Law Abiding Citizen

Death Wish meets Saw? I’m there! Heard decent things about it, sans the final few minutes. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)  Jon says: Rent   Donny says: Buy

Black Dynamite

This ode to the 70′s Blaxploitation genre was a Sundance hit and a fan favorite. Now, you can see and experience the hype! (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)  Jon says: Buy   Donny says: Buy

Cabin Fever 2

The much-maligned Ti West film is out, but our own Jason Bene seemed to really like it. (Formats: DVD only)  Jon says: Rent   Donny says: Rent

Hunger: Criterion Collection

One of the more emotionally gut-wrenching films to be released in a long time. (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)   Jon says: Buy   Donny says: Buy

Women in Trouble

This indie film comes home, and be sure to read our interview for the flick! (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)  Jon says: Rent   Donny says: Rent

Coco Before Chanel

Jason Bene caught this indie film about the fashion world, and thought it was okay. Now, you can find out! (Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)  Jon says: Rent   Donny says: Rent

New to Blu

Cabin Fever

Ran

Goodfellas: 20th Anniversary Edition

That does it for this week, so be sure to keep it here for reviews and more on these discs, only on Killer Film!

Although he has more writing credits to his name than directing, his newest creation, Women in Trouble and it’s sequels have given him more power to bend the series to his will. However, his fascination with topic of women merely stemmed from his own family life more than anything. Gutierrez goes off about,”…growing up in a house full of women. Lovely, neurotic, crazy women who are running around always in a rush,” being his key source of inspiration for writing the script. That further explains his interest in the exact locales the ten women are put into throughout their situations within the one day the film is set in.

“I was interested in those private moments that we don’t usually see. In movies we usually cut away when we get to that point. Now they get up and go to the bathroom, what are they talking about? What’s the secret that they’re sharing?” Although Gutierrez appears to make a trip to the restroom sound like a secret club ritual, there is that point where we are never completely satisfied with our hunger for knowing more about the opposite sex.

“I’ve always been fascinated by women, you know. They go to the bathroom together, all the time, and they do all of these things together that men don’t do. I always wonder what’s happening there.” Gutierrez definitely does wonder, as some of the women get in hairy situations, like being trapped in an elevator or dealing with infidelity. Throwing them into these difficult situations would clearly bring out the most emotionally from each actress, but also showing the curiosity about the nature of women from his viewpoint. “I find that women have emotions much more accessible than men. So, in a story like this, for them to go from zero to a hundred pretty fast is a very useful thing.”

The overall fascination and wonder that Sebastian Gutierrez ended up turning into his own knowledge once he sat down and created Women in Trouble. Now the director is already done with initial filming of the sequel Elektra Luxx and is in the middle of pre-production of the third feature in the series entitled Women in Ecstasy. One thing is for certain, Gutierrez does seem to know what he’s talking about when it comes to women, and you can see that in limited release on the big screen this Friday, November 13th.

Carla Gugino and the rest of the cast light up the screen, adding more to a nicely put together storyline. Centering on ten women and what troublesome situations each one of them has to go through, for a majority of the film it flows evenly. There are a couple of hiccups with how long certain character’s story arcs take place and the one that stood out the most in my head is Marley Shelton’s funny but brief role. Minor set backs in the end do not completely kill this from being a fun romp through Los Angeles as you deal with porn stars, wives and sisters. Sebastian Gutierrez proves that he can write and direct more than action with his offbeat and insightful viewpoint into these women’s lives.

One of the things that stood out for me like a horribly sore thumb was the editing. You’ll have a soft and flowing string of cuts that help visually tell what is going on. Then, suddenly, several pictures collated together pop out of nowhere, so abrupt and loud it could throw you entirely out of the scene. It works on some aspects of the film, but not all the time and can be quite the distraction. Compared to the fine cast, interesting direction and style, it is a problem, but not so huge that it takes away from the overall experience of the movie.

This should not be labeled harshly as a romantic comedy or a chick flick, but more like a film just about women. This film contains, to me, a fine dash of heart over comedy not normally seen in a production with these kind of topics. By the time the film, and it’s special clip, is over you’ll be laughing and or interested enough to want more.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars