Movie Review: The Tortured (2010)

While looking for movies featuring Bill Moseley, I stumbled across The Tortured on Netflix. I read the description and must admit to being intrigued, if not exactly wowed. I decided to give it a shot, being less than 90 minutes, it wasn’t exactly going to be a complete time suck. So hit play an settled in. The first thing to great me was the familiar Twisted Pictures logo, that I have ingrained in my mind as the start of a Saw movie (like Village Roadshow with The Matrix and the Fox fanfare with Star Wars). In any case, this movie doesn’t really need this much of a preamble, if you couldn’t guess from the title, this is your standard torture porn feature.

Movie Review: The Equalizer 2

Four years ago, director Antoine Fuqua re-teamed with his Training Day star, Denzel Washington, to reinvent a 1980’s crime drama series as a big screen action thriller. That film was The Equalizer. That movie proved to be a hit, making more than $100 million at the box office. I liked it, I thought it could have been more, but there was something about how Denzel portrayed this character that I liked. I never thought it was going to be the sort of film that would get a sequel. Goes to show what I know, right? Anyway, the sequel is here and I went to see it, not expecting all that much. I am here now to tell you that this sequel surpasses the original by a long shot. This movie floored me and I can do nothing but recommend it.

Movie Review: Rage (2014)

Nicolas Cage is becoming one of those names you just cannot avoid when it comes to direct to video type thrillers. Sure, there is the occasional theatrical release, but the man has been so busy the past few years there is no way he is going to have everything reach the big screen. Just looking at his filmography is mind blowing. If you start with this film, Rage, in 2014, he has had 13 movies released, plus there are six more in various stages of production. That is an enormous output for a three year span. To some his name has been something of a punchline, but to others he is a big draw. That includes me.

Movie Review: Officer Downe

Have you ever thought what a riff on RoboCop and Judge Dredd directed by a member of Slipknot from a comic book source may look like? No? Well, why not? It doesn’t matter much, in case you are curious, such a beast actually exists. Officer Downe is one wild and weird movie. It is the movie that you will continue to watch, while trying to figure out what exactly it is supposed to be. Seriously, I found the movie to be quite entertaining, but when you try to figure it out, it is revealed to just be a complete mess. There does not seem to be a point to it and the story is show buried below the surface that it becomes a negligible element. The best choice would seem to be to just accept it for the surface and enjoy it on the level it is dead set to exist on, a cinematic oddity.

Movie Review: Kickboxer - Vengeance

Way back in 1989 Jean Claude Van Damme was a rising star. He had already shown audiences his considerable screen presence and charisma in Bloodsport and Cyborg. His followup was Kickboxer, an action revenge flick that saw Van Damme head to Bangkok to avenge the brutal death of his brother at the hands of underground fight champion, Tong Po. That film proved to be a hit a spawned a number of sequels. Now, we are faced with a reboot of the franchise. Why? I could not say. Even stranger is that it was sent the direct to video route and is a decidedly lackluster outing.

Retro-view: Natural Born Killers

One of the advantages of living within a reasonable driving distance of an Alamo Drafthouse theater is that it gives me access to seeing older films in a theater on a big screen. In many cases this also means being able to see a 35mm print, which is becoming harder and harder to do. For a movie lover, such as myself, the big screen is the best way to see a movie, even if it is one you’ve seen many times over. The latest example of this is Natural Born Killers, a movie I originally saw in theaters as a homework assignment way back in 1994. Let me say that it was a great seeing it in a theater again.

Movie Review: The Connection (2015)

In 1971, William Friedkin gave us the first R-rated film to win Best Picture, The French Connection. It is a pretty amazing thriller that gives us a fictionalized version of an actual reality where a couple of narcotics cops stumble onto a drug smuggling ring with ties to France. It is a gritty thing of a movie that has to be considered among the best crime films. Now, knowing what was going on in New York City and the ties to France, could there be anything similar going on on the other side of the ocean? Enter The Connection, a French production that takes a look at the French investigation in Marseilles into the massive drug operation.

Movie Review: Gone Girl

Wow. What else can I say? David Fincher is a masterful director. Sure, his movies may not all be perfect, but the guy is an amazing talent and nowhere is it on display better than in Gone Girl. With this movie the audience is played like a harp from hell. I had no idea just how far this movie would go. Simply put, the trailers do not even hint at what goes on in this movie. What they do is give a great set up and an interesting hook. Hell, while that hook may have been interesting, I was still unconvinced this would be good, or be able to justify its lengthy run time. Belive me, it did justify it.

