In its post-apocalyptic setting of 2042, what remains of our country is a barren wasteland where death warrants are issued for white-collar criminals (somehow, there are still plenty) and bounty hunters compete madly for them, racking up quite a body count. Speaking of rack, “the greatest killer the world had ever known” happens to be […]
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Killer Holiday / Murder University
Killer Holiday is so named because the killer’s name is Holiday (ha-ha?) and because for the aggravating eight college students passing for protagonists, it’s spring break, dude! So your Overweight Douche, your Frat Douche, your Party Girl, your Smart Girl and so on pile into an RV to get their kicks on Route 66, because […]
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The Big Bus
Never as readily available and accessible as it should be, The Big Bus belatedly pulls back into in-print status through Warner Archive. Better manufactured-on-demand than never! His lead-up to The Muppet Movie, director James Frawley keeps the atmosphere light with slapstick as the company behind the $12 million nuclear-powered superbus known as Cyclops has no […]
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Byzantium
The film takes its title from an old hotel into which Clara (Gemma Arterton, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) moves with her “daughter,” Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan, The Host). The women are vampires; for 200 years they’ve been bound by blood and that’s a thirst they can’t quite quench, although Eleanor sure wishes she could. To survive, Eleanor seeks […]
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A Hijacking
The Rozen is en route to Mumbai when the weapons-toting Somalis overtake the ship and its seven-man crew. Writer/director Tobias Lindholm doesn’t utilize the captain as our viewpoint, but the cook, Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk, TV’s The Borgias), a nice man who makes a mean omelet. The other half of A Hijacking gets inside the head of […]
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The Spirit
Former Flash Gordon Sam Jones plays another Sunday-funnies superstar as The Spirit, the crime fighter formerly known as square-jawed, straight-and-narrow cop Denny Colt. When he’s shot by a baddie and presumed dead, Denny takes advantage of the situation by donning the teeny-tiniest of blue masks to disguise his identity as The Spirit, who sets about […]
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Abducted
But crap happens, and while being all cute and cuddly in L.A.’s famed Griffith Park, the happy couple is darted from afar and drugged into a state of unconsciousness. They awake in a dingy cell looking not unlike the basement from the original Saw. Something’s up and yet, something else is up, because whoever their […]
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Day of the Dead
By the time 1985 rolled around, Romero had made one other Dead film: the brilliant Dawn of the Dead. Other countries, especially Italy and Spain, turned zombie movies into virtual cash machines and zombies, for the first time, were everywhere. So there was great anticipation for Day of the Dead, Romero’s third film in what […]
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Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
Unlike its predecessors, Bad Grandpa attempts the franchise’s most daring stunt of all: telling a story. But only barely; while the narrative here serves its purpose — as a framework for a succession of Borat-style bad-taste bits — it is as minimal as allowed. That it also is the funniest film of the year (until […]
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Resolution
Resembling Wolfman Jack as a hobo, Chris refuses. With the help of a taser and handcuffs that attach to a pipe running along the exposed wall, Michael puts Chris on an involuntary, seven-day detox. As his friend experiences withdrawal, Michael comes across some tweakers and members of a religious fringe group, but these weird people […]