Full disclosure: I’m not a cat guy. Sorry! Nothing against them, but I’ve always preferred the company of dogs. However, I’ve always admired a cat’s sense of self, and their stubborn refusal to do anything at all unless it’s on their own terms. According to The Uncanny (1977), that would also include murder, as these kitties claw and bite their way to vengeance, and leave it to Severin Films to give them a brand spanking new Blu-ray litter box to play in.
A co-production between Canada’s Cinévidéo and the UK’s The Rank Organisation, The Uncanny was shot in Quebec and England for less than a million dollars. One may presume that a solid portion of the film was spent on acquiring Donald Pleasence, Peter Cushing, Ray Milland, John Vernon, and Samantha Eggar for the wraparound and the three individual segments. It certainly wasn’t...
A co-production between Canada’s Cinévidéo and the UK’s The Rank Organisation, The Uncanny was shot in Quebec and England for less than a million dollars. One may presume that a solid portion of the film was spent on acquiring Donald Pleasence, Peter Cushing, Ray Milland, John Vernon, and Samantha Eggar for the wraparound and the three individual segments. It certainly wasn’t...
- 6/4/2019
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
As amorphous as the vague disease that afflicts one of its characters, "Daltry Calhoun" aims for whimsy and poignancy and mostly comes up empty. Writer-director Katrina Holden Bronson peoples her first feature with quirky small-town characters -- well played by the cast -- but doesn't know what to do with them. The involvement of Quentin Tarantino as executive producer won't forestall a quick segue to video for the latest item in the Miramax fire sale.
Johnny Knoxville brings a gentle, goofy sweetness to the title character, a one-time layabout who has gone legit. Using what he learned from his cannabis-growing experiments, he has developed a specialized hybrid grass seed that has made him the sod king of Ducktown, Tenn. Daltry, who apparently has a passion for golf -- though we don't see him indulging that passion until the film is almost over -- is eager to use his fortune to realize his dream project, a deluxe public course.
Calhoun Industries starts going to seed when the miracle sod proves defective, and all of Ducktown is rooting for the lovable entrepreneur, especially lonely young widow Flora Flick (Juliette Lewis). As he tries to save his empire, a flash from Daltry's penniless past arrives in the form of May (Elizabeth Banks) and June (Sophie Traub). When he last saw them 14 years earlier, May was his teenage girlfriend and June their barely walking baby. Chased from his family by an angry cousin (Beth Grant, in shrill hillbilly mode), Daltry has been looking for them ever since. This central thread, which sets the story, such as it is, in motion, makes no emotional sense. May, who didn't want him to go, also didn't want him to find her. Now the struggling single mom is back because she's dying, but all she tells Daltry is that they need his support while musician June prepares for her Juilliard tryout. She also forbids Daltry from telling June that he's her father.
All this deception serves no discernible purpose, though Knoxville has some nice moments as the smitten, sworn-to-secrecy dad. In the problematic role of May, Banks lends a fiery fragility, but there's only so much an actor can do when stricken with the kind of movie disease whose chief symptoms are dark circles and meaningful glances.
Individual scenes click, particularly those featuring Lewis and one in which Kick Gurry, as the Aussie seed expert Daltry hires, resists the charms of underage June. Newcomer Traub has real-girl appeal as the soulful teen, who appreciates Marty Robbins as much as Wu-Tang Clan. But individual scenes do not a movie make, and "Calhoun" lurches from one to the next with no direction or momentum, relying on oldies to paper the narrative. Tennessee locations lend authenticity to the production, with grass green dominating the design work and widescreen images. If only the story itself had such coherence.
