Posts Tagged ‘gratuitous violence’

Short Take: Has a grindhouse feel, exploitation style, and dark humor to spare

Director: Jason Eisener

Screenwriter: John Davies, Jason Eisener, Rob Cotterill

Cast: Rutger Hauer, Molly Dunsworth, Brian Downey, Gregory Smith

Length: 1h 26m

Synopsis: An anonymous hobo (Hauer) turns up in a new city where crime is ubiquitous – people get murdered in the streets in broad daylight, honest storeowners get robbed at gunpoint, and all the cops are dirty. For sure, it is a place where hope goes to die. Every corner of this city is controlled with muscle that’s owned by The Drake (Downey), whose power comes purely from the fear of the innocent (and even not so innocent). At one point the unnamed hobo snaps and decides to take justice into his own hands, upsetting the status quo by shooting every despicable criminal he sees. Indeed, many of those criminals were owned by The Drake, and so almost overnight the hobo becomes the most hunted man in town. As fortune would have it, though, the hobo manages to get help from a forlorn young prostitute named Abby (Dunsworth) whom he saved from certain death, and together they attempt to fight their way out of the city so they can pursue a better life elsewhere.  That pursuit, they find out, will be even more dangerous than they imagined.

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Short Take: Beyond its obvious faults it delivers exactly what it advtertises, and then some

Director: Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes (2006))

Screenwriters: Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg (Sorority Row)

Cast: Elizabeth Shue (Hamlet 2), Christopher Lloyd (Camp Nowhere), Ving Rhames (Surrogates), Jerry O’Connell (Obsessed), Adam Scott (TV’s Party Down)

Length: 1h 30m

Synopsis: After a subterranean tremor causes a rift that conjoins a mysterious underwater lake with the aboveground Lake Victoria community, a prehistoric predator proceeds to roam free and eat at will. That predator is the very first breed of Piranha, which are thousands strong and eager to feed on fresh meat. It just so happens that these ferocious fish escape during Spring Break, when every virile teenager and college student within fifty miles is congregating to drink, fornicate, and unknowingly serve themselves up as dinner. Gratuitous nudity and violence ensues on a level not seen in American theaters in some time. Read the rest of this entry »