I wish I could say the live-action Zombie A-Hole matched those felt-based shenanigans of Massacre; instead, I must admit being disappointed. While it exhibits flashes of Mills’ indie-minded manic brilliance, three things killed it for me: • amateurish acting, • nudity just for the sake of nudity (to a ridiculously exploitative degree), and • a […]
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Posted inMusic
Ten Thousand More Ways to Die: Spaghetti Western Collection
Specifically, Ten Thousand More Ways to Die, Mill Creek Entertainment’s follow-up to 2010’s Ten Thousand Ways to Die (naturally), counts Django, Kill! (If You Live Shoot!) among its dozen films. True, the quality of the print pales in comparison to Blue Underground’s recent Blu-ray reissue, but newcomers to the character — and there will be […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Celeste & Jesse Forever
The daughter of musician Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton has proven herself a fine comic actress in film (I Love You, Man) and television (Parks and Recreation), and now a surprisingly sharp screenwriter in Celeste & Jesse Forever — not only the smartest and funniest romantic comedy you’re likely to see between now and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Bill W.
Bill Wilson didn’t seem like the hero type. The product of a broken home in a time when that was rare, he was a businessman of middling success and a drunkard of considerable excess. But as the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Wilson has saved innumerable lives with a 12-step program that has since been emulated […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Apartment 143 [Emergo]
The hauntings occur in the apartment occupied by Alan White (Kai Lennox, Beginners), a widower whose wife recently died in a car crash, leaving him with their curious young boy (newcomer Damian Roman) and resentful teenage girl (22-year-old Gia Mantegna, daughter of Joe). Tired of the unexplained occurrences, Mr. White has hired a two-man/one-woman team […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Lucky One
His books sell millions of copies, and Hollywood’s adaptations of them sell millions of tickets more: The Notebook, Message in a Bottle, Dear John, The Last Song, A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe. Love means never having to say anything of value. Now there’s The Lucky One, a big-boy vehicle for High School Musical […]
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Piranha 3DD
It is there in the prologue where two former Okies (Gary Busey and Clu Gulager) and a farting dead cow get the party started, sending hatched baby piranha to Merkin County, Ariz. — a joke that should calibrate you with the movie’s wavelength … as if the bra-size title didn’t do that already. (I’d like […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Full Metal Jacket: 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Book
Time has a way of restoring balance, however. Platoon’s reputation has decreased along with that of its irascible director, and when’s the last time you heard anyone talk about The Last Emperor? If ever? Meanwhile, love for Full Metal Jacket continues to pile up, and the war epic currently stands tall at No. 81 on […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Thunderstruck
I am a huge Oklahoma City Thunder fan. Kevin Durant is my favorite athlete. I went to his basketball summer camp a couple of years ago and got to meet him. He was chilled — a real nice guy. When I heard he was going to star in his own movie, Thunderstruck, I was interested. After […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Area 407
As far as I know, Area 407 is the first one to merge the medium with Jurassic Park. It begins on a suspiciously near-empty New Year’s Eve flight from New York to L.A., and told from the perspective of two sisters who look nothing alike (newcomer Abigail Schrader and unknown Samantha Lester). They take turns […]