BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Director Benny Safdie throws a lot of cinematic punches in “The Smashing Machine,” the story of MMA and Extreme fighter Mark Kerr. The problem is that those punches either ...

‘The Smashing Machine’ is Dwayne Johnson’s attempt at Oscar-level respect as an actor, with director Benny Safdie doing his best to get the Rock there. Not nearly as pleasurably anxiety-inducing as ...

With a title like The Smashing Machine, one might expect writer-director Benny Safdie’s first solo-directed feature to be a brutal, grinding sit. The film is based on the 2002 documentary of the same ...