Tuesday, September 4, 2007

MOVIEHYPE: Alex Cox




















Alex Cox is a ferociously independent filmmaker who has produced a string of great films over the past twenty years: Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Walker (with Ed Harris), El Patrullero, and my favorite, Straight To Hell -- which starred Joe Strummer (Joe Strummer!!!), Sy Richardson, Dick Rude, The Pogues, Elvis Costello, Courtney Love, Jim Jarmusch, Dennis Hopper, Grace Jones, and many other cool people. In recent years, he made Revenger's Tragedy starring Christopher Eccleston and featuring Eddie Izzard, which I haven't seen, but appears to be a reimagining of a Ben Jonson play into a futuristic action film and looks great:


Christopher Eccleston in "Revenger's Tragedy"

El Patrullero is also deserving of special mention as Cox apparently gave up entirely on Hollywood and went south of the border to make a distinctly Coxian version of a staple of Mexican cinema, the Highway Patrol movie. And Walker, oh man, Walker...
They're just all great, and you should check them out. And Alex Cox soldiers on, check out his website for word on upcoming projects, and your opportunity to invest. If film distribution ever gets out of the stranglehold the lumbering dinosaurs of Old Hollywood have it in, Alex Cox will be bigger than ever.

Alex Cox's Site

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