September 14, 2016 “The Neighbor” (** out of four) was a trashy potboiler about a young construction worker (Josh Stewart) who comes home and finds his girlfriend missing and goes looking for her and eventually finds out she has been kidnapped and imprisoned in their neighbor’s (Bill Engvall) house and he has to break in and rescue her and both attempt to make it out alive. Stewart (who looks an awful lot like a young Sean Penn) once again is intense and holds the screen but you’ll eventually be numbed by all the ugliness and sleaze. Engvall is strong also as the evil neighbor. Continue reading →
September 14, 2016 “Backstabbed” (** out of four) was an obvious, predictable melodrama about a struggling wife (Brittany Underwood) who decides to become a real estate agent and begins working for a corrupt broker (Josie Davis) who is ruthless and vindictive and will do anything to land a deal. Davis’ amusing and campy performance makes this almost worth watching for a little while but she is backstabbed by a routine script without many surprises. Not all that different from last year’s “99 Homes” which told its story with much more complexity and emotional charge. Continue reading →
September 14, 2016 “The Purgation” (*1/2 out of four) was a disposable thriller that might make audiences feel in purgation as they’re watching it. In a Midwestern nowheresville town, a young girl (Tiffany Kieu) attempts to confront her past by revising an old asylum and finding out its untold truths and mysteries. By the end of this, you might feel as if you’re locked in an asylum with her. Yet another tired horror thriller that gives you nothing that both “The Shining” and “The Amityville Horror” didn’t do- and do better- nearly 40 years ago. Continue reading →
September 14, 2016 “Cry Now” (** out of four) was a tepid romantic soap opera about the relationship between a street graffiti artist (Miguel Angel Caballero) and a designer (Ilana Carter) which begins to heat up but his relationship with his obsessive ex-girlfriend (Mina Olivera) begins to interfere and causes problems for all of them. Not sexy enough, twisty enough, original enough, or even bad enough to make this worth checking out although Caballero is good in the lead and the film remains watchable through-out. Owes an obvious amount to Zalman King but his “Red Shoe Diaries” and porn-potboilers in the ’90’s were far more intensive than this. Continue reading →
September 14, 2016 “Interrogation” (**1/2 out of four) was a reasonably tense and electric suspense thriller about an F.B.I. interrogator specialist (former WWE star Aaron Copeland) and an I.T. worker (C.J. Perry from WWE Raw) who are plunged into a psychological battle with a criminal mastermind (Patrick Sabongui) once a plan is unveiled that could endanger the entire city and the clock is ticking. Copeland’s one-note starring role as an action hero reveals that he won’t be stealing roles from Leonardo DiCaprio or Edward Norton anytime soon but he gets the job done. Film is packed with enough action and twists to satisfy action fans but story gets excessively ridiculous after a while. Still, Copeland and Sabongui play well off each other and there is a neat surprise at the end which make this worth interrogating. Continue reading →
September 7, 2016 “Followed” (*1/2 out of four) was a tired horror thriller about a young couple (Adam LeClair and Stefanie Butler) who document their cross-country move and new engagement but unknowingly become targeted and stalked by a psycho on the road who pursues them. Not exactly the worst of the low-standards of the found-footage horror genre but unlikely to make anyone forget “The Blair Witch Project” or “Duel” anytime soon. Some eerie shots of the Midwest are well-captured but this is overall not worth following. Continue reading →
September 7, 2016 “Being Charlie” (** out of four) was an earnest but superficial melodrama about a high-school drug abuser (Nick Robinson) sent to rehab by his gubernatorial-candidate father (Cary Elwes) but struggles to stay clean and get his life together as he goes from rehab to homelessness to jail. Unusual film from director Rob Reiner is written by his son Nick who struggled with drug addiction but despite a solid performance from Robinson, the result feels like a t.v. movie. The tacked-on happy ending rings especially false and for a movie called “Being Charlie”, the movie tells you little of who Charlie is. Common gives another searing performance as one of Charlie’s counselors. Continue reading →
September 7, 2016 “Sharkenstein” (0 stars out of four) was a horrendous mess which makes the “Deep Blue Sea” or any of the “Jaws” sequels look like “Casablanca” by comparison; a WWII experiment to create a monstrous shark somehow goes astray and 60 years later turns up in a coastal town with his appetite turned up on high and many tourists (and bad actors) ripe to be eaten. Hard to say which is worse- the unwatchable acting, the lame script and direction, or the laughable special effects which really need to be seen to be believed. Clever title though. Recommended only for those who thought Steven Spielberg’s original “Jaws” was overrated. Continue reading →
September 7, 2016 “Friend Request” (*** out of four) was a chilling horror thriller about a college student (Alycia Debnam-Carey) who befriends and then unfriends a mysterious girl online but then finds her closest friends being murdered one by one. Story goes a little over-the-top and gets excessive but it’s kept watchable by solid performances and filmmaking and a good amount of thrills and scares. Director Simon Verhoeven shows a flair for striking imagery and style in his first horror movie. Continue reading →
September 7, 2016 “Antibirth” (*1/2 out of four) was an anti-watchable sci/fi slog about a partier (Natasha Lyonne) and her friend (Chloe Sevigny) who live in a desolate community full of drug-addled psychotics and complications arise when she wakes up after a night of heavy partying and is unsure if she’s pregnant or the carrier of a strange illness. Both Lyonne and Sevigny seem to be aging well since their 90’s heyday and it’s nice to see Meg Tilly back on screen again after a lengthy absence but this stupid and ugly melodrama doesn’t know what to do with any of them. Some trippy visuals are this movie’s only asset; it doesn’t so much end as stop, but you won’t be complaining. Continue reading →
dlepikcom 