In order to afford a bone marrow transplant for her ailing brother (Logan Miller, The Bling Ring), young, unemployed Iris (Brittany Snow, Pitch Perfect) accepts an exclusive invitation to a dinner party hosted by businessman Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs, the Re-Animator trilogy), at which his foundation will award a sizable sum of money to one […]
torture
Posted inNews
You kidding me?
I soon realized that Mr. Oliver was deeply deluded and/or vastly enriched by the eight years in which G.W. stole two elections, started two entirely unnecessary wars (making puppetmaster Cheney millions in no-bid contracts), bankrupting the country with tax cuts for millionaires, stopping much-needed stem cell research, tortured suspects in violation of the Geneva Convention, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Zero Dark Thirty
Some, including Republican Sen. John McCain, accused director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who last collaborated on The Hurt Locker, of falsely suggesting that intel gleaned through torture is what led the CIA to bin Laden. The ensuing controversy hit fever pitch. Is ZDT a nearly journalistic work? Is it morally repugnant propaganda? Mostly, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Collection
Those who haven’t seen the original film are urged to do so before diving into this sequel. It begins where its predecessor ended, and try as the opening credits might, they fail to adequately acclimate any newcomers, who may be lost. Not that the new film is deep or complex. It does, however, work best […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Zero Dark Thirty
Some, including Republican Sen. John McCain, accuse director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, who last collaborated on The Hurt Locker, of falsely suggesting that intel gleaned through torture is what led the CIA to bin Laden. The controversy is at a fever pitch. Is ZDT a nearly journalistic work? Is it morally repugnant propaganda? […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Creep Van
For his sophomore effort, director Scott W. Mackinlay has reassembled much of his cast and crew from 2006’s Gag, including Brian Kolodziej, who takes the driver’s sear as Campbell, a young man forced to accept a lowly gig at a car wash after being fired from a grocery store for stealing porno magazines they don’t […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Tortured
That said, I’m a big boy. I can take it. That’s my way of saying I kind of dug the evil game it plays, mammoth faults and all, because how often does that happen? Having a child kidnapped is something I hope never to experience, yet that’s the premise behind this nasty little thriller, which […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Barrens
The Barrens harkens back to the cryptozoological craze of that decade, rife with mostly rotten pics about Bigfoot and Boggy Creek and the like. This one’s better, following family man Stephen Moyer (TV’s True Blood), his second wife (Mia Kirshner, The Black Dahlia) and their two children on a fun-filled vacation (well, for him, at […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hostel / Hostel: Part II
From 2005, Hostel drops three collegians into Amsterdam for a debauched vacation of pot and poon, only to accidentally become victims in a bizarre business in which the wealthy pay big bucks to torture the kidnapped in an underground warehouse. Roth spares nothing, leaving viewers to cringe at every slice of the Achilles tendon, snipped […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Mother’s Day
My younger brother picked up the box and asked to rent it; my mom refused, as a responsible parent should when presented with such an inquiry by a 9-year-old. I’m unsure what appealed to him: the disembodied head in a gift box or the recipient’s half-skull head? Whatever it was, it must’ve worked for a […]