Killer Joe

America is sick. After seeing so many praises for this movie and a average of 7.5 at IMDb, I decided to see expecting something like Ladykillers. The cast was great but the story has nothing new. It is the poverty story with a lot of violence. Rednecks life, debts, infidelity, virginity sold. I discovered it was a play. Probably with less violence. But even so, the story could not get me interested in more than five minutes. I watched until the end to see if there was some grand finale, but there was only more violence, misogyny and blood. Really I can't believe anymore in IMDb rates. What a waste of time, cast and money. And the director William Friedkin must be senile. Probably the worst movie of the year. 1/10

Just watched this film at the BFI in London where the director did a Q&A straight after. I hated this film. People will talk about how it is a piece of art, but for me it was a total piece of something else. This is a director's and actor's film. A vanity project to show how much they can stretch their talents. I'm sure other actors and directors will find it interesting, however, for the movie goer it provides little. There is no reason to watch this film other than perhaps to see how much you can endure. The movie is based on a play by Tracy Letts and directed by William Friedkin. It's set in Texas and tells the story of life of a trailer park family affected by drugs and gambling debts. A scheme is developed to get money to repay some mobsters to stop them killing the son. Things just spiral out of control in a series of ultra-violent events. I wanted to leave the cinema because it was just so depressingly sick. I actually felt sorry for the actors. However I stayed to see what the director was going to say after the film. Surprisingly he was a very engaging speaker. When an audience member began asking a question with "I really enjoyed the movie", Friedkin responded "You're not supposed to enjoy it!". Well, I didn't.

I was disgusted with Matthew McConaughey's character's taking a 12 year old and yes, I know it is fictional but I can't believe a big star like him would take on such a role. Not to mention the fact that the father gave his daughter to Joe. I was saddened that the brother agreed to the "retainer" arrangement with his sister because he obviously doted on her. I could get past the topless bar, I had to turn my head when the first beating started. The violence toward the step-mother was appalling and this won't include a spoiler because I walked out and didn't stay to the end. I will say that Juno Temple did an outstanding job with this role; I really thought she could have been 12. I would never have agreed to see this show if the first word in the type of movie hadn't been "comedy." I thought it was going to be funny and funny things would happen along the way. I've never seen a movie with a rating of NC-17 and in the future will certainly watch for it so I can avoid it.

"Your gonna pay me for a service that I'm gonna preform. Your gonna give me the particulars of her schedule, her habits. I'll act on them accordingly. I won't give you any details on those activities because the less you know the better for everyone involved." Chris (Hirsch) is in debt bad. He owes the wrong people a ton of money and thinks the only way out is to kill his mother and collect the insurance money. He hires a man named Killer Joe (McConaughey) to take care of the job. When Chris can't come up with the money needed to hire him they work out a deal. Chris soon changes his mind. I am a McConaughey fan...yeah I said it. I'll deal with a shirt off scene in every movie because I like his style and his movies are entertaining. This one is no exception and may be my favorite role of his yet. He is so sadistic and evil in this but also keeps his charm so you don't fully hate him. He is both over the top and laid back. The movie itself is very very violent and bloody but I have to admit that I loved it. There is some humor in this and you laugh when you know you shouldn't but thats the sign of good humor. This is a movie that could have been one dimensional but with the cast and writing it really goes deeper and while not a movie that makes you think the whole time it does keep you guessing what will happen next. If you can handle this movie then I say watch it. I really liked it. Overall, a very entertaining dark movie that I really liked but it not for everyone. I say A-.