Python Hyena U-Turn (1997): Dir: Oliver Stone / Cast: Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Powers Booth, Billy Bob Thornton: A definite mess by director Oliver Stone with stylish shots and editing but no real focus. It seems to address bad decisions that result in fatal consequences. Sean Penn plays a gambler who arrives in a small town. When the money suffers a shotgun blast he frets over the possibility of losing more fingers than the two he already lost. He meets a woman who is being abused by her husband and she makes him a cash offer for his death. Her husband makes him the same offer regarding his daughter. No plot forming but rather just a series of often pointless mishaps. Director Oliver Stone is not focused here despite the fact that the film is well made technically. It isn't focused like his work in Natural Born Killers. Penn displays his desperate anguish as someone caught between the mob, and committing murder and leaving it obvious that there is no positive outcome. Jennifer Lopez as the seductive vixen with a venomous offer provides tension. Nick Nolte plays her sadistic husband who makes an offer of his own. Powers Booth plays the sadistic town Sheriff who also shares a past with the Lopez character. Billy Bob Thornton plays a mechanic who is as strange as everyone else in this film. While the film is somewhat entertaining, it serves as a complete u-turn for Stone. Score: 6 / 10

Gatto Nero Wow. What a weird movie. And from Oliver Stone no less.But what a cast! Penn, Nolte, Lopez, Boothe, Voight, Thorton, Phoenix, Danes...etc.I expected a little more intensity from Penn. he seemed to weak and easily manipulated. But his character seem to demanded him to be that way.Nolte as the dirty old man who is and has been basically "raping" his step-daughter Lopez, was OK. He seemed very thin back in 1997. maybe the role demanded it.Lopez as the "femme fatale" per say did OK also. Her scenes of making love with Penn and Nolte just did not seemed convincing at all. But still, she held her own with the these two "heavyweights" of the cinema.Boothe was once again doing yet another part as a sheriff. But I felt he was wasted as usual. he really didn't have much to do but just get killed.Phoenix as T.N.T was a treat. he seemed to remind me of a young Ray Liotta. Intense and psychotic at the same time. All for the "love" of a woman. He was one of the memorable characters of the this unusual film.Danes was wasted as his "girl" who really wants to leave this hick town and leave with Penn. Thus inciting Phoenix's jealousy big-time.Thorton for me stole the picture along with Phoenix. Thorton's 'Darrell' embodied the true redneck nightmare one can encounter in these small one-horse towns. He's scary and funny at the same time. A real complete treat of casting here for Billy Bob.Voight, I did not recognize at 1st! that's how much i was paying attention. But it's because I was focusing on the other characters in the film. Voight's blind guy was somewhat memorable once you know it's him under that makeup.Julie Hargerty's waitress was OK but her scenes were way to short to appreciate them, plus she was somewhat exemplified a little exaggerating as a typical redneck town waitress.Laurie Metcalf fared a little better as the Bus Station Clerk giving Penn a hard time for not having the exact amount to buy a ticket for the bus. But again her role was brief. good but brief.Abraham Benrubi as a biker/thief was also way too brief and was also wasted. he could have been an interesting character, but was blown away way to quickly. And by a little old lady no less! I would have had him cast as the Russian enforcer who shows up at the town looking for Penn. But alas I'm not the writer of the film. Shame. But the two stars that I have no idea why they were in the movie at all because their roles were so inconsequential, that any bit-extra actor could have done their brief cameos!! I'm talking about the great Bo Hopkins and the lovely Liv Tyler. Hopkins cameo just didn't make sense to me. He's in the diner when Penn encounters Phoenix and Danes for the 1st time, but he is just a simple customer in the background!? What the hell? I believe he didn't even have any lines!? I think Stone could have put him to better use as the sheriff of the town. And had Boothe as the mafia guy that Penn owed money to.But the worst cameo was Tyler's blink or you'll miss her as the customer behind Penn at the bus station wanting to buy a ticket and Metcalf's clerk is so distraught over Penn's emotional outburst, that she closes for the day leaving Tyler like "what the hell?" Exactly. what the hell Stone? What was the point of even having her in the bit scene? I guess we will never know. just like the point of this exaggerating pulp nonsense.

Twins65 Not as much as you'd think. It had a chance to work, but ultimately fizzled.I finally got around to watching U TURN, a full 15 years after it came out and sunk at the box office. You never even see it playing on cable, so I had to rent a copy. I just recently watched Stone's latest, SAVAGES, which I did like, but the American public apparently didn't. Anyway,I thought I'd catch up on missed Oliver Stone movies, and this was first up.This movie had a nice look, the acting decent, and the story was OK (for the first hour anyway), but then the drag out, double-crosses (and "triple crosses") just seemed to go on forever. It should have been better, but I just can't figure out why it wasn't. I really wanted it to end soon after Nolte took the direct ax shot, but we still had another unseen plot line to develop with Boothe.Cameos by Julie Hagerty, Laurie Metcalf, and a blink & you'll miss her Liv Tyler were helpful, J. Phoenix always brings it, and the Russian guys were amusing. However, only Penn's scenes with Billy Bob really seemed to hit with some punch. I've always liked Thornton, even when he's sleep-walking through his blockbuster paycheck roles.Anyway, I say take a pass on U TURN, as it's too long and the payoff just ain't worth the wait.

Philip R Hall Bobby Cooper is having a bad day. In fact, Bobby Cooper is having a very bad day. Stuck in a small Arizona town in the desert when his car breaks down, he begins to meet the townspeople. And that's when the fun begins. It starts with Darrell, the mechanic who's working on his car. The mechanic from hell. Come to think of it, most of the townspeople were from hell. And like Dante, everything Bobby does sends him to a deeper section of hell. I found myself saying 'You gotta be kidding me!' every five minutes. Nothing is what it seems. Even when you think you've figured it out, it still catches you off-guard in places. It's somewhat similar to Red Rock in that way. The movie spoofs the whole neo-noir genre and it even winks at itself. This is Oliver Stone at his best. I still can't think about this movie without grinning. As weird as they were, the characters were believable. Over-the-top, but believable. This is the quintessential black comedy. And the most hilarious.If you can get past the language, rent this one. It's a winner.