December 3, 2016 “White Girl” (**1/2 out of four) was a well-directed but obvious melodrama about a hard-partying college girl (Morgan Saylor) who falls in love with a drug dealer in NYC and then does anything and everything to save him after he is arrested and incarcerated. Yet another story about the lifestyles of the young and decadent in the vein of “Cruel Intentions” and “Kids” is vivid, stylish, and holds your attention but is there a point? Plenty of sex and drugs aren’t enough to compensate for not enough story and character development Continue reading →
December 2, 2016 “Courier X” (** out of four) was a tepid underworld thriller based on the true story of Trenlin Polenski (Bron Boier) who was solicited by the C.I.A. to help cover up a blackmail attempt on the government after the release of a Pulitzer-prize winning book by Gary Webb and how this led to him becoming involved with multiple NYC thugs and mob connections while trying to save his own life. Murky story of various underworld connections, backstabbings, and shootings has too many subplots and characters. The kind of story that practically cries out for the dazzle of Martin Scorcese or Francis Ford Coppola. Boier is somewhat blank in the lead role but Anthony Mangano and Gary Francis Hope really make their mark as hard-hitting thugs. Continue reading →
December 1, 2016 “Bad Santa 2” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal sequel that was a Christmas present the equivalent of a lump of coal. This time around, the drunken Santa Claus (Billy Bob Thornton) teams up with his midget sidekick (Tony Cox) and his foul-mouthed mom (Kathy Bates) to rip off a charity business in Chicago. Scattershot chuckles are defeated by ugly, stupid, and repellent characters who are enough to make anyone say humbug. I wasn’t a huge fan of the 2003 original but this is one more bad sequel where more is less. A major disappointment from director Mark Waters who in better days directed “Mean Girls”. Continue reading →
December 1, 2016 “Equity” (**1/2 out of four) was a diverting but derivative melodrama set in NYC about a Wall Street senior investment banker (Anna Gunn) whose affluent life gradually is becoming undone by a financial scandal and corruption and is being investigated by her former friend (Sarah Megan Thomas) who is now a federal prosecutor. Adrenalized story of wheeling-and-dealing among the rich and powerful holds your attention with its good performances and storytelling but is never enthralling or engrossing as it could have been, because we’ve seen much of this story before in “Wall Street”, “Boiling Point”, and “Margin Call” among many others. A good attempt by Meera Menon which may have been more timely and original 10 years ago. Continue reading →
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