Based on Parker novel No. 19, Flashfire, the film puts Expendables team member Jason Statham in a role previously played by, among others, Mel Gibson in Payback, Robert Duvall in The Outfit and even Jim Brown in The Split. Parker is a criminal, but the “good” kind: He doesn’t steal from those who can’t afford […]
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Posted inArts & Culture
Childrens Hospital: The Complete Fourth Season
The good news is that it’s as hilarious as it’s ever been. The bad news is that its title still lacks the necessary apostrophe. (Perhaps that’s only bad news if you’re a writer/editor.) How does it stay fresh and funny? By not adhering to any pesky distractions like “story arcs” and “character development.” Each episode […]
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The Bletchley Circle
When the meekest of them (Anna Maxwell Martin) notices a pattern in a string of Jack the Ripper-esque slayings plaguing back together, so to speak. London, she gets the band back together, so to speak. If they couldn’t tell anyone about their wartime efforts, they certainly can’t tell anyone now; after all, what could housewives […]
Posted inMusic
Here for the party
A lot of singers are more than happy to release an album every two years, maybe once a year if they’re especially fastidious. But for Gretchen Wilson, that’s not good enough. This year alone, she’s releasing three (her latest, Right on Time, dropped April 2) while embarking on a tour. This, mind you, is all […]
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ID:A
The Danish thriller is worth watching for its twisty premise and the La Femme Nikita-level strong lead performance of Tuva Novotny (Eat Pray Love) as Ida, the amnesiac who, as she gradually emerges from her mental fog, comes to fear she may have been involved in the assassination of a politician. The truth is far […]
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H.P. Lovecraft’s Cool Air
They have something to do with a 5,000-year-old Egyptian relic called the Horns of Werethekau and one Dr. Torres who has the power to resurrect the dead, but you’re likely to have forgotten that when the opening credits finally finish up four minutes later. And you’re equally likely to forget the entire movie 82 minutes […]
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Flash Gordon: The Complete Series
Now that I’ve seen its long-delayed DVD set from Mill Creek Entertainment, I can say that, to my surprise, it’s not. Oh, it’s still not “good,” but it’s watchable in a minimal-investment, entertainment-as-wallpaper way. The first step for interested parties is to remove any hopes that this small-screen Flash Gordon will be anything like the […]
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The Place Beyond the Pines
The opening minutes serve as a nifty precursor for the action, both physical and psychological, to follow. Stunt motorcycle driver Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling, Gangster Squad) emerges from a darkened trailer and into a traveling carnival. As the camera trails him over his shoulder, Luke gets on his cycle, enters the caged globe of death […]
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The Wicked
As soon as its wonderful animated opening credits finish, however, The Wicked reveals its true nature as your below-average, everyday, unimaginative horror movie. It’s wicked, all right — just not in the word’s positive connotation. Although not to be confused with the Broadway smash Wicked, this flick also is about a witch (Cassie Keller, Hostel: Part […]
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Birdemic 2: The Resurrection
You asked for it, you got it. And you have no one to blame but yourself. Birdemic 2 is every bit as incompetent as its big bro, and then some: blurred images, sound dropouts, repeated establishing shots, public high-fives and leaden dialogue (“I don’t know about the movie business, but I know how to read”). […]