Macabre Pair of Shorts


You can't fault Troma for championing the
underdog. They've made their entire reputation via flying under the radar,
challenging the Tinsel Town norm, and discovering unsung talent. Without the
company, we wouldn't have the genre geek James Gunn, or his equally impressive
spouse Jenna. In fact, there are dozens of titles Meat Weed Massacre,
Rock and Roll Space Patrol: Action is Go!, Viral Assassins,
Superstarlet A.D., Dumpster Baby, the collected works of Warren F.
Disbrow, and the wonderful creative canon of Giuseppe Andrews - that would have
gone unnoticed and unappreciated had this Manhattan mainstay not stepped up and
supported their efforts. Of course, under this all-inclusive conceit, you've got
to take the crap with the creative. For every Trailer Town, you've got to
sponsor a Slaughter Party. For every Outlaw ProphetRead the entire
review

Guns at Batasi


Despite good intentions, Guns at Batasi (1964) never really
gels. Both critical of British Imperialism and elegiac toward career soldiers
and their rigid formalities and traditions, the picture compares unfavorably to
the vastly superior Zulu, released that same year and which covers much
of the same ground. Guns at Batasi, by contrast, is uninvolving and for
various reasons inauthentic, and though Richard Attenborough admirably goes out
on an actorly limb as the film's central character, an old-fashioned,
disciplinarian of a Regimental Sergeant Major, his performance is simply too
broad to be believed.

Set in present-day Africa, in a fictional East African nation, the film takes
place on a British military base used to train indigenous conscripts during the
country's transitional period from British colony to independent nation. Shortly
after Commanding Officer Col. Deal (Jack ...
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Green Street Hooligans

A character in Lexi Alexander's Green Street Hooligans makes a passing
remark about midway through this brutal, gritty drama as to how aware Americans
are of English football fans: "You only hear about us in the riots, right?" The
world of rabid football (don't dare call it soccer) fans serves as the
compelling tableau for this subtly powerful drama Elijah Wood demonstrates range
and a ferocity in one of his first post-Lord of the Rings roles as
wronged former Harvard student Matt Buckner, a Yank abroad in London, who finds
himself sucked into the bloody, contentious world of football firms (gangs).

Green Street Hooligans (originally titled Hooligans in the UK
and elsewhere) feels like a fusion of Fight Club, Any Given Sunday
and a more adult version of The Outsiders Matt's sister Shannon (Claire
For...Read the entire review

NewsRadio: The Complete Fourth Season

As NBC prepares for life after "Will & Grace," "Friends" and "Frasier,"
you can't help but think, "Hey, maybe they should bring back 'NewsRadio.'" A
sitcom somewhat ahead of its time, which lasted five seasons and roughly 97
episodes from 1995-1999, it's an odd mix of standard sitcom tropes fused with a
distinctly off-the-wall sense of humor; in the vein of the recently departed
"Arrested Development," you have to pay attention during "NewsRadio" to
appreciate the biting subtlety of Paul Simms' creation but if that's too taxing,
fret not: invariably, a well-timed piece of slapstick will come along.

"NewsRadio" had the good fortune to have assembled on its sets a veritable
galaxy of comedy stars: Phil Hartman, Dave Foley, Stephen Root, Andy Dick, Maura
Tierney, Joe Rogan, Vicki Lewis and Khandi Alexander are a tight ensemble that
radiate chemistry, which only furt...
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