HD Cinema (105): Revenge *+ (1990, Drama)
Summary: This often grisly, arguably racist movie stars Kevin Costner as a U.S. Navy pilot who is the improbable friend of a powerful, vaguely criminal Mexican millionaire (Anthony Quinn). While visiting the latter on his estate, Costner's character has an affair with his host's gorgeous young wife (Madeline Stowe), for which he is almost beaten to death and the wife mutilated and turned into a junkie prostitute (nice, eh?). The hero seeks retaliation, and you may want the same against director Tony Scott, who makes the navy sequences look like beefcake excerpts from his earlier hit film, Top Gun. However, if you can stand the garishness, then perhaps the extreme violence won't be too bothersome, either. But expect a rough time either way. The DVD release offers optional full-screen and widescreen presentations. --Tom Keogh -
CinemaGunslingers-HD: Tom Horn ** (1980, Westerns)
Summary: Tom Horn is hired by Wyoming cattle ranchers to put a stop to the violence on the range. In the process, Tom finds himself accused of murder.
HD Cinema (105): Bad Boys *** (1983, Drama)
Summary: Sean Penn delivered a star-making one-two punch in the early '80s, debuting as stoner Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and turning up only a few months later, all but unrecognizable, as a steel-nerved teenage convict in this raw, powerful prison drama--and both performances hold up remarkably well. While the story line of Bad Boys has the familiar contours of classic jailhouse melodrama (Penn's fearless Mick stands tall against a bullying Latino gang boss played by Esai Morales), the sense of tightly wound raw force the actor conveys is so convincing that it's actually a little scary. It goes way beyond the blunt-force impact of a standard action star; Mick's acts of violence are expressions of personality, practically eruptions of his life force. The authenticity of this portrayal is reinforced by the closely observed production design: the youth-prison set is so cunningly textured that many moviegoers took it for the real thing. Ally Sheedy also made her film debut in Bad Boys, as the girl Mick leaves behind on the outside. --David Chute
