Dust Up (2012) Adventure Comedy

Dust Up (2012) -This shockingly violent adventure is brought to us by Ward Roberts who wrote and directed. With a budget of almost nothing he has put together a schlock filled journey where the good guys ultimately win and the desert is made safe from the forces of evil. More than that though it is a redemption story where our hero, haunted by an incident in the past uses the present to make amends and finally allow himself to put the past behind him.
  When I saw the announcement for this film on All Things Horror Online with a guest appearance by Amber Benson I thought it would be a fun thing to do with my daughter while she was home from college. An important aside is that I really did not know anything about the movie at this point. So if you think I am likely to go to violent film where there is a scenes where a bar owner masturbates while choking the local Sheriff to death, killing him while he splurges on his face, with my twenty year old daughter , with knowledge of this you are wrong. It was a side effect of not doing my homework about the film. We of course know Amber as "Tara" from the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and saw it as an opportunity to meet someone from the series we both enjoyed. Well so much for safe bonding experiences.
  The last time I saw Amber Benson in a film it was the ridiculously funny alien possession film One Eyed Monster, where Ron Jeremy's dick is possessed by an alien, detaches itself and tries to mate with the human in the film. It was a funny but really not a very good film. Recently I watched a  movie she co-directed called Drones (2010) that I thought was witty and clever. She also writes and there were quite a few fans of her writing in the audience of Dust Up. Miss Benson was gracious enough to come to the screening and stayed all the way through to a question and answers session afterward, as well as pictures and autograph session in the Museum of Bad Art as well. I know her kindness made the night for my daughter and I so to Amber, Thanks.
  The film centers around Jack (Aaron Gaffey) a former soldier who is haunted by an incident while at war in the middle east. After an IED exploded near him, he in a dazed state shot a man who was approaching him only to later realize that the man was coming to help. The sight of the dying man with his crying wife and terrified child still wakes Jack from his sleep. He broke apart a family and the injury he sustains (lost an eye) and PTSD of his war experiences has left him a broken man. He now lives in the California desert working as the High Desert Handyman with few friends. One a young man, Mo (Devin Barry) pretending to be Native American in the most old movie "Indian" kind of look, but seeking a wisdom modern society does not provide seems his best friend. They don't have a lot to do and enjoy the quiet life.
  This quiet life is broken when Jack is called to the home of Ella (Amber Benson) to fix her muddy water problem. After assessing her problems and giving a price he returns to his life only to be drawn back in when Ella accidentally calls his phone while she is fighting with her husband (?) Herman (Travis Betz). Herman is a crack head who owes a good amount of money to local drug dealer and bar owner Buzz (Jeremiah Birkett) who is none too happy to use violence in the collection of the money. Jack comes into this situation seeing Ella and her baby and this loser husband he is struck by the guilt of the war experience he had. This spurs him into attempt to try to keep this family together.
  Now I don't want to give away the entire plot where this set up is the start of a violent and crazy few days for Jack, Mo, Ella and Herman. As mentioned before there is some really raunchy stuff in this film but it is done like a spaghetti western with the strange violence, impaling, scalping, drugs dance, exploding bars, cannibalism, all leading to a resolution for Ella and for Jack. This movie will not be for everyone but like the recent "Hobo with a Shotgun" for a hyper violence fantasy it is a pretty fun ride. When the film ended and the chat and pictures were done, Joy (my daughter) and I talked about it in the car. She was not quite sure what to think of it and since I have to admit I see a surprising amount of these kind of films I was okay with it. The violence is over the top and disturbing so those who are shocked easily will do well to avoid this film. Still it will get a recommendation from me.
Rating (5.5) 5.0 and up are recommended, some more recommended than others.

Wait Until Dark (1967) Crime Thiller

Wait Until Dark (1967) -Fredrick Knott wrote the play for this suspense story of con men trying to get a doll full of heroin from a blind woman. Knott also wrote Dial M for Murder which later was made for the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock. In this case the play was turned into a film with a screenplay written by Robert Carrington and Starring many greats, Audrey Hepburn(Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, My Fair Lady), Alan Arkin(Catch-22, Edward Scissorhands, Gross Pointe Blank, Little Miss Sunshine), Richard Crenna (Over-Exposed,Marooned, A Man Called Noon, First Blood, and Rambo) , Jack Weston ( On tons of 50's &60's television series then a later career including The original Thomas Crown Affair, Fuzz and Dirty Dancing), and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (77 Sunset Strip, and I knew from The F.B.I. in the 70's but an actor with 93 credits to his name). Such a great cast and bring to that the music of Henry Mancini and this is a film to look forward to.

