September 21, 2019 “The Black String” (*1/2 out of four) was a mumbo-jumbo thriller about a lonely convenience store worker (Frankie Muniz) who has an unexpected encounter with a local girl and contracts a bizarre STD which turns his life upside down and then he frantically tries to locate her as his sanity and grip on reality starts to turn upside down and he feels otherworldly forces start closing in on him. Spooky at first but then soon becomes muddled and pretentious and by the end it will drive you even crazier than its main character. Muniz’ solid performance helps out, at least for a little while Continue reading →
September 21, 2019 “Ambition” (** out of four) was a jumbled thriller about an aspiring musician (Katherine Hughes) preparing for a competition who gets involved in a brain-twisting scenario involving her boyfriend and another friend (Jared Bankens and Giles Matthey) involving deception and murder. Very stylishly directed by New Line Cinema co-founder and CEO Robert Shaye but story is uninvolving and cold and thus has little impact. Ambitious, to be sure, but still too slight and too tepid to recommend. Continue reading →
September 19, 2019 “Rambo: Last Blood” (** out of four) was an unnecessary fifth entry in this over-the-hill series about everyone’s favorite Vietnam soldier (Sylvester Stallone) who has retired peacefully on his farm but is called back into duty after a vicious Mexican drug cartel kidnap his niece (Yvette Monreal) and havoc ensues on both sides of the border. Needlessly ugly and takes too long to get going but final 20 minutes finally provide some jaded thrills. Nice though it is to see Stallone kicking ass at 73 years old, it’s hard to believe him at this stage taking on armies and soldiers who are a third of his age. Continue reading →
September 19, 2019 “Undercover Cheerleader” (*1/2 out of four) was a slapdash melodrama about a transfer student (Kayla Wallace) who goes undercover at her new school to expose the cruel cheerleader culture but doesn’t realize how much trouble and difficulties she is in for and how this will affect her social life. Just a series of ideas from other and better movies repackaged and rewritten. Any one scene from “Mean Girls” or “Clueless” tops this hands down. Continue reading →
September 18, 2019 “Mayday” (** out of four) was a hokey supernatural thriller in which a federal air marshal (Michael Pare) is on board a flight from L.A. to London in which strange occurrences start happening and people start mysteriously disappearing. Are they being murdered or is something demonic occurring that they need to get to the bottom of? Pare is rock-solid as usual and carries the movie with his authority and swagger but story ultimately decays into sheer corn, as all the characters have to read a spiritual possession book aloud. It might be time for Pare to say mayday because his career really could use a comeback. Continue reading →
September 17, 2019 “Candy Corn” (* out of four) was a junky horror movie about a bullied teen (Nate Chaney) who is resurrected on Halloween weekend and havoc and horror ensues as he enacts his vengeance on the bullies and townsfolk who tortured and tormented him. Pretty awful movie even lacks any low-rent scares or thrills and is irritatingly dumb. One-time horror movie stars P.J. Soles and Tony Todd show up but it’s scarier seeing how they look in older age after all these years than anything in the movie. Continue reading →
September 16, 2019 “Inside Man: Most Wanted” (** out of four) was an inferior sequel to the 2006 Spike Lee home run about a fast-talking NYPD hostage negotiator (Aml Ameen) who is called in for a bank robbery and hostage negotiation at the Federal Reserve but he soon begins to suspect that there may be more to this than meets the eye and that the robbers (led by Roxanne McKee) may have alterior motives. More-or-less a remake of the original, minus its razor-sharp dialogue and vibrant NYC atmosphere, although it is watchable. A water-flooding sequence towards the end is its highlight. Makes multiple references to the original but lacks any of the original cast. Continue reading →
September 16, 2019 “The Final Scream” (* out of four) was an unbearably awful horror show about two actresses (Kate Lister and Becca Hirani) who answer the casting call for filming a horror movie in the English outback and soon find (to the surprise of no one) that it’s a setup for them to get tortured and killed. Shrill and stupid movie tortures and kills the audience with gore and unpleasantness for nearly two hours. Title is a vague allusion to “Scream” which told this movie-within-a-movie story to perfection over two decades ago! Continue reading →
September 15, 2019 “Hustlers” (***1/2 out of four) was a voluptuously entertaining Scorcesean melodrama based on the true story of a crew of strippers (Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, and others) who strike out on their own in a series of schemes involving turning the tables on their wealthy Wall Street clientele but they see nothing wrong with this in the wake of the country’s recession and having to take care of their own. Sensationally directed by Lorene Scafaria from a razor-sharp sceenplay co-written by Scafaria and Jessica Pressler which is enhanced by first-rate acting from all. Lopez, in particular, sears the screen in what may be the best performance of her career. Bullseye! Continue reading →
September 15, 2019 “Seduced By Thy Neighbor” (** out of four) was a competent but unexceptional thriller about a security guard (Trevor St. John) who develops an escalating obsession with a single mom and her daughter (Andrea Bogart and Sierra McCormack) and we’re into another cliched thriller. Full of the usual plot holes and contrivances and attractive photography and decent acting doesn’t make enough of a difference. Far from the worst of its kind but too predictable to “seduce” a wide audience. Continue reading →
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