Tired of living with corpses, police academy professor and top medical examiner Kang leaves to go start a new life with his daughter. That’s postponed a bit when a woman’s body is discovered washed up seaside, fully nude. All four of her limbs have been cut off, but remain there except for one arm missing […]
action
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The Dark Knight Rises
Christian Bale returns as Gotham’s masked protector. Eight years — at least in movie time — have elapsed since the events of 2008’s The Dark Knight, and both Batman and his real-life identity, billionaire Bruce Wayne, have gone into seclusion. But the Batman is coerced back into action when an evil masked man named Bane (Tom […]
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The Girl from the Naked Eye
All of 16 years old, but with the soul of an old poet, fresh hooker Sandy Wright (Samantha Street, Alien Raiders) is dead, and Jake (Jason Yee, who co-wrote the script), the club’s driver, takes it upon himself to track down her killers and dish out the requisite payback. Having saved the runaway girl from […]
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Lockout
I know exactly what a Besson production will mean: high-concept action rendered as a high-octane cartoon in live-action, with a severe chance for martial arts. The French filmmaker’s name equals a style equals a brand. His aesthetic appears even when he doesn’t direct. His creative stamp supersedes all. And so it is again with Lockout, […]
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ATM / Brake
I’m beginning to think Chris Sparling is trying to carve a screenwriting career as the Tight, Enclosed Spaces Guy. First, he put Ryan Reynolds in a coffin for the entirety of Buried. Now, he’s trapped three young co-workers (played by Men in Black 3‘s Alice Eve, The Hurt Locker‘s Brian Geraghty and The Wackness‘ Josh […]
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Cherry Bomb
The title refers to a stripper (Julin Jean, The Final) who is raped on the job by five guys in the “champagne room” at 3 a.m. Because one of them is a big construction honcho in the community and properly lawyered up, the cops do nothing. In revenge, her estranged brother (John Rodriguez) accidentally kills […]
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Savages
Savages is a chance for Stone to hone his pulp fiction. Based on the best-selling novel by Don Winslow (who also co-wrote the script with Stone and Shane Salerno), the movie follows two best buds in California who cultivate some mighty fine bud. Ben (Aaron Johnson, Kick-Ass) is the philanthropic Buddhist of the multimillion-dollar marijuana-growing […]
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Chesty Morgan’s Bosom Buddies
Now that that’s, um, out of the way, let’s dive into the new triple-feature Blu-ray, Chesty Morgan’s Bosom Buddies, from pioneering sexploitation director Doris Wishman and the cult-film gods at Something Weird Video. For fans of really whacked-out movies, it’s one of the year’s few must-own discs. Busting out of the box first is […]
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Red Scorpion
Nearly two years later, Synapse Films comes to the rescue, not only bringing it back on DVD, but debuting it on Blu-ray — and in an uncensored cut, no less! Now that I’ve watched it, I can say with certainty it’s the best action movie ever produced by a notorious federal felon (Jack Abramoff, who […]
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Wrath of the Titans
The irony, naturally, is that Wrath is the superior picture. Not only was it actually intended to be 3-D from the green light, but the script made more sense. With fewer titans clashing about, this follow-up is far easier to, well, follow. Perseus (Sam Worthington, Avatar, Texas Killing Fields) has chosen not to live as […]