It’s been a while since I’d settled in to watch this. In fact, I hadn’t seen it since its original release onto home video, back when I was jockeying a till for a video store that no longer exists. And while it may not have been cast, or even produced the same way today as…
Tag: brutal
TIFF ’22: Hunt
South Korean action star Lee Jung-jae makes his directorial debut with the brilliant action thriller, Hunt. Set in the 1980s when tensions were heightened between North and South Korea, the film is a white knuckle ride that sees two government rivals, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park (Lee) and Domestic Unit head Kim (Jung Woo-sung) working…
Rambo (2008) – Sylvester Stallone
Stallone not only returns in one of his most iconic roles, but he also settles into the director’s chair to bring the grittiest incarnation of Vietnam vet to the screen. Continuity is key, and Rambo (Stallone) is still in the Far East, attempting to live a quiet life as best as he can, when, like…
Battle Royale (2000) – Kinji Fukasaku
It’s been over a decade since I last watched this iconic action film. And while I didn’t remember all of the characters and details of the film I knew it was a kick-ass film and was eager to take a look at it. Wrapped in blood and violence the film is a harsh coming of…
Beneath Her Skin (2021) – C.S. Porter
Nimbus Publishing, under its Vagrant Press, brings a new voice, C.S. Porter to the mystery genre, with their first novel, Beneath Her Skin, a lean, brisk, thriller. With the sub-title A Kes Morris File, one can assume that this will be Porter’s first foray into a series around their creation of Kes Morris, a female…
48 Hrs. (1982) – Walter Hill
It has been a number of decades since I watched 48 Hrs. In fact I remember watching it on videotape after I had put some kid, who I was babysitting, to bed. Watching it now, in 2021, I was stunned at how harsh, homophobic and racist the film comes across as. It also has a…
Friday the 13th (2009) – Marcus Nispel
In 2009 Paramount Pictures and Warner Brothers (who own New Line Cinema) working with the production company Platinum Dunes gave us a soft reset on the Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears) story and did their best to up the gore and nudity. The script seems to want to be a combination of the first three films,…
The Man With The Golden Gun (1965) – Ian Fleming
The twelfth James Bond novel, and thirteenth book, The Man With The Golden Gun, was published posthumously in 1965 after Ian Fleming’s death in ’64. The story picks up about a year after the events of You Only Twice. When we were last with 007, he was suffering amnesia and had taken up a quiet…
Star Trek: Discovery (2018) – Will You Take My Hand?
Captain’s log: 2257 Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts write the teleplay for the first season finale of Star Trek: Discovery from a story by Berg, Harberts and Akiva Goldsman, who also directs. It first aired on 11 February, 2018, and ended with a moment that excited some fans, and infuriated others. With Georgiou (Michelle…
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2012) – Bound For Rescue, A Necessary Bond, and Secret Weapons
“When we rescue others, we rescue ourselves.” Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) and the Jedi Younglings have all sorts of trouble to handle in Bound For Rescue. Written by Christian Taylor this episode debuted on 17 November, 2012 and continues the Youngling story arc that began with their journey to Ilum to find kyber crystals for…
The Mind Reels 