Author: Douglas Rasmussen
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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Do you need to be a Dungeons & Dragons fan to enjoy Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves? We roll the dice to find out! Firstly, I should say that I was coming into this film as a relative newbie to the world of Dragons & Dragons and roleplaying as a hobby. I know people…
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Yellowstone 1883
Though most fans would probably be loathe to admit it, Taylor Sheridan’s TV series, Yellowstone, is a ‘Rope Opera.’ How does its prequel, 1883, fare? I’ll just get this out of the way first; I really don’t care much for the original Yellowstone television series. I only came in at the second season of the…
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The Criterion Cut: John Woo’s Hardboiled
In this installment of The Criterion Cut, we look at the film Hardboiled, the classic John Woo actioner, which is playing on the streamer’s site. Between the years of 1986-1992 Hong Kong director John Woo made some of the most innovative action films in the genre. Woo’s distinct style of slow motion, freeze frames, two…
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Prince and the Revolution: Live (Blu ray)
Prince and the Revolution Live has been seen before as a supplement on another release. We answer the question – is it worth buying anyway? The newest release from the Prince Estate, Prince and the Revolution Live, is a remastering of the classic 1985 concert in Syracuse, NY. Originally this concert was included as a…
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The Criterion Cut – Tokyo Drifter
In this installment of The Criterion Cut, Douglas looks at Seijun Suzuki’s colourfyl and unconventional yakuza film, Tokyo Drifter, a delicious slice of pop art. EDITOR’S NOTE: There are some spoilers ahead. Seijun Suzuki is an interesting director and, I would argue, Tokyo Drifter is his best film. The 1966 yakuza thriller Tokyo Drifter is…
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The Criterion Cut: The Man Who Fell to Earth
Taking Nicolas Roeg and adding David Bowie sounds like it should be a template for awesomeness, but The Man Who Fell to Earth often fails. In many ways this film has the hallmarks of being an interesting project: a cult science fiction, bordering on the surreal, featuring David Bowie as a sort of Ziggy Stardust/space…
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Red Dwarf: The Promised Land
Long running sci-fi comedy series Red Dwarf releaesed a movie in 2020, called, The Promised Land. It’s not a great starting point for new fans. I first discovered Red Dwarf through reruns on PBS when I was about 18, maybe 19 years old, when PBS showed reruns on Saturday afternoons. By the mid-90s I had…
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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: The Novelization
Quentin Tarantino has written a novelization of his film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which explores more of the story and further Hollywood lore. Okay, so this is a bit of a weird one. For those who don’t know, novelizations of popular movies were a popular thing back in the 1970s and 1980s (my…
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The Criterion Cut: Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
We dig deep back into the Criterion Collection vault for a rare and enigmatic David Bowie performance in director Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. Another week in which I revisit a classic oldie. I first saw this film on home video sometime around 1984 or 1985. I had just discovered ‘Let’s Dance’ era David…
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The Criterion Cut: The Bad Sleep Well
In this Criterion Cut, Douglas introduces us to an unsung classic film in director Akira Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well. Hot takes on Shakespeare abound! If you’re still quarantined, or at least staying home a lot more and looking to fill your time, then perhaps watching some underrated yet classic movies will do the trick.…