War of the Arrows
Just in the past 15 years, I’ve seen literally hundreds of martial-arts
movies, a genre that — especially in its 1970s heyday — thrived on
abiding to a mindless, predictable template. As a result, many are
indistinguishable from one another.
02/20/2012 | Comments 0The Deadly Spawn: Millennium Edition
From 1983, “Deadly Spawn”
clearly is rooted in the style of the 1950s sci-fi monster movies whose
posters bedeck one of the character’s walls, from Bert I. Gordon's "The
Spider" to Jack Arnold’s “Monster on the Campus” — films in which
severe deficiencies in budget are mitigated by ingenuity and charm.
02/20/2012 | Comments 0Rabies
The less you know about "Rabies,"
the better. Don't be misled by the title, which suggests some sort of
viral thriller along the lines of "Contagion." However, the movie is so
clever, so twisty-turvy, you may foam at the mouth in satisfaction.
02/20/2012 | Comments 0
Mad Detective
A slaughtered pig hangs in the middle of a room, at which Inspector Bun
(Lau Ching Wan, “Black Mask”) stabs. Then he zips himself up in a
suitcase and asks a colleague to push him down a stairwell. Then he cuts
off his own ear as a going-away present for his boss.
02/17/2012 | Comments 0
