Friday 24 May
 
 

The Burning

It speaks to the strength of The Burning’s reputation among cult-film fans that what’s most memorable about the 1981 slasher is not that it was written by the Weinstein brothers, nor that it represents early appearances of the likes of Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens. It’s that its Cropsy is just a damned good villain.
05/24/2013 | Comments 0

Dexter: The Seventh Season

There's no way to discuss the seventh and penultimate season of Showtime's hit Dexter without acknowledging how the previous year ended. Therefore, if you haven't finished the sixth season, stop reading now. You've got work to do.
05/21/2013 | Comments 0

Nightfall

As Simon Lam gets older, he gets better. The veteran actor has appeared in such in seminal HK action films of the 1990s as Once Upon a Time in China (opposite Jet Li) and Bullet in the Head (directed by John Woo); in the aughts, he graced audience and critical favorites Election and Ip Man.
05/20/2013 | Comments 0

Grand Duel

Lee Van Cleef enjoyed a secondary career in Italy cranking out spaghetti Westerns, with little regard to quality. However, 1972’s Grand Duel — aka The Big Showdown — is deserving of its Grand label. No wonder Quentin Tarantino borrowed its sweeping theme song by Luis Bacalov for Kill Bill; you'll recognize it in two notes.
05/20/2013 | Comments 0

The Last Stand

Early in The Last Stand, the small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "It's my day off. Should be a quiet weekend." That's the new way of saying, "I've got one week to retirement," because it signals — with flashing neon and everything — that life is going to royally upend those plans.
05/17/2013 | Comments 0
Home · Articles · Movies · Drama · Redbelt
Drama

Redbelt


None May 15th, 2008

redbelt

Reviewer's grade: C+

Writer/director David Mamet ("Spartan,"  "Heist," "State and Main").  casts Chiwetel Ejiofor ("American Gangster," "Children of Men") as the owner of a judo dojo in Chicago who gets involved with a cynical movie star (Tim Allen, "Wild Hogs"), a loan shark (David Paymer), an emotionally distraught lawyer (Emily Mortimer, "Lars and the Real Girl"), a crooked mixed martial arts promoter  and other paving stones on the road to hell in this tale of suicide, graft, bribery, treachery, and betrayal.

Mamet, who began life as a playwright, has always given us more talk than the classic  directors of whom he reminds us by his chosen themes, but this picture is his talkiest"”and much of the talk is about upholding the honor of the warrior's code. It's ennobling, but in 2008 it also seems more than a little na"ve.

"Redbelt" is only mediocre Mamet, but that puts it ahead of most contemporary movies. Better to sit through three screenings of this than 10 minutes of the godawful "Speed Racer." R

 "”Doug Bentin

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
 
 

 

 
 
 
Close
Close
Close