Not for nothing does This Is Martin Bonner carry that matter-of-fact, take-it-or-leave-it title. The film is a temporary glimpse into an ordinary man’s conventional life yet is told unconventionally, in that it doesn’t offer the regular beats to which moviegoers are accustomed (if not numbed). We swoop in, we observe its subject for a while, […]
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Cockneys vs Zombies
In jolly ol’ England, the Bow Bells Care Home is set to be demolished to make way for luxury apartments, thereby displacing many a needy elder. The move comes earlier than anticipated when the construction crew unearths a “plague pit” chock full of the living dead. Meanwhile, one of the residents (Alan Ford, The Sweeney […]
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Spectacular story
Tharp is the author of such bestsellers as Falling Dark, Knights of the Hill Country and Badd. With the release of the film adaptation of his critically acclaimed novel The Spectacular Now, Tharp doesn’t consider himself a young-adult writer but hasn’t strayed too far from the genre. “I became interested in writing about young adults […]
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An American Ghost Story
The Breaking Glass Pictures release is not to be confused with the FX hit series American Horror Story, although I’m sure Breaking Glass won’t mind if any potential renters do. Early in the no-budget picture, the main character tells his girfriend, “Anything to do with paranormal activity is really hot right now,” and that feels […]
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The Frozen Dead
Said scientist is Dr. Norberg (Dana Andrews, Airport 1975), who lives in London, even if his heart belongs to Germany — Nazi Germany, in fact: “I’m as good a Nazi as I was 25 years ago.” So dedicated to his party is he that Norberg thirsts to bring deceased members of the Third Reich back […]
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Hands of a Stranger
The Hands of a Stranger fuse nicely, but there’s one unfortunate side effect: Vernon now tickles the ivories with as much finesse as a kindergartener who forgot his Ritalin. Make that two side effects: He also kinda sorta becomes a killer. In the Hands of writer/director Newt Arnold (Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport), the 1962 chiller […]
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The Iceman
Not another X-Men spin-off, it’s the true story of Richard Kuklinski, a family man turned hit man who showed so little emotion doing his dirty deeds that not even his wife and kids knew what he really did for a living. Richie carried out his guise for around 20 years, finally getting caught in 1986. […]
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Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection
Yet those were DVDs — and no-frills editions at that — whereas the new Legacy Collection is filled primarily with Blu-rays and loads of extras — about as many as the Boss is Big. Having just reviewed The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death, I won’t rehash those […]
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Q: The Winged Serpent
It also helps that it’s about a giant, dragon-like creature that snatches up New York City residents from rooftops for snacks. Running concurrently with a serial killer skinning his victims, the monster’s appearance has the Big Apple police force on edge. While running away from some of New York’s finest, Quinn mistakenly stumbles into the […]
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A Boy and His Dog
One would think that a film — boasting source material from a writer with an especially rabid following — that established the visual template for the now ubiquitous post-apocalyptic wasteland and stars Don Johnson would have caught on at some point over the past 38 years. Yet, not even when there was such a shortage […]