“Death Warrant,” “Undisputed,” and “Enter the Dragon.” If you’ve seen those films then there’s a good chance you won’t need to see the oddly titled “Ring of Death” which is a simultaneous nod and derivation of the aforementioned with none of the charm of either of them. “Ring of Death” is a movie with every such potential to be a fun guy’s action film, and fails to be nothing more than a sub-par television movie with the illusion of edge embedded into its rather predictable story. The writers never really provide us with the slightest bit of originality, opting instead to rely on our familiarity with the action genre.
Tag Archives: Crime
In Plain Sight
Ah yes, it’s another show on cable about a super woman who is really just a regular person when she’s with her family, or in her personal life. She mothers everyone, talks back to her superiors, and even has a “Moonlighting” relationship with her hunky partner. And on the outside, she’s a professional risking her life as a Witness Protection Officer relocating witnesses who, well, witness something corroborating, and must be relocated. She’s a not so nice person though, and prefers to act on her gut instead of follow procedure (you know how the song goes!), and this gets her into trouble. But I wasn’t too down on “In Plain Sight,” because while it’s better suited for Lifetime, Mary McCormack finally gets a good vehicle that allows us to see what her supporting performances over the years, haven’t.
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
The original “Harold and Kumar” became one of my favorite comedies of all time after an attempt at giving it a fair chance while on cable television one night. Since then it’s been a constant favorite, and on a replay whenever boredom strikes. Even though it was a prime example of product placement, the stoner classic is utterly hilarious and serves as a testament to the talents of John Cho and Kal Penn. “Guantamo Bay,” though, inadvertently serves as an argument against sequels to any and all films. If some director had attempted to mimic the success of “Harold and Kumar” with less comedic punch, and much more forced social overtones, “Guantanamo Bay” would be pointed at, almost immediately. Because frankly, the only thing offensive about this sequel is that every race joke is horribly unfunny, while so blatantly setting up part three, that it’s almost insulting.
An American Crime (2007)
Last year I saw the film adaptation of author Jack Ketchum’s novel “The Girl Next Door,” a dramatic thriller based on the infamous case involving a young girl kept prisoner in a basement to be tortured relentlessly by her aunt and cousins. While I absolutely loved the Ketchum film, I was interested to see if it was any better or not as good as “An American Crime,” a festival runner that made considerable waves among audiences, but has yet to be released in America. Determined to seek out most (if not all) of Ellen Page’s prior work, I sought out “An American Crime,” and was surprised to see that it pretty much equaled in quality, and proved how much of a versatile actress Page is and will soon become.
Serenity: Better Days #2 (of 3)
Yeah, if we’re supposed to enjoy this new miniseries, then I’m begging Dark Horse to stow these horrible covers. Not only are they completely out of character for the series, they’re also drawn terribly, and bear no likenesses to any of the characters. The cover to issue two has Book and Jayne smoking cigars and buddying it up, while Inara is lying there with a hand fan. It’s ugly, the colors are awful, and adds a camp that this show was never big on. It’s all supposed to be attached to form a fold out of the group raking in the money, but it’s just an eye sore. I’d take cheesy stock promotional photos as covers, over these any time of the week.
Serenity: Better Days #1 (of 3)
I’ll tell you what the fundamental problem with “Serenity: Better Days” is, so far. There’s too much fore-shadowing to “Serenity.” There’s so much it became pretty irritating to read at times. Wash makes a hint at the possible getting together of Kaylee and the Doc, and heck even the cover has Wash and Zoe holding hands. We know what happens in “Serenity,” there’s no need to keep connecting the dots to remind us this is a sequel to “Those Left Behind,” and the second part of the comic book prequel… you follow?
Hawk Jones (1986)
And now for a trip down memory lane: Back when I was a young lad, my dad used to look for kids movies we could watch whenever we were up to no good and around our block there was a store that had an incredible collection of movies for sale. The selection was absolutely fantastic, with movies that were very hard to find and rare, and became even more so once the Blockbuster’s and Netflix’s of the world choked them out. Either way, he bought us this movie called “Hawk Jones” on VHS for a mere five bucks and boasted about its surefire entertainment value. Well, he wasn’t incorrect.