Badlands: Criterion Collection
March 21, 2013
Badlands (1973) was an auspicious debut from Terrence Malick. Based loosely on the real-life killing spree of Charles Starkweather and his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate in 1958, Malick made his film independently and for little money. The end result is...
The Fall of the Essex Boys
February 8, 2013
The Fall of the Essex Boys is the latest collaboration between producers Jonathan Sothcott and Simon Phillips, and easily represents their best work so far. Hot on the heels of The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan (2012) Essex Boys is headed...
Lawless
December 10, 2012
Based on the historical novel The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant, Lawless (2012) is a fictionalized depiction of the Prohibition-era bootlegging practices of the Bondurant family. The book got the attention of Australian filmmaker John...
4 Movie Collection: Action
November 27, 2012
The paper-thin plot of The Replacement Killers (1998) concerns a deadly assassin by the name of John Lee (Yun-Fat) who is hired to kill a cop’s son. But John suddenly develops a conscience and decides to spare the boy’s life. This doesn’t sit too...
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...
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...
Riot on Sunset Strip
July 14, 2011
Riot on Sunset Strip (1967) comes courtesy of American International Pictures producer Sam Katzman a.k.a. “King of the Quickies.” He was known for making topical exploitation films often dealing with rebellious youth. This film was shot and released...
Johnny Cool
July 11, 2011
Johnny Cool (1963) is a curious cinematic oddity, an offbeat footnote in Rat Pack lore. Produced by Peter Lawford and featuring fellow Rat Packers Sammy Davis Jr. (who also sings the swinging theme song), Joey Bishop, and Henry Silva as the title character,...
Laws of Gravity
June 23, 2011
Nick Gomez’s Laws of Gravity (1992) was part of an exciting crop of American independent films to come out in the early to mid-1990’s and arguably the best of the Mean Streets (1973) wannabes to be made. It also featured a cast of young, up and coming...
