@thesubstream - Midnight Madness '11 Ep. 10: Kill List!

Matt Price of MAMO asks Colin Geddes for his thoughts on this year's very different, very satisfying slate of films. Plus, the gang sees Ben Wheatley's Kill List, which you will either love or hate, as it turns out. We're sad to see you go, TIFF Midnight Madness 2011, but thesubstream.com salutes you - thanks for all the fun!

KILL LIST: A Gallery of Hitmen

Hitman movies are one of my favorite genres. I like the moral tension, the conflict between being a part and being apart, the slick suits. So while we wait for the genre-bending  Kill List, tonight, here's a little list of cinematic gentleman who live off of blood money. Feel free to share some of your favorites.

Citta Violenta / Violent City / The Family (1970) Charles Bronson plays, Jeff Heston, a double-crossed hitman out for revenge. Jill Ireland plays a pretty woman in the clutches of the evil and salacious gangster played by Telly Savalas, with all the leering salaciousness he can muster. There's a fantastic score by Ennio Morricone. (It serves as my wake up alarm in the morning). And I enjoy how the movie conveys a more European sense of the distance between New Orleans, Louisiana and Michigan.



In The Mechanic (1972), well-established Charles' Bronson's professional hitman takes a young upstart--and even full-on whippersnapper,  (played by a cocky as hell Jan Michael Vincent) as his protege. It's not really a good idea, but it does make for an excellent twist ending.



Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon (1977) is a live-action version of Takao Saito's hardboiled manga series. JJ Sonny Chiba plays Duke Togo, a hitman hired by the United States government to eliminate a Hong Kong triad boss. Fans of Etsuko Shiomi/Sue Shiomi will be glad to see her do a little fighting in this film. Features the kind of violence you'd expect from a 1970s Chiba film blended with the coolness of 1970s Hong Kong.



Ostensibly the story of Jeff, a hitman played by Chow Yun-Fat, who's attempting to right a wrong and find a new life with the young nightclub singer he's blinded, played by Sally Yeh, The Killer (1989) is just as easily described as a love story between a noble hitman and a sort of corrupt cop (Danny Lee) who each cross the same moral line. There is, however, a helluva lot of shooting, fashionable suits and style to burn. And I'm sure it's just an accident that the hitman here is named Jeff and is double-crossed by a gangster boss a la The Mechanic.



In Leon: The Professional / The Professional (1994), Jean Reno plays an hitman ("Leon") who takes in a stray girl after her parents are killed. The is one of Natalie Portman's earliest roles, and she does a great job as a girl who desperately tries to convince a hired killer to take revenge.




Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) is a comedy. John Cusack plays Martin Blank, a man who not only has an incredibly Hal Hartley name, but also believes he is conflicted about his life choices. He's forced a therapist (played by Alan Arkin) into seeing him and decides he needs to go to his high school reunion, conveniently located near a job his been hired to do. Blanks' interactions with his therapist are revealing in just how frightening a professional hitman would be in real life. Also, for fight fans, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez does some kicking.



Ghost Dog:  The Way of the Samurai (1999) is a Jim Jarmusch movie. It is very quiet, contemplative and conversational as a hitman movie. That is, it is not action-packed (though it is compared to Broken Flowers). Forrest Whitaker plays Ghost Dog, a hitman who's been trying to understand his profession through the 18th Century manual of bushido, The Hidden Leaves / Hagakure. Unfortunately, its precepts of service, duty and honor get Ghost Dog in trouble with the Mafia.

KILL LIST screening times:

Sat., Sept. 17th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sun., Sept. 18th, 3:15PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

KILL LIST Screens at Midnight Madness!

Kill List plays Midnight Madness tonight!. What seems like a straight up genre piece becomes something else entirely in this movie about a hitman who accepts a job from some shadowy clients.

Kill List is directed by Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace) and stars Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson and Michael Smiley.

KILL LIST screening times:

Sat., Sept. 17th, 11:59PM, RYERSON

Sun., Sept. 18th, 3:15PM, SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4

KILL LIST Director, Ben Wheatley's No Budget Film School

There are still 3 more films at Midnight Madness before we get there, but Saturday night brings the Canadian Premiere of Ben Wheatley's Kill List to close out the Midnight Madness program. I was lucky (and impatient) enough to see an advance screening of it yesterday and I absolutely loved it! If I were to recommend one film for the remainder of the festival, it would be Kill List. The less you know, the better, but I knew a bit more than I'd wanted to going into it and still adored it.

Kill List is Wheatley's second feature film after his six thousand pounds budgeted dark and violent mob family dramedy, Down Terrace (which you should seek out immediately if you haven't seen it). The London Evening Standard recently interviewed Wheatley about making a no-budget feature. Aspiring filmmakers, take note!

Ben Wheatley's No Budget Film School

Trailer:


Kill List screens:
Saturday September 17 11:59:00 PM RYERSON
Sunday September 18 3:15:00 PM SCOTIABANK THEATER 4

The Guardian (UK) gives KILL LIST 4/5 Stars!

Lots of good press for Ben Wheatley's Kill List around the web lately, with the newest addition to the love-in being a 4-star review from The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw. In the review, Bradshaw claims that "[a]s far as British horror goes right now, Kill List is pretty much top of the range". Hard to argue with that kind of praise! Personally, the Midnight Madness closing film for this year is right at the top of my most-anticipated of the lineup. Don't miss out!

Mr Bradshaw's review has also just introduced me to the unequivocally whoopass term, 'infra-retch'. Stealing it!

Kill List screening times:

Saturday September 17 11:59pm Ryerson

Sunday September 18 3:15pm Scotiabank Theatre 4

AICN Hearts KILL LIST, DRIVE, and other TIFF selections at the Melbourne International Film Festival!

A contributor named 'Tyler Turden' over at Ain't It Cool News caught Midnight Madness selection Kill List as well as TIFF 2011 selection Drive down under at the Melbourne International Film Festival and had glowing reviews of both.