Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton
Week of October 16, 2023
Killers of the Flower Moon
Rated R for some grisly images, language and violence
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
In Theaters
Based on the best-selling novel by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon tells the true story of the Osage People in the 1920’s who were being systematically murdered for their oil money by a conniving group of white men who were able to take advantage of the lack of any investigations due to the crimes being committed in Indian Territory. The story follows Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young soldier coming home from war to work for his uncle (Robert De Niro), a man who has profited greatly from the Osage Nation. While playing the game his uncle has set up, he falls in love with and marries Mollie (Lily Gladstone), a young Osage woman and heir to her family’s oil riches. But as her family and people are slowly killed off, suspicions start to rise until the point where the newly formed FBI comes calling to finally investigate the crimes known as the Reign of Terror. Directed by Martin Scorsese, and largely filmed on location in Oklahoma, the film has an organic grit to it that could only come from a director such as Marty who is arguably the greatest crime drama moviemaker of our time. Much like when Spielberg did Schindler’s List, Scorsese here succeeds in exposing a massive injustice in our relatively recent history in a way that is both important and impactful. We have only recently begun to understand the cruelties laid out upon the Osage and also the African Americans killed during the Tulsa Race Massacre, which happened about the same time, and which was also briefly addressed during this picture. With the far-right element of this country who wish these kinds of events were simply forgotten and laid to rest, it is vital that brave filmmakers show us these histories, so we won’t so simply forget or ignore them, chalking their excuses up to “critical race theory.” While not overly preachy with his project, Scorsese most definitely exposes the weaknesses in our justice system while also helping us understand how easy it is for these things to happen when seemingly good people turn a blind eye. My only complaints about the films would be that I wish the music fit the film better (a minor problem at best) and that he would have put a five to ten minute intermission in the middle, as I didn’t want to miss a single minute. But at 206 minutes, my bladder just simply wouldn’t allow me to watch the entire thing without at least one short break. Other than that, it is truly one of his bet films, filled with fantastic performances and a thrilling narrative. Lastly, I have to mention how happy I was that he included two of my favorite singer/songwriters Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson in some very meaty and impressive roles. Isbell especially competed evenly with DiCaprio as his smarmy brother-in-law, being judged and sentenced by DiCaprio’s warped sense of morality. A
Butcher’s Crossing
Rated R for brief sexual content, some violence/bloody images and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%
In Theaters
While Nicholas Cage has come out in recent years to give us some studio fare, the most common place for us to see him is in small independent films like Butcher’s Crossing. Here he plays an eclectic buffalo hunter who is hired to take a young rich kid on a massive hunt in the Colorado wilderness. While Cage’s character comes off as interesting and worth watching, the rest of the relatively unknown cast struggles with the material and the writing never really allows the film to progress from the idea of a group of barbaric westerners needlessly killing animals for money. Ironically, while the film never broaches this subject during its narrative, this is conveyed in the scroll at the end, with an out-of-place ecologic lesson learned. It’s unfortunately an odd film with bad acting and a script in need of a doctor. That being said, the production values were terrific with lovely cinematography and a feeling that you are seeing what it could have been like to be around massive herds of buffalo before they were wiped out by villains such as these. C