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Kung Fu Killer ( unrated, 100 minutes) An energetic and proficient actioner that concerns convicted killer Hahou Mo ( Donnie Yen), a kung fu expert, who offers to help police catch vicious and violent Feng ( Wang Baoqiang), who’s running around Hong Kong dispatching the city’s martial arts elite. Outrageous and extreme fight sequences ensue in all sorts of bizarre locations, including the top of a giant model of a human skeleton. Directed by Teddy Chen.
Wild Horses ( R, 100 minutes) Robert Duvall’s 1998 The
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Apostle, which he directed, wrote, produced, financed and played the lead role of a fiery Pentecostal preacher with a secret past, is a stellar achievement. Not so Wild
Horses, a baffling, sloppy and lurching family- gone- wrong mess concerning Texas Ranger Samantha Payne ( Luciana Duvall, the director’s wife), whose reopening of a 15- yearold missing persons case links a local boy’s death to wealthy Scott Briggs ( played by Duvall). With James Franco, Josh Hartnett.
The Road Within ( R, 100 minutes) Offbeat, unsentimental and decently acted,
The Road Within explores self- reliance by using comedy mixed with drama to cope with difficult personality
problems. Following the death of his alcoholic mother, Vincent ( Robert Sheehan), who has Tourette’s, is living at a center for those with psychological disorders; other residents include anorexic Marie ( Zoe Kravitz) and OCD- afflicted Alex ( Dev Patel). A series of circumstances sets them off on a threeday road trip to the Pacific Ocean to spread the ashes of Vincent’s mother, with center director Dr. Rose ( Kyra Sedgwick) and Vincent’s dad ( Robert Patrick) in hot pursuit. Directed by Gren Wells.
The Town That Dreaded Sundown ( R, 87 minutes) Picking up where the 1976 original — set in post- WWII Arkansas and directed by Charles B. Pierce — left off, this is a tense, violent, slash-heavy fictionzied version of the Moonlight Murders that terrorized a little Texas town in 1946 and begin again 65 years later. Is the perpetrator the same Phantom Killer from 1946, or is there a copycat at work? High schooler Jamie Lerner ( Addison Timlin) intends to find out. With Gary Cole, Veronica Cartwright, Edward Herrmann; directed by Alfonso Gomez- Rejon.
My Beautiful Laundrette ( R, 97 minutes) This appealing, intelligent 1985 comedy, part of the Criterion Collection on Blu- ray, is directed by Stephen Frears, the poster boy for the British cinematic revival of the mid- 1980s. The film concerns young South London Pakistani Omar ( Gordon Warnecke) who, with financing and capitalist-style mentoring by his thuggish Uncle Nasser ( Saeed Jaffrey) along with help from his fascist boyfriend Johnny ( a young Daniel Day- Lewis), decides to open a classy
Laundromat in an otherwise depressed neighborhood to impress his family. In the process, racism and homophobia rear their ugly heads. With Stephen Marcus, Richard Graham, Shirley Ann Field.
Roger Waters: Amused to Death ( not rated, 73 minutes) A 1992 concept album by Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, updated and remastered this year, includes guest appearances by Jeff Beck, Don Henley, Steve Lukather of Toto, Randy Jackson and Rita Coolidge. It shows eerie prescience by exploring our fascination with society’s television screens — a trend that has expanded to include all sorts of other screen- based entertainments. It’s available in CD, CD/ Blu- ray, SACD, high- resolution digital download, two- LP 200- gram vinyl and limited- edition number two- LP picture disc vinyl.