BRIAN ORNDORF

Month: August 2012

  • Film Review – Assassin’s Bullet

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    I first encountered the work of Elika Portnoy two years ago, with the release of “Immigration Tango,” a wretched film that worked diligently to promote its star/producer/writer as a creative force, designing her own starring vehicle to launch herself as a major actress. “Assassin’s Bullet” is Portnoy’s latest production, accepting story and starring credits, though she’s responsible for five different roles over the course of the movie. It’s a vanity project for a hopelessly wooden performer, but at least Portnoy had the sense to pony up a few bucks for a colorful supporting cast, bringing Christian Slater, Donald Sutherland, and Timothy Spall to Bulgaria in an effort to soften the blow of an exhaustively moronic actioner. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Blu-ray Review – Hard to Kill

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    In 1988, Steven Seagal, with his trim frame and greasy hair, brooded his way into multiplexes with "Above the Law," a novelty action picture that shocked the industry when it actually found an audience, turning a hulking, squinty Akido instructor into a B-movie superhero. Growing a ponytail and stiffening his screen presence, Seagal returned to screens two years later with "Hard to Kill," welcomed with growing box office success and a behind-the-scenes relationship with co-star Kelly LeBrock (the two were married at the time). Suddenly, Seagal went from a lark to a semi-bankable star, and with good reason. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Burning Man

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    “Burning Man” is a grueling picture to watch, yet it packs an outstanding emotional wallop despite chasing every impulse to disturb the delicate passage of profound feelings. It’s a film of editorial technique and physical distance, endeavoring to disrupt a formulaic story of self-discovery and loss in a manner that honestly infuriates as much as it captivates. It’s a bizarre approach to a study of grief, yet it maintains an originality that’s laudable. If you decide to purchase a ticket, keep in mind the first 30 minutes are designed to provoke and frustrate, testing the viewer with a chronological disorientation that never relents, requiring outsiders to simply adapt to the blur at hand. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

  • Film Review – Dark Horse

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    The filmography of writer/director Todd Solondz has a specific tempo of idiosyncrasy in common, yet the manifestation of this deliberate oddness has taken many forms during his career, displaying a particularly vibrant ease with the uncomfortable in 1995’s “Welcome to the Dollhouse” and his best picture, 1998’s “Happiness.” While always an interesting storyteller, Solondz has seen the latter part of his career hit an undeniable repetitiveness, clouding his once crystalline vision for domestic disorder. His latest, “Dark Horse,” offers a wealth of small pleasures, but as a whole, it fails to make much of an impact, exhausting direction the longer it pursues a dreamscape tone that only seems to retain perfect shape in the helmer’s head. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com