Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, and Awkwafina star in Chris McKay’s bloody, hilarious, and over-the-top love letter to the supporting character of the original Dracula story, Renfield, including some wonderful homages to the original 1931 film. It’s modern-day America and Renfield (Hoult) has relocated Dracula (Cage) yet again to hide him from those who would hunt…
Tag: violent
TIFF ’23: Sleep
Midnight Madness at TIFF is always a lot of fun, and some great genre films get scheduled that are designed to deliver to the late-night audience. Sleep hopes to do that this week. A Korean entry to the film festival from writer/director Jason Yu. It’s his first feature film, and Yu creates a tense, moody…
Hill Street Blues (1986) – I Want My Hill Street Blues, and Remembrance of Hits Past
The precinct is taken over by a music video shoot that Renko (Charles Haid) wants to be part of, and Hunter’s (James Sikking) dog gets abducted for, thanks to LaRue (Kiel Martin). Written by John Mankiewicz and Russ Woody from a story by Mankiewicz, I Want My Hill Street Blues first aired on 6 February,…
Evil Dead Rise (2023) – Lee Cronin
Lee Cronin wrote and directed Evil Dead Rise a nice new spin on the classic horror franchise that promises the ultimate in grueling horror. As much as I love the originals, and Bruce Campbell, I love that the new films have eschewed some of the comedic elements and really leaned into the brutal gore and…
Hill Street Blues (1985) – Somewhere Over the Rambo, and Oh, You Kid
Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) conducts his corruption investigation and presents his findings to the committee, though Chief Daniels (Jon Cypher) is less than thrilled about the suggestion that he may be responsible for not curtailing some of the corruption that has permeated the force. Somewhere Over the Rambo was written by Jacob Epstein, Walon Green…
Logan (2017) – James Mangold
With Mangold’s take on Indiana Jones causing divisiveness in the theatres, I thought it was maybe time to revisit Logan, his take on an older Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and was delighted as I settled into this dark, violent, and bloody R-rated Marvel movie to find that it’s more or less the Marvel Universe take on…
Burnt Offerings (1976) – Dan Curtis
The 1976 creepy house tale of Burnt Offerings didn’t engage me as much as the novel did. It has a fairly solid cast, but honestly, it didn’t quite have the eeriness that seemed to permeate the book. The film features Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Bette Davis, Burgess Meredith and the always-menacing Anthony James. The Rolf…
Southern Comfort (1981) – Walter Hill
Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine star alongside Peter Coyote, Fred Ward, Franklyn Seales, Alan Autry, T.K. Carter, Les Lannom, Lewis Smith and Brion James in this gritty action thriller that finds a squad of nine National Guardsmen fighting for their lives in the Louisiana Bayou in what was supposed to be just a training exercise….
Punisher: War Zone (2008) – Lexi Alexander
Ray Stevenson didn’t get a fair shake at playing Frank Castle aka The Punisher, in the 2008 follow-up to The Punisher starring Thomas Jane. Jane declined to return as he felt the script didn’t go in the way that he wanted to portray the character. What was there to dislike? And what did Ray Stevenson…
The Punisher (2004) – Jonathan Hensleigh
2004’s take on The Punisher was a huge step up from the 1989 film, though it changed the locale from New York to Florida. It also boasted an incredibly recognizable cast led by Thomas Jane. It included John Travolta, Will Patton, Roy Scheider, Samantha Mathis, Rebecca Romijn, Ben Foster, Laura Harring, The film delivers an…
The Mind Reels 