Deadly Intent
December 12, 2011
Deadly Intent (1989) is one of those forgettable thrillers you happen to catch on television late one night, enticed by the cast of interesting character actors, and then promptly fall asleep partway through because it is so predictable. It was directed...
Love, Cheat & Steal
November 18, 2011
During the 1990’s, neo-noirs were all the rage with some good (The Hot Spot), some not so good (Malice) and some great (L.A. Confidential). Lie, Cheat & Steal (1993) falls somewhere in the middle with its cast of B-movie stars and paint-by-numbers...
Carlos: Criterion Collection
October 3, 2011
Notorious international terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal came to prominence in the 1970’s and 1980’s with several politically-motivated bombings, kidnappings and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East. He eventually became...
Hickey & Boggs
September 22, 2011
It has been well-documented how the 1970’s were a golden age for American cinema with many risky and unusual films being made and released through a Hollywood studio system in disarray after the surprise breakthrough success of Easy Rider (1969). One...
The Last of the Finest
September 15, 2011
The Last of the Finest (1990) is one of those films that you end up discovering on television late at night when there’s nothing else on and you can’t sleep. It has the feel of a generic cop show, something Michael Mann might’ve knocked off in his...
The Killing: Criterion Collection
August 18, 2011
Before graduating to studio films for the remainder of his filmmaking career, Stanley Kubrick cut his teeth on several lean independent films with producer James B. Harris, chief among them was The Killing (1956), a masterful take on Lionel White’s...
Cul-de-sac: Criterion Collection
August 16, 2011
After leaving Poland for England, Roman Polanski made three films, one of which was Cul-de-sac (1966), before moving on to Hollywood. The film contains many of his hallmarks: dark humor and suspenseful camerawork that puts one on edge. After writing the...
Sweet Karma
June 16, 2011
Sweet Karma (2009) attempts to do what Eastern Promises (2007) did for the Russian mafia in England, only by setting it in Toronto, Canada, and with a smaller budget and minus the big name talent. So, instead of Naomi Watts, this film has Playboy Playmate...
Diabolique: Criterion Collection
May 26, 2011
Diabolique (1955) was director Henri-Georges Clouzot’s seventh film and saw him at the apex of his critical and commercial success in France. It was the second part of a cinematic one-two punch that included The Wages of Fear (1953) and established...
The Mechanic
May 23, 2011
For awhile it seemed like Jason Statham, Vin Diesel and The Rock were going to represent the new generation of action heroes for the new Millennium. Initially, all three men were well on their way until Diesel got mired in the Fast & Furious franchise...
