You’re reading the Watching newsletter. Every week, our team will bring TV and movie recommendations right to your inbox. Enjoy the edition below, and look for future newsletters on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Dear Watchers,On this Genre Movie Wednesday, we have a couple of recommendations for people who are more inclined to watch “Die Hard” over the holidays than movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Our expert in the action field, Robert Daniels, has picked out a war movie/shark movie hybrid to get your adrenaline flowing. And he pairs that with a rip-roaring cop drama featuring Dolph Lundgren. What could make the season brighter? Read below what Robert has to say about each of these films, then head here to see three more of his picks. Happy viewing. ‘Wanted Man’
Where to watch: Stream “Wanted Man” on Netflix. Dolph Lundgren, who played the monosyllabic foe Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV,” has formulated a fascinating late-career chapter for himself as a director-star. In his latest effort, “Wanted Man,” he is Detective Travis Johansen, a racist, xenophobic cop dispatched to Mexico to bring back two people who witnessed the border town massacre of a cartel. It’s a simple job that goes awry when the three are ambushed, leaving Travis wounded and one witness dead, with the other, Rosa (Christina Villa), taking him into her family’s protection. As a director, Lundgren brings a workmanlike approach to the shootouts, whose booming blasts deliver palpable angst and anticipation. As an actor, Lundgren is working the same ground as Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino,” offering the vision of a man who still could change for the better. That combination of style and performance makes “Wanted Man” a desirable B movie. ‘Beast of War’
Where to watch: Rent or buy “Beast of War” on most major platforms. The writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner’s film expands upon the shark-attack subgenre with this story about an aboriginal soldier, Leo (Mark Coles Smith), and his white friend, Will (Joel Nankervis), who face discrimination from their white Australian comrades during World War II. Through extreme difficulty, the two men survive boot camp. But when their ship is destroyed, they’re marooned with their prejudiced fellow soldiers on floating debris on the Timor Sea. A deadly shark, meanwhile, circles them. As the men cling to the wreckage for survival, the surrounding fog hides many frights in its depths — and they aren’t limited to the shark. As for that beast, Roache-Turner doesn’t need to show much of it, just plumes of blood and screams.
|
