film

Film Review: Blood and Lace (1971)

There’s a bit in an episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip where the characters on the series serial-numbers-filed-off version of Saturday Night Live are working on a sketch for Thanksgiving where the turkey spurts absurd, Army of Darkness levels of blood when carved. The bit is not shown, only talked about – with one of the characters commenting about the Prop guy thinking the level of blood is unrealistic with the comment”If it’s just a realistic amount of blood, then it’s… extremely disturbing…”

That is, perhaps, Blood and Lace‘s greatest strength, and its weakness. Continue reading →

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film, Hong Kong Action Movies

Film Review: The Mission (1999)

Johnny To, as a director, has two extremes. On one end is gritty crime thrillers like the Election duology – which may have an action scene or two, but which otherwise are generally grounded in the real world. On the other end is Exiled, a film which has a fight scene early in the film where several characters in a firefight cause a table to flip and spin end over end with their bullet hits, but ultimately both come out of the fight uninjured. In the middle lies The Mission. Continue reading →

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film

Film Review: Barbarian Queen II – The Empress Strikes Back

Barbarian Queen II is, basically, a somewhat nihilistic gender-swapped version of the Robin Hood story – princess is heir to throne, king has gone off to war and is presumed killed in the field, with the King’s evil brother planning to usurp the throne, princess flees to forest and builds a band of bandits to fight back against Not-Prince-John. Continue reading →

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Books, Star Wars, videos

Legends of the Force: Episode I – Splinter of the Mind’s Eye

Video

I’m taking my book reviews and adapting them into a new ongoing project with Legends of the Force, a look at the Star Wars “Legends” continuity in order of publication. This time I’m taking a look at Splinter of the Mind’s Eye – from how it came about, to how the story stacks up in its own right. Continue reading →

film

Movie Review: Deathstalker II

Deathstalker II is a fun dumb movie. It’s the kind of film where there is a title-drop in the film that incorporates the number (sort of – the line being: “I’ll have my revenge, and Deathstalker too!”). It’s got a soundtrack by Casio, exterior sets from a Renaissance faire, pants made out of pleather because they ran out of their leather budget, and female characters who wear as little as possible in the hopes that the audience won’t pay attention to any of the rest of the film’s shortcomings. Continue reading →

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