As the ragged and haggard anti-hero in Jean-François Richet’s rollicking grind-house showcase Blood Father, lead character John Link is a lost wrecking ball in search of raging redemption despite whatever erratic and intrinsic demons that beleaguered his unstable psyche. Well, this description can also be applied to the relentlessly problematic performer playing this graying, leather-skinned…
Years ago, during the annual Purge — a 12-hour event held on March 21 during which all crime, including murder, is legal — a teenager survived the brutal slaughter of her entire family. She endured an unimaginable night of terror and torture, and now, as an adult in The Purge: Election Year, Senator Charlie Roan…
Jacques Audiard has previously explored his primary cinematic interests by telling a tale of crime as a way of life and a tale of an unlikely family as a means of redemption. Now he’s combined the two in his latest movie, where he examines the intersection of these dramatically rich topics with carefully complex attention….
A poignant love story, Arnaud Desplechin’s (“Jimmy P.”) My Golden Days (Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse) is filled with warmth and humor and delivered with a lively and playful touch in the Desplechin style: The use of voice-overs, split screens, the iris-effect, and characters looking and speaking directly into the camera. Challenging us with numerous…
In 1933, Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward, “Blood Cells”) became the only Irish citizen ever to have been deported from Ireland when he was exiled to America without a trial. His crime seems to be that he was a Communist who incurred the ire of the Catholic Church and the landlords by daring to establish a…
The Purge: Anarchy opens hours before the Annual Purge: The one night when all crime — including murder — is temporarily decriminalized. Americans all over the country either barricade themselves indoors to hide from the violence, or stockpile weapons in preparation of “purging the beast.” The film’s focal character Sergeant (Frank Grillo) falls into the…
Crime’s hit an all-time low in The Purge, but the neighbors of James Sandin (Ethan Hawke, “Sinister”) are still scrambling for one of his signature security systems, which promises to turn any home into an impenetrable fortress. That’s because, to keep these rates so minimal, the United States has instituted the annual “Purge,” a 12-hour…
