Month: May 2018

“Taco Shop” (*1/2 out of four) was a stale teen comedy about a young taco-shop owner (Tyler Posey) whose business and livelihood is threatened by a rival gourmet taco truck which opens across the street leading to fierce competition and all-out war. Scattershot chuckles are dissipated by silly script which runs out of story and steam very quickly and may give you indigestion. Posey’s likeable performance is wasted. One-time great character actor Eric Roberts shows up in a minor role as one of Posey’s co-workers and mentors.

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“Puppet Master: Axis Termination” (*1/2 out of four) was the 11th movie in this endless series for anyone besides me whose keeping count which began in the ’80’s and probably should have stayed there. This time around, the heroic band of lethal puppets join forces with a secret team of allied operatives with master psychic powers to face off against Nazi adversaries and collections of other vicious puppets with nothing less than the fate of the world at stake. Cheesy and dumb and proud of it- this is only for die-hard fans of the series or lifetime subscribers to Fangoria magazine. It might be time for “termination” of this series.

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“The Beautiful Ones” (**1/2 out of four) was a stylish but uneasy melodrama about a mob enforcer (Ross McCall) who falls in love with a woman from an opposite family (Fernanda Andrade) in the midst of a turf war and has to rescue her from the clutches of the family and friends he grew up with which leads to problems for both of them. Mix of martial arts, violent action, and mob underworld drama doesn’t fully gel and hang together but fast pace and some good action scenes help keep it watchable. McCall’s lead performance ranges from charismatic to one-note which could describe the film itself as well.

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“Deadpool 2” (*** out of four) was a fun sequel to the 2016 smash about the continuing adventures of Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) who has now become a worldwide mercenary for hire who brings together a team of rogue fellow mutants to protect a precocious young boy (Julian Dennison) with supernatural abilities when he is threatened by the time-travelling mutant Cable (Josh Brolin) who in turn also threatens world destruction. Hits a few lulls here and there in the middle but has enough dazzling effects, whiplashing action scenes, and Reynold’s wisecracks to make this equal to, if not better than, the original. Love those musical interludes and soundtrack selections! As usual, this features plenty of Marvel supporting characters and actors (Brad Pitt, James McAvoy, Hugh Jackman) as a bonus.

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“A Violent Man” (*1/2 out of four) was a seedy, unpleasant story about a small-time MMA fighter (Thomas Q. Jones) who finds himself in a fight for his life and on the run when a girl (Denise Richards) he meets for a one night stand turns up dead. Jones’ character is so off-putting and unlikeable at times that it’s hard to care what becomes of him and as a result it’s hard to care about the movie itself. MMA fans would best watch “Kingdom” or “JRE” re-runs instead.

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“Overboard” (*1/2 out of four) was an unnecessary remake of the 1987 Kurt Russell/Goldie Hawn comedy that wasn’t exactly crying out to be remade; this update switches the gender of the main characters but don’t expect any more originality than that. Once again, a spoiled business owner (Eugenio Derbez) falls overboard and becomes the target of revenge from his tormented employee (Anna Faris) until they gradually realize that- shucks- they kinda like each other after all. Faris’ bright performance is film’s one positive but scene after scene lands with a thud and the film itself goes overboard with dumb dialogue and silly scenarios. Nice ending tries to steer film back on course but it’s too late.

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“Another Kind Of Wedding” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal comedy about a comically disarrayed family (Kathleen Turner, Wallace Shawn, Jessica Pare, Jessica Parker Kennedy) that you might see on The Jerry Springer Show who come together for the wedding of their eldest son (Kevin Zegers) but this leads to more pratfalls and confrontations. Plays like an unsold sitcom pilot from the 1980’s. Turner is wasted as the family’s matriarch. While it’s great to see the talented Shawn back again, it’s inconceivable he couldn’t find better scripts than this.

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“Terminal” (*** out of four) was an absorbing underworld thriller in which two assassins (Simon Pegg and Margot Robie) with two different agendas converge and their lives are intersected through a shady janitor (Mike Myers) with an agenda all his own. Lots of style over substance here but the style is so pervasive and intoxicating it makes this worth the ride- and so do the performances which are uniformly strong. Robie in particular is sensational; Myers is top-notch also in his first role in years and keep an eye on him in some of his final few scenes as he seems to be aping Dr. Evil.

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“Traffik” (**1/2 out of four) was a half-involving, half-routine story of a couple (Omar Epps and Paula Patton) off on a weekend getaway in the mountains who clash with a local biker gang who they uncover is involved in a multi-billion dollar sex-trafficking ring headed by a corrupt official (Luke Goss) and the rest of the film deals with their escape. Film holds your attention with its good acting and second half shows many moments of horror and despair but film takes a while to get going and is unfortunately upstaged by the similarly themed (and titled) “Trafficked” which came out earlier this year. By now, there have been so many movies and documentaries about the sex-trafficking industry that this doesn’t have anything revelatory.

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