Thursday - Ein mörderischer Tag

Loved the movie, could kick myself for not buying it right away when the Unrated version was (briefly) re-released on DVD and generally available.

Similar in flavor to "Pulp Fiction," but I wouldn't call it a knock-off, as so many have. Tarantino and Woods both have a talent for realistic, believable dialogue by colorful but still believable characters in a genre where it's seldom seen. But, in this movie Woods also shows a flair for using the absurd, and annoying, realities of everyday life to move the plot along. Woods, like great comedians, exposes the little frustrations of life that we all experience but few will admit to, and deals with them in politically incorrect, yet satisfying, finality.

This movie is well worth watching: sex, blood, outrageous dialogue supported by even more outrageous action, corruption, redemption, and the satisfaction of finally seeing a loud-mouthed, nagging wife at a loss for words when she is forced to confront the fact that there's more to her husband than just the long list of imagined faults she's dreamed up.

See it...soon!

01/15 Smooth, funny, well done movie. Lots of twists to the storyline and well acted by professional actors. This was my second watch, still good fun. Bon Appetit

You may have heard of this film only in the context of the noted film critic Roger Ebert's attack on it as something that "crosses the line" when it comes to violence and offensiveness. (I'm still wondering if he and I saw the same movie at the Toronto Film Festival!)

I beg to differ with Mr. Ebert's opinion that any person with basic sensibilities will be completely offended by this film. I don't believe it necessarily pushes the limits that had been previously set by such "just as over the top" offerings as PULP FICTION and RESERVOIR DOGS. This film might suffer from the fact that it is NOT a Tarantino production, but if you like cartoonish violence, obvious stereotypes and oddball chitchat on cultural themes (Star Trek, anyone?), it will not disappoint. I went into it with no preconceptions (I bought a ticket at the last minute on the day of the 2nd screening) and was surprisingly entertained.

I hadn't seen this movie for years. I saw it the other night, and realized just how frickin' entertaining it really was. The likable Jane gives a true meaning to the word reformed. Now a talented architect, his past catches up with him, in the form of his ex partner in crime (Eckhart) This Thursday is hell day for him. Eckhart, who at the start, can't decide which coffee to have, and the female cashier is Indian, so you know what that means, marks a great ambiguous start to Pulp Fiction'ish flick. Unlike Jane, Eckhart hasn't changed his tune, and brings down a tonne load of trouble on Jane, making this Thursday, the worst one he's ever had. After Eckhart takes Jane's loaner car out, Jane's day gets worse quick, when trouble keeps coming through his door, some of his visitors, including hottie Prosnokova (where has she been all these years?) are real nasty and unbalanced pieces of work. She delivers a real sexy performance, and a sexy telling of her experiences when watching lesbo porn, where James Le Gross, is just outright sick, the sickest one. Plummer's fun, as wannabe Jamaican rap artist/drug dealer and in this case, hit-man too. He's very generous when it comes to sharing his gunja, where Jeter's impelling as Jane's marriage adviser, whatever. Even bad apple detective (Rourke) makes an entrance, with a severed head in a box no less. Be prepared, Thursday has some pretty heavy shock violence, but it's very unrealistic too. Thursday has something going for it though, where this owes a lot to it's characters in their good performances, especially Prosnokova. It's short sharp sweet, and never boring, and Jane is great as the lead, where 84 minutes couldn't be better spent at the video shop. Slick, it is, as the way it ends, with the underused Paula Marshall, as Jane's girlfriend. Thursdays have never been more exciting. For Jane fans. especially.

This movie almost doesn't try hard to be serious at all, but it is, and it's a pretty damn good flick. This role seems to be made for Thomas Jane. If you didn't see the beginning sequence, you could definitely believe that his character, Casey, is just a hapless and dull husband. This assumption is a tribute to Thomas Jane's range. He is utterly convincing as both a sweet and seemingly dull-witted house-husband, as well as a cold, swaggering badass with that thousand-yard stare. Throw in some crazy plot twists involving his ex-partner and a grotesquely malformed Mickey Rourke (sporting a slimy, perverted version of his once-great pompadour) and you've got yourself a good action-thriller.