Frailty

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Right - now I'd be very surprised to find a person who would say that Bill Paxton was their favourite actor, and I can't say I was clamouring for his directorial debut - but on the recomendation of Peter Preston in the Observer (who as far as I know has never reviewed a film in his life) I went to see it yesterday.

Its fantastic. In a seventies gritty horror/suspense movie style. And the actualy implications of the story are tremendous for an (admittedly minor) US motion picture. I'll say no more for fear of spoiling it, but go see - and if you've seen it let's talk. (Emma should go cos she likes Matthew McConaughey)

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:43 (twenty-three years ago)

god dammit, i love bill paxton. certainly not because he's my favourite actor. but come on... you gotta love him. without him, nobody would say "game over man..... game over!"

nice night for a walk.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Peter Preston loves films and has guest reviewed a few times before.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I stand corrected N. - which is what you are here for. I must admit his review was very good too - he nailed a lot of the key comparisons and the atmospheric style. Not that its a very subtle film, but hey it is set in a town called Meat.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:59 (twenty-three years ago)

I only liked MM in Reign of Fire cos he didn't have a top on and was covered in sweat and muscles and tattoos. And was mad.

― Emma, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 12:06 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not spoiling anything but at least one of your descriptions is true in Frailty.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 12:13 (twenty-three years ago)

SO I take it no-one took up my recomendation them. Curses.

― Pete (Pete), Monday, 16 September 2002 14:45 (twenty-three years ago)

don't take it personally. it was BILL PAXTON.

― g-kit (g-kit), Monday, 16 September 2002 14:59 (twenty-three years ago)

a town called Meat

I have visions of what Paul Weller might have called his song now.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 September 2002 15:05 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

How odd (or typical?) that I ended this thread. Anyway, El Diablo recommended it a while back and some months ago I picked it up used in a Wherehouse clearance around here. Tonight was a classic 'not much to do, so I might as well watch it' night...damn. REALLY damn good. As Pete notes above, the implications are indeed quite something. I did start guessing a little at the end -- but only at the very end, a good sign.

Again, a very good film, the type of one where you watch through the end credits and think about it carefully, and where you realize almost after the fact that your body is tired because of the tense moments. I look forward to listening to the various commentaries -- one full one is given over to the screenwriter, which I think is very cool.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh yeah, and Dale Watson has not one but two songs on the soundtrack, which is utterly great from where I sit (though Johnny Cash has the song placement of choice).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Frailty was a damn good movie. Dad ordering kids to kill "demons" = classic.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 11 March 2004 03:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Tsk tsk, note Pete's first entry! Try to keep what you can a secret. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 03:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked this movie a lot! the stuff where paxton sits down and calmly explains to the kids what they have to do is really classic, terrible and funny.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I was initially let down by some aspects of the movie for reasons I probably can't blame it for (it's reminiscent of a roleplaying game line that solicited work from me) -- but the first viewing sort of washed that off so that I've enjoyed it much more since. The material's not at all what I would have expected from Paxton's directorial debut.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, good on him for tackling a genre flick rather than going for a family indie movie!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:05 (twenty-one years ago)

See, I would've figured goofy buddy black comedy type stuff, a la Very Bad Things etc. I'm not sure why, but there you go.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I have to say that while I think Paxton and McConaghey were both pretty damn good (Powers Boothe acquitted himself well though at the same time it was a part that various other actors could have handled just as easily), the two kids were actually the most striking actors in the film. The humor is equally important -- some incredible gallows humor at a couple of points that was early Peter Jackson/Sam Raimi style (probably more the latter, Raimi was specifically thanked among various others in the end credits), but yet for all that it wasn't campy or otherwise undermined the film. Not the easiest balance to strike.

The material's not at all what I would have expected from Paxton's directorial debut.

I'm not entirely sure about this because you know what this makes me think of in a very indirect sense? Near Dark -- same vaguely general setting, certainly different films, but both dedicated to a take on 'horror' as broadly defined that makes much of punishing sunlight and its absence, if that makes any sense.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:07 (twenty-one years ago)

totally! near dark really rules.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I only just saw that relatively recently myself for the first time, about a year back (another Wherehouse clearance -- last year was great for ramping up my DVD collection!), and between that and Frailty I think I'm starting to turn into something of a full-on fan.

I think Paxton's greatest acting gift was that at no time did I think he wasn't a man who truly loved his sons in a very affectionate way. I was very impressed by that and the consequent dynamics.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I can definitely see the movie being something he would start thinking about while doing Near Dark (even if that's not how it happened; you know what I mean), yeah, that's true. I mean, Frailty's almost a response to it, in some ways, or aspects of it.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

something of a full-on fan

Er, of Paxton, forget to mention that!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, Frailty's almost a response to it, in some ways, or aspects of it.

...aspects of family, you could say. Of situations suddenly beyond one's control and how one deals with same.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:11 (twenty-one years ago)

paxton really is great. what a superlative genre track record he has.

by the way ned, every time you type "wherehouse" i read "whorehouse."

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

The Best Little Wherehouse in Costa Mesa.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder if I have this on DVD? I should rewatch it.

(My DVD collection is not as massive as that makes it sound.)

