A young Aboriginal man works with a former soldier to save his family and land from the newly arrived British while tracking down a dangerous criminal.
Tag Archives: Crime
Wrath of Man (2021)
A seemingly over-qualified man takes a position at an armored truck company and bids his time as the viewer discovers more and more about him and his reasons for being there.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
Aaron Sorkin is a man who isn’t shy about dialogue. He’ll enlist huge rants and back and forths between his characters, and yet there’s always something meaningful traded that adds to the overall narrative. A lot of people have taken issue with that staple but it generally works in great favor with “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” It’s not just an excellent dramatic reproduction of a milestone event in 1969, but it also is the movie that we sorely needed right now. In 2020, America completely turned the tide engaging in protests and important statements about civil rights, and Sorkin swoops in to add to the important conversation.
Switchblade Sisters (1975): Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
Jack Hill is back and taking on one of the sleaziest and yet entertaining pictures of his career. “Switchblade Sisters” is a thrilling gang picture that can be taken alongside “The Warriors.” It’s a tale of fracture love triangle, a gang torn asunder, and a pretty excellent adaptation of a classic Shakespeare tale. “The Switchblade Sisters” is exploitation, but cut from prime material as Hill is able to derive a lot from such a minimal budget. He also grabs some excellent turns from the cast, including the now iconic Patch, played by Monica Gayle.
Nobody (2021)
It’s not too often that a movie title can take on so many meanings as a narrative unfolds, but director Ilya Naishuller manages to pull off what might be one of the more entertaining play on words of the year. “Nobody” is a pretty excellent film that, while it doesn’t re-invent the wheel, does a lot with the numerous resources on hand to create a thrilling action film that’s darkly comedic, satiric and presents an interesting conversation about the antiquated concept of the nuclear family.
Running Time (1997): Special Edition [Blu-Ray]
It’s not often that we get crime thrillers that unfold in real time, but Josh Becker’s indie “Running Time” takes a shot and does a great job of it. “Running Time” is true to its word, a movie that unravels over the course of a little over an hour, and the run time for the narrative is apt. The movie is not too long, refusing to pad the story, buts it’s never too short to where we’re left asking questions. It runs a good pace as a tense drama that feels kind of like a prologue to “Reservoir Dogs.” Campbell is stellar and the movie almost makes it to the finish line without a hitch. Almost, but not quite.
You Have to See This! Juice (1992)
After years of working with Spike Lee, Director Ernest R. Dickerson was ripe to deliver some of his own films with taut social commentary. Out of his entire career, “Juice” is easily one of his best, if not his absolute best. While it’s not quite as darkly satirical as Spike Lee’s films tend to be, “Juice” is very much ahead of its time. It’s very much about economic impact on minority teens, and the idea of toxic masculinity. “Juice” is mainly seen as a crime drama, it’s also about boys growing up in to men and trying to figure out exactly where they fit in.