The new film is based upon Hardy’s own 2006 novel, Cowboys for Christ, but here’s the deal: If you’ve seen the original Wicker, you know exactly where this new one leads, and without the benefit of having Edward Woodward as your guide. In The Wicker Tree, it’s young Christian country starlet Beth Boothby (newcomer Brittania […]
thriller
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Crime time
The gun was on the couch, smoke still wafting from its muzzle. Stretched out on the marble floor: a poor sap, now just fodder for the city morgue. The woman stood beside him, her face as cold and impenetrable as a cheap waxwork. “It wasn’t me,” she purred. “I swear.” I lit a cigarette, took […]
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Grand Central Murder
She receives just such a threatening call from an ex (“Death and me are just around the corner,” he warns, “don’t keep us waiting”), so she locks herself in a private train car at Grand Central Station, saying, “He’ll never find me there.” Famous last words. And among the first uttered in Grand Central Murder, […]
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The Killer Nun
After having a brain tumor removed, Sister Gertrude hasn’t been the same. She thinks she still has cancer and cries out for a shot filled with sweet, sweet morphine. The doctors at the psych ward where she works assure her that her thoughts are simply stress-induced and psychosomatic, but Gertrude’s much-younger roomie, Sister Mathieu (Paola […]
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The Hidden Face
Drowning his sorrows in drink soon leads Adrián into the warm embrace of a button-cute waitress, Fabiana (Martina García), and they fall in love. All’s well again, but the police suspect something is up with Belen’s inexplicable vanishing act. Something is up in The Hidden Face, a thriller from Spain new to DVD on the […]
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Outrage: Way of the Yakuza
Here, a member of one crime syndicate unknowingly attempts to rip off a member of the other crime syndicate, via fleecing his nightclub bill. The insult eventually escalates to an all-out war as each side takes its turn exacting revenge, from several sacrificial fingers and a purposely botched act of dentistry to the most cruel […]
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Kill
Well, yes, but no. The concept of Kill is similar; the execution, the polar opposite. Reportedly, this single-setting project was shot in 2004, but only just now seeing DVD release because it “has been recovered from a crashed server.” Regardless of truth, that story is more compelling and suspenseful than the whole flick. All clad […]
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Enter Nowhere
Three stranded strangers end up arriving at a cabin in the omnipresent middle of nowhere. Jody (Sara Paxton, Shark Night) has just robbed a convenience store. Sam (Katherine Waterston, Taking Woodstock) is newly pregnant and looking for her husband. Tom (Scott Eastwood, son of yep, that guy) is dealing with a broken-down car. The temperature […]
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Die
Awaking in adjoining glass cages are those unlucky half-dozen strangers: a police detective (Elias Koteas, A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas), a compulsive gambler, a doctor, a nurse, a young prostitute and her billionaire client. Jacob takes turns bringing them out in pairs; one is strapped to a chair, the other presented with a […]
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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
However, those who have seen the original may wish to approach this version only to witness what Fincher brings to it, as the story remains unchanged in all but minor details. Many scenes seem shot on the very sets of Niels Arden Oplev’s 2009 film. What Fincher grants is a sharper, crisper look; a brisker […]