Record-breaking ratings of the recent Grammys award telecast suggest music is increasingly vital as a part of our national culture and identity. Music can bring people together, yet also break them apart. After all, mention the word “polka” at a party, and you just may clear the room. “Re:Generation,” a new documentary produced in association […]
Rod Lott
Posted inArts & Culture
Knights of Malice
While “Knights of Malice” is not the best effort from local director Mickey Reece and his version of the Mercury Theatre players, it carries the most distinctive opening: that of the “Star Wars” crawl. Turns out, there’s a reason for the Jedi-rific reference, but I leave that for audiences to discover when the film debuts […]
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A Cat in Paris
Dino, the tabby at the center of “A Cat in Paris,” brings new meaning to the term “cat burglar.” He purrs his way between a petty thief on the job and a little girl at home, befriending both and inadvertently tying their disparate worlds. That occurs after the two-bit bandit gives Dino a fenced, fish-shaped […]
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War of the Arrows
So consider it high praise that “War of the Arrows” offers an experience decidedly different. While far from the first arrow-based film, this South Korean effort is arguably the classiest and most exciting in memory. Set in the early 17th century, “War” deals with the Manchu empire at large, and the bonds of a family […]
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The Deadly Spawn: Millennium Edition
In this New Jersey-lensed low-budgeter, a meteor (or something like it) crashing into the woods unleashes an alien menace in the single most hideously decorated house in film history, where the tables, walls and chairs are painted Pepto-Bismol pink. Among the seemingly infinite family members inside the multistory home are a monster-obsessed kid (Charles George […]
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Rabies
Without spoiling a thing, “Rabies” takes place almost entirely in a trap-laden forest currently populated by the following characters:• a young woman caught in a hole, and her brother who desperately tries to get her out;• a loving couple of forestry rangers and their beloved German shepherd;• four young tennis players — two guys, two […]
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Ocean Heaven / 1911
Namely, your body starts to fail you. No longer are you as quick, nimble and flexible as in your prime. What’s an action hero to do? If you’re Jackie Chan and Jet Li — age 57 and 48, respectively — you start turning more and more to dramas. Coincidentally (or not), both martial-arts superstars have […]
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Mad Detective
Welcome to “Mad Detective,” where the adjective in the title is an understatement. He and the “Bad Lieutenant” would get along swimmingly. And this is merely the prologue! In this huge Hong Kong hit from 2007 — now on a Blu-ray/DVD combo worth important from the UK’s Eureka! “Masters of Cinema” label — it’s explained that […]
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Baba Yaga
Based upon the erotic comics of Guido Crepax, the film focuses on Valentina (Isabelle De Funès), a nudie-art photographer/pixie who’s almost run over late one night by a mysterious, black-veiled older woman (Carroll Baker, “Giant,” “The Carpetbaggers”), who claims their meeting is preordained, steals a garter clip for the day and warns her not to […]
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Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
It should have. Had I seen it before now, it handily would have made my list of 2011’s top 10 films. It matters not that “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within” is a sequel to a 2007 film I’m not certain I knew existed; director/co-writer José Padilha’s work is powerful and extraordinary on its own. The […]