.

7. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

A melancholy fairy tale that actually serves as his least violent pictures (in terms of screen time), Hollywood could be criticized for being slow or self indulgent. Yet indulging in this revisionist late 1960s tale is a treat and spending time with the characters headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt is gloriously well spent.

6. Jackie Brown (1997)

The pressure to follow-up Pulp Fiction was immense, but Quentin came through with this crime tale based off an Elmore Leonard novel. Not as ambitious as what came before, but it’s a dynamite genre piece with an amazing cast led by Pam Grier and Samuel L. Jackson in perhaps his career best performance.

5. Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

Fanatics are divided as to their preference between part 1 and 2. Volume 2 rates just a bit lower for me yet it’s remarkable nonetheless.

4. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

The one that started it all. A heist picture like we had never seen – Dogs educated us quickly as to what the Q.T. experience would be. Lots of pop culture references, first-rate acting, and bursts of violence. The opening credits sequence is one of the most memorable in cinematic history.

3. Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)

The first edition of Bill truly has an aura of a filmmaker feeling completely free to do whatever the hell he wants. Mixing martial arts, blaxploitation, anime, Western themes, De Palma homages, and more – it’s a dizzying and exhilarating ride.

2. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Q.T. is surely the only man with the cojones to change the ending of World War II and he does so in this brilliant and often hilarious tale with an Oscar-winning Christoph Waltz performance that is arguably the best performance in any Tarantino work.

  1. Pulp Fiction (1994)

The pinnacle. Containing every element of what makes Quentin the force he is, Pulp Fiction is not only my favorite work of his – it ranks behind only the first two Godfather films as my all-time best picture.

Let’s hear your order, blog friends!

P.S. – This post is likely to lead to another list in the near future: “The 25 Greatest Quentin Tarantino Movie Scenes”… stay tuned…