Not another X-Men spin-off, it’s the true story of Richard Kuklinski, a family man turned hit man who showed so little emotion doing his dirty deeds that not even his wife and kids knew what he really did for a living. Richie carried out his guise for around 20 years, finally getting caught in 1986. […]
sex
Posted inArts & Culture
Bruce Lee: The Legacy Collection
Yet those were DVDs — and no-frills editions at that — whereas the new Legacy Collection is filled primarily with Blu-rays and loads of extras — about as many as the Boss is Big. Having just reviewed The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, The Way of the Dragon and Game of Death, I won’t rehash those […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Ishtar
Derided before it even premiered in the spring of 1987, the last stand (directorial, at least) of Elaine May cast Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty against type: Hoffman is Chuck, the P-magnet; Beatty, Lyle the dolt. Both are struggling songwriters stuck in the New York City supper circuit. The joke is that they’re struggling because […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Drinking Games / From the Head
Not the psychological thriller it pegs itself as being, Drinking Games takes place largely in a college dorm room the night of Snowmageddon, the big party before winter break. Richard (Blake Merriman, who wrote it) is writing a paper and dealing with a family tragedy, whereas his roommate, Shawn (Nick Vergara), wants to use their […]
Posted inArts & Culture
To the Wonder
His Tree of Life in 2011 earned praise and derision alike for its ambitions and meandering, largely plotless tale. It was my No. 1 film that year, but I had no idea at the time that it would look like Iron Man 3 when compared to his follow-up, To the Wonder. Now on Blu-ray and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Amour
In other words, the guy is definitely not the lovey-dovey type. But that unblinking, cold-blooded aesthetic is largely what makes Amour, coming to home video after an Academy Award win for Best Foreign Language Film, so remarkable. In its depiction of an elderly Parisian couple coming to terms with illness and looming death, the film […]
Posted inArts & Culture
On the Road
An ode to poet Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, On the Road fails to elicit nostalgia for all things Beat, but not for lack of ambition. Its Americana backdrop depicts the unbridled beauty of the West. The visuals are a testament to a time when these United States were more innocent and collectively curious. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hatchet III
Mind you, this is played as a punch line in itself. If you can see the absurdity within the annihilation, Hatchet III is recommended for you. And if not … well, hell, you already knew that. Written — but not directed this time — by series creator Adam Green (TV’s Holliston), the third flick depicting […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Errors of the Human Body
Fresh from relishing villainy in The Call, the near-unrecognizable Michael Eklund cleans up nice as Dr. Geoffrey Burton, a reluctant geneticist specializing in embryonic abnormalities for very personal reasons. He leaves the University of Massachusetts behind to continue his controversial research in Dresden, Germany — a far less-politicized environment. But Eron Sheean’s film is not […]
Posted inArts & Culture
X-Ray / Schizoid
The former, perhaps better-known as Hospital Massacre, comes from the age where you not only could smoke inside a medical center, but could rest a nationwide release on the shoulders of a Playboy personality — in this case, Barbi Benton. She plays Susan, a beautiful divorcée who goes to the hospital to hear her results […]