indie cinema – Tremble…Sigh…Wonder…

Spot the Difference: ACTS OF VIOLENCE and ACTS OF VENGEANCE

I parse the differences between ACTS OF VIOLENCE (with Willis) and ACTS OF VENGEANCE (with Banderas).

PART TWO OF THE “ZABU” CHRONICLES: GOING DEEP ON THE UNDERGROUND CLASSIC

I previously talked to Neil Cohen about making the glorious, nutty CHIEF ZABU in some detail. Here I talk to him andco-conspirator Zack Norman (co-star of ROMANCING THE STONE and CADILLAC MAN) in further depth in celebration of the film’s Streaming release. The loose, zanily charming CHIEF ZABU, a comedy about real estate, ambition, sexContinue reading “PART TWO OF THE “ZABU” CHRONICLES: GOING DEEP ON THE UNDERGROUND CLASSIC”

Does Anyone Remember THE BAG MAN with John Cusack and Robert De Niro? I Do!

David Grovic’s The Bag Man is a delayed entry in the Quentin Tarantino- David Lynch wannabe sweepstakes, when late 1990s filmgoers were bombarded with lousy, self-conscious, pseudohip films filled with violence and pubertal weirdness (see Dark Backward, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, Mad Dog Time, Big City Blues, and a lot of others). ManyContinue reading “Does Anyone Remember THE BAG MAN with John Cusack and Robert De Niro? I Do!”

Michael Pare: An Action Hero For the Rest of Us.

I like Michael Pare.

Stealth Cinema: The Shadow Careers of Our Favorite Actors

My first piece on “stealth cinema,” low-budget films with A-List actors, republished.

The Mythic, Unseen, long-lost film CHIEF ZABU has Now Arrived!

By James Kenney. This interview originally appeared at WhatchaReading? on October 25, 2017. Any film with Allen Garfield, Ed Lauter and Zack Norman can’t be bad. Any film with Allen Garfield, Ed Lauter and Zack Norman that was lost for 30 years, only to re-materialize this November 2nd at Videology for a screening and QContinue reading “The Mythic, Unseen, long-lost film CHIEF ZABU has Now Arrived!”

Missionaries, Mercenaries, & Misfits: Benicio Del Toro, Olga Kurylenko and Tim Robbins in A PERFECT DAY

A PERFECT DAY is an overlooked seriocomic look at a very dark subject. More of you should see it.

Sex and Poetry: The Quiet Charms of “Adult World”

By James Kenney First printed at Queens Free Press, 2014. After having reviewed the dispiriting Tarantino/Lynch throwback The Bag Man earlier this week, I happily announce that Adult World is a return to the cinema of the 1990s as well, but a more positive reassertion of indie values. The world of Don Roos, Hal Hartley,Continue reading “Sex and Poetry: The Quiet Charms of “Adult World””