January 22, 2017 “The Harrow” (*1/2 out of four) was a harrowing bore about an unstable guy (Tom McKay) in a nowheresville town whose sanity is on the fringes after the murder of his wife a decade earlier; when a new girl (Maggie Geha) arrives in town trying to uncover the truth about her mother’s death, they soon fall in love but find that the mysteries of their past have interlocking secrets. Potentially interesting Southern Gothic melodrama is undone by molasses pacing and overlength. Geha and McKay’s sincere performances are wasted. Continue reading →
January 21, 2017 “Detour” (**1/2 out of four) was a flashy but empty revenge melodrama about a young law student (Emory Cohen) who gullibly enters into a pact with a man who offers to kill his stepfather whom he feels is responsible for a near-fatal crash that sent his mother into a coma but all does not go as planned. Well-directed and well-told to hold your attention but story itself takes some strange and unpleasant detours and leaves a bad taste. Still worth watching and better than most direct-to-Redbox junk. Continue reading →
January 21, 2017 “My Father Die” (*1/2 out of four) was a violent, ugly redneck melodrama about a deaf and mute small-town kid (Joe Anderson) who trains for nearly two decades to avenge the death of his brother. Upon finding the assailant, his plans hit a corkscrew when he finds out the murderer was his father. Strictly for those who never miss an episode of The Jerry Springer Show or who own all of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Willie Nelson records. “Movie Bad” would have been a better title for this mess. Re-caulk your bathtub instead. Continue reading →
January 20, 2017 “Apple Of My Eye” (**1/2 out of four) was a good-natured kids story about a young girl (AJ Michalka) who is traumatically injured after a horse-riding accident and receives a new miniature horse named Apple to be her companion and surrogate eyes and is then trained by a former horse trainer (Burt Reynolds) who becomes her mentor. Story about determination, survival, and the bond between owners and animals aimed squarely at kids who should like this a lot. Passable for adults with a nice role for 80-year old Reynolds and also Amy Smart as the girl’s mom. Continue reading →
January 18, 2017 “Tresspass Against Us” (*** out of four) was an affecting melodrama about a family man (Michael Fassbender) who struggles to escape the clutches and criminal ways of his outlaw family (led by Brendan Gleeson) and the multitude of problems this leads to for him and others around him. Low-key and takes time to get going but first-rate acting all around helps this grow more powerful and involving as it goes along. Fassbender is rock-solid as always and has good chemistry with Gleeson and his wife (Lyndsey Marshall). Stirring music score by The Chemical Brothers. Continue reading →
January 18, 2017 “48 Hours To Live” (** out of four) was a senseless but stylish underworld melodrama about a loner (James Maslow) out of rehab who returns home to solve the murder of his sister and finds himself in a crossfire between the mob, the police, and various other factions of the L.A. underworld club world. Lots of visual and audio energy provided by high-energy director Benny Boom but story is all over the place and its unpleasantness starts to wear out at nearly two hours. Director Boom obviously cut his teeth on music videos and his nonstop visuals may give you a rush but he needs to work more on improving story cohesion and coherence. Continue reading →
January 18, 2017 “Collateral Beauty” (*1/2 out of four) was a collateral mess starring Will Smith as a successful NYC advertising executive who retreats from life after suffering the tragic loss of his daughter and then seeks answers from the universe by writing letters to Love, Time, and Death, while his concerned friends and co-workers (Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, and Keira Knightley) try to re-connect and reach him. Unbearably hokey and contrived movie is full of good intentions but laughable at times; first-rate cast and some nice directorial touches by director David Frankel are wasted. A bizarre starring vehicle for Smith, which recalls his 2008 misfire “Seven Pounds” at times. Continue reading →
January 16, 2017 “The Barn” (*1/2 out of four) was a lackluster horror thriller set on Halloween 1989 when two best friends (MItchell Musolino and Will Stout) are on their way to a rock concert but are beset by a detour when they find an old abandoned barn and awaken the evil inside and are soon on the run for their lives. Laughably cheesy and dumb homage to ’80’s splatter movies is more like a bad movie from the ’80’s instead. One-time ’80’s horror scream queen Linnea Quigley has a minor role but she would have been better off re-watching “Return Of The Living Dead” instead. Continue reading →
January 12, 2017 “The Sector” (*1/2 out of four) was a cheapjack mishmash of “The Book Of Eli”, “The Road Warrior”, and “The Bourne Identity” set in another post-apocalyptic society wasteland (or basically a lot of arid deserts with dust flying around) about a bounty hunter (Richard Tyson) who sets out to capture a ruthless band of outlaws but another more sinister adversary (Lance Henriksen) has plans of his own. Just another series of ideas borrowed from other, better movies although it’s cool to see cult ’80’s actors Tyson and Henriksen still plugging away at it. Film doesn’t so much end as stop. Continue reading →
January 12, 2017 “The Autopsy Of Jane Doe” (*1/2 out of four) was an oppressively unpleasant thriller about a father and son coroner team (Brian Cox and Emile Hirsh) who attempt to unravel the mystery of an unnamed young woman who has died and was harboring various secrets. Virtually the entire movie takes place in the mortuary so this could only be of interest to those going to coroner school or those who thought “Saw” was robbed at Oscar time. The movie could use an autopsy of its own. Continue reading →
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