screensport Pretty good movie. Like movies that bring You back to the wonderful 80's. Sam Shepard is good as always. Storyline is ok, I think they build up tention the futher the movie plays. The thing that blew me away was when Michael C Hall sat in his car and "Arms of a stranger" (Originally performed by AOR-band Signal) was played. This time by Aaron Daniel Jacob. That was unexpected....great track! One of my favorites...

thesar-2 Having a cold in July is pretty rough, but these cowboys have it worse.Man. Do I LOVE Neo-Western films. Or, I like to call them "Modern Westerns," in which the setting is (mostly) modern times but with all the old Western tropes. Films in this sub-sub-genre include No Country for Old Men and Hell or High Water. This one is set in 1984, but it's closer to modern than 1885.While this wasn't perfect, it kept the interest, twists and tough guyness alive through to the end. With such turns in the story and characters we cared about, aside from one dud, it was worth the ride.Said dud kills an intruder one night to protect his family, either on purpose or accident, he still pulled the trigger. In comes "the father" to terrorize his family in vengeance. But, wait, there's more to the story as all I described takes place in the first 15% or so of the movie. Let the rest reveal itself, I say…The motivations of Dexter, er, the father dud and the end superhero powers kinda took away from the realism, but it's still overall worth your time. Just suspend your disbelief, know it's not equal to mentioned other neo-westerns and enjoy the time they put into this. Besides, once you find out their motivations, you'll be behind them 100%. Just wish they were showing another movie other than Night of the Living Dead for the 1,998,827th time in a feature film. Really. You can come up with another movie within a movie. This was just lazy screenplay writing by this point.***Final thoughts: Sad to see Sam Shepard go recently. What a fine and tough-man actor he was and he will be missed. Me seeing this, however, was a mere coincidence as I just happened to stumble upon this movie having never hearing about it in its 3-year existence. Still, it was a nice send-off to one of cinema's greatest.

Mace Going into Jim Mickle's Cold In July, I had very low expectations, but I must say that Cold In July surpasses my very low expectations and is now a movie that I can consider slightly underrated.Cold In July features a great cast of very talented actors including Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard and Don Johnson, who all bring something different to the table. Add in a bold, seedy narrative and an assortment of tones, Cold In July provides a somewhat uneven, but satisfying, roller-coaster ride of a movie.The first act of Cold In July is basically a blatant rip-off of David Cronenberg's A History of Violence. Being a fan of that film though, I didn't find this too much of an issue, but the resemblance between the two is uncanny. That said, the first act is ultimately pretty predictable. It's still watchable and fairly engrossing, but it isn't really until the second act where things take a very unexpected turn and things really pick up.The second act is where the film takes a huge leap in a different direction, and I must admit, it was ballsy, but it certainly pays off in the end. We are introduced formally to Sam Shepard's and Don Johnson's characters and the three form an unlikely, but hilarious team. Sadly though, after the introduction to these great characters, the act really begins to slow and sag compared to the rest of the film. But the third act really provides the relief and fun that we needed.The third act feels like a completely different movie than the rest, but this is where the film is most enjoyable. Our team gets drawn into a brutally dark secondary story line and from here is where we get some gritty, yet comedic, action violence that we all secretly wanted. The third act did feel somewhat disjointed but it was still an absolute blast and just a ton of fun.All three of these acts are very different from another and that does give Cold In July a disjointed and sometimes clumsy narrative. Story lines are brought in and dropped without resolution, and the tone switches are jarring at times. My biggest issue with the film is that it develops on some interesting ideas but never fully realizes them due to the story's frantic need to move forward at a break-neck pace. We abandon some interesting story lines throughout to replace them with others.Cold In July certainly isn't a polished and perfect movie. The jarring tone shifts and plot jumps give the film a staggered feeling. Despite these issues, Cold In July is well acted, entertaining and ultimately a ton of fun. Our unlikely team of likable anti-heroes have excellent chemistry, whether it be in the violent action sequences or the small spurts of dark humor. These interactions are all tightly-knit and leads to a surprisingly satisfying ending. This makes Cold In July a ton of fun to watch. Just don't go into it expecting a cohesive story or delicate narrative and you should be as pleased as I am.

redrobin62-321-207311 Kewl film. Wasn't as graphic and brutal as I'd hoped, but then again, I've probably been looking at too many Korean, French and German thrillers lately.Almost everything was right with this movie - the acting, pacing, cinematography, direction, sound design, etc. Sam Shepard, looking as worn as merle Haggard, played his part well. Don Johnson also hit the nail on the head as well as Michael Hall.This was a tense enough thriller and didn't really drag. The unexpected twists sure kept me on my toes. My biggest issue, however, was the incompleteness of the script. What happened to all the corrupt cops? They disappear into thin air? Maybe there's a sequel to 'Cold In July' in the wings. Let's hope so.