A special police team is sent to transfer a high risk prisoner from holding to a local prison where the Butterfly clan should not be able to get to him. Once at the prison, things go south fast and the team members find themselves in a fight for their lives.
Tag Archives: Crime
68 Kill (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A man living in an abusive relationship is put through the ringer and finds his inner strength to survive and move on following a wild and crazy night and day.
Based on the novel by Bryan Smith, written and directed by Trent Haaga, 68 Kill is an insane ride filled by crazy, lunatic characters. The whole thing seems completely nuts and ludicrous but it works. Somehow, Haaga took all the most ridiculous characters and situations and makes them work in a sort of white-trash opera. Here all the characters do dumb things for dumb reasons and they almost all are assholes and lunatics, yet the film is crazy fun to watch and has a story that moves at a good, fast pace and leads to a satisfactory ending. Haaga took all of the most unlikely elements to make one of those film that should not work yet does so beautifully.
You Only Live Once (Sólo se vive una vez) (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
After witnessing a crime, a con man goes on the run and hides as an orthodox Jew, bringing his problems to an unsuspecting community.
Based on a story by Sergio Esquenazi, written by Esquenazi and Axel Kuschevatzky, and directed by Federico Cueva, You Only Live Once is one of those completely insane action comedy films that should not work but does. The film is filled with a series of crazy ideas and turns into a partial comedy of error while also being a good thriller-ish comedy. The story takes odd turn after odd turn until the very last frame to say the least. Oddly enough, the entire insanity works, which shows good writing and talented directing. Of course, a few jokes or attempts at jokes do fall flat and a few are offensive, but the film has so much going on that it’s easy to be entertained by it.
It Stains the Sand Red (2017)
Colin Minihan’s “It Stains the Sand Red” is a movie that only has about an hour’s worth of story for its premise. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a neat and interesting idea for a zombie movie, but one that runs out of steam by the time the second act is introduced. You can literally see the wheels falling off mid-way, and what should have been the end, feels a lot like a ton of filler that belongs to another movie altogether. As with all zombie movies from indie filmmakers, there are a ton of George Romero nods and winks, and they’re a mixed bag. Some of them are neat, like the opening of the film, which is an homage to the opening of “Night,” while some induce eye rolls a la the newspaper with the headline “The Dead Walk” dangling from a police vehicle.
Poor Agnes (2017) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A psychopathic female serial killer bonds with her newest victim in an odd way. This leads to her path changing and her life getting more complicated.
Death Line (Raw Meat) (1972) [Fantasia International Film Festival 2017]
A precursor to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Gary Sherman’s European based cannibal thriller is a ghoulish and often eerie bit of horror about a monster lurking within the tubes of London. Set amidst a busy and unsuspecting city, director Gary Sherman makes amazing use of the abandoned tunnels and corridors of London’s underground between Russell Square and Holborn. Sherman concocts a veritable lair for a clan of Victorian cannibals, the last of which is struggling to keep his pregnant wife alive. Sherman is great about setting the tone for his grisly little tale, constantly showing the radical worlds that lurk above and beneath local London subways.
The Fate of the Furious (2017) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
With the death of Paul Walker and the unstoppable ego of Vin Diesel, “The Fate of the Furious” signals a rock bottom point in the movie series that we haven’t seen since “Fast and Furious.” As the series runs on fumes, the writers and producers are working over time to introduce us to dynamic new anti-heroes, all of whom can’t make “Fate of the Furious” worth watching. Unless you’re a completionist, or a hardcore Kurt Russell fanatic, “Fate of the Furious” is a convoluted and painfully long follow up that tries very hard to fill the void Paul Walker left when he died.