And now, unsuccessfully, in “Nite Tales,” a television show on BET. This DVD release gathers five episodes, all written, directed and produced by one Deon Taylor. Our host is none other than Public Enemy alum Flavor Flav as The Timekeeper. His delivery is impossible to digest without thinking of Tracy Morgan’s “30 Rock” character, and […]
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Posted inArts & Culture
The Green Hornet
In promotions for the now-finished film, star Seth Rogen and director Michel Gondry have trashed several of those attempts — which would have seen Nicolas Cage speaking in a Jamaican accent or Stephen Chow using mind-control chips — as too ridiculous for what they eventually birthed. How, then, do they explain their version’s sped-up, “Benny […]
Posted inMusic
Candi & the Strangers — 10th of Always
Well, one wishes radio sounded even half as sweet as the cotton-candy swirls the dreamy space-pop combo whips up in a whirlwind of mid-tempo grooves. (Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that that song closes with her noting, “Just for you.”) The Austin, Texas, quintet comes packaged from the same producer of The Octopus Project, Maserati and […]
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The Dukes: The Complete Series
As someone who was not particularly a fan of “The Dukes of Hazzard” growing up, I had forgotten the ridiculously popular CBS TV series had spun off into its own Saturday morning cartoon, titled simply “The Dukes.” Warner Archive now offers both seasons — all 20 episodes — on a manufactured-on-demand four-disc set. Unlike many […]
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The Window
If not, the opening frames of 1949’s “The Window” will remind you, before digging in to a number about a boy who witnesses a murder … and no one believes him. That boy is 9-year-old Tommy (Disney star Bobby Driscoll), an only child with an overactive imagination. He lives with his parents in a tiny […]
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What’s the Matter with Kansas?
Based on Thomas Frank’s book of the same name, the film looks at how Kansas has transformed itself from a state of radicalism to extreme conservatism. It was one of the first states to legalize abortion, even before the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision made it so, yet now, it kills its abortion doctors […]
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Up from the Depths / Demon of Paradise
Roger Corman has every reason to show off “Piranha,” but he should’ve returned “Up from the Depths” to the water as soon as he had it on the hook. This is one “Jaws” rip-off that’s a rip-off in itself. The 1979 picture takes place at a Hawaii resort where paradise is interrupted by the arrival […]
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United States of Tara: The Second Season
She plays the Tara of the title, a happily married woman who has roughly three times as many personalities as she does children. As the season opens, Tara has her “alternates” under control, thanks to a massive mix of medications. But when the guy next door dies, and she and hubbie Max (John Corbett) buy […]
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The Horde
People trapped in a building with the undead swarming in? What could go wrong? Practically everything, as we learned. Romero barely used the tower, making “Land” rather barren, thrill-wise. For the guy credited with inventing the genre, he sure hasn’t done much to advance or innovate it. Vive la France! That country now gives […]
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The Hessen Conspiracy
It’s OK, though, no doubt due to a smarter-than-average script by veteran Nicholas Meyer (”The Seven-Per-Cent Solution,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”) and a healthy $20 million budget to make the period piece look like an actual period piece. Set in the wake of World War II, Army Col. Jack Durant (Billy Zane) and […]