April 30, 2019 “Waiting For The Miracle To Come” (*1/2 out of four) was an incomprehensible drama about an aspiring trapeze artist (Charlotte Rampling) who discovers a cryptic letter from her recently deceased father which leads her on a spiritual and personal journey in the California desert. Bizarre and aloof story will either hold you in its spell or leave you cold but either way it’s extremely weird. Willie Nelson has a key role as a former vaudeville star but based on this misfire- he’s probably waiting for the miracle to come to revive his career. This sat on the shelf for 4 years after being made and should have stayed there. Continue reading →
April 29, 2019 “Body At Brighton Rock” (*1/2 out of four) was a drably done melodrama about a park ranger (Karina Fontes) who discovers a body in the mountain park she is covering and has to wait for the police while a creepy local man (Casey Adams) appears to be watching and following her. Never terribly compelling and never builds significant momentum, despite Fontes’ sincere and engaging performance. A 30-minute idea needlessly stretched out to an hour-and-a-half Continue reading →
April 28, 2019 “The Misguided” (*1/2 out of four) was an aptly titled misfire about a morally conflicted young man (Caleb Galati) in a sibling rivalry with his drug-addict brother (Steven J. Milhaljevich) and begins to date his former girlfriend and they plan to leave the city together but plans go awry which endangers all of them. Dreadful time-waster begins to pick up intensity in the second half but still goes nowhere. It’s hard to tell an involving character study when none of the characters are even slightly likeable. Moody cinematography (by the director Shannon Alexander) is film’s only asset. Continue reading →
April 27, 2019 “The Avengers: Endgame” (** out of four) was a disappointing final entry in this comic-book extravaganza series about the team of Avengers (Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanson, and others) uniting to finally destroy Thanos (Josh Brolin) once and for all and restore unity and balance to the universe. More exhausting than exhilirating, as story drags at times and rehashes much of the events from previous entries, and goes on far too long at nearly three hours. Final 45 minutes when the Avengers and Thanos battle it out is fun for sure but getting there almost isn’t worth the effort. Continue reading →
April 26, 2019 “8 Ball Clown” (0 stars out of four) was an excruciatingly inept and low-grade horror show about a heroin-addicted and alcoholic clown named 8-Ball (Jacob Le Doux) who can’t go through with ending his life so he decides to track down the kids who continue calling him and decides to take them with him. Nice, huh? Bottom-of-the-barrel schlock looks like it was filmed with someone’s Obamaphone and gets pretty disgusting at times. Avoid at all costs Continue reading →
April 26, 2019 “High On The Hog” (*1/2 out of four) was a moronic marijuana comedy about a new potent strand of pot that is sweeping the city and DEA agents who attempt to take down the redneck patriarch (Sid Haig) whose family grows marijuana on their farm. Where the hell are Cheech and Chong when you really need them? For a movie about being “high”, this movie is pretty low on intelligence or even laughs but towards the end actually thinks it’s making a powerful statement about marijuana and its pending legalization. One-time 70’s star Haig deserves better than this bad trip. Continue reading →
April 26, 2019 “The 27 Club” (*1/2 out of four) was a wretched horror melodrama about a singer/songwriter (Zach Paul Brown) seeking fame and a journalism student (Maddisyn Carter) who both team up to find the horrific truth behind the face of the titled 27 club in which members keep getting killed. Amateurish mishmash combines parts of a musical melodrama with low-grade horror and comes up empty on both counts and unpleasant all the way through. Director Patrick Fogarty shows some stylistic flourishes in his debut but can’t do much with this material. Continue reading →
April 25, 2019 “I Spit On Your Grave: Deja Vu” (0 stars out of four) was a mind-numbingly stupid, unwatchable continuation of the series about the heroine (Camille Keaton) from the original and her daughter (Jamie Bernadette) being kidnapped and tortured by family members and descendants of the retards and hillbillies from the original who tortured her over 40 years ago! Direct sequel to the 1978 original has original star Keaton and director Meir Zarchi and ignores plots of its remakes but who cares? Full of unpleasant characters you can’t wait to get away from and ugly violence that the movie throws in your face repeatedly! What’s more, film goes on forever (at nearly three hours) and actually seems to think it’s making an intelligent statement about rape and victimization! Continue reading →
April 24, 2019 “Backdraft II” (*** out of four) was a gripping sequel to the 1991 hit about an arson investigator (Joe Anderson) from the Chicago Fire Department who begins investigating a series of increasingly destructive fires but soon begins to uncover that the works are from an international arms dealer who is using fires as a distraction and may be targeting members of his department. Gets bogged down in a few unrelated and murky story tangents but is kept on track by Anderson’s intense (and believable) performance and the conveying danger of fires and the bravery and camaraderie of those who fight them. William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland reprise their roles from the original. Continue reading →
April 24, 2019 “The Snarling” (* out of four) was a lusterless horror thriller set in England in which a horror film crew (Laurence Saunders, Chris Simmons, Ben Manning, and others) are invaded and mauled by a slaughtering beast whose origins are unknown. Film liberally rips off “The Howling” practically right down to its title but there isn’t even many gore and attack scenes for rabid horror fans. “The Yawning” would be a better title for this timewaster. Saunders’ funny performance is film’s sole virtue. Continue reading →
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