Rack and Ruin

Though today, The Hollywood Ten sounds like a modern take on a superhero movie, for those who know the film history, it has a much darker meaning. Referencing the ten filmmakers who were subpoenaed for being possible Communist dissidents, thought to be subverting the hearts and minds of the American people, they refused to answer questions directly. Focussing on one of the ten, 2015's Trumbo follows the famed screenwriter through the trials and tribulations of this tumultuous time in American history. Directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers trilogy; Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers), Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) is a highly intelligent yet cantankerous writer, one of the best in the film industry, circa 1947. An ardent Communist who believes in better working rights and pay for those in Hollywood (as well as many other things), he is married to Cleo (Diane Lane), who, despite her soft spoken nature, is in many ways the strong backbone of the family. They have three children.

Perhaps the beginnings of a new sub-genre of horror, André Øvredal’s 2016 offering, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, follows up the similarly set The Corpse of Anna Fritz with another claustrophobic, morgue-centric tale. Perhaps we could drop the ‘rue’ from the classic Edgar Allen Poe tale and call them "Murders in the Morgue". With a cleverly concocted set up, the first half of the film toys with us, introducing not only the main characters, but the little threads that will come into play later on. Beginning with a gruesome murder scene (dead bodies are scattered throughout a house), Sheriff Burke (Michael McElhatton – Roose Bolton in Game of Thrones) is stymied when he discovers a half buried body of a young woman – the only one with not a thing wrong with it (seemingly). In a bizarre twist, it seems like those murdered were trying to escape the abode – and that no one broke in.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would look like for a toilet to be dropped onto a mobster’s head from approximately five stories up, then 1999's Boondock Saints, written and directed by Troy Duffy, may be for you. A rare movie that has been absolutely obliterated by most critics yet loved by an extremely fervent cult following, it is clearly not for everyone. The leads are Catholic Irish American twins, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy MacManus (Norman Reedus), a pair of impoverished Bostonians who work at a meat packing plant. Friends with a low level Italian mob runner, Rocco – aka ‘Funny Man’ (David Della Rocco), the triumvirate are enjoying a few pints on St. Patrick’s Day when some Russian thugs come into the bar and unceremoniously tell them that it is closed and now under their control. The goons are overrun by the patrons, embarrassed at their own game. It does not take long for the Russians to track down their combatants from the previous night, looking to respond by putting a few bullets into them. The twins are somehow able to fight them off (killing them in the fray), but panic and flee the scene.

The Coen brothers’ third feature film, 1990's Miller’s Crossing, once again pays tribute to the hard boiled noirs of old, much like their first motion picture, Blood Simple.. Set during the Prohibition Era, the story draws us into the beginnings of an all out gang war. The unofficial king of the city is aging Irishman Leo (Albert Finney), a well connected guy who often leans on his right hand man, Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne), for advice and leadership amongst his pack of goons. Tom is a degenerate gambler going through a rough patch.

Fans of one of the most popular Canadian films of all-time, 2006's Bon Cop, Bad Cop often wondered why a sequel was never made. . . well, out of the blue, eleven years later, everyone was just as surprised when Bon Cop, Bad Cop 2 arrived in theatres, catching many off-guard – very much like the original unexpected hit. Reuniting Colm Feore and Patrick Huard once again, the former, Martin Ward, is now a senior federal officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, while the latter, David Bouchard, is a provincial officer with the Sûreté du Québec. Unbeknownst to either, the former quasi-friends, who have grown apart over the years, are working the same case, though Bouchard is undercover.

Arguably the highest grossing Canadian domestic film of all-time (not including inflation), 2006's Bon Cop, Bad Cop skewers both official languages, pairing a stuffy English-speaking Provincial Police detective with a foul mouthed, bon vivant French detective for the Sûreté du Québec. Directed by Erik Canuel, the unusual pair are brought together when a body is found straddling the Ontario/Québec border sign (it is literally impaled on the metal welcome guidepost). Arguing over whose jurisdiction it falls under, Torontonian Martin Ward (Colm Feore) suggests that it is their case, as "his heart is in Québec", to which Montrealer David Bouchard (Patrick Huard – who also came up with the scenario for the film) wryly replies, "but his ass belongs to you".