Monthly Archives: July 2024

“The Dead Don’t Hurt” is a simple revenge Western slowly teased out into rambling, meandering 129 minute saga by writer, director and star Viggo Mortensen. He and Kevin Costner must shop at the same saddlery. It can be cute, playful … Continue reading →

A murder mystery in The Islands? With a lot of cash in play? Traci Lords and Tim Black Nelson are in the ensemble. Don’t get your hopes up.  This one comes out on the dead zone dumping ground late August … Continue reading →

It’s a reflex reaction. You see an actress “putting it all out there” for a role — skin, simulated sex, violence and drug abuse. You remember how Hollywood burns through starlets, uses and misuses young actresses until many are “used … Continue reading →

“Detained” is a bloody-minded thriller of “The Usual Suspects” variety. There’s a crime scene with a lot of bodies, and somebody is going to need to explain how they got there, preferably in a series of long flashbacks. That’s the … Continue reading →

The full title of “Dance First” includes the phrase “A Life of Samuel Beckett.” They left out the word “abridged.” Because while one simply could not do better than have the great Irish actor Gabriel Byrne playing Beckett as a … Continue reading →

It’s not what you think. OK, maybe it is. Awkward funeral? Check. Weird sister in law? Oh yeah. Billie Lourd also stars in this, with Colin Hanks as the bloke who makes our heroine a “Corpse Bride.” August 19? We’ll … Continue reading →

Scenes rarely play like “scenes” in the films of Robert Altman. They don’t so much begin, reach their point, and end. The dialogue is cluttered, non-stop, layered in around the leads. “Important” lines from the characters the story is about … Continue reading →

Maybe Jessica Belkin is a victim to be. Or maybe those coming for her crossed the wrong waitress. Sept. 20.

Say this for the Mexican action comedy “Non-Negotiable.” They pack a lot of characters, plot and “twists” into 86 minutes. An almost jaunty, populist action comedy about a presidential kidnapping, scandal, petty corruption with a whiff of police incompetence built … Continue reading →

This premieres at London’s Frightfest in August, and doesn’t appear to have distribution…yet. But considering the filmmakers eager to appear on camera to sing his praises, that could happen. He was apparently a deadly spy, a definitive Dracula, Bond villain … Continue reading →