All posts by Rod Lott

Burning Bright (2010)

Taking its inspiration from a line of a poem I’m not pretentious enough to have memorized in my academic career, Burning Bright pits Briana Evigan and a grade-school Rain Man against a tiger. Trapped in their house. During a hurricane. Seriously.

But wait! It all makes sense within the context of the picture, one which is actually quite suspenseful and something of a buried gem.

With her mom dead by suicide, Kelly (Evigan) may have to postpone college until she can afford to put her autistic little brother, Tom (Charlie Tahan), in a home. Their sleazy stepfather, Johnny (Garret Dillahunt), blew all their bucks on a vicious tiger he bought from Meat Loaf (Meat Loaf) for a tourist zoo he wants to open.

Johnny boards Kelly and Tom inside because of the oncoming storm and heads to the bar … but not before letting his new purchase slip inside, too. ZOMG KITTEH!!! Thus begins a half-literal game of cat-and-mouse that shouldn’t be able to sustain itself for more than an hour, yet does.

Making that feat all the more impressive is that this is only the second film from director Carlos Brooks, who has a great eye for framing and a Hitchcockian gift for building tension. It helps that he used a real, honest-to-God, big-ass-toothed tiger, whereas most filmmakers would’ve gone the easy route with letting the tech guys add one later with … I dunno, MacPaint or whatever it is they use. —Rod Lott

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PTU (2003)

PTU stands for “Police Tactical Unit,” and I’m booking this Hong Kong copper crime drama in the C+ column. It exudes potential from the outset, but tosses much of it out for a clichéd, slo-mo final shootout.

Chronicling one crazy night for the PTU, Election director Johnnie To’s film starts off just fine — even a little funny — as the rotund, chain-smoking Sgt. Lo (Suet Lam) crosses paths at a late-night diner with the wrong guys: neighborhood thugs who think they’re hot shit and all that and a bag of shrimp crisps.

Soon, the gang’s leader, the aptly named Ponytail (Chi-Shing Chiu) is dead from a knife through the back, but not before he runs down the street and tries to drive himself to the hospital, while Lo slips into unconsciousness after an alleyway fall in pursuit, and the other gang guys steal his gun.

From there, Lo’s colleagues — headed by the stoic Sgt. Ho (Simon Yam) — try to retrieve his weapon, which leads into an ever-the-more-muddled, loosey-goosey narrative that grows too messy in its second half. At least To makes the proceedings look slick. I liked the slight seriocomic, near-episodic approach, and the decision to make the cops corrupt assholes; its score, however, is atrocious. —Rod Lott

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The Amazing Dobermans (1976)

Until recently, the Doberman movies of the 1970s represented that rarest of film franchises: a series I didn’t even know existed. Indies all directed by one Byron Chudnow, they walk a weird line between comedies and crime films, all featuring Doberman Pinschers trained to commit and/or thwart felonies. Ostensibly family pictures, they’re kind of weird; therefore, I love them.

Following The Doberman Gang and The Daring Dobermans — in which the dogs robbed a bank and pulled off a high-rise heist, respectively — the five canines return in The Amazing Dobermans as guard dogs to freelancing security expert Daniel (Fred Astaire), an ex-con turned Jesus freak who lives in an RV. Daniel does no dancing, but plenty of Scripture-quoting and, via a chunky remote control with buttons marked “jump” and “go,” dog manipulation.

Crossing their paths is Lucky (James Franciscus), who owes $13,000 in gambling debts to a mob boss, but is really a Justice Department agent undercover. To that end, Lucky befriends a circus midget named Samson (Billy Barty), gets a job shoveling elephant poo, and falls for Justice (Barbara Eden), who rides Wonder Horse under the big top in a bejeweled bikini that highlights her great ass.

From there, a third-act caper takes place that involves the Dobermans, dynamite, an armored car and a goon who looks Gene Shalit. Like the two films preceding it, Amazing is harmless fun. What else would you expect from a movie where one of the bad guys is played by somebody named Roger Pancake? —Rod Lott

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P2 (2007)

Haven’t seen P1? Me neither, but it’s not required to get right into P2, a somewhat-around-average thriller, written and produced — yet oddly not directed — by Splat Pack member Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, Piranha 3D).

Rachel Nichols (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) unconvincingly plays a ballsy businesswoman whose Christmas Eve plans get ruined when she’s held hostage in her office building’s multilevel parking lot by obsessed attendant Tom (Wes Bentley, American Beauty). When her car won’t start, he “helps” her, starting with knocking her out with a good-ol’-fashioned rag o’ ether.

When Angela comes to, she’s been changed into a white party dress from which her ample breasts struggle to escape, and I’d be lying if I said this decision didn’t hold my attention for the remainder of an otherwise routine film. You’ve seen it before: Weird Guy menaces Hot Girl, Weird Guy kills innocents who wander in, then Hot Girl and Her Talented Boobs finally decide to fight back. What took you so long, Ang? Waiting for that nail to break?

What you might not have seen is how gruesomely the psychotic Tom dispatches one of those innocents. Just watch for the car-vs.-office-chair scene and prepare to wince. Bentley’s career may be like this film’s setting — in the basement — and should be for his Elvis impression, but Nichols’ is on the rise. And no wonder: She’s hot. P2? More like 34C. Zing! —Rod Lott

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