With its title based on the popular ’70s catchphrase, you’d think a flick called Kiss My Grits would be a cornpone comedy about a hash-slinging waitress who goes on the sexy run from a corrupt Texas County ranger, with plenty of car chases, car wrecks and car-fornication in a scant 80-minute runtime. In reality, however, … Continue reading Kiss My Grits (1982)
It took South Korea to rejuvenate the American zombie film with 2016’s Train to Busan. With writer/director Yeon Sang-ho returning for the sequel, Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula, lightning strikes twice — albeit at a notably lower voltage. Necessity gives us a new protagonist in Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won, 2010’s Haunters), a former soldier. After suffering … Continue reading Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (2020)
Not a slasher movie no matter what the title leads you to believe, Slayground is one of more than half a dozen films based on Richard Stark’s (aka Donald E. Westlake) crime novels featuring professional thief Parker. Like all but one of those, the character’s name has been changed — in this case, to Stone, … Continue reading Slayground (1983)
While based upon the French anti-hero created in 1911, the 1964 incarnation of Fantomas seems more influenced by 007. As portrayed by Jean Marais (Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast), the master criminal trades the top hat for a proto-Blue Man Group visage as a man-of-a-thousand-faces supervillain set to rival Dr. No and Auric Goldfinger … Continue reading Fantomas (1964)
With Den of Thieves, debuting director Christian Gudegast has made a heist sandwich, with bookended shootouts subbing for slices of Wonder Bread. Having penned the 2016 action sequel London Has Fallen, Gudegast sticks with the ingredient he knows best: Gerard Butler. The Geostorm star takes the lead as “Big Nick” O’Brien, a detective with the … Continue reading Den of Thieves (2018)