Action
Rod Lott
Pop quiz, hotshot: What American movie would the South Korean filmmakers of Quick would like you to believe it emulates? The answer is not difficult, because it's written right on the box: Speed.

Thriller
Rod Lott
Compared to the continent of Europe, the rate of death by guns in America is six times higher. You wouldn’t know it based on the current wave of crime films from that half of the globe. Arguably kicked off by the worldwide success of Sweden’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, the movies generally are ballsier and bloodier and, therefore, better.

Comedy
Rod Lott
Japan's Karate-Robo Zaborgar is a movie that has everything: a female cyborg girl with a detachable head and with missiles hidden in her metal bra, a samurai robot with enormous lips, a floating castle, a lactating man, multiple exploding footballs, a flying wheelchair powered by flatulence, and, lest we forget, sex tentacles.

Action
Rod Lott
For his productions, Roger Corman knew the market value of a great title. Naked Angels is one of them, but in the case, but it’s like putting icing on a pile of dog poop.

Action
Rod Lott
In the case of 1972's Sitting Target, the title refers to Pat Lomart (Jill St. John, Diamonds Are Forever), the wife of rough and rugged Harry (Oliver Reed, Gladiator). The opening scene finds her visiting him behind bars, where he's being held for murder. Since he's liable to get 15 years, she can't wait for him, so she's filing for divorce.

Comedy
Rod Lott
I recently had a discussion with friends about the increasing trend of self-aggrandizing Twitter bios of locals who think so mighty highly of themselves, they must brag to the Internet about their amazing awesomeness! Our theory is, if you have to tell the world you're a "creative genius" or "master of [fill in the blank]," you're more than likely not. Real genius speaks for itself.

Western
Rod Lott
What a kick it is to see Robert Mitchum biting into a stogie and laying waste to a room with a machine gun. Because, really, how often does a man of the cloth do that? No wonder the 1972 quasi-Western is titled The Wrath of God. The film takes place in a South American town so brutal and dismal that, as one character reasons, "If God had wanted to give the world an enema, he'd've stuck the nozzle in here."

Action
Rod Lott
In 1986, writer and artist Frank Miller changed the comic-book industry forever with the four-issue series that became the graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. Its sour disposition and gritty attitude was arguably the darkest depiction of Batman the world had seen, paving the way for the caped crusader’s move to big-screen blockbuster three years later.