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L.A. Confidential (1997)

March 31, 2023March 30, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on Hulu | imdb | trailer

Back in post-WW2 America everything was just peachy. There was nothing but prosperity and apple pie family values from sea to shining sea, right? Sorry pal. As author Katherine Dunn said, “there were no good old days.” The grim side of life was just hidden from mainstream society. L.A. Confidential taps into that and cranks it all the way up. I remember this gritty crime film blowing my mind when I first saw it in the theater. It’s dark, complex, violent, and has a fantastic cast. What are you waiting for?

Available on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox.

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The Mist (2007)

March 24, 2023March 21, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on Netflix | imdb | trailer

This is the original movie version of Stephen King’s 1980 novella. I skipped the recent TV series because of the poor ratings. What we have here is neither the best, nor the worst King adaptation. I’d rate The Mist above average among those films. Why the hell am I recommending this? Well, it is creepy as hell if you don’t know what is going on in the plot. At least that was my experience when first seeing the movie. I took a look recently, and it still looked good, in spite of some slightly dated CG. Bottom line, if you missed this one and haven’t read the book, there’s a decent chance you’ll enjoy it.

Hey Netflix, get some better horror movies please!

Available on Blu-ray from ummm… well it’s available anyhow.

Citizen X (1995)

March 17, 2023March 16, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on HBO Max | imdb | trailer

This is possibly my favorite ’90s dramatization of a true crime case. Andrei Chikatilo was known as The Rostov Ripper, and was responsible for the murders of at least 52 women and children. This film is based on “The Killer Department,” which remains one of the best true crime books I’ve ever read. Citizen X is helped a ton by strong performances by Stephen Rea, Donald Sutherland, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Max Von Sydow. Don’t expect much gore, but the drama is extremely dark and should appeal to anyone with an interest in true crime. It’s stunning this was an HBO-made TV movie.

Not available on Blu-ray.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

March 10, 2023April 6, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

I liked this image so much I couldn’t crop it.

Streaming on Amazon Prime | imdb | trailer

Rosemary and her husband move in to a fancy but weird Manhattan apartment. Once she becomes pregnant, things take an extremely dark turn. I have hesitated to recommend Rosemary’s Baby as it’s on so many critic lists. However I wouldn’t be surprised if many younger people have overlooked this film. Another part of my hesitation is the fact that director Roman Polanski is a terrible human being (and many people believe that star Mia Farrow is no saint either). I recently heard someone say that great art becomes it’s own entity once it is completed. That entity stands apart from the flawed, sometimes awful, human being that made it. Yep, this film is great art. It’s one of the most beautifully crafted horror films ever made. That horror stays on the psychological end of the spectrum, but I love every minute of it. This movie demands to be seen in spite of the flawed humans involved.

Available on Blu-ray from Paramount.

Commando (1985)

March 3, 2023March 28, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on Hulu | imdb | trailer

I was a big Arnie fan as a kid. This is mostly because of Conan (1982) and The Terminator (1984). Unfortunately he was in as many crappy movies as good ones back in the 80s. Conan the Destroyer, Red Sonja, Raw Deal and Red Heat are not good uses of Schwarzenegger. This film, while not even close to his best, is firmly in the middle of his 1980s work. It’s dumb. Really dumb. Eve-rollingly dumb. However, it is also fast-paced, big, fun, and ridiculously violent. If you’ve never experienced this film, and are capable of turning your higher brain functions off, you’re in for a good time. Speaking of the ‘80s… if you look around in the torrentverse you can probably find the TV movie The Jayne Mansfield Story. Arnold plays her husband Mickey Hargitay (Mariska’s dad) and Loni Anderson (from WKRP – a childhood favorite TV series) is Jayne. It’s surprisingly good. Also a bit dumb, but honestly worth seeing.

Available on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox.

Apostle (2018)

February 17, 2023February 16, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on Netflix | imdb | trailer

Here’s an oddball movie among the filmography of Gareth Evans (The Raid, Gangs of London, etc.). Instead of the action he’s known for, this is full-on horror. Apostle has been rightly compared to the original The Wicker Man (no, not the Nicholas Cage one), but the difference here is that the end of the movie is violent and gory as all hell. The one flaw is that it takes some investment of patience to get to the bloody conclusion (Evans does like to make complicated plots). I say it’s 100% worth the effort. Since this movie is streaming, there’s no need to watch it in one viewing. I did, but you don’t have to.

Not available on Blu-ray.

Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016)

February 10, 2023February 9, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on HBO Max | imdb | trailer

NOTE: I decided to add HBO Max to the streaming services I cover. I will be retroactively reposting the many expired movies that are available on the service. That may take some time, so I will let you all know when I’m done.

This is an excellent documentary on controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. His work was primarily in the academic art world, but also filtered into commercial and fashion photography. I have been a fan of the artists’ work for most of my life, so I obviously loved this film (I watched it twice when it came out). I give Look at the Pictures a perfect score. WARNING: some of Mapplethorpe’s work is extremely sexually graphic, so squares should stay far away.

Not available on Blu-ray.

Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)

January 27, 2023January 24, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on Hulu | imdb | trailer

A local translator for the UN in Srebrenica gets caught between her people and the Serbian army. This is a fictional story based on the very real, and very brutal, Bosnian war in the 1990s. In spite of not being directly based on historical events, it is a very effective movie. The acting is top notch and the cinematography is perfect. This is obviously dark stuff, but important on many levels. It’s also one of the best serious dramas I’ve seen in recent years.

Not available on domestic Blu-ray.

RoboCop 2 (1990)

January 20, 2023May 4, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on Amazon Prime | imdb | trailer

The original RoboCop is one of my all time favorite films. RoboCop 3 and the TV series are total crap. RoboCop 2 however is a pretty damn entertaining movie actually. It has all the important cast that survived the first film, the OG Red Dragon from Manhunter (Tom Noonan), and was directed by… Irvin Kershner. Who? Well he was the director of a little film called The Empire Strikes Back. Yep, he was obviously somewhat co-directed by George Lucas, but still, facts are facts. He also did the flawed but entertaining final Sean Connery James Bond flick Never Say Never Again (which was weirdly released the same year as Roger Moore’s Bond in Octopussy). One major bonus here is that FX master Phil Tippett was allowed almost total creative freedom, even to the extent where he directed the visual effects heavy scenes himself. So if you’ve never seen this, or it’s been a while, you’re in for a treat.

Available on Blu-ray from Shout Factory.

The Raid 2 (2014)

January 13, 2023May 4, 2023 vergeoflightLeave a comment

Streaming on Netflix | imdb | trailer

The Raid: Redemption (2011) is a very good film (also available on Netflix). If you’re a hardcore action / martial arts fan you know that already. However, for the rest of you, I say skip it and watch this superior sequel. The Raid 2 has got a convoluted plot, but you’ll too be too distracted by the non-stop ass kicking to care. This is probably the pinnacle of crazy post-Ong-Bak action films. If you enjoy this, make sure to check out creator Gareth Evans’ excellent TV series Gangs of London.

Available on Blu-ray from Sony.