Making Reno, Nev., look like a miserable stinkhole of a city — and that’s even before any undead show up — Remains focuses on the dozens of denizens who play and work in the Silver Star Hotel and Casino. When a government test of a new “nuke oven” goes awry, everyone who’s not, say, having […]
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Twins of Evil
At the quaint European village of Karnstein arrive identical twin sisters Maria and Frieda Gellhorn (real-life sibs and 1970 Playboy centerfolds Mary and Madeleine Collinson). Newly orphaned, the beautiful young women come from Venice to live with their Aunt Katy (Kathleen Byron, The Elephant Man) and Uncle Gustav (the legendary Peter Cushing). Upon seeing them […]
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The Girl from the Naked Eye
All of 16 years old, but with the soul of an old poet, fresh hooker Sandy Wright (Samantha Street, Alien Raiders) is dead, and Jake (Jason Yee, who co-wrote the script), the club’s driver, takes it upon himself to track down her killers and dish out the requisite payback. Having saved the runaway girl from […]
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Casa de Mi Padre
Shot in “Mexicoscope” by director Matt Piedmont (TV’s Funny or Die Presents …), the movie casts Ferrell as dumpy ranch hand Armando Alvarez who inadvertently gets mixed up in the drug war between his favored brother, Raul (Diego Luna, Contraband), and Raul’s nemesis (Gael García Bernal, Babel). To further complicate matters, he falls for his […]
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Lockout
I know exactly what a Besson production will mean: high-concept action rendered as a high-octane cartoon in live-action, with a severe chance for martial arts. The French filmmaker’s name equals a style equals a brand. His aesthetic appears even when he doesn’t direct. His creative stamp supersedes all. And so it is again with Lockout, […]
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ATM / Brake
I’m beginning to think Chris Sparling is trying to carve a screenwriting career as the Tight, Enclosed Spaces Guy. First, he put Ryan Reynolds in a coffin for the entirety of Buried. Now, he’s trapped three young co-workers (played by Men in Black 3‘s Alice Eve, The Hurt Locker‘s Brian Geraghty and The Wackness‘ Josh […]
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‘Bad’ teacher
In the AMC cable series, which kicked off its fifth and final season Sunday, Bryan Cranston portrays Walter White, organic chemistry teacher by day, meth manufacturer by night. Since nearly the start, Breaking Bad staff writers call upon Nelson to ensure their series’ science is solid. “It was a little bit of a difficult decision […]
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Cherry Bomb
The title refers to a stripper (Julin Jean, The Final) who is raped on the job by five guys in the “champagne room” at 3 a.m. Because one of them is a big construction honcho in the community and properly lawyered up, the cops do nothing. In revenge, her estranged brother (John Rodriguez) accidentally kills […]
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Best Laid Plans
Subbing as the British film’s George and Lenny are, respectively, drugged-out thug Danny (Stephen Graham, Al Capone in TV’s Boardwalk Empire) and mentally handicapped giant Joseph (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, TV’s Lost). The former enrolls the latter against his will in unregulated MMA scuffles for quick paydays. Danny and Joseph are friends out of necessity, depending upon […]
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The Deep Blue Sea
Written and directed by Terence Davies — who performed such duties on 2000’s well-received The House of Mirth and 1992’s The Long Day Closes — the film announces its dreary, depressing nature right from the opening scene, in which Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz, Dream House, The Lovely Bones) decides she wants to die. So she […]