Josh Johnson’s documentary chronicles the VHS format from birth to death, and those for whom the words on its “Be Kind Rewind” sticker remain a way of life. In 94 minutes, he covers a ton of ground: the Beta vs. VHS showdown, the porn explosion (pun intended), the dawn of sell-through tapes, the lost art […]
review
Posted inArts & Culture
Die, Monster, Die!
That would be a sinister, humming force that can turn people — Witley’s wife included — into hideous mutant freaks. The special effects are not so special until you get a glimpse of the giant octopus or, better yet, when Witley turns into some sort of glowing metal man. (Again, don’t ask why — this […]
Posted inMusic
Willis — The Understanding
From the opening R&B samples and powerful horn section that triumphantly blasts the arrival of a new hero on the scene, Willis’ The Understanding perfectly captures the inner-city swagger of a blaxploitation movie icon. Strutting through these dirty streets like he is God almighty, Willis unashamedly kicks the doors in and sits at the head of […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Seoul food
Sizzling Chicken Bulgogi Photo: Mark Hancock Many of the metro’s oldest Korean restaurants are in Midwest City. Some are enterprises started by war brides and their families whose first glimpse of the USA was Tinker Air Force Base. Dong-A Korean Restaurant is away from those well-established bastions of kimchi. As with most area Korean restaurants, […]
Posted inMusic
Killer tunes
Photo: Ben Aqua Sam Chown, best known as one-half of the Texas experimental psych duo Zorch, constantly has music rattling around in his brain. It forced him to form his latest outfit, Shmu, a shoegazing R&B trio, to get all the sounds he has been collecting out into the open for public consumption. “This is […]
Posted inFood & Drink
On top of Ol’ Gyro
Kabob Plate Photo: Mark Hancock Maybe this is a gross overgeneralization, but sometimes the landscape of quick and easy local lunch eateries can look like a barren, apocalyptic wasteland littered with the famished skeletons of the lucky few who died in the first wave of destruction. In other words, if a hungry businessperson wants food […]
Posted inArts & Culture
We Are What We Are
From Stake Land director Jim Mickle, this American do-over finds its fever in a religious fervor, with scripture-quoting sourpuss Frank Parker (Bill Sage, Precious) mourning the accidental death of his wife. That tragedy leaves their eldest daughter, Iris (Ambyr Childers, The Master), in the unenviable position of assuming the family duty of … let’s just […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Badges of Fury
OK, so that’s not really a joke. It is the setup for Badges of Fury, an Asian film that is a joke. Investigating this string of so-called “Smile Murders” are two police detectives: the grizzled old pro (Jet Li, The Expendables 2) and the young renegade (Zhang Wen, The Guillotines). Having Li in a film used to be a surefire […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A Single Shot
Shot‘s sights are set on John (Sam Rockwell), a dirt-poor hunter who mistakes a young woman for a deer — not necessarily a negative except that a trigger was involved and John’s aim is true. When he tends to her dead body, he finds a lot of cash next to her and assumes it won’t be missed. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box
The Midas Box of the title is an ancient object that turns anything it houses into gold. Hidden for centuries, it can be found only via the one map in existence that reveals its location. Naturally, a very bad man named Otto Luger (Sam Neill, Jurassic Park) has found the map, so it’s only a […]