Author Archive: Kyle Barrowman
Kyle Barrowman is a graduate of the Cinema Studies program at Columbia College in Chicago. In addition to his work for Film Monthly, he has previously published essays for Cashiers du Cinemart, Offscreen, and The International Journal of Žižek Studies, on subjects ranging from film noir to Alfred Hitchcock, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Lee.
The Package
Anchor Bay has released on Blu-ray and DVD the new Stone Cold Steve Austin actioner The Package. Directed by Jesse V. Johnson (Pit Fighter, Charlie Valentine), written by Derek Kolstad (One in the Chamber), and featuring, in a small but integral role, Dolph Lundgren (do you really need a list of movies he’s been in?), [...]
The Samaritan
IFC Films’ new release, The Samaritan, must have been, considering his role as star and executive producer, a project that Samuel L. Jackson really believed in to have invested his money and his time (though, significantly, not too much effort). But after a viewing of this film, I’m hard-pressed to understand what he could have [...]
The Victim
With his being snubbed of the nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar he should have won for his performance in James Cameron’s criminally underrated masterwork The Abyss, I can’t call Michael Biehn an Oscar winner. Even though he has never gotten the recognition he has deserved for being the talented actor that he is, [...]
One in the Chamber
Anchor Bay has released on Blu-ray and DVD One in the Chamber, an excellent B-actioner that just barely misses the A mark. Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as Ray Carver, an assassin hired by the Russian mafia to eliminate several high-profile targets on the opposite side of a gang war. As he tries to complete his [...]
Hijacked
The action film narrative is such a tried-and-true commodity that it is almost impossible to screw up. For all of the times that action films have left us wanting better acting, more polished cinematography, more imaginative plotting, at least they lived up to our expectations as “action movies.” At least they got that part right. [...]
The Flowers of War
With The Dark Knight Rises right around the corner, we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Christian Bale in the near future. But before his next outing as the Caped Crusader, audiences can check out Bale starring in the new Blu-ray/DVD release of The Flowers of War courtesy of Lionsgate. Directed by Zhang [...]
Fightville
Even before the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) exploded into the mainstream, filmmakers have been fascinated by the sport and compelled to document the lives and careers of its competitors. In 2002, HBO picked up John Hyams’ documentary The Smashing Machine following its premiere at that year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The Smashing Machine followed [...]
If You Like The Terminator…
In his new book If You Like The Terminator…, author Scott Von Doviak provides a fun and illuminating time-travel journey of sorts as he takes his readers through film, TV, literature, and comic book history in order to chart the relatives, past and present, of the Terminator franchise. The book is broken up into multiple [...]
The Delta Force
In the Chuck Norris canon, the Missing in Action films, Lone Wolf McQuade, and, on a good day, Invasion U.S.A. are the only titles people seem to remember. Having battled Bruce Lee in the Roman Colosseum and having made being a Texas Ranger the coolest job in law enforcement, many of Norris’ other action triumphs [...]
Missing in Action/Missing in Action 2
With the cult of Chuck Norris still flourishing, MGM is setting out to debut on Blu-ray some of the action icon’s most beloved films, and in the first batch released earlier this month, his blockbuster Vietnam films Missing in Action and Missing in Action 2: The Beginning are expectedly the main attractions. Filmed back-to-back (but [...]
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