April 29, 2018 “The Ferryman” (** out of four) was a hollow melodrama about a young woman (Pamela Ashton) who becomes haunted by visions of a malevolent ferryman after she attempts suicide which causes her life to unravel. Ashton is good under the circumstances and the film has a strong mood and atmosphere of melancholy but never comes alive and becomes really bizarre after a while. Final third really starts to test your patience and film doesn’t end so much as stop. Continue reading →
April 29, 2018 “The 4/20 Massacre” (*1/2 out of four) was a none-too-potent horror thriller about five young girls (Jamie Bernadette, Vanessa Rose Parker, Stacey Danger, Justine Wachsberger, and Marissa Pistone) who go on a camping trip in the woods when they stumble on a marijuana-growing operation run by a backwoods slasher whose a nutjob. A few gory kills stand out but otherwise you’d be better off watching “Deliverance”, “Mother’s Day”, or even “Half Baked”. The killer’s hilariously awful makeup makes him look like “Swamp Thing.” Continue reading →
April 29, 2018April 29, 2018 “Scarecrows” (*1/2 out of four) was a scareless teen-horror thriller about a group of teenagers (Hannah Gordon, Mike Taylor, Umed Amin, Maaor Ziv) who are stalked to the death by a psychotic retard who has a fair resemblance to Bayou Billy and apparently gets his kicks by killing kids and making them into scarecrows in the crop fields. Not to be confused with the 1973 drama “Scarecrow” with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino which come to think of it had a lot more scares and laughs than this does. Continue reading →
April 29, 2018April 29, 2018 “Candy Jar” (** out of four) was a saccharine comedy-drama about two dueling high-school debate champs (Jacob Latimore and Sami Gayle) who are at odds at almost everything in life but attempt to forge ahead to get into the college of their dreams as they transition onto the next stage of their lives. If they’re so good at debating, they probably could have worked on improving the script. Pleasant but pointless and utterly predictable. John Hughes did these high-school movies to perfection three decades ago anyway. Continue reading →
April 28, 2018 “The Escape Of Prisoner 614” (** out of four) was a drab melodrama about two inept small-town deputies (Martin Starr and Jake McDorman) who catch an escaped prisoner (George Sample III) who they gradually believe was wrongly convicted and the majority of the film involves their trip with him through the wilderness to bring him back to civlization back to their corrupt sherriff (Ron Perlman). Pretty photography provides some life but otherwise this is pretty flat and aimless. Perlman is wasted in a throwaway role and it’s about time he “escaped” direct-to-Redbox pics like these. Continue reading →
April 28, 2018 “Avengers: Infinity War” (*** out of four) was a hugely ambitious, entertaining Marvel superhero extravaganza in which the Avengers (Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Helmsworth, Chris Evans, Don Cheadle, and Scarlet Johannson) and their allies (Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, and too many others to mention) must put aside their differences to defeat Thanos (Josh Brolin) who threatens worldwide destruction. Third in the action adventure series impressively juggles 28 different Marvel characters with a sharp script, spectacular action scenes and visual effects, and a surprisingly touching ending which makes this the best of the series and one of the best Marvel comic book movies in a while. The next in the series is due next year! Continue reading →
April 28, 2018 “Snake Outta Compton” (*1/2 out of four) was a witless parody of “Straight Outta Compton” (get the title? LOL) and also “Training Day” but it’s the filmmakers and writes who appear to need more training. A rap group (Ricky Flowers Jr., Motown Maurice, Donte Essien, and others) on the verge of making it find out they are the only hope in defending their decaying city against a giant mutating snake monster. No jokes or parodies bring up “Snakes On A Plane” at all because I guess that would have required the filmmakers to be clever and creative. It’s a bad sign when the film’s title provides the biggest laugh. Continue reading →
April 27, 2018 “The Week Of” (** out of four) was a good-natured but heavy-handed comedy about two fathers (Adam Sandler and Chris Rock) whose children are getting married forcing them to spend the week together and havoc ensues. The cast (including regular Sandler co-player Steve Buscemi and SNL regular Rachael Dratch) tries and there are some scattershot laughs but it never builds to a satisfying whole and goes on way too long at nearly 2 hours. Sandler and Buscemi’s first collaboration “Airheads” remains their best. Continue reading →
April 27, 2018 “The Unwilling” (** out of four) was a passable horror thriller about a despised patriarch (Lance Henriksen) who passes away but upon the reading of his will- a mysterious box appears which leads his family (Dina Meyer, David Lipper, Austin Highsmith) to reckon with all of their own sins against each other. By the standards of most direct-to-DVD horror movies, this isn’t bad, with some scares and creepy moments towards the end, but it’s all pretty routine. Queens native Dina Meyer proves again that she’s a strong supporting actress. Continue reading →
April 26, 2018 “Last Seen In Idaho” (** out of four) was a jumbled action melodrama about a young woman (Hallie Shepherd) who awakens from a coma after a car accident and begins to have visions of her future murder and she has to race against the clock to both solve and prevent her own murder with the help of a cop friend (Wes Ramsey) and while trying to hide from a vicious hitman (Casper Van Dien). Violent and unpleasant story moves fast enough but is hard to care about and thus hard to get involved in. An unusual role for Van Dien but his role is too limited to make an impression. Continue reading →
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