From the pink, cursive typeface and pulsing, instrumental music of the opening credits, audience members will feel as if something is out of place, as if the movie is just a bit “off.” That’s because director Nicolas Winding Refn (“Bronson”) has immersed this tale in the style of Michael Mann’s “Thief,” rather than today’s “Transporter” […]
action
Posted inArts & Culture
True Legend
To HK aficionados, this will come as no shock, as the film bears the directorial credit of Yuen Woo Ping. Although known to American audiences as the guy behind the wire-fu choreography of “The Matrix,” “Kill Bill” and “Charlie’s Angels,” he’s responsible for the whole of some kick-ass projects in his homeland, including Chan in […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Captain America
As you know by now, it didn’t. If you managed not to catch it in its long-delayed VHS debut in 1993, the MGM Limited Edition Collection finally has issued the thing on DVD to tag along to interest on this summer’s big-budget, blockbuster “Captain America: The First Avenger.” Why didn’t it come out before now? […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Sword and Sorcery Collection
Two of them, 1984’s “The Warrior and the Sorceress” and 1985’s “Barbarian Queen,” were paired in a double-feature DVD last year that you now need to sell or pay forward. Here, they’re joined by 1983’s “Deathstalker” and 1987’s “Deathstalker II.” As you may have surmised, barbarian movies were big business in the 1980s, following Arnold Schwarzenegger’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Blitz
“Blitz” has little need for humor — who does when you’ve got that winning Statham scowl? Lensed in London and based on a grit-noir novel by Irish crime writer Ken Bruen, “Blitz” casts Statham as Detective Sgt. Brant, whose temper has become a liability for the station in the form of bad publicity. This makes […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
And that would be a bad thing, because “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” hoses off any stink Burton left behind. It’s one of the year’s nicest surprises. An origin story to the sci-fi franchise that began on the big screen in 1968, “Rise” draws upon story elements of 1972’s “Conquest of the Planet […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Turbulent Skies
While the disaster-movie craze of the 1970s and its rebirth in the late 1990s are long behind us, you wouldn’t know it with writer/director Fred Olen Ray’s take, which may as well as have been titled “Turbulence 4.” (Yes, two sequels to “Turbulence” actually got made.) Consider this: An airplane’s maiden flight controlled by new […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Women in Cages Collection / Women in Prison Triple Feature
“Cages” comes as part of the irresistible “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics” line, which is only natural since the skinflint producer practically invented the sub-genre with lots of skin. In the dank, Filipino prison that is 1971’s “The Big Doll House,” the more unfortunate inmates hang in bamboo cages outside to bake in the sun. Inside, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The King of Fighters
In “Fighters,” three ancient artifacts — a sword, a shield and a chain-metal necklace that looks like Red Sonja’s thong — combine to unleash energy that opens a gateway to another dimension where characters compete in underground fighting tournaments to become the King of Fighters. There, logic and physics are on hold, tunnels are awash […]
Posted inArts & Culture
13 Assassins
And this is the same man who made “Audition”? Yes, but don’t worry: He just saves most of it for the second half. Rest assured, heads will roll, literally. See the film for its visuals, not for its story. Martial arts films rarely are imbued with much in the way of plot, and this one […]