Now, he’s fallen in love with one of his patients, Diane (Riley Keough, Magic Mike), a young woman with infected kidneys. He so wants to be near her that he starts taking steps to keep her sick — and therefore, in his care at the hospital — like replacing the goods in her medication with sugar […]
Rod Lott
Posted inArts & Culture
Arbitrage
Robert Miller (Gere) should have lots to celebrate: Turning 60, he has his health, a loyal wife (Susan Sarandon, Cloud Atlas) and a megasuccessful firm he’s about to sell for a tidy profit. But Robert is duplicitous; he’s actually in dire straits financially, and sunk if the sale fails to go through within the week. […]
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Resident Evil: Retribution
After an exposition-filled prologue in which our heroine, Alice (Milla Jovovich, Dirty Girl), faces the audience to relay the events of the first four flicks, Retribution goes straight into a shameless rip-off of the much-lauded beginning of 2004’s Dawn of the Dead. This is far from the film’s only act of cribbing; look for direct […]
Posted inMusic
Dollar for the Dead
Estevez is a cowboy everyone refers to as Cowboy — a deliberate nod to Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name of Sergio Leone’s beloved Dollars trilogy. The rootin’-tootin’ sharpshooter partners with greasy Confederate soldier Dooley (William Forsythe, The Rig), who possesses one-fourth of a map that will lead them to treasure. Only former NFL star/Radio […]
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Chiller: The Complete Television Series
And, as with any media in the omnibus format, some episodes clearly work better than others. The irony is that Chiller begins to find its footing as the hours click by, yet it’s all over and done with after five. The two-disc set contains the entire quintet of the supernatural stories. The first, “Prophecy,” […]
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Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXV
While none are classics, the four episodes collected here make for a terrific representation of the comedy series’ range, as our host (Joel Hodgson or Mike Nelson, depending on the ep) and his trusty robot friends rip bad movies a new one from the corner of your screen. They can lampoon no-budget sci-fi (1986’s Robot […]
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Cinematic ‘Kingdom’
PHIL BACHARACH’S PICKS 1. Moonrise Kingdom — Director Wes Anderson was born to make this film, a work that beautifully captures the world of adolescent obsession. From its exuberant sense of nostalgia to its Kodachrome visual look, this tale of prepubescent love circa 1965 feels mythical and timeless. 2. Silver Linings Playbook — Bipolar depression, obsessive-compulsive […]
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Orbit(film)
Slip these surly bonds of Earth, and acclimation is required. And so it is with Orbit(film), an omnibus project in which each planet in our solar system earns its own short, all but one under 10 minutes, by a different indie director. The very definition of microbudgeted DIY filmmaking, the shorts vary wildly in approach. […]
Posted inMusic
Django Unchained
The result is a brutal, bloody epic that hits theaters on Christmas Day. Happy birthday, Jesus! Paying homage to the Italian Django franchise birthed in 1966, Tarantino delivers what could serve as the origin story of the bounty hunter, if not for his Civil War-era setting and race-reversal casting. Jamie Foxx (Horrible Bosses) is enormously […]
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The Frozen
Mike knows Emma isn’t thrilled about the trip. What he doesn’t know is that she’s just found out she’s pregnant. That’s an issue they can deal with later, however; more pressing is that their snowmobile crashes, leaving them injured and no cell signal to call for help. Plus, it appears they are being followed. It’s […]