TIFF14 REVIEW: October Gale [2015]

“Sorry. I have to put my gum in your belly button for a second.” After enjoying Ruba Nadda‘s Inescapable and hearing a ton of praise for Cairo Time, I went into her latest effort October Gale with high expectations. Whether this fact tainted my experience or not, those hopes were not met. For whatever reason Nadda doesn’t seem quite certain about what she wants from her plot. Is it a Nicholas Sparks love triangle for the middle-aged between a still grieving widow (Patricia Clarkson‘s Helen), the memory of her husband…

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REVIEW: Rambo [2008]

“Live for nothing, die for something” In what must be the most awkward sequencing of titles for a film franchise, the fourth installment, titled as though it was the first—Rambo, shows the side of the character that I was expecting while watching the first film. We get John Rambo in all his Green Beret glory, taking no prisoners and killing all in his wake; quite the departure from his introduction as a misguided ex-pat pushed too far into exploiting the bigotry and weakness of a local sheriff and his deputies.…

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REVIEW: First Blood [1982]

“We’re not hunting him, he’s hunting us” If I’m going to see the fourth installment of a film franchise, I should at least check out the one that started it all. That fact brings me to finally seeing the 80’s classic First Blood. It wears its decade on its sleeve with the acting, broad humor at times, and cheesy credit song “It’s a Long Road.” Despite all that, though, the movie lives up to the hype and fires on all cylinders. I had no clue that the story pitted one…

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