Mountain Views News          Saturday, August 18, 2012

11

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

 Mountain Views News Saturday August 18, 2012 


SEAN’S SHAMELESS 

REVIEWS: 


Review By Sean Kayden

KILLER JOE

Rated: NC-17 for graphic disturbing content involving violence and sexuality, and 
a scene of brutality

 Director William Friedkin brings, Killer Joe, Tracy Letts’ 1993 play (who also adapted the screenplay) 
to the big screen. This “totally twisted deep-fried Texas redneck trailer park murder story” depicted on 
the film poster definitely fits that outlandish description. However, the often lurid and perverse film isn’t 
what it’s all cracked up to be. Emile Hirsch plays Chris Smith, a twenty something year old lowlife that 
owes money to a drug dealer. His mother sold his cocaine and he’s in a crucial bind. Desperate for cash, 
Chris seeks aid from his father Ansel, portrayed by Thomas Haden Church. Ansel, as broke as they come 
by these days, can’t help his son. Nonetheless, Chris proposes a plan to hire a man named Joe Cooper 
aka Killer Joe, a Dallas detective, who’s also a contract killer to murder his mother. His apparently good-
for-nothing mother, Ansel’s ex-wife, has an insurance policy of $50,000. If they get rid of her, they can 
split the profit. However, the beneficiary of the will is 
Dottie, Chris’ younger, impressionable sister played 
by the lovely Juno Temple. After trying to convince 
his father at a seedy strip club, the two return back to 
their trailer park home to further discuss the matter. 
Dottie, overhears them contemplating the notion 
and is surprisingly all for it. Problem solved? Not 
exactly. 

 Enters, Joe Cooper, portrayed by Matthew 
McConaughey gives an oily slick and almost stoic, sociopath like performance. One of the character’s 
rules is simple, payment upfront. When Chris tries to explain to him that they’ll get the money after 
he takes care of his mother, Cooper is about to walk out on them. Until he lays his eyes on Dottie for 
a second time and suggests a retainer. Faced with the dilemma of giving us his sister, Chris and Ansel 
without any real trepidation put up Dottie as the retainer, figuring it won’t be that long until they 
get the money, anyway. After this takes place, the movie begins to unravel into a silly, nearly comical 
experience. 

 The chemistry between characters is so uneven and lacks any true spark, especially with the scenes 
between Hirsch and Church. Church’s character is nothing but a buffoon. I’m not sure what it was 
exactly, but Church’s acting prowess is off kilter and utterly misguided here. McConaughey, on the other 
hand, is twisted and sick, but it’s difficult to take your eyes off of him. His character is unequivocally the 
best aspect the movie has to offer, which isn’t saying that much seeing how the rest of it is derivative, 
unfeasible, and merely bland. You never really care about any of these characters with, perhaps, the 
exception of Dottie. She becomes involved with a weird love affair with Joe. You’re never entirely sure 
if she loves him or what the deal is. In the third act, Chris has held off paying off his debt to the drug 
dealer long enough and he’s ready to collect. So then we have the obligatory “I-need-cash-fast-so-I’ll-
bet-everything-I-have-on-a-pony-at-the-racetrack” scene and of course that becomes futile at securing 
the cash needed to pay off some guy who’s about to beat the crap out of you. The climax at the end is a bit 
obvious, but what occurs within the scene is downright explicit. The dialogue gets pretty hokie at times 
too. The final moments of Killer Joe couldn’t be more preposterous and inane. At the end of the day, 
every character is idiotic, but I guess that’s kind of the point to entire story. For a movie that’s received 
much praise by critics, I am honestly left stunned. Killer Joe ultimately proves to be a movie set on being 
nasty, shocking, and raw. Yeah, it accomplishes that all right, but simply in the worst possible way.

