Try to separate Mel Gibson the actor from Mel Gibson the potentially crazy man who hurls epithets and anti-Semitic remarks in equal measure. Trust me: If you ignored the work of every Hollywood performer whose offscreen life is effed-up, or whose views don’t align with yours, all you could watch would be a test pattern. […]
Rod Lott
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Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff
Pretty good for a man who considered his job to be “nonsense,” in an industry he found “full of hypocrisy and hyperbole.” Bookended by footage of the man receiving his honorary Academy Award — the first cinematographer to do so — in 2001, “Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff” celebrates his lengthy and […]
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Dream Home
Cheng (Josie Ho, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li”) has her heart set on a flat appraised at more than $5 million. There’s only one problem: She can’t afford it on her salary as a bank telemarketer, even with her part-time job as a shop salesclerk. Oh, there’s a second problem, too: The apartment is […]
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Trollhunter
Troll movies number a scant few, so their relative absence as a screen creature makes “Trollhunter” seem that much more fresh — because God knows there’s no shortage of found-footage films these days. Speaking of God, the trolls here are drawn to the blood of Christians, so if you want to investigate them further, it’s […]
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Wrecked
That’s what came to mind while watching “Wrecked,” a vehicle for Adrien Brody (“Predators”). It begins on a high note that suggests it could be a kid brother of “Memento,” with Brody waking up in the shotgun seat of a car somewhere in the woods. He’s bloodied. The auto’s totaled. There’s a dead guy in […]
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Red Faction: Origins
Did he tell anybody else? Because that wasn’t my top-of-mind takeaway. Based on a series of video games with which I have no experience playing, “Origins” is, I’m guessing, a prequel story. Set on Mars in 2145, it follows second-generation soldier Jake Mason (“SGU Stargate Universe” vet Brian J. Smith, who looks like Josh Hartnett, […]
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Final Destination 5
So has everything else. As has been the case over the course of the hit horror series, each chapter adheres to its tried-and-true template. In fact, it could be argued that the movies are written from a “Mad Libs” page, but the only variable to change is the epic disaster that kick-starts each one. With […]
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Alfred Hitchcock: A Legacy of Suspense
Mill Creek Entertainment’s “Alfred Hitchcock: A Legacy of Suspense” collects 18 movies on four discs, for less than $10. The cover reads 20 movies, but two episodes of NBC’s “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” while welcome, do not count. While “early” means “public domain” — in other words, expect no “Psycho” — don’t think these aren’t worth […]
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Super Hybrid
It comes equipped with built-in heat vision and a morphing system that allows it to look like a Ferrari one minute, a Griswoldian station wagon the next, and everything in between! And just wait until you see what’s under the hood: a hissing, snake-like mass of tentacles! You won’t find another vehicle like it on […]
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Meet Monica Velour
A self-described dork at age 17, Tobe (Dustin Ingram) escapes his friendless existence by obsessing over his favorite porn star of the 1970s, Monica Velour, whose work include such hardcore skin flicks as “Saturday Night Beaver,” “M*U*F*F” and “Pork’n Mindy.” When Tobe notices the now-middle-aged Velour (Kim Cattrall) will be making an appearance at a […]