Films like The WIzard of Oz and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 are known for their LGBT subtexts.
Clint Eastwood
Posted inArts & Culture
American Sniper hits mark, focuses on soldier’s life
New movie honors a hero but misses mark on accomplishments in his name.
Posted inArts & Culture
Enter Nowhere
Three stranded strangers end up arriving at a cabin in the omnipresent middle of nowhere. Jody (Sara Paxton, Shark Night) has just robbed a convenience store. Sam (Katherine Waterston, Taking Woodstock) is newly pregnant and looking for her husband. Tom (Scott Eastwood, son of yep, that guy) is dealing with a broken-down car. The temperature […]
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The Last Hard Men / Sky Riders
Neither, however, was really all that good. “The Last Hard Men” — snicker, snicker — is an update of the traditional Western, in which Coburn sets himself free of a prison chain gang using a railroad spike so he can exact revenge on a retired lawman (Charlton Heston, gruff as ever and hiding behind one monster […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Last Hard Men / Sky Riders
Neither, however, was really all that good. “The Last Hard Men” — snicker, snicker — is an update of the traditional Western, in which Coburn sets himself free of a prison chain gang using a railroad spike so he can exact revenge on a retired lawman (Charlton Heston, gruff as ever and hiding behind one monster […]
Posted inMusic
Blackthorn
Early in “Blackthorn,” I had to smile when the line “I can’t trust someone with no name” was uttered. Immediately, it brought to mind Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name character from Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy — some of the best Westerns ever made. And “Blackthorn” is nothing if not a cinematic celebration of the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Cowboys & Aliens
But in one of the pleasant surprises of the summer-movie season, this genre mash-up is lean, handsomely crafted entertainment. It works precisely because it acts as if there’s no joke. You’ve got cowboys, and you’ve got aliens. ’Nuff said. It certainly starts with a bang. A man (Daniel Craig, “Quantum of Solace”) wakes up in […]
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The Mechanic
Fresh from the all-star “The Expendables,” Statham takes over Charles Bronson’s role from the 1972 “Mechanic” as Arthur, the title’s hit man for hire who is ordered to off his wealthy mentor (Donald Sutherland, TV’s “The Pillars of the Earth”) and then, feeling guilty, takes the man’s destitute son, Steve (Ben Foster, “Pandorum”), under his […]
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Hereafter
Unfortunately, the drama has nowhere to go after that, increasingly become a real patience-tester at 129 minutes. Cécile De France (“Mesrine: Killer Instinct”) is a vacationer who barely survives that horrific disaster, during which she glimpses the afterlife. Twins Frankie and George McLaren play brothers, one of whom is killed in an accident, and communicates […]
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Carnival Magic
In case you want to know more: I’ve seen several films by B-movie director Al Adamson, but 1982’s “Carnival Magic” is quite a departure from his usual horror and action efforts like “Dracula vs. Frankenstein” and “Satan’s Sadists.” For one thing, it’s a family film. For another, its cast is comprised of the aforementioned talking […]