Film Review: Satô’s ‘New Tokyo Decadence: The Slave’ (Dorei – 2007) Based on the True Story of a Journey into the Bondage Underworld

 Asian Cinema, Erotic, Japan, Thriller  No Responses »
Mar 012012
 

new-tokyo-decadence This is the tale of a woman masochist who becomes a slave for a master. The film begins with the main character, the beautiful Rina (Rinako Hirasawa), hanging from a tree in the middle of a field. She tells us of her life in a flashback. I am not normally a fan of stories told from this point of view, but it works in this instance. Her monotone delivery actually adds to her character depth, as she is a slave. Now I must admit to some naivety in the S&M and bondage scene, so I was a little more interested into as why Rina was the way she was, then the sex, but the sex scenes were, well, captivating.

We meet young Rina who explains how she first discovered she was a masochist in high school. Her perverted math teacher can tell she is different from her classmates Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: Richard Powell’s Short Film ‘”Familiar”‘ (2012) Gives Voice to Insanity and a Shape to Pure Evil

 B. Harris, Horror, Short Films, Thriller  No Responses »
Feb 212012
 

familiar John Dodd is living the normal, idyllic life of a hard-working American family man; two car garage, white picket fence, working wife and teenage daughter. Like most, they deal with everyday stress, but beneath the surface of John’s calm exterior though lies the seething soul of a man on the verge of collapse. Disgusted with his wife and her dinner plate conversations and fed up with the parasitic symbiosis of his offspring, an idea begins to form, a seed that promises to sprout into true freedom from a mundane existence. He doesn’t have to continue putting up with it all, there’s always another way.

When John’s wife informs him that she’s expecting, the fragile divide between sanity and the darkness of absolute insanity is shattered, leaving him with an unthinkable solution. As ideas begin taking hold, the voice within his head grows stronger, demanding he relinquish control Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: ‘Man on a Ledge’ (2012) Reaches Dizzying Heights of Action and Suspense

 Action, B. Woodell, Crime, Drama, Thriller  No Responses »
Feb 172012
 

man-on-a-ledge There’s something wonderful about films that explain the plot in the title, and subsequently repeat that somewhere in the film, because you know exactly what to expect when going in the theater, and anything that’s beyond the spectrum of the title is a bonus and nice surprise. Man On A Ledge does not disappoint in any of those areas, and is in fact a very fun little heist flick.

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) was set up and sent to jail for twenty-five years for robbing a very precious diamond from David Englander (Ed Harris), a rich tycoon in Manhattan. With the help of his brother Joey (Jaime Bell) and his brother’s girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez), he escapes from jail and sets to prove Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: ‘Agneepath’ (Path of Fire – 2012) Sets Bollywood Ablaze with a Smoldering Tale of Revenge

 Action, Asian Cinema, B. Woodell, Bollywood, Crime, Drama, India, Revenge, Thriller  No Responses »
Jan 302012
 

agneepath Bollywood has started 2012 with a vengeance, literally, with Agneepath, a remake of a 1990 film. It includes everything you would expect from Indian cinema; romance, action, elaborate dance sequences, and lush colors, only this film has so much more violence and heartache.

As a child, Vijay’s father tries to talk the townsfolk of a small island off the coast of Mumbai out of loaning their land to Kancha, who wants to grow coke in their salt fields. Kancha will stop at nothing to get the land, so he has a little girl raped and murdered and sets Vijay’s father up, leading to mob justice and the father’s death. Vijay and his mother move to Mumbai where he comes across Rauf Lala, Mumbai’s top drugs dealer and human trafficker and becomes a member Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: ‘The Grey’ (2012) is a Masterful Thriller and a Snarling, Howling Good Time

 Action, B. Woodell, Drama, Thriller  No Responses »
Jan 302012
 

the-grey What would you do, if you survived a plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness during a blizzard? Would you have the know how and basic primal instincts on building fires and seeking shelter? Now throw into the mix a pack of vicious Timberwolves who know you and your party are injured, and are just waiting to pick you off one by one. Would you survive? The answer to these questions is answered very blatantly in Joe Carnahan’s new film, The Grew, starring Liam Neeson.

Ottway (Neeson) is a wolf hunter for an oil company who oversees the workers while they’re drilling in the Alaskan terrain. He makes sure they don’t get attacked, and is very good at his job. Upon returning home from an expedition, the crews plane goes down leaving a handful of survivors with Ottway taking charge and Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: McIntyre’s ‘The Los Angeles Ripper’ (2011) May Have a Dull Edge but Still Cuts Deep

 Horror, T. Strauss, Thriller  No Responses »
Jan 222012
 

the-los-angeles-ripper Cute, chaste and innocent Kristy White (Celeste Martinez) moves to Los Angeles from rural Ohio in order to pursue a career as a metal singer. Staying at the home of her lump-on-the-couch Aunt Peggy (Beverly Bassette) and her self-obsessed party animal cousin Angel (Chase Monroe) while taking vocal classes, Kristy is the embodiment of fresh meat dropped into the shark tank that is L.A.

Meanwhile, L.A. local Grahm (Randy Tobin) spends his days wandering the streets of Los Angeles, enjoying the local color, selling and imbibing in the local drugs, picking up and having sex with the local hotties, and brutally killing them for kicks.

