Meanwhile, former cage fighter Luke Wright (Jason Statham, The Expendables 2) is on the brink of suicide after his wife was killed by the Russian mob when he didn’t throw a fight. He’s given purpose when he sees Mei being pursued by bad guys, and he steps in to save her. She’s wanted because of […]
russian
Posted inArts & Culture
One in the Chamber
Gooding is Ray Carver, a fixer who “solves” disputes between mob families. He also narrates from the start, so you know on whose side the movie stands; however, his softly spoken platitudes like “The past is the devil. You can’t run from it. It’s always behind you” put me squarely on the opposite side. Meanwhile, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Elena
Moral bankruptcy looms over Elena, a noir-ish Russian-language drama that screens Thursday through Sunday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, but director Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Return) would have us withhold judgment of the dreary, compromised characters he presents. In lengthy, often static shots, Zvyagintsev urges his audience to study every inch of the bleak […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Red Scorpion
Nearly two years later, Synapse Films comes to the rescue, not only bringing it back on DVD, but debuting it on Blu-ray — and in an uncensored cut, no less! Now that I’ve watched it, I can say with certainty it’s the best action movie ever produced by a notorious federal felon (Jack Abramoff, who […]