Sabotage: Mini Review...

What's it about?
A team of hard-as-nails DEA agents pinch a cool $10 million during a raid on a cartel stronghold and stash it for later - but when they return for it, they find it missing. Then, soon afterwards, the team starts getting picked off one-by-one.
Who would I recognise in it?
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello, Josh Holloway, Mireille Enos, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Testosterone overload ahoy in David Ayer's tough-as-old-boots thriller which plays out more as a murder mystery than a straight-faced action fest. That's not to say it's light on adrenaline - it's not, because there's eruptions of blood-splattering violence throughout (eviscerated and nailed to a ceiling, anyone?) - but the hard-hitting, teeth-gritting gruffness of it all is mixed with a complex who-dunnit plot...

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The Washing Machine (Ruggero Deodato, 1993) DVD Review

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“A man, cut up into pieces, and stuffed in there like soiled linen.” Ruggero Deodato – a name synonymous with one film in particular: the utterly notorious Cannibal Holocaust – but what of some of the other highlights from his varied career? His name has also been attached to the likes of House on the Edge of the Park (a spin on The Last House on the Left) and Phantom of Death (Basil Exposition ages disgracefully) … but, like most Italian directors, he also lent his talents to the world of the giallo film. However, in the case of the curiously-titled The Washing Machine (aka Vortice Mortale), the sultry sex appeal of the 1970s had long gone and, in this case, been replaced by a post-Cold War hangover and pastel track suits...

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Flavours of the Month: May 2015...

This month I polished off the excellent "South Park: The Stick of Truth" (shame about the constant loading screens, though), gave the show's 18th season a quick second spin, and indulged in the superb "6 Days To Air: The Making of South Park" documentary ... there's also been an awful lot of Rob Zombie, plenty of writing, crackin' telly, and the glamorous thrills of the Monaco F1 weekend among the flavours of my May 2015...

Cold In July: Mini Review...

What's it about?
A pulp thriller set in 1989 in which a humble family man, a picture framer by trade, kills an intruder in his home only to be flung into an ever darkening criminal underworld in which vengeance will cleanse the wicked. From Jim Mickle, the director of Stake Land, and based on the book by Joe R. Lansdale.
Who would I recognise in it?
Michael C. Hall, Don Johnson, Sam Shephard, Vinessa Shaw, Wyatt Russell and others.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Taking stylistic cues from John Carpenter (who is acknowledged directly in the credits) - from the titles font to the pounding pulse of the synth soundtrack - this brooding thriller combines exploitation thrills with slick production value. Taught, efficient, and disturbing throughout, the film's 80s aesthetic is simultaneously played for smiles and realism. Triumphant hair metal and nascent mobile phones on one hand, video rental stores and old school machismo on the other. Blood, guns, and damaged male bonding is where it's at here, as fraught explosions of violence and gore blend into a pulse-pounding, primary-coloured haze of no-nonsense Southern darkness. Indeed, the colour scheme - rich blues, greens, and literal washes of blood-red light - seems to take some inspiration from Jason Eisener's "Hobo With A Shotgun"; this is like a neo-grindhouse revenger with some decent money to its name. A thoroughly effective thriller with a dark heart and an electro-groove. On the cusp of Great.

The Sister of Ursula (Enzo Milioni, 1978) DVD Review

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“Terrible things are going to happen, I see blood.” The 1970s were the swinging heyday of Italian 'giallo' cinema with a veritable glut of gruesome and sexy thrillers filling silver screens far and wide. However, by 1978 gialli were becoming a bit worn out – but meanwhile the market for adult entertainment was exploding – and while many of Italy's pulp thrillers flirted with sexuality and eroticism, few straddled the line this side of full-blown flesh flicks quite like Enzo Milioni's The Sister of Ursula...

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