Michael Paul Stephenson directs, explaining how landing the lead role in that feature film as a child was incredibly exciting … and then ultimately depressing when he saw the finished product. If you’ve seen it, you know it to be a cinematic abortion — entertainingly so, but a total mess nonetheless. In adulthood, he went […]
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Apparitions
That’s not a slight, as the BBC show does the same kind of theological heavy lifting as the classic horror film, where Christianity’s ability to trump the devil is achieved, if not without serious hard knocks. <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=oklahgazet-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0048083KM&fc1=000000&IS2=1 In the six-episode series, English thesp Martin Shaw plays Father Jacob, a Catholic priest who finds faith […]
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Alarm
Writer/director Gerard Stembridge puts his female protagonist through the ringer in his tale of suburban paranoia, some of it quite justified. Still reeling from a home invasion that resulted in the death of her father, Molly (Ruth Bradley) buys a house of her own in a pretty, picturesque neighborhood far from the madding crowd of […]
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11 Harrowhouse
The great Charles Grodin headlines as Chesser, a sad sack of a small-time diamond dealer who gets the chance to become somebody — and takes it — against seemingly impossible odds. Treated as a second-class customer at best by Meecham (John Gielgud) at London’s prestigious, highly secure exchange at 11 Harrowhouse, Chesser is hired by […]
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The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
More than 3 million units of the “Eclipse” Blu-ray and DVD were sold during the first 48 hours of its early December release. Following directorial turns by Catherine Hardwicke and Chris Weitz, horror director David Slade was pegged to direct the third “Twilight” installment. Slade, who previously directed the splatterfest “30 Days of Night,” is […]
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The Last Exorcism
Despite the filmmakers’ insistence on the Blu-ray extras, I don’t think that anyone will be tricked into thinking it’s real, although the cast certainly is more convincing than those other tries. It helps that none of them are names, and that none their faces approach anywhere near the realm of recognition. Patrick Fabian (TV’s “Big […]
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Slings and Arrows
It sounded all too … well, precious. But by the time the first episode’s initial minutes introduced the phrase “chilled German urine,” I was hooked. Paul Gross (best known to American audiences for the show “Due South”) heads the self-absorbed folks of the New Burbage Theatre Festival as Geoffrey, who reluctantly returns to the company […]
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Merantau
That enigmatic title won’t win it any favors in the United States, but chopsocky fans generally are willing to overlook such things if action is delivered. It is. Merantau refers to a rite of passage in the culture of young Yuda (newcomer Iko Uwais), who must leave his parents’ home in the poor farming village […]
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Machete
No, I don’t mean we should go to the “bad part” of town and run the risk of being roughed up — I mean your couch, to watch “Machete,” from directors Robert Rodriguez and his frequent editor/now co-helmer Ethan Maniquis. <iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=oklahgazet-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B002ZG98CS&fc1=000000&IS2=1 Like Rodriguez’s half of “Grindhouse,” from which this film began as a fake […]
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Cyrus
As played by Jonah Hill in the new-to-disc dramedy by writer/director siblings Jay and Mark Duplass, the 21-year-old Cyrus lives at home with his single mom, eschews things like “school” and “work,” and spends his time composing techno tunes on his cache of synthesizers. That all adds up to trouble for John (John C. Reilly), […]