"Violet and Daisy" with James Gandolfini and Alexis Biedel (2013)

In the grand tradition of movies such as “Snatch” and “Pulp Fiction” this film ranks among the best. With a bit of satire and plenty of sharp tongue in cheek wit, two young hit women; Violet, played by Alexis Biedel; and Daisy, played by Saoirse Ronan; decide to take on one more job before beginning a long overdue vacation.

But when their mutual idol; Barbie Sunday; releases a new fashion line the two women decide to take on the job they initially refused, all in order to buy themselves two new dresses. What happens next defies all logic yet somehow seems as if it could really happen that way. Well, maybe.

When the girls arrive to make their hit, they find the intended target all too willing to meet his fate. This intrigues them and they are hooked on finding out why. Of course this humanizes the target, played by James Gandolfini, making it all that much harder to kill him.

To complicate matters even more, there is another hit team on the way to kill him for another transgression. While Violet goes to get more ammunition to kill him with, Daisy is left with the target and finds that he has terminal cancer. This sort of explains why he is so eager to die, but it also serves to make the girls feel sorry for him.

Through a strange sequence of events Violet ends up killing the other hit team, who are also rivals who may have sexually assaulted her in the past. But still, amidst all of the killing, James Gandolfini’s character; who is a mysterious loner- I don’t recall him having a name; is still not dead.

As time moves on the people who have paid to have him killed look to Violet and Daisy for answers as to why he is not dead. What will they tell him? Will they tell him? Or do they have something up their sleeves that will spare the target and still enable them to get the coveted Barbie Sunday dresses?

Geoffrey Fletcher; the director of “Precious”, wrote and directed this offbeat comedy about offbeat people in an offbeat world. Don’t miss it.

"Catch .44" with Bruce Willis and Forest Whitaker (2011)

In this multi-layered thriller by writer/director Aaron Harvey, he heas taken the best parts of “Pulp Fiction”; with its plot twists and shifts in sequence; and blended it with a bit of Guy Ritches’ “Snatch”; and the result is a wild, enjoyable adventure.

Bruce Willis plays “Mel”, who is a crime boss; while Forest Whitaker plays a hit man in his employ, who is masquerading as a police officer named Ronny. The 3 women; Tes, played by  Malin Akerman, and her two cohorts Kara , played by Nikki Reed, and Dawn  played by Deborah Ann Woll, are also involved someway with Mel; just as Forest Whitaker is. The connection is vague; but clearly there. When Mel has the women go on an “assignment” 40 miles out of New Orleans to intercept a drug shipment and the money, something is clearly not adding up. Is it retribution for something they did wrong? Or, is it just an easy score to help them get back in the swing of things?

The film is dealt out in sequences, which all return to the fateful moment at the beginning of the film, keeping you guessing at what the real story is. Violence and “adult” language are dealt out appropriately; though gratuitously; in this film. This movie does not come near the level of violence of Quentin Tarentino’s “Kill Bill” series, which were way beyond belief to me. It also rises to the level of the Guy Ritchie film in that it challenges the viewer to think outside of the box in order to understand the plot. This is not an Agatha Christie “whodunit” by any means.

Bit by bit it becomes apparent that things have been pre-ordained. But for what purpose? And by whom? Can anyone trust the affable Ronny, or is he just another “shil” for the mysterious Mel? And why is Tes the only one spared from the initial carnage? Does Mel have special plans for her?

A fantastic musical score rounds out this colorful and exciting send up of today’s action films a la “Pulp Fiction”, while doing nothing to detract from that movie. Rather, this film may be the most coherent of the genre to date.