And yeah, absolutely aspects of family and control, and also -- tied in with that -- authority, in a big way.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:14 (twenty-one years ago)

(Other random notes -- I was actually very impressed by the score, it might be able to stand on its own as well, and what I initially thought was out-of-nowhere cinematography whenever Paxton's character touched one of the 'demons' actually made perfect sense in comparison to the 'regular' shots.)

authority, in a big way

Authority and morality = Frailty oh did you see what I did that ho ho. It's so...it's very, very hard to draw a line as to who did what wrong if anyone did. Well, that's not true either, rather it suggests a blurred line much more readily than many other non-genre films would.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I also love the fact it's a period film with McConaghey set (via flashback) in the 70s that isn't Dazed and Confused. Let's see, references included Meatballs, The Warriors, Dukes of Hazzard...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I like those period films that don't hit you over the head with it (I love dazed and confused too tho)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Mm, good call. Since I was about the age of the younger brother in 1979 -- assuming he's eight or so, maybe nine -- I found myself thinking about what I would have done had I been in that situation then and there. It also strikes me the film has a gift for what Spielberg had in the seventies there (Jaws and Close Encounters), namely depicting what a working-class home where money has to be watched is like. The house was a very good set.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:22 (twenty-one years ago)

spielberg used to be really pretty good with the character stuff.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:23 (twenty-one years ago)

He had that up through E.T. even. Then he made enough money not to care I guess.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i think he just went a little koo-koo

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:27 (twenty-one years ago)

the character stuff in raiders is great too, i think, in a corny serial type of way, but by crusade it gives way to bad indy's dad jokes.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 11 March 2004 04:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm really glad that you liked it, Ned! I hope Paxton gets the chance to make another film soon.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 11 March 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

It's so...it's very, very hard to draw a line as to who did what wrong if anyone did. Well, that's not true either, rather it suggests a blurred line much more readily than many other non-genre films would.

Exactly, yeah -- I think it draws much more attention to the assumption of moral authority made in a lot of superficially similar movies (which Near Dark doesn't fit into as easily as Dracula 2000, granted, but even so).

(I also liked this because I grew up prepared for a lot of unlikely things I didn't realize at the time were unlikely, etc.)

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 11 March 2004 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm really glad that you liked it, Ned!

:-) It was a most worthy choice that shows yer good taste once again! Thanks!

I was thinking about it just now but the thought I had in my head escaped...hopefully it will come back to me.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 March 2004 20:06 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

And just a last followup to note that I thought Paxton's commentary was alright but I really enjoyed the commentary by the producer, editor and, happily and very appropriately, the composer, whose work was excellent. His various comments about working in a 'traditional' movie score sense and then intentionally using inspirations from atonal composers to create more unexpected/unsettling moods -- at the behest of Paxton himself, quite happily -- were useful.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 29 March 2004 02:25 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

poss. spoilers -

Surprisingly good, but I would have been happier without the McConaughey-twist - it was too easy and too evident from early on. The identity-switch/identity-fakeout trope is Horror Movie Logic 101.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 2 May 2004 05:38 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

caught this last night on hbo, it was really good. I think the only thing that bugged was that paxton said "they aren't humans, they're demons" too much. Like, I got the point already. I part of the ending coming, but not all of it. I really liked the look of the film, however they lighted the scenes in the house and whatever they did in the processing to give those shots an almost Waltons-esque grain to the image.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

nine years pass...

the plot kinda got in the way of what was a really neat central idea with the family/authority/morality dynamic very nicely played- paxton and the older kid are great.

but eesh the plot, y'know?

but yeah period licks, yeah performances, yeah you'll forgive a budget flick a lot more. B+, tho my viewing companion's eyes may be sprained for rolling.

very much of a piece in feel to idk stephen king stuff, stand by me maybe, or eg IT with the world of the teenage central character being so small and so utterly bounded despite the extraordinary happenings

― treeship's assailing (darraghmac), Saturday, 15 March 2014 23:53 (eleven years ago)

Been a while since I saw it, but I thought this film was really rather good till the final unnecessary twist.

― I wish to incorporate disco into my small business (chap), Monday, 17 March 2014 02:39 (eleven years ago)

Oddly enough was thinking about this film a lot lately given all the attention given to McConaghey lately. Seems to stand out from his other work at that time but almost slots into more of it now?

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 17 March 2014 03:25 (eleven years ago)

Underrated flick! I love movies that make God creepy.

― Quinoa Phoenix (latebloomer), Monday, 17 March 2014 21:23 (eleven years ago)

i have yet to find anything that makes him otherwise

― treeship's assailing (darraghmac), Monday, 17 March 2014 22:14 (eleven years ago)

that was some hardboiled detective shit dmac

― christmas candy bar (al leong), Monday, 17 March 2014 22:19 (eleven years ago)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R3D908Io-_4/TrxZi5ZIh9I/AAAAAAAAFyM/R8qXsGq8eio/s1600/morgan%2Bfreeman10.jpg

― treeship's assailing (darraghmac), Monday, 17 March 2014 22:21 (eleven years ago)

eleven years pass...

Hadn't realized there's a new 4K of it out:

https://lionsgatelimited.com/products/frailty-4k-collectors-set

Which I learned about thanks to this really good Defector essay on the film and Paxton:

https://defector.com/in-bill-paxtons-frailty-certainty-is-the-scariest-thing-there-is?giftLink=c28678558397b53997d27fe0c5c03fc3

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 18 July 2025 21:58 (five months ago)

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