New Mexico and Old Mexico are both a long way from “Deadwood” and writer/director Walter Hill is lost in the desert in “Dead for a Dollar” (2022). Unlike his iconic cable series that leveraged a compelling story played by relatively unknown actors, this tired Western showdown flick features Willem Dafoe and Christoph Waltz. A bounty hunter and a retired outlaw are destined for a final duel after a bunch of boring window dressing (racial taboos, marital discord, corrupt Mexicans) plays out. The pace is awful and TV-like, as if designed for commercial interruption, and the periodic, semi-sepia haze is perplexing.
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Wall Street values of the Reagan era are mocked in “American Psycho” (2000), a film that balances on a knife’s edge between satire and horror. While it may have succeeded in its moment, this film has no current purpose. The values of subsequent eras are even more twisted. Therefore, making fun of musical tastes (Huey Lewis, Phil Collins) or competitions over who has the fanciest business card or reservations to the trendiest Manhattan restaurant seem quaint in retrospect. However, this was one of Christian Bale’s first big roles and it’s quite fun watching him learn how to be a star.
I swear, some people would praise David Lynch if he barfed. The problem with “Wild at Heart” (1990) is that he’s trying too hard to be stylish and not nearly hard enough to be good. Summary: Older, crazy, alcoholic rednecks are trying to kill younger, stupid, chain-smoking rednecks. Nicolas Cage plays himself, but with an Elvis accent. Laura Dern stars in her own porn movie within the actual movie. Diane Ladd plays the same character twice – with a Southern accent and without, sometimes in the same scene, sometimes in the same sentence. They’re all surrounded by gross weirdos. And barf.
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