September 30, 2018 “Cruise” (**1/2 out of four) was a stylish but empty melodrama set in 1980’s Queens in which a young Italian-American (Spencer Boldman) falls in love with a Jewish girl (Emily Ratajkowski) from Long Island which leads to an unexpected series of cultural and community clashes because of their different backgrounds and lifestyles. Authentic Queens locale and photography (around which this NYC critic grew up) and Boldman’s charismatic lead performance are plusses but story never coalesces or builds to much. Film buffs will note the casting of Katherine Narducci who played the mother in “A Bronx Tale” of which this film aspires to in some ways but is pale in comparison. Continue reading →
September 29, 2018 “Cain Hill” (*1/2 out of four) was a sub-routine horror show about an amateur group of documentary filmmakers (Gemma Atkinson, MIchael Parr, Alex Zane, and others) who go to the abandoned Cain Hill asylum in regards to a series of unexplained murders and kidnappings that have occurred years earlier but soon find that one inmate is still on the loose and is still thirsty for the kill. Horror fans thirsty for blood and thrills should look elsewhere; this takes forever to get going and isn’t anything special once it does. Can we finally lay to rest the found-footage or documentary-style of horror movies? Continue reading →
September 29, 2018September 29, 2018 “Outlawed” (**1/2 out of four) was a better-than-average action melodrama about a former commando (Adam Collins who also co-directed) struggling to adjust to civilian life when a former girlfriend (Jessica Norris) comes to him to uncover the truth behind her father’s mysterious death and finds himself in a shadow conspiracy involving the governnment and corruption. Story is nothing you haven’t seen before 100 times from Chuck Norris or Steven Seagal but Collins does a reasonable job on both sides of the camera and keeps this moving efficiently with enough gunplay and hand-to-hand combat to make it worthwhile for action junkies. Continue reading →
September 29, 2018 “Inhumanity” (*1/2 out of four) was an ugly serial-killer psychodrama about a woman (Darcel Danielle) who awakens from a coma after narrowly escaping being murdered by a brutal killer and learns that her father committed suicide and this is linked to (what else?) a governmental conspiracy involving corrupt police and the killer himself. Fairly fast-moving but looks cheap and is pretty unpleasant. Yet another film inspired by “The Silence Of The Lambs” but nearly 30 years later that film still leaves its imitators in silence. Continue reading →
September 28, 2018 “High Voltage” (**1/2 out of four) was a flashy and flaky story about an aspiring rock band whose shy lead singer (Allie Gonnino) is struck by lightning and killed but is subsequently resuscitated with electricity flowing through her veins and can put all men in her path in the music business under her electric spell but the group’s veteran manager (David Arquette) starts to wonder if this is morally right and if things have gone too far. Film itself goes too far into contrivances and craziness but is stylishly directed and entertaining while it lasts. Arquette is good but “Airheads” was a much sharper and funnier satire with him about the music industry. Continue reading →
September 27, 2018 “Deeper: The Retribution Of Beth” (** out of four) was a pretty shallow thriller about a woman (Jessica Harmon) who enacts bloodthirsty revenge against two rich losers (Andrew Francis and Matthew Kevin Anderson) who mistreated her in the past. This is what audiences get for having made the remake of “I Spit On Your Grave” an unexpected hit. Not the worst of its kind, and actually gets better as it goes along, but still pretty grimy and predictable. Harmon is solid in the lead role and the East Vancouver scenery is pretty. Continue reading →
September 27, 2018 “Tales From The Hood 2” (** out of four) was a middling sequel to the 1995 cult hit narrated by another elder statesman of horror (Keith David) who tells four horror tales about demonic dolls, possessed psychics, vixens in search of vengeance, and ghosts. None are worth listening to. Occasionally amusing but runs out of steam pretty quickly and is filled with pointless and preachy moralizing. David seems to be having fun in the lead. Co-directed by Rusty Cundiff who directed the original but this is weak stuff compared to “Fear Of A Black Hat” and “Sprung”. Continue reading →
September 25, 2018 “A Simple Favor” (** out of four) was a muddled story about a vlogger (Anna Kendrick) who meets a wealthy free spirit (Blake Lively) and becomes gradually obsessed with uncovering the reasons for her disappearance with clues pointing in all different directions. Both Kendrick and Lively do what they can with hazy material but film meanders and can’t decide whether it’s a screwball comedy or a Hitchcock thriller so simply enough- it becomes neither. Clever final third can’t save it. Disappointing result from “Bridesmaids” and “Ghostbusters” writer/director Paul Feig Continue reading →
September 24, 2018 “Any Bullet Will Do” (** out of four) was a lumbering Western set in 1876 Montana about frontier vengeance in which a determined headhunter (Kevin Makely) attempts to navigate through dangerous mountains with the help of a fur-trapper (Jenny Curtis) to apprehend and kill his murderous brother (Todd A. Robinson). Die-hard Western fans may find this entertaining but it takes a far-too-familiar trail for most of us and has too many lulls especially in the middle. Not bad but not worthy of comparisons to the Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone films that inspired it. Continue reading →
September 24, 2018 “The House With A Clock In Its Walls” (*** out of four) was a delightful adaptation of John Bellairs’ 1973 classic novel about a young boy (Owen Vaccaro) who goes to live in a creaky old house with his uncle (Jack Black) and accidentally summons the spirit of the ghost of the original owner (Kyle Maclachlan under mounds of makeup) who wants to end the world with a clock he made and hid in the house before his death. A spirited change-of-pace for director Eli Roth in his first family children’s movie but this is actually a lot more entertaining than most of his gore bores. Black is much more charismatic than usual and him and Cate Blanchett (as a neighbor and good witch) have great chemistry together. Continue reading →
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