Sami Malik (Danny Pudi, Community) leaves his home in 1970’s India to become a ‘professional American’. He is determined to impress the father of the girl of his dreams and marry her. However, when he arrives, he quickly learns that there is no job waiting for him, he is robbed almost immediately, and he finds himself sharing an apartment and a bed with thirteen other hopeful immigrants. When an opportunity arises to show the father he is worthy; Sami pulls out all the stops to make his dream come true.
The Tiger Hunter has all the elements for a pretty good ‘fish out of water’ story. Unfortunately, the material is weirdly unfocused and the plot they chose to resolve for the climax is a little baffling. It’s a comedy that is surprisingly slim on jokes or funny situations in spite of having a large cast of talented comedic performers. Danny is charming, or course, and so is The Tiger Hunter to a point, but it’s too flat and lapses into the predictable far too often to really be recommended.
Chip is in love with Liza. Liza sleeps with the wealthy Ken to get rent money. Ken has $68,000 in a safe which he flashes in front of Liza. Liza devises plan to steal the money and ropes Chip into helping her. Liza also has ulterior motives and Chip is about to be sucked into an insane crime spree he could never imagine in this bizarre and highly entertaining, comedic crime genre film.
In the thousands of films I’ve watched over the years, of which easily half are crazy genre films, I don’t think I’ve encountered anything quite like 68 Kill. This is film that revels in its violent surprises and hits you in the face with an unexpected jaw dropper every few minutes. It moves at a lightening pace and like a roller coaster you never know when you’re going to be suddenly jerked in a new direction. AnnaLynne McCord is an absolute riot as Liza, playing the role as sexy, dangerous, and totally unhinged. She dominates every scene she’s in, with a weapon in hand and a sinister smile.
Forget about bonus features, besides the trailer, because Scream Factory ain’t giving you any, which is a shame, but this is worth buying just to take Liza’s wild ride itself.
It’s 1962 and young Gene Loomis has moved with his family to south Florida just as the Cuban Missile Crisis is heating up. He is excited about a visit from his favorite filmmaker Lawrence Woolsey (John Goodman) who is coming to town with his new monster movie Mant. Woolsey’s film, featuring a new gimmick called Atomovision drives the locals into a panic and turns their quiet town upside down. Return to the glory days of monster cinema with Joe Dante’s underrated masterpiece Matinee!
Matinee is a film I have been waiting forever to come to Blu-ray. This nostalgic little comedy is one of Joe Dante’s greatest and least appreciated films. It’s tremendously funny and entertaining but also appropriate for all ages; a family film that really will amuse the adults as much as the kids. The Scream Factory Collector’s Edition not only looks great but packs in an awesome amount of bonus features. Check out this list (I especially recommend the full length version of the ‘film within the film’ Mant).
Bonus Features:
- NEW Master of the Matinee – interview with director Joe Dante
• NEW The Leading Lady – an interview with Cathy Moriarty
• NEW MANTastic! The Making of a Mant
• NEW Out of the Bunker – an interview with actress Lisa Jakub
• NEW Making a Monster Theatre – an interview with production designer Steven Legler
• NEW The Monster Mix – an interview with editor Marshall Harvey
• NEW Lights! Camera! Reunion! – an interview with director of photography John Hora
• Paranoia in Ant Vision – Joe Dante discusses the making of the film
• MANT! – the full length version of the film with introduction by Joe Dante
• Vintage Making of Featurette
• Behind the Scenes footage courtesy of Joe Dante
• Deleted and extended scenes sourced from Joe Dante’s Workprint
• Still Galleries
• Theatrical Trailer
Adam Ruhl is a writer and life long Cinephile. He is the Executive
Cinema Editor of Pop Culture Beast’s Austin branch; covering festivals,
conventions, and new releases. When not filing reports, Adam can be
found stalking Alamo Drafthouse Programmers for leads on upcoming
DrafthouseFilms titles. Adam once blocked Harry Knowles entrance to a
theater until he was given extra tickets to a Roman Polanski movie.