Unfortunately, the drama has nowhere to go after that, increasingly become a real patience-tester at 129 minutes. Cécile De France (“Mesrine: Killer Instinct”) is a vacationer who barely survives that horrific disaster, during which she glimpses the afterlife. Twins Frankie and George McLaren play brothers, one of whom is killed in an accident, and communicates […]
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River of Darkness
If you want to see a bad horror film starring three pro wrestlers, check out “River of Darkness.” Just don’t say you weren’t warned. Kurt Angle rules the roost — being a small, riverside town — as Will, a sheriff who likes turtle soup. His town is as sleepy as he is bald, until a […]
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The Next Three Days
There’s no good reason for this slick thriller to crack the two-hour mark, but then again, it took Haggis decades to realize he was wasting his time and money in the Church of Scientology, so knowing when to quit is not among his skill set. Nonetheless, his film is a markedly better experience than the […]
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The Switch
Its setup certainly makes this not your average, ordinary rom-com, even if it did extrordinarily below-average biz at the box office: Nearing middle age and still spouseless, Kassie (Jennifer Aniston) wants a baby, so she decides to be artificially inseminated, but her longtime friend (and one-time flame) Wally (Jason Bateman) can’t bear the thought of […]
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The Man from Nowhere
In writer/director Lee Jeong-Beom’s “The Man From Nowhere,” that’s a dilapidated apartment building of misery, where Tae-shik (Won Bin, “Mother”) glares from under his unkempt hair and generally keeps to himself. Doesn’t have a point of view, knows not what he’s going to do. Then he meets So-mi (Kim Sae-Ron), the cute little waif next […]
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Battle: Los Angeles
If the alien-invasion flick often looks like a video game, that’s because it’s written like one (as in barely), as a loose string of missions for its gung-ho Marines: Rescue civilians from a police station; take them to safety; destroy the mother ship. That’s the simple-structured path for our cardboard, interchangeable heroes, led by a […]
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Simon and Garfunkel — Bridge Over Troubled Water: 40th Anniversary Edition
Columbia’s new edition to commemorate the watershed work’s four decades in existence certainly make that case. The post-“Graduate” album — and arguably, the duo — is best known for its title track, which remains a transcendent listening experience, hitting soaring heights late in the five-minute track that make for spine shivers, not to mention quite […]
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Sharktopus
The latest example can be summed up in one word, and that word is “Sharktopus.” You may have already seen it on Syfy, but Blu-ray restores it to the pristine splendor for which it was intended. Yes, I’m kidding (but not about the Roberts sibs). “Sharktopus” is a CGI quickie from producer Roger Corman, who […]
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Billy Joel — Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert
Knowing these were to be the final musical performances at the Shea, Joel pulls out all the stops, playing to the crowd like it’s one big party. So what if they’re a little slow to pick up on which hit the band tackles before exploding into gracious applause? At least they’re appreciative. Joel even toys […]
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Network / All the President’s Men
Both winners of multiple Academy Awards (but not Best Picture) for 1976, they now make their Blu-ray debut in packages more special than most. The Watergate scandal had such a cultural impact that when any new scandal arises, we immediately grant it with the “-gate” suffix. While that’s a testament to Bob Woodward and Carl […]