Movie Review: The Drop (2014)

The Drop is an interesting movie. It is not a great one, nor is it one that is likely to be remembered by hordes of cinema fans in years to come, but it is also not one that is likely to ever fade away. It will be first notable in a way similar to The Imaginarium of Dr. Panassus as the final film from a good actor who passed before his time. Heath Ledger for Parnassus and James Gandolfini for The Drop. Fortunately, both films are good and benefit from their respective late actors presence. Now, while I did enjoy the movie, it still feels like a movie with the masquerade of depth rather than actual depth.

Movie Review: Hitch-Hike (1977)

The world of cult, exploitation, and horror cinema holds a wealth of treasures. These movies have no limits, know no bounds, well, except for budgetary ones, but so what? It is fascinating to watch what a writer and director do to try and make interesting, involving, and boundary pushing films. Now, I am not sure that this particular film exactly qualifies as boundary pushing, but it is one that reminded me that you never know where you are going to uncover a gem. It is a movie that peels the rug back on ugliness, it shows its grimy underbelly to the world, and it could care less if you approve.

Movie Review: The Raid 2

Two years ago The Raid: Redemption popped onto my radar seemingly out of nowhere. The movie was light on plot and heavy on the action. It was a combination that worked extraordinarily well. Sometimes. A tag line that sums up the movie is a good thing. In this case it told is: "1 Ruthless Crime Lord, 20 Elite Cops, 30 Floors of Chaos." That is all you need. It was essentially one big action scene, and it did not disappoint. Now, we are faced with The Raid 2. Is it possible for this to live up to the original? Can we be fortunate enough to not see a rehash of what we have already seen? The answer is an emphatic yes!

Critical Capsule: Sabotage (2014)

Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to movies with a bit part in 2012's The Expendables. Since then he has appeared in that film's sequel as well as starring in The Last Stand and co-starring, with Sylvester Stallone, in Escape Plan. He is back once more in the driver's seat of a new action thriller, and it is probably the best starring role he has had since he left the Governor's mansion. This is not to say it is a great movie, but it is certainly entertaining and almost gleefully violent. It is called Sabotage.

Horror-A-Day: Crimson, the Color of Blood

The odd early October weather continues and I guess it is just a matter of time before things take a turn for the seasonal. Speaking of a matter of time, I have come across the first film of my October horror run to leave me less than enthused. It is always sad when this happens, but there is no way to sustain a terribly long run of positive experiences, especially when you are working with unknown factors like movies you had never seen, in some cases hard of, before.

Movie Review: Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad was originally slated for release late last summer, but in the wake of the Aurora tragedy the release was delayed. The delay was partly due to the gun violence, but I suspect it was more the scene depicting a gunfight in a movie theater. The studio was understandably concerned and rightly chose to delay it's release. They also went and removed the theater sequence. I do not agree with this decision even if the scene did not have any impact on the overall story. Still, I found myself in the theater unsure of what quite to expect.

Blu-ray Review: Accident (2009)

Accident is crime thriller/character study hailing from Hong Kong. It is a movie that is equal parts intriguing and infuriating. I really expected to like it more than I did, but then, I was not really sure what I was getting myself into. I will say that the concept worked well, where it failed for me was in the execution.

Blu-ray Review: Branded to Kill

There are movies that make you wonder just what in the world you just watched. I remember having that reaction when I watched Hausu, a positively gonzo haunted house film made in the 1970's in Japan. I have just had that reaction again to another Japanese film, this one a Yakuza thriller from the late 1960's. The movie is called Branded to Kill and it is one of those movies that reads pretty straight forward on paper, but when it comes to the execution, look out! This is a bizarre movie that borders on the nonsensical. It is also a movie well worth the time if you want to take trip off the beaten path.

Blu-ray Review: Ocean's 11 - 50th Anniversary Edition

I have been struggling with this movie for days. Not because I don't know how to write about it, well maybe a little. The struggle comes from the fact that I do not particularly care for the movie. As I watched it in chunks over the course of a few days I often found myself wondering why it has built up this cache of cool over the decades. Well, I did not wonder for long as the answer is pretty simple: the cast. That's right, when you have the first ever rat pack movie it is going to be remembered for that more than anything else. Pair it up with the Steven Soderbergh helmed remake in 2001 and you have a remake that surpasses the original. Of course, it could also just be me.