On a night out clubbin’ with Angel, Kristy is introduced to Grahm when Angel scores some “party favors” from him. Grahm takes an instant liking to Kristy, and, as he Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: Brad Bird’s ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’ (2011) a Thrilling Addition to the Exciting MI Franchise

 Action, Adventure, B. Woodell, Drama, Thriller  No Responses »
Dec 212011
 

mission-impossible-ghost-protocol-poster Five years ago, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) saved the world from certain destruction, but lost his wife in the process. Now, mourning the loss of her, Hunt has chosen to accept a new mission, one that again would mean certain world destruction and the start of possibly World War III in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

While on a mission in Russia infiltrating the Kremlin to obtain nuclear codes, Hunt’s mission is aborted due to another spy in the premises also seeking the codes Hunt escapes just in time before a bomb explodes, leaving high tensions between the US and Russia, since all evidence points towards him on detonating the bomb. The US President declares Ghost Protocol, or the shut down of IMF, leaving Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: Song’s ‘A Better Tomorrow’ (2010) Remake Respectfully Spins Woo’s Masterpiece into Successful South Korean Crime Cinema

 Action, Asian Cinema, B. Harris, B. Woodell, Crime, John Woo, S. Korea, Thriller  No Responses »
Nov 222011
 

a-better-tomorrow Throughout the years, there are a handful of films that are made that are truly game changers. Films that not only stand the test of time, but also redefine genres and how future filmmakers hone their own craft. John Woo’s 1986 masterpiece, A Better Tomorrow is one of those films. So much of the way we see action films nowadays is because of this film. So to take a film such as this and remake it, the filmmakers have to not only love and understand the original, but also know how to make their own film and relevant to the world around them.

Hae-sung Song, and his team of six writers set out to remake this classic and not only did Woo’s original justice, but they exceeded in making the film completely fresh and Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: The Controversial Film ‘Territories’ (2010) Questions The Meaning of Patriotism in Post-9/11 America

 Canada, Drama, France, Horror, J. Meredith, Thriller, War  No Responses »
Nov 222011
 

territories Following a weekend at a wedding in Canada, a bunch mates get pulled over when they drive their minivan across the border to America. Two customs officers ask to see Jalil’s (Michael Mando) driving license and move back to their car to check him out. When they point out that the youngsters are driving with a bust front light, Jalil tells them that they hit a deer a while back, which triggers the officers

Despite constant claims of “only trying to do our job” the custom officers become increasingly agitated and act more and more threatening towards the group of youngsters. When one of the youths, Tom (Alex Weiner) starts Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: Lugones’ ‘The Devil’s Toy’ (2010) Packs a Diabolical Punch for a Short Film

 Horror, Short Films, T. Strauss, Thriller  No Responses »
Nov 032011
 

Promo Poster

The Devil’s Toy has sat hidden away at the back of Grandpa’s (Joe Capozzi) closet since his return from tour of duty in WWII. Acquired for a horrifying price during the raid of a Nazi concentration camp, he’s kept it safely concealed for decades. But one night, his young grandson (Liam Makrogiannis) and his best friend (Alex Marshall) decide to sneak it out of the closet and find out for themselves what’s kept inside the mysterious old box…

Ironically, one of the most common annoyances encountered in the medium of The Short Film is that most short films are too damned long. I’d say that a good 75% of all the short films I’ve ever seen could’ve used one final polish with a pair of scissors. It’s a tricky medium, and very difficult to get right from a Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: Take Your Time Seeing ‘In Time’ (2011) Because You Can Never Get Back Those Missing Minutes

 Action, B. Woodell, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller  No Responses »
Nov 022011
 

Theatrical Poster

Imagine a world where money doesn’t exist, only time does. Everyday you work to earn enough money to live another day, to eat and try to enjoy life. In the ghetto’s there are gangs of time thieves who’ll rob you of the time you have left, leaving you to die in the gutter. The Time Keepers roam about keeping track of time and making sure that not too much is being spread out. On the other side of the spectrum, the rich have centuries to live and have lavish parties where they play poker with the excess time they have left. And all the while, you never grow older than twenty-five years old.

Sounds pretty cool, I know how excited I was when I saw the trailer a few months back and thought to myself what a great social commentary on Continue reading »

Share

Film Review: Gildark’s ‘Cthulhu’ (2007) Ably Captures Lovecraft’s Alien World & The Alienation in Our Own

 Drama, Horror, J. Andersson, Thriller  1 Response »
Nov 022011
 

DVD Artwork

Filming H.P Lovecraft has never been easy, adapting that particular brand of cosmic horror does not tend to come out well on screen and the only movies that has had some success are the ones that have taken liberties with the original story it is based on. Cthulhu is another one of those and does it quite well.

This is basically an adaption of The Shadow over Innsmouth, the same short story that gave us Stuart Gordon’s entertaining Dagon. In this case however, Dagon is the one that sticks the closest to the source material where Cthulhu tells an entirely different story set in a town that very well could be Innsmouth though not as dingy. The main character, Russ, receives a message that his mother has passed away and is forced to return to the place of his birth, a small coastal town Continue reading »

Share
 Older Entries