Worst thing you'll see during Trump's term: Unhinged

Title Worst thing you'll see during Trump's term: Unhinged
Author Tom Chick
Posted in Movie reviews
When October 20, 2020

I have a soft spot for fat Russell Crowe. The younger slimmer Russell Crowe was a total badass, but now that he's older, bigger, and more sedate, he's sporting an avuncular gruffness..

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Thanks,Tom. I’ll just rent a Spielberg film starring McCloud from ‘71.

I linked it in the review, but here it is again because it’s really worth watching:

Dude is so goddamn adorable.

-Tom

43 seconds, got bored, moved on.

It’s an interesting contrast, because the antagonist in Duel is completely faceless. Like the best movie monsters, you use your imagination. BYOB: bring your own baggage.

But to Unhinged’s credit, it is attempting a sort of urban modern version of Duel. Lots of road action, and most of it is shot well enough.

-Tom

Its amazing what a competent filmmaker can do on a limited budget, huh? Without feeling obligated to have a name in the film as a draw.

I only watched Duel recently, and just couldn’t believe how much I loved it. Now it’s one of the only movies I own on Blu-ray.

I think you meant, visually stunning.

Dingus and Kellywand talked about Duel during the Blackhat Podcast at the 01:17:07 mark.

The Ford logo on the front of Russell Crowe’s truck conspicuously hidden by a grill because Ford Motor Company probably doesn’t want their product associated with psychos.

There’s a Ford F-150 at my apartment complex that also lacks a grill logo. I’ll be careful not to honk at it.

Correction:
“the production had to spen[d] its car wreck budget”

So Crowe’s going Brando? Will we see him in a prairie dress in a western soon?

I’m on board with a remake of Duel, even if it’s an “inspired by” version.

In Unhinged, the Ford logo is still there, but they strategically position the grill so that you never actually see the word Ford. You can see the logo, but it’s kind of like a nipple slip.

And it’s not inadvertent either. Because they outright removed the Ford logo that would be on the tailgate:

In fact, later in the movie, Russell Crowe steals a minivan and rampages around in that for a while. But the logo is removed from that vehicle as well:

Meanwhile, the heroine drives around in her Volvo with its logos proudly intact!

-Tom

Do want! Although in The True Story of Ned Kelly, he all but wears a prairie dress. His character is that kind of wacky.

Yeah, that’s why I was really looking forward to Unhinged. But instead of taking the approach of a driverless monster (although you do see the driver in Duel), Unhinged decided it wants to be about incivility in the era of Trump. Only it goes so far over the top that its risible instead of effective.

-Tom

This is on Amazon Prime, sorta reminds me of my daily 90 minute drive to work in the before times.

So this isn’t as dumb as I thought it was going to be but it’s still fairly dumb.

But really, this is basically an episode of Criminal Minds. Which is kind of funny.