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This Divided State

This Divided State captures a single event (the controversy surrounding filmmaker Michael Moore’s speaking engagement at in an ultra-conservative Utah town), trapping it forever, like a fly in amber, and preserving it as a reminder of the past.
The film, while ostensibly about an otherwise minor event, serves as a time capsule containing memories of those […]

Employee of the Month

Somewhere between putting this DVD in the player and the end credits, my brain switched off. I think it was around the dozenth time the antagonist (played by Dax Shepard) boasted of his title as the “fastest checker in the Southwest region” of a Costco-like warehouse chain. By the second time he makes this claim […]

A Scanner Darkly

Philip K. Dick’s 1977 novel A Scanner Darkly explored issues ranging from police surveillance to drug culture to the nature of consciousness, all united brilliantly under the umbrella of Dick’s eccentric, paranoid, borderline-schizophrenic style. Because A Scanner Darkly is among the tales most treasured by PKD’s legion of fans, and because its intricate plot is […]

X Out of 10 Christmas Loot Edition: James Bond Ultimate Edition - Vol. 4

The world is made of two kinds of people: those who love Bond movies and those who loathe them. I consider myself part of the former camp, especially when it comes to the classic films starring Sean Connery. The fourth and final set in the James Bond Ultimate Edition collection combines two of these classics […]

Children of Men

A chilling movie inspired by (and far better than) P.D. James’ novel of the same name, Children of Men presents a frighteningly realistic image of a dystopian Britain in 2027. The women of this world have been unable to conceive since 2009, and the ever-aging citizens of earth prepare for their ultimate, unavoidable extinction. Around […]

Beerfest

I wasn’t expecting Citizen Kane, but I guess I expected the guys who did Super Troopers to create a movie that was… I don’t know… funny. Instead, they created a movie that was just plain horrible: horrible script, horrible acting, and horrible execution.

The Broken Lizard guys took a concept that could have been hilarious—come […]

Tsotsi

Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) is a young thug (literally: tsotsi is a Sesotho word meaning “thug”) from the poorest of the poor Johannesburg townships. With his gang, he robs wealthy Johannesburg businessmen, kills indiscriminately, and never shows a hint of remorse.
After a brawl in a bar where he savagely beats a member of his gang, Tsotsi […]