This pretty much one set piece is masterfully done with the direction of Terence Young who had early success making James Bond films before Wait Until Dark then never quite reached this height again but we here are Soresport Movies look forward to someday possibly checking out his 1973 entry "Le guerriere dal seno nudo".
The setup of the film is simple enough. A young drug mule named Lisa (Samantha Jones) fearing capture when bringing a shipment of heroin from Canada in a doll loads the doll off on a photographer, Sam Hendrix (Zimbalist Jr.) at the airport. It is not the high security days of the modern world but a more relaxed time when you would take a package from a total stranger and wait for them to come pick it up. Unfortunately for Sam and Susy this kindness will have unforeseen consequences.
Hepburn is excellent as Susy Hendrix, recently blinded and learning to deal with life in the dark. She is intelligent and observant while still being innocent and vulnerable. While she is out Roat (Arkin) and Lisa come to the apartment looking for the doll full of drugs. Since they can not find the doll Roat kills Lisa. We don't know this yet because the scene does not play out in such a linear way. Instead we have Mike (Crenna) and Carlino (Weston) arrive at the apartment. They are small time con men who will worm their way into Susy's life to figure out where the doll is. They search the place and only find the body of Lisa in the closet. Roat arrives to employ them in the dupe by basically framing them for Lisa's murder. They have touch stuff all over the house thinking they were doing a basic burglary but soon realize that when Lisa's body is discovered in the apartment it will be them and not Roat who pay for it. A very smart setup for a couple of not so smart thugs.
The three men dispose of Lisa and plan how best to get Susy's help in finding the doll. Mike comes visiting as an old friend of Sam's from the army. He gets to know Susy a bit and through phone calls and signals with the blinds the three thugs build an elaborate story where Sam could be suspected in the death of Lisa. The whole time terrifying poor Susy and keeping Sam away from the apartment through a series of photographer jobs where the clients fail to show up. The story they develop is indeed way too complicated for what they are trying to accomplish and since it involves Roat coming in as a couple different characters it give Susy, ever observant the idea that something is not right.
As things develop Susy is more and more sure that something about the stories is wrong. She gets the help of the little girl, neighbor Gloria, to help in solving the inconsistencies in the Mike and his partners play acting. Little does she know that Gloria has had the doll all along, having "borrowed" it from the apartment. There is also all the audio cues that Susy has been picking up from the men, Roat who came in twice as two different characters during the scam wore the same squeaky shoes. Why is it that calls from the police are made to her house as if planned perfectly to fit the story. Why do the different characters play with the blinds in the window even though it is dark out.When Gloria quietly returns it and the climax of the film begins. Gloria is sent off by Susy to intercept her husband. Knowing something is wrong Susy prepares the apartment as best she can for the trouble to come. Roat becomes to be a very mean man. He no longer needs the two con men and deals with them and now will face off and scare the doll's location out of Susy. In its theatrical release what was done in the theater at the climax is a fun story. Movie theaters would turn out house lights when Susy goes around the apartment smashing the lights. Audiences in the theaters got to watch the final 9 minutes in total darkness in an attempt to up the suspense which includes quite a bit of black screen. We at Soresport Movies did the same while we watched in the TV room and it is a nine minute stretch worthy on the effort. By today's standards the film is not particularly terrifying or scary but what it is, is a well put together thriller with excellent acting. Arkin is particularly menacing, his character like a snake in the grass. He appears laid back but you can sense the danger behind his dark glasses. Hepburn makes everything she is in better and Crenna is likable even though he is one of the bad guys. It is easy to skip over some of these classics with the flood of horror that is spilled out each year. If you do you are doing yourself a disservice. So take a chance on this blast from the past. It is worthy of a watch and worth the time. No spoilers here so all you youngsters can get it from Netflix.
Rating (8.0) 5.0 and up are recommended