Mind you, this is played as a punch line in itself. If you can see the absurdity within the annihilation, Hatchet III is recommended for you. And if not … well, hell, you already knew that. Written — but not directed this time — by series creator Adam Green (TV’s Holliston), the third flick depicting […]
Rod Lott
Posted inArts & Culture
Errors of the Human Body
Fresh from relishing villainy in The Call, the near-unrecognizable Michael Eklund cleans up nice as Dr. Geoffrey Burton, a reluctant geneticist specializing in embryonic abnormalities for very personal reasons. He leaves the University of Massachusetts behind to continue his controversial research in Dresden, Germany — a far less-politicized environment. But Eron Sheean’s film is not […]
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My Amityville Horror
Now a father himself of two teenagers, Lutz — a dead ringer for actor Michael Chiklis (Parker) — recounts what he, his siblings, his mom and his wretched stepfather went through in the Long Island home at 112 Ocean Ave., reportedly haunted because of the six murders that occurred there. Whether speaking to a psychiatrist, […]
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X-Ray / Schizoid
The former, perhaps better-known as Hospital Massacre, comes from the age where you not only could smoke inside a medical center, but could rest a nationwide release on the shoulders of a Playboy personality — in this case, Barbi Benton. She plays Susan, a beautiful divorcée who goes to the hospital to hear her results […]
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Olympus Has Fallen
I’m talking about Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, just to be clear. In Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen, Aaron Eckhart grows angry and Morgan Freeman pulls strings from the sidelines, while a possibly crazy but altogether decent man dishes out some superheroic justice to save the city, yet the result is a terrible movie, arguably […]
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Oblivion
In 2077, post-nuclear war, Earth is largely uninhabitable, sending survivors to live on one of Saturn’s moons. Cruise’s Jack Harper cruises the skies over the former New York City to guard giant water-sucking machines from attacks. He’s aided in his daily missions by the watchful eye of Victoria (Andrea Riseborough, Disconnect), who works behind a […]
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Bert Stern: Original Madman
New to DVD from First Run Features, it is one of the very best nonfiction films of the past year. The former soda jerk and Korean War vet earned fame and fortune as a conceptual photographer in the Madison Avenue ad game, helping revolutionize the industry in the 1950s and ’60s with his creative thinking […]
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The Guillotines
Not necessarily. The guillotines of The Guillotines are of the shimmering CGI kind, and so obvious as to be cartoons. Still, this Hong Kong pic is at its best when the guillotines spin on their scooped launchers like rabid dogs waiting to be unleashed, then zoom around the place looking for a head to latch […]
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The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec
In his first live-action directorial outing since 2005’s Angel-A, Besson adapts the first story from Jacques Tardi’s acclaimed comics, which began in 1976. The titular heroine (played by Louise Bourgoin, Black Heaven) is a professional tomb raider in early 20th-century Paris, like Lara Croft but sporting frilly outfits and feathers. This grandiose dose of […]
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The Canyons
Available on VOD beginning Friday, the IFC Films release casts a voyeuristic eye on Los Angeles couple Tara (tabloid fixture Lindsay Lohan, Liz & Dick) and Christian (porn star James Deen, Anal Buffet 8). They’ve been together for one year, but their bedroom — and other areas of their pleasure pad — often plays host […]