The big draw for “Drive-Away Dolls” will be the director Ethan Coen for film buffs, and I say that because Ethan Coen spends an inordinate amount of time directing a movie that feels very Coen brothers lite. It has this flavor of a misplaced dark comedy from 2000 that might have paired on basic cable with “Nurse Betty.” It has all the hallmarks of a Coen Brothers movie after all. There are the quirky dysfunctional heroes, the quirky albeit vicious villains, some kind of spiritual journey or awakening, and a premise that devolves into immense chaos.
Tag Archives: Crime
Fear is the Key (1972) [Arrow Video Limited Edition]
Coming to Blu-ray on February 13th from Arrow Video
A man whose family died in a shot down plane becomes a criminal, escapes, and joins others in an effort to find and punish those responsible.
Darkman (1990): Collector’s Edition [4K UHD/Blu-ray]
The one thing about Sam Raimi’s movies is that good or bad, very few of them age poorly. Even for a movie made in the early nineties at an age where every studio were seeking to duplicate the success of “Batman,” Raimi makes “Darkman” his own movie. It’s a superhero movie in the horror vein where our masked dark avenger is also a deformed an unhinged Frankenstein monster. Something in the vein of Brundlefly, Liam Neeson really does offer up a wildly unique and off the rails performance.
The Warriors (1979): 2-Disc Limited Edition [4K UHD]
Now Available from Arrow Video.
It’s no secret that I Love “The Warriors.” I’ve loved it for years, and I talk about it constantly. I own a massive poster, the vinyl soundtrack the entire funko pop wave, the PS2 video game, and most of the editions on DVD and Blu-Ray. It’s a movie that’s had an interesting genesis starting out as a novel, transformed in to a notorious feature film, which then became fodder for video stores and was played quite often in syndication on cable and network television. It then evolved in to a cult classic and now a more widely celebrated cult masterpiece. And rightly so.
It’s a movie that works on so many levels as a streamlined, sleek, gritty, and exciting gang picture that Walter Hill directs with pitch perfect efficiency, and it’s garnered another well deserved special release from Arrow Video.
The Beekeeper (2024)
Jason Statham once upon a time was a guy who seemed like he was going to carry the torch and deliver a brand of unique action film roles. And then somewhere around 2010, he kind of backtracked and just reverted to playing the same variation of Jason Statham that we’ve seen well in to fifteen years now. “The Beekeper” is the latest in a line of what the internet are now labeling “Dad movies” where your everyday Joe becomes a bonafide angel of vengeance. This time directed by David Ayer and written by Kurt Wimmer, the pair team to deliver, so far, one of the stupidest action movies of the year.
Dress Code (2022)
I had a lot of respect for Joseph Pupello’s desire to deliver a gangster picture that’s less about gangsters and more about our personal lives. It’s rough around the edges, and the screenplay by Peter Panagos isn’t entirely cohesive, but they do manage to concoct an interesting storyline for a central character who is being pulled in all kinds of obligations. The one big goal in his a life involving mobsters, and assassinations, and a pregnant wife is to live as the person he really wants to be, and that makes his struggle pretty turbulent.
Our Five Choice Indie Features of 2023
It’s been an interesting year and we’ve manage to cover a few of the usual film festivals and found some favorites along the way. We were thankfully able to compensate for last year by really digging our heels in to the indie movies and festivals, and we’ve combed over some really talented directors, and writers.
These are five of the best indie feature films that we saw in 2023.