DALTRY CALHOUN
Miramax Films
Miramax Films and L Driver Prods. present a Map Point Pictures production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Katrina Holden Bronson
Producer: Danielle Renfrew
Executive producers: Quentin Tarantino, Erica Steinberg
Director of photography: Matthew Irving
Production designer: Tracey Gallacher
Music: John Swihart
Co-producer: Todd S. King
Costume designer: Mynka Draper
Editor: Daniel R. Padgett
Cast:
Daltry Calhoun: Johnny Knoxville
Flora Flick: Juliette Lewis
May: Elizabeth Banks
Frankie Strunk: Kick Gurry
Doyle: David Koechner
June: Sophie Traub
Dee: Beth Grant
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 93 minutes...
Johnny Knoxville brings a gentle, goofy sweetness to the title character, a one-time layabout who has gone legit. Using what he learned from his cannabis-growing experiments, he has developed a specialized hybrid grass seed that has made him the sod king of Ducktown, Tenn. Daltry, who apparently has a passion for golf -- though we don't see him indulging that passion until the film is almost over -- is eager to use his fortune to realize his dream project, a deluxe public course.
Calhoun Industries starts going to seed when the miracle sod proves defective, and all of Ducktown is rooting for the lovable entrepreneur, especially lonely young widow Flora Flick (Juliette Lewis). As he tries to save his empire, a flash from Daltry's penniless past arrives in the form of May (Elizabeth Banks) and June (Sophie Traub). When he last saw them 14 years earlier, May was his teenage girlfriend and June their barely walking baby. Chased from his family by an angry cousin (Beth Grant, in shrill hillbilly mode), Daltry has been looking for them ever since. This central thread, which sets the story, such as it is, in motion, makes no emotional sense. May, who didn't want him to go, also didn't want him to find her. Now the struggling single mom is back because she's dying, but all she tells Daltry is that they need his support while musician June prepares for her Juilliard tryout. She also forbids Daltry from telling June that he's her father.
All this deception serves no discernible purpose, though Knoxville has some nice moments as the smitten, sworn-to-secrecy dad. In the problematic role of May, Banks lends a fiery fragility, but there's only so much an actor can do when stricken with the kind of movie disease whose chief symptoms are dark circles and meaningful glances.
Individual scenes click, particularly those featuring Lewis and one in which Kick Gurry, as the Aussie seed expert Daltry hires, resists the charms of underage June. Newcomer Traub has real-girl appeal as the soulful teen, who appreciates Marty Robbins as much as Wu-Tang Clan. But individual scenes do not a movie make, and "Calhoun" lurches from one to the next with no direction or momentum, relying on oldies to paper the narrative. Tennessee locations lend authenticity to the production, with grass green dominating the design work and widescreen images. If only the story itself had such coherence.
DALTRY CALHOUN
Miramax Films
Miramax Films and L Driver Prods. present a Map Point Pictures production
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Katrina Holden Bronson
Producer: Danielle Renfrew
Executive producers: Quentin Tarantino, Erica Steinberg
Director of photography: Matthew Irving
Production designer: Tracey Gallacher
Music: John Swihart
Co-producer: Todd S. King
Costume designer: Mynka Draper
Editor: Daniel R. Padgett
Cast:
Daltry Calhoun: Johnny Knoxville
Flora Flick: Juliette Lewis
May: Elizabeth Banks
Frankie Strunk: Kick Gurry
Doyle: David Koechner
June: Sophie Traub
Dee: Beth Grant
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 93 minutes...
- 10/7/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Miramax Films is moving forward with the production of Daltry Calhoun, gearing up for a Sept. 25 start date with Johnny Knoxville in final negotiations to topline. Juliette Lewis, Elizabeth Banks, David Koechner and Kick Gurry also are on board to star in the project, sources confirmed. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Katrina Holden Bronson. Miramax and Quentin Tarantino's L. Driver Prods. are co-producing. The project brings Knoxville and Tarantino back to their roots: Both are originally from Knoxville, Tenn., the setting for Daltry Calhoun. The project, penned by Bronson, is described as a dark comedy about a father (Knoxville) struggling to keep his once lucrative Tennessee golfing empire intact when his estranged 14-year-old daughter -- a gifted musician -- is unexpectedly left in his care.
- 9/16/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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