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Narc

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The dirty cop story has been kicking around cinema screens since the days of film noir.  So, any attempt at updating the clichés has better bring something new to the table. 2002’s  Narc  relies on its cast and characters – not to mention the gloomy urban landscape of Detroit, which is really another character unto itself – to elevate the material.  Which they do.  Trouble is writer / director Joe Carnahan’s script is a studiedly serious exercise is recycled plot devices and narrative dead-ends that wastes all the gritty authenticity it’s got going for it. Former undercover narcotics officer Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) is lured back onto the force by the promise of a steady paycheck and a cushy desk job if he can close the case of murdered cop, Michael Calvess.  Calvess’ former partner, Henry Oak (Ray Liotta), a hotheaded rule-breaker from the old school, is brought in to assist.  But Tellis sniffs out a conspiracy that runs deeper than the streets, pursuing angles and interviewing susp
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Sabotage

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Action star Mark Dacascos always seemed like too much of a nice guy to be a bad ass.  Working his way through video store favorites like  Double Dragon  and  Kickboxer 5 , no one could deny he had the skills, he just lacked the necessary attitude to rise above the fray.  So, it was great to see him get a chance to shine in 2019’s  John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum , even if it was too little too late. And it’s a treat to go back to 1996’s  Sabotage , a conspiracy thriller that throws in the so many plot twists  and  familiar faces you might forget who you’re supposed to be rooting for. Dacascos plays Michael Bishop, a former special forces vet who was dishonorably discharged and now works as a freelance bodyguard.   But when his latest client is assassinated, he teams with the investigating agent, Louise Castle (Carrie-Anne Moss), to outsmart a meddling CIA spook (Graham Greene) and take down a hired killer (Tony Todd) before he strikes again.   It may be Dacascos’ name above the title
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Pandemonium

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There’s not much of a market for short films.  Even the Academy Award nominated shorts, which get some theatrical play, are little more than auditions for directors looking for feature work.  But like a short story collection in the literary world, an anthology film is an entirely different experience, offering viewers a buffet of cinematic flavors…and filmmakers a better hit-to-miss ratio.   Pandemonium  (2023) isn’t exactly an anthology by design, but production circumstances wound up fitting the format quite nicely as a fog-shrouded wraparound segment bookends two powerful stand-alone films.  After waking up to the aftermath of a car crash on a misty mountain road, Nathan discovers he’s stuck in some sort of purgatory…and he’s not alone.  Daniel, also involved in the crash, explains their situation and suggests they’re meant to use the two doors that have mysteriously appeared, one accompanied by a heavenly chorus, the other screams of the damned.     From here,  Pandemonium  jumps
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The Shape of Night

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With all the hubbub surrounding Gen-Z’s delicate sensibility involving sex on screen,  The Shape of Night , released in 1964, would likely require a strong trigger warning.  Produced at time when Japanese studios were leaning towards more overt scenes of sex and violence to compete with an encroaching TV audience, director Noboru Nakamura crafts a technically beautiful film that brutalizes its central female character both physically and emotionally for the entire run time.  A noir morality play set in the world of prostitution and pimps,  The Shape of Night  doesn’t condone this “degenerate” lifestyle, but makes it clear that some choices are more complicated than a simple right and wrong. Yoshie becomes quickly infatuated by Eiji, a regular customer she serves at the local bar; so much so that she moves into his tiny apartment and becomes their sole source of income.  By the time Eiji’s career as a low-level yakuza is revealed, Yoshie is too deep in love to care.  But the suggestion
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Misunderstood

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One of the biggest blind spots in the parenting toolbox is our inability to judge the true depth of our children’s emotions.  As adults, we think that only grown-up problems matter, when in fact the stakes are just a high for our kids.  Few films capture this flawed logic better than Luigi Comencini’s  Misunderstood  (1966), a melancholy coming-of-age story that digs deep into familial bonds that keep us together…and, just as often, tear us apart. After the death of his estranged wife, John Duncombe is at a loss how to break the news to his two sons. Andrea, the eldest seems to take things in stride, carrying the burden for his younger brother Miles.  But while their father keeps busy with work, the children become more and more desperate for his attention, particularly Andrea who finds himself labeled a “troublemaker” despite every effort to impress.  Instead, it’s Miles, with no memory of his absent mother, who becomes the focus of the family, blissfully ignorant of the tragedies of
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Joysticks

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You could make a case that genre films are more important for cultural study than any movie that pops up during awards season.  The reason being, while the latter makes every effort to be  timeless , genre films are distinctly  of their time .  Take  Joysticks  (1983) for example, a blatant cash grab that tries to take advantage of two popular trends.  “You got your video games in my sex comedy.  No, you got your sex comedy in my video games!”  Either way, director Greydon Clark had dollars signs in his eyes when he shot this T & A quickie that captured – in truly embarrassing fashion – the early ‘80s generation fascination with boobs, bits and flatulence.  Bailey’s Arcade is the hangout for all of River City’s disaffected youth who bond over games like Gorf, Galaxian and Defender.  But local big wig Joseph Rutter (Joe Don Baker) doesn’t like the affect it’s having on his impressionable daughter so he arranges various acts of sabotage to shut the place down.  After some rude pranks
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The Scarface Mob

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The adage “When legend becomes fact, print the legend” might have come from a John Ford western, but applies equally well to the exploits of Eliot Ness.  After all, Hollywood would love you to believe the famed prohibition-era crimefighter and his fellow  untouchables  were solely responsible for busting up Al Capone’s criminal organization and making the streets of Chicago safe – not to mention liquor-free!  The truth is more complicated but it makes for a rousing bit of cinematic exaggeration as adapted by film noir veteran Phil Karlson in  The Scarface Mob  (1959), a theatrical presentation of the two-part TV special that continued on for five seasons as  The Untouchables . Brought in to fight fire with fire, Ness (Robert Stack) recruits his team of tough guys on the down low, hoping to dodge the police corruption hampering all previous efforts to enforce the Volstead Act.  And he makes headlines with high-profile raids on breweries and speakeasys that take a bit out of Capone’s pro
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