Our Mad-King Mel Has Returned

The latest movie from Cinestate and director S. Craig Zahler, cop drama Dragged Across Concrete, debuts in selected theaters on this day, March 22nd, 2019.

In case you’ve been hiding on 4Chan for the past six months, the film stars Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn as two detectives that get suspended from the force and embark on a  journey into the criminal underworld to get their “proper compensation.”

“Proper compensation” is what we are all due, isn’t it?

This looks like Gibson’s first chance since his unfortunate personal issues to take on a serious role with some real edge to it. 

While Zahler’s previous outing Brawl In Cellblock 99 was a little too stagey for me, his Bone Tomahawk is a brutal run-in with the Iron Law of Survival. The guy knows how to create atmosphere and tension, so I’m very hopeful for this movie.

The trailer is a little talky but looks wild and weird:

Our Betters It

Even though this is hardly the kind of movie one would expect critics to enjoy… they do.

Dragged Across Concrete is sitting at 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 6.9/10. Better than Captain Rice Cake! Here are what some top critics are saying:

“It’s apt to send crime-film fanatics who prefer their pulp nasty, brutish and incredibly long into fits of glee. For others, the title doubles as an apt description of the experience of watching it.”
David Fear, Rolling Stone

“Few filmmakers come to mind who could orchestrate these slow-burning set pieces with such precision; it’s like watching a chess game in which everyone thinks they’re a king but most of them are pawns.”
Michael Nordine, IndieWire

“The movie is generally watchable, even at its slowest and ugliest, simply because the actors are solid even when their characters are repellent.”
Manohla Dargis, New York Times

The characters are repellent to The New York Times. This means you will love it! And if that’s not enough to convince you, check out what this mommy blogger thought:

“Mel Gibson’s new police brutality movie is a vile, racist right-wing fantasy.”
Marlow Stern, Daily Beast

No shit? That sounds just plain awful…

See It In Theaters. Pay For It.

The movie is only going to be opening in 32 cities today but may go wider if there is a good turnout at these theaters, so we need you out there:

If you are in one of these metro areas, take some time to go and support the kind of filmmaking that is all too seldom seen on any screen, big or small.

If you can’t wait for the film to go into wide release you can stream it immediately. 

Don’t torrent it, you little prick. Pay for this movie. It’s probably ten bucks. I’m buying.

Go And Do Likewise, Gents

The movie’s out there. You pay for it, it’s yours. You don’t, I got no sympathy for you.

You wanna go out on to those theaters tonight, tonight’s show, and pay, pay, it’s yours.

Not, you’re gonna be shining my shoes.

And you know what you’ll be saying, bunch of losers, posting on a forum: “Oh yeah, they don’t make ’em like they used to, it’s a Disney racket.”