May 12, 2019 “Polaroid” (*** out of four) was a stylish and atmospheric horror thriller about a high-school loner (Kathryn Prescott) who stumbles upon an old polaroid camera with a murderous curse on it and she soon finds out that anyone who has their picture taken meets with a tragic end. Extremely well-made thriller is well-directed and strikingly shot although it begins to lose its way in the final third as they try to uncover the origins of the camera and its curse. Similar in style and mood to “The Ring” and “The Grudge” but (for my money) is actually better than both. Continue reading →
May 11, 2019 “Wine Country” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal romantic comedy about a group of lifelong friends (Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachael Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, and Paula Pell) who go to Napa to celebrate one of their’s 50th birthday but find that old problems and tensions from the past keep coming up. Disappointing directorial debut from Tina Fey which completely lacks any laughs or surprises, despite that top-drawer cast. Any one scene in “Mean Girls” tops this hands down. Fey has a small role as the homeowner of the house the girls are renting and has some of the film’s few funny lines. Continue reading →
May 10, 2019 “Hell’s Belle” (*1/2 out of four) was a misfired horror story about a group of young people (David Lee Anderson, Pamela Bell, Ashley Boger, and others) on an archaeological expedition who stumble across a piece of jewelry that belonged to outlaw legend Belle Starr which incites her wrath and the ghost of Belle Starr comes back to haunt them all. Lame story sorely lacks any thrills or scares and runs out of gas pretty quickly. Clever title, though. Continue reading →
May 10, 2019 “Bundy And The Green River Killer” (*1/2 out of four) was a muddled psychodrama about a determined police detective (Mark Homer) who is forced to consult with incarcerated lunatic Ted Bundy (Richard Mark) to help him catch the title killer who continues to allude authorities. Any references or reflections on “The Silence Of The Lambs” should politely attend there. Interesting in parts but unpleasant and uneven as a whole and Mark isn’t the most convincing as Bundy. Send this one back up the green river! Continue reading →
May 9, 2019 “Hush Little Baby, Welcome To The Family” (* out of four) was a dreadful horror dreck about a dysfunctional redneck family (Jonathan Hamblin, Megan Jones, and Alejandro Odom) who seek revenge on the townspeople who look down on them and enact bloodthirsty revenge but one young couple (Austin Ecker and Karen Elkins) confront them and try to settle the score. Utterly worthless horror movie made by someone who has spent too much time watching Rob Zombie movies but this makes “The Devil’s Rejects” look like “Psycho” by comparison. Even at 55 minutes, viewers will likely feel more tortured than the story characters. For no apparent reason, one of the characters in the story is named Tim Roth. Continue reading →
May 9, 2019 “The DVD” (* out of four) was an absolutely incoherent anthology story of various movies-within-a-movie which culminates in a secret and twist that the viewer is invited to find at the end of the interlocking stories. None of the stories are worth following. So-called interactive movie invites viewers to pick and select various options like they were watching their own DVD. Too bad there’s no exit option. More an experiment than an actual movie but a waste of time regardless. Continue reading →
May 9, 2019 “Deadly Playthings” (* out of four) was a deadly awful horror story about a mysterious doll which is left in the house by its former owners and is found by a new family (Sarah Duterte, Lilace Guignard, Titus Himmelberger) and very soon- strange occurrences and various paranormal activity begin happening and people struggle to believe it is all caused by the doll. This amateurish mess is simply for anybody who needs to realize and remember on why the original “Child’s Play” was so great. The scariest thing about the doll is its a better actor and more lifelike than any of the humans in the story. Continue reading →
May 8, 2019 “Chasing Molly” (0 stars out of four) was a virtually unwatchable mess about a paranormal con artist named Molly (Shelley Pack) who unwittingly rips off a drug kingpin of his molly valuables (are you laughing yet? How’s that for a knee-slapper?) and now has to fight through the underworld of Los Angeles to save her equally moronic partner (Jim Cashman) and stay alive. Excruciatingly stupid movie is populated by obnoxious characters and crude dialogue which the cast makes even worse by overacting. Steer clear of this disaster. Kurt Angle has a minor role as (what else?) a thug but he may want to wrestle himself a new agent soon. Continue reading →
May 8, 2019 “Room For Rent” (**1/2 out of four) was an uneven melodrama about a lonely widow (Lin Shaye), beset by financial problems after her husband’s death, who rents out her room to a young man (Oliver Rayon) and develops an unhealthy obsession with him especially after him and another houseguest (Valeska Miller) fall in love. Shaye’s excellent and heartbreaking performance makes this worthwhile but once she breaks from reality and becomes erratic the movie does too. Film also doesn’t so much end as stop. Continue reading →
May 7, 2019 “Rattlesnakes” (*1/2 out of four) was a toxically unpleasant melodrama about a successful therapist (Jimmy Jean-Louis) who is held hostage by 3 vengeful husbands who are convinced he has been sleeping with their wives. While physically confined to a chair, he attempts to mentally and psychologically turn the tables on them. All-too-obviously based on a play by Graham Farrow but what worked on stage fails to transpire to film. Since none of the characters are likeable, it’s difficult to care about any of them or their plights. Story- and characters- are more than a little reminiscent of 1997’s “Suicide Kings” with Christopher Walken. Continue reading →
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