March 4, 2019 “We Die Young” (*** out of four) was an arresting story set among the mean streets of Washington, D.C. in which a 14-year old (Elijah Rodriguez) is inducted into a merciless and vicious street gang but tries to prevent his 10-year old brother (Nicholas Sean Johnny) from following in the same path. Meanwhile, a drug-addicted former soldier (Jean Claude Van Damme) arrives in the area which stirs things up even more. Not at all a Van Damme action vehicle (he only has a supporting role) but an explosive look at the savagery of gangs and drugs. Very well-acted and directed in naturalistic fashion. Continue reading →
March 3, 2019 “Run The Race” (**1/2 out of four) was an engagingly done melodrama about two brothers (Evan Hofer and Tanner Stine) in a small Southern town who are torn apart by health issues, their drunken and absent father (Kristoffer Polaha), and their different worldviews on God which take their toll on them on-and-off the field in football and track. Heartfelt movie in the vein of “Varsity Blues” and “Friday Night Lights” is weakened by maudlin religious moments questioning the validity of God which takes film off course but it gets back on course again for a rousing and touching finale. Mykelti Williamson (Bubba Gump) is strong as usual as their coach. Continue reading →
March 2, 2019 “Message Man” (*1/2 out of four) was a disjointed action thriller about a retired assassin (Paul O’Brien) who is (what else?) coaxed out of retirement to go on one final killing spree to make things right but this turns out to be a far uglier and more violent mission than he imagined. The kind of vehicle that Arnold and Stallone (and even Chuck and Steven and Van Damme) did better decades ago and this feels like warmed-over stale leftovers. Even the action scenes are poorly photographed and staged. Don’t bother “messaging” this one. Continue reading →
March 2, 2019 “Bullitt County” (*1/2 out of four) was a haphazard melodrama set in 1977 about four friends (Mike C. Nelson, Jenni Melear, David McCracken, and Napoleon Ryan) who reunite for a wild bachelor party to search for buried Prohibition money along the Kentucky Bluegrass Bourbon Trail but soon find themselves torn apart at the seams by greed, corruption, and murder. Seems aimless at first but then meanders into an amateurish pastiche of “Reservoir Dogs” and (in its final scenes) “The Deer Hunter” yet it still fires all blanks. Even the beautiful Kentucky scenery is drably filmed. Co-star McCracken also wrote and directed. Continue reading →
March 1, 2019 “Beach House” (*1/2 out of four) was a dreary story about a young girl (Emma Fitzgerald) on retreat at a quiet beach resort when a mysterious artist (Murray Bartlett) appears who knew her mother (Orlagh Cassidy) but she soon comes to suspect him of a terrible crime buried in both of their pasts. Dawdling melodrama moves like molasses but has no real story to tell. Film’s final surprise isn’t much of one. At least the beach scenery and surroundings are pretty and well-captured. Continue reading →
March 1, 2019 “Hangover In Death Valley” (0 stars out of four) was a stupefyingly awful melodrama about two suit-and-tie losers named The Jews Brothers (are you laughing yet?) who wind up in a town called El Dorado in which a hitman (Michael Madsen) and other assorted lowlifes (Patrick Bergin, Jeff Fahey, and others) try to track them down. Full of annoying characters and relentlessly irritating and pseudo-hip dialogue combined with low-rent filmmaking which make this unwatchable. Made by someone who watched too many Tarantino movies as a child but there’s no pulp fiction here. And what a waste of a great supporting cast. Peter Fonda (sounding a lot like Ozzy Osbourne) narrates this mess. Continue reading →
March 1, 2019 “Atone” (** out of four) was a semi-watchable action melodrama about a former Special Ops solider (Jaqueline Fleming) who shows up for work at the largest church in America where she soon finds out that terrorists are taking over and her daughter (Genesis Martin) is trapped inside and she has to risk all to take them down and save her daughter and the rest of civilization. “Die Hard” clone has a few good action scenes but a thin script and storyline and by now you’ve seen it all before and better. Fleming (who is a dead ringer for Zoe Saldana) is OK in the lead. Continue reading →
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