action – PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – Reflection in a Dead Diamond

Reflection in a Dead Diamond (2025)
Written and directed by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani

The married filmmaking duo of Cattet and Forzani first caught my eye with their 2009 feature debut, Amer, a postmodern homage to the uniquely Italian horror genre of giallo. In that film, they established their signature style: hyper-sensory hallucinations—fragmented, fetishistic collages of giallo, Eurospy, and grindhouse cinema. Narrative is secondary to texture, rhythm, and the ecstatic violence of the images. There is not much dialogue in their work, but you never feel lost because they maintain tight control in the editing room.

Movie Review – Who Killed Captain Alex?

Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010)
Written and directed by Nabwana I.G.G.

I’ve mentioned several times in this series on foreign films how much American media is saturated with other cultures. This is intentional as it helps spread US hegemony across the globe by portraying the country as the toughest, most heroic culture on Earth. In the 1980s, this was done through the macho action films of people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. More recently, Marvel movies have been America’s tool of global indoctrination.

Patron Pick – Carry-On

This special reward is available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 monthly levels. Each month, those patrons will pick a film for me to review. If they choose, they also get to include some of their thoughts about the movie. This Pick comes from Matt Harris.

Carry-On (2024)
Written by T.J. Fixman
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

It took just a few minutes of watching Carry-On to realize I was watching a type of copaganda. Instead of shilling for the “boys in blue,” this film attempts to make the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) seem like an essential job that protects Americans and is staffed by cool people who look like action stars. The plot is a yawn-inducing cut & paste of every other terrorist thriller you’ve seen, like tossing 1990s thrillers and the TV series 24 into a blender with some pro-TSA propaganda. I’m not very surprised that a Netflix original is a piece of disposable shlock; that’s sort of the brand at this point.

31 Days of Character Creation #24 – G.I. Joe

Ironically, I was a huge G.I. Joe fan as a kid. Jump to 43 and I think the U.S. military is one of the most evil institutions on the planet. Life is funny that way. I decided to make a character for the G.I. Joe, but with my take. I wanted this to be G.I. Joe as if it was continuing on in 2025 after being started in the 1960s. In this political climate things are not so black & white.

PopCult Podcast – Rebel Ridge/Evil Does Not Exist

Two recent releases are in the spotlight. Jeremy Saulnier presents an entertaining & tense action film about a Black man against the local law preventing him from helping his cousin. Ryusuke Hamaguchi delivers a complicated a story of a rural Japanese village facing an outsider developer.

Movie Review – The Killer (1989)

The Killer (1989)
Written and directed by John Woo

It felt like the film was over about fifteen minutes into The Killer. The amount of movie crammed into this opening felt like a full meal. I checked the time. 85 minutes to go. John Woo has never been a filmmaker I’ve rushed to see. Of his work, I’ve only watched Hard Boiled and Mission: Impossible 2 before this. I’m not a big action fan, but I enjoy that film genre when it is done well. Part of understanding Woo’s tone and how he approaches filmmaking can be seen in the direct English translation of this film’s title from its Chinese name – “Pair of Blood-Splattering Heroes.” If you’re the kind of person who sees that and says, “Hell yeah,” then you have found your director. My response is not as enthusiastic.

Patron Pick – Men in Black II

Men in Black II (2002)
Written by Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

Around this time, I began to viscerally feel that the popular fare I would see in theaters mainly was trash. I was in college when Men in Black II came out, and I remember going to the theater to see it. I spent August at a friend’s house, and one of their local friends had connections at the local theater. This meant we would get to enter without having to buy tickets. Men in Black II was one of those films. I couldn’t have been happier not to pay to see this thing. When this was requested as a Patron pick, I wondered if I would change my view. Maybe there was something good about it I missed back then. There wasn’t.

PopCult Podcast – Seven Samurai/The Hidden Fortress

Akira Kurosawa is one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live and his movies have had a profound influence on the form. Today we talk about a group of ronin defending a village & the story of a princess in peril that should feel familiar.

TV Review – The Venture Brothers Season Seven

The Venture Brothers Season Seven (Adult Swim)
Written by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer
Directed by Juno Lee

The core theme rippling throughout The Venture Brothers has been fathers & sons. This is seen in multiple relationships in the series. There is Rusty Venture and his deceased dad, Dr. Jonas Venture. There’s Hank and Dean in relation to their father. There were more on the edges of the show: Brock’s paternal relationship with Hunter Gathers, Sergeant Hatred’s desperation to be seen as a father figure, and Billy Quizboy having to accept Action Man as his potential stepfather. But that first dynamic, the one between former child adventurer Rusty and his deeply toxic father, was the fuel for this show. With Venture Brothers Season Seven, we open on a three-parter that finally brings closure to that arc.

Movie Review – Omar

Omar (2013)
Written and directed by Hany Abu-Assad

I won’t say any more on this, but the ending of Omar is one of the most satisfying conclusions I have ever seen in a film, yet it still leaves a bittersweet taste in your mouth. This is filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad’s first writer/director gig. He’d previously directed but co-written with one or more people. While not having seen that much of his work, the breakout film Paradise Now has always resonated with me. I was curious to see what story he had to tell after such an intense character-focused narrative. Once again, we get another narrative about a young Palestinian man caught in difficult circumstances, his friendships being challenged, and a moment hurtling toward him where he must make a decision that will shape the rest of his life going forward.