Action goddess Gina Carano tries her hand at a “Taken” style action romp, and for the most part, it delivers big time. “In the Blood” is an interesting spin on the formula where Carano plays a heroine that’s vulnerable but never helpless, and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of her husband. Carano is more than capable on this role, playing a woman that’s spent her entire life learning how to fight thanks to a survivalist father. Surely enough it comes in handy when her one chance at happiness is put in jeopardy.
Tag Archives: Crime
The Baytown Outlaws (2012)
You know your cast has done a great job with their respective roles when they’ve successfully turned three dumb, ignorant, gun loving red necks in to charming heroes you root for until the bitter end. Surely enough, director Barry Battles’ grindhouse redneck chic romp isn’t an easy sell as, after the first ten minutes, I was ready to toss this aside and look for something better on my plate. But surely enough after spending time with it, “The Baytown Outlaws” eventually won me over, completely. In fact, I kind of fucking loved it, all things considered.
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
How do you take one of the more unique race car films from the seventies and destroy it? Remake it with a bland story, add a very adult cast of Nic Cage, Angelina Jolie, and Vinnie Jones, and slap a PG-13 rating on it. Also, turn it in to a lame ass action comedy, for extra insult to injury. “Gone in Sixty Seconds” from 2000 is an uneven and fairly tedious action comedy that has all the edge of a crime thriller, except it’s suitable for teenagers, a crowd that will appreciate director Dominic Sena’s insistence on imitating Michael Bay.
The Normal Heart (2014)
Director Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of the acclaimed Larry Kramer stage play “The Normal Heart” is a stunning and often grueling drama that thankfully never sugarcoats the painful illness it touches upon. It’s a human drama about human beings stricken with a horrific disease that reached pandemic proportions in the 1980’s and was generally ignored by the media and the government for many years. “The Normal Heart” is a tough watch because it is also the first chapter in an ongoing war that continues to affect the world and is still generally ignored, and dismissed as hopeless by many to this day.
Martial Arts Movie Marathon (The Skyhawk, The Manchu Boxer, The Dragon Tamers & The Association) (DVD)
Shout! Factory has been very good about compiling films that are otherwise tough to find, tough to acquire, and or not usually on these compilations. These DVD assemblies aren’t anything remotely new to the format, but Shout! takes advantage by bringing together four really interesting old school kung fu movies. While they’re not masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination, they’re solid mid-70’s terrain from Golden Harvest Studios that should peak the attention of even Blu-Ray converts.
Veronica Mars (2014) [Blu-Ray]
While “Veronica Mars” didn’t exactly set the world on fire, it’s definitely a return to form for the cast and crew behind the cult series, revived by the loyal fanbase and Kickstarter. Creator Rob Thomas sets the series right in the place he left off, providing a much wanted return to the universe where Veronica Mars is still a pariah and still always five steps ahead of everyone in her life. The best fans could have hoped for was that “Veronica Mars” felt like one big finale, and lo and behold, it succeeds two fold. I won’t pretend “Veronica Mars” is a spectacular thriller, but it’s a simple and entertaining closer to a series that deserved a decent send off.
Poseidon Rex (2013) (DVD)
Director Mark Lester’s giant monster movie is a mix of rock bottom budgets and mediocre common sense. It’s a classic B monster movie about muscle bound pirates, busomy scientists, and a military battling a gigantic monster while operating out of a tool shed with only three people manning the helm. You also have to love how so much hoopla is raised about Poseidon Rex, with the military set to nuke the entire island that’s held Poseidon Rex, only for our busomy heroine to kill it single handedly with a missile launcher. How did no one think of that? What of its eggs in the bottom of the ocean? Also, how can divers talk while their lips are wrapped around air regulators?