Grade: 2 out of 5 

Directed by: William Friedkin

Screenplay: Tracy Letts 

Release 

Date: July 27th, 2012 (Limited)

HEALTH & FITNESS

THE JOY OF YOGA

BALANCING

FITNESS MADE EASY by Kurt Vasquez

NO TIME FOR EXERCISE, 
REALLY!

Many of us were thoroughly engrossed in the amazing 
athletic skills displayed at the Olympics. What is not often 
mentioned is that a great number of these athlete work

regular jobs and have family responsibilities in addition to 
the countless hours they put into training. What we can 
learn from them is the discipline it takes to plan workouts

around their various obligations. They make no excuses 
about missing training because of being too tired or too 
busy, why should we? Especially when all is really required 
is that we put away 30 minutes a day, 3 to 5 days a week to 
give our bodies what it needs to keep us healthy and strong.

The key to an effective program and long lasting success 
is to change it up and dosomething different everyday, for 
example...hike/run on Monday, strength train on

Tuesday, Yoga on Wednesday, ride the bike on Thursday 
and strength train on Friday.

You get the idea, there are a lot of options to choose from and there aren't any strict rules 
on what to do on a given day. Your body benefits more from a constant change in

how it is challenged. Although the exercise type you choose may stay the same, you

can also change the order of when you do them from week to week. I only have one

rule, work as hard as you possibly can in the 30 minutes.

Want it all in 30 minutes? Get to your gym! My most popular training programs are half

hour sessions that incorporate strength, core work and cardiovascular challenges. My

clients love how much work they get done in such a little time. Many gyms and

personal trainers offer 1/2 hour training sessions that are efficient and affordable. It is a

valuable investment to have a trainer design a program that will fit in your time

constraints, they can also design an effective home based workout with very little

equipment.

So now the problem of "when" becomes the challenge, the answer is....whenever you

can. There are 1440 minutes in a day, your body is only asking for 30 of them. Schedule

it as part of your day as you do any other appointment. There is no magical formula, just

the discipline to make a commitment and stay consistent. Varying your routine and

exercise patterns will go a long way to guaranteeing success.


ene
How many plates can you keep spinning at one time? Do you know 
when you are at capacity? Does it change from day to day? If you are 
like me, it’s always a challenge to balance. A funny thing about yoga, it 
helps you balance. Not just balancing poses, like Tree (vriksasana) but 
balance your life as well. When you sit down on your mat the first thing 
you should do is check in. Check on your breath and how you feel. Your 
breath can tell you if you need to let go or to gather energy. This is huge. 

Once you can learn to balance your energy level you will know when 
it’s time to rest. Time to rest restores your energy so that you feel good 
and can enjoy the things you do. Maybe even do a little more. Pushing 
through and depleting your energy leaves you irritable, unable to smile and heavy, suddenly 
everything seems huge and overwhelming. Doesn’t this seem like common sense? Why on earth 
would we deplete ourselves so that we become irritable and overwhelmed? Why on earth would 
we not eat right and deprive ourselves of vital energy? But yet we do this. There is so much to 
do! We even say to ourselves ‘next time I am going to go to bed early, instead of getting sucked 
into the computer for another hour….’

But alas, the next day we are back on Facebook or stopping for fast food.

So, how can yoga help us learn how to manage our energy? First of all, by becoming aware of 
how precious our energy is. We need to learn what gives us energy back. Yoga and meditation 
do. Even though we are working hard in class and feel our muscles fatigue, we get more energy 
back. We feel lighter in our step. Yoga helps us to balance prana, our vital life energy, through 
our breath. We then feel more balance in all areas of our lives. All yogis will tell you the problem 
they came to class with looks much better after class. That’s balancing prana.

What do you need to balance in your life?

I hope you’ll find the way in class. Namasté, René


Kurt Vasquez is a Nationally Certified Personal Trainer. His philosophy is simple: Fitness is a 
process, not a project. He can be reached at (626) 695-2624 or kurtvasquez@yahoo.com.


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