emlogomain.jpg

Main
Facebook
Tumblr
News/ Updates
DVD Reviews
Blu-ray Reviews
Movie Reviews
TV
Interviews
TV show review: CONTINUUM season 4
PHOTOGRAPHY

COLD IN JULY

DVD Review by David Blackwell

 

DETAILS: 110 minutes, two audio commentaries, isolated score track, 8 deleted scenes, previz tests, screening Q&A, theatrical trailer, previews

VIDEO: 2.40:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO: English 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

 

STUDIO:  IFC Films/ BSM Studio/ Memento Films/ Belladonna/ Backup Media/ Paradise City Label of La Cinefacture/ MPI Media Group

RELEASE DATE: 9-30-2014

 

STARRING Michael C. Hall (Richard Dane), Sam Shepard (Ben), Don Johnson (Jim Bob)

BASED on a novel by Joe Lansdale

WRITTEN by Nick Damici and Jim Mickle

DIRECTED by Jim Mickle

Richard Dane is a family man who owns a framing shop in a small Texas town.  He shoots a burglar in his home and everyone considers him a hero, but soon Richard brings the attention of the burglar’s father Ben who wants revenge.   They both find out nothing is as it seems as he finds out the man he shot may not be Ben’s son and he rescues Ben from being killed on the train tracks after the cops capture Ben.  Ben recruits the help of an old war buddy named Jim Bob who is a private detective/ pig farmer.  Ben searches for the truth and to find his son he missed out while in prison.   COLD IN JULY starts out as nothing special, but it soon turns into a great neo-noir Western as Richard, Ben, and Jim Bob search for the truth and know justice in the old Western type of way.   The scene stealer is Don Johnson in his supporting turn as Jim Bob (and it makes you wish they make a movie focusing on Jim Bob, but you will probably see him again if the Hap and Leonard TV series gets made for the Sundance Channel).   Jim Mickle’s neo-noir western makes me want to go read more of Joe Lansdale’s novels.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with Jim Mickle, Michael C. Hall, and Nick Damici

Audio commentary with Kim Mickle and composer Jeff Grace

Isolated score track by Jeff Grace

 

Eight deleted scenes with optional audio commentary of some scenes I wish they left in the movie including the FBI subplot

 

Early previsualization tests with optional audio commentary

Screening Q& A with Jim Mickle, Joe Lansdale, and George R.R. Martin (who is a guest in the front row of the audience)-   Jim Mickle and author Joe Lansdale answer questions about the film, the story, the casting, and more.

Theatrical trailer for COLD IN JULY and previews for other IFC Films releases

 

FINAL ANALYSIS: After the so-so first half hour, COLD IN JULY becomes a real good neo-noir Western and I really want to see Don Johnson return as Jim Bob for another movie (since his supporting turn steals every scene he is in).

 

This review is ©10-4-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

Like Enterline Media on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/enterlinemediaweb and follow on tumblr at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com