Suffice it to say, expectations play a sizeable role in any viewer’s enjoyment of a film. In the case of 2009’s Ninja, it would be impossible to watch the flick with high expectations — the cover of the DVD/Blu-ray is admittedly nifty enough to gain some attention, but it is nonetheless a low-budget direct-to-DVD ninja…
Temptation and fidelity: Two forces battling against each other continuously throughout the early years of a young couple’s marriage. For the first year or two, fidelity rules the roost but as the wedding anniversaries mount, temptation begins to chip away at this solid foundation. When opportunity is added to the equation, one’s character is tested…
Over recent years, the film noir genre has largely served as a reference point for filmmakers, who dress up their movies with snappy dialogue and/or complex, violent stories but neglect the genre’s bleakness. In this modern era, the Coen Brothers are often credited as the life support system for classic noir, but the Coens appear…
For a screenwriter, period pieces tend to be difficult — especially if they’re set in medieval times — dialogue being restricted to olden diction isn’t the easiest to write. However, with director David Gordon Green’s latest, which is an awkward mix of stoner comedy and medieval epic, that problem is quickly dispelled. How, you may…
If you’ve seen “Antichrist” or “Dogville,” you know Lars von Trier is an artistic director who does not shy away from deep, dark, bleak, and generally very unsettling subject matter. The trailer for his latest, Melancholia, doesn’t say either way, but you can get a sense of what may come: Due to a freak planetary…
Hannibal Lecter is the perfect example of a sociopath — a man who can think up and carry out unspeakable horrors without so much as batting an eyelash. Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira, in 13 Assassins, is the perfect example of a sociopath with unlimited power and influence. He rapes, mutilates and murders with impunity. Even more…
Uwe Boll (which is German for “Appalling Filmmaker”) has made a living over recent years (and has angered a great deal of people) by transforming beloved video game properties into epically awful movies. As a result, the cultural landscape has become tragically cluttered with unwatchable motion pictures such as House of the Dead, BloodRayne, Alone…
