July 26, 2020 “Final Transit” (*1/2 out of four) was a flashy but empty action melodrama in which several people (Erin Miracle, Heather Brooke, Hogan Crosby, and others) in transit to work lapse into dreams and are suddenly awakened in the midst of an alien invasion in which they must band together to fight back and survive. More of an experiment than an actual film and fizzles out pretty quickly into excess and incoherence. Final third almost feels as if you’re watching a video game but that doesn’t help make this any more entertaining. Writer/director Richard Benter does show some promise here but is severely hindered by film’s low budget. Continue reading →
July 26, 2020 “Vibration” (* out of four) was an alarmingly awful horror thriller about a 16 year-old (Abby Dawson) who tries to communicate with her dead mother (Sara Vitale) but subsequently realizes that in doing so she has summoned the spirit of a demon who tries to steal her soul and she then has to try to simultaneously keep contact with her mother while trying to send said demon back to Hell. Laughable and low-grade filmmaking combine with terrible acting to make this a laugh riot but unfortunately this isn’t meant as a comedy. Maybe it’s about time horror movies went back to Hell, until they come up with new and creative ideas. Continue reading →
July 26, 2020 “How You Look At Me” (** out of four) was a jumbled melodrama about an enigmatic and provocative young woman (Anna Astrom) who enters the lives of a man (George Blagden) coming to terms with grief and his wife (Ellie Turner) and this leads to a sexual triangle of desire and frustration that intertwines and affects them all. At times strikingly told and features strong acting from all but film still leaves you cold and detached since the characters all remain aloof and thus so does their relationships and so does the film. A film one can admire at times without actually fully enjoying or getting involved in. Continue reading →
July 26, 2020 “Wingman” (* out of four) was a disastrously lame and empty “comedy” about a disgraced film executive (Mitch Wolfe) who ventures to Cuba in search of salvaging and rebuilding his film career with one last pertinent film but instead gets waylaid into drugs and partying with other filmmakers (Rinaldo Jara, Goran Kalezic, and others) he meets. Absolutely pointless movie starts nowhere and goes there for nearly an hour-and-a-half and even the Cuba scenery looks plain and dull. A vanity project for writer/director/star/co-producer Wolfe but to put it mildly- this never quite takes wing. Continue reading →
July 26, 2020 “The Big Ugly” (** out of four) was a relatively tame action melodrama about a group of London mob bosses (Vinnie Jones, Malcolm McDowell, and others) who invest in a West Virginia oil field in hopes of laundering dirty money but this puts them at heads with local underworld enforcers (Ron Perlman and Bruce McGill) and various rednecks (Brandon Sklenar and Dan Buran) who want to muscle them out. Mediocre attempt to mix British-underworld action with typical Southern redneck stereotypes; remains watchable but never shifts into high gear. Some might consider this an acting stretch for Jones but don’t warm up that Oscar award just yet. Continue reading →
July 25, 2020 “The Kissing Booth 2” (*** out of four) was a bouncy sequel to the 2018 hit about the further adventures of Elle (Joey King) who is now a high-school senior and juggling a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend (Jacob Elordi), applying for college, and having a relationship with a classmate (Taylor Zakhar Perez) that threatens to possibly alter everything for her. Very engaging comedy mixes in ingredients of teenage adolescence, confusion, and love with frothy results. Too long and protracted at over two hours but kept on track by King’s very likeable and entertaining performance. One-time adolescent teen star Molly Ringwald plays her boyfriend’s mom. Continue reading →
July 25, 2020 “The Personal History Of David Copperfield” (**1/2 out of four) was a reverent, lovingly detailed adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1850 classic about a young orphan (Dev Patel) and his various triumphs and tribulations in life as he grows older through the years and meets his wealthy aunt (Tilda Swinton) and other eccentrics (Hugh Laurie, Ben Whishaw, Aneurin Barnard, and others). Offbeat and entertaining to an extent, as film holds you with its engaging storytelling and narrative, but never quite takes off and soars as it should and thus starts to ring hollow. Patel’s likeable and effortless charisma holds the film together but film’s lack of story holds it back from excelling and really satisfying. Continue reading →
July 25, 2020 “Palm Springs” (** out of four) was a strained romantic comedy about a young hedonist (Andy Samberg) and a reluctant maid-of-honor (Cristin Millioti) who have an affair at a Palm Springs resort but subsequently find that they are unable to leave the venue and are stuck in a time-warp in which all their actions leave them in various alternate realities. Whimsical romp with a screwball sense of humor has a few laughs but doesn’t congeal into a satisfying whole. Any one scene in “Back To The Future” tops this hands down. This made headlines as being the biggest selling movie in history at the Sundance Film Festival (……….but why?) Continue reading →
July 24, 2020 “Relic” (*1/2 out of four) was a drably done horror show about a mother, daughter, and grandmother (Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote, and Robyn Nevin) all living in the same dilapidated house in England and are consumed by (yawn) evil spirits that incur possession and overtaking of their souls. Ironically titled movie is actually a relic of horror movie cliches in yet another story about a haunted house and demonic possession. Mortimer’s sincere performance is unable to enliven the dour proceedings. Watch 1997’s “The Relic” for a horror movie with a similar story with some style and scares. Continue reading →
July 24, 2020 “The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee” (**1/2 out of four) was a slight but good-natured comedy starring Paul Hogan (playing himself) trying to revive and restore his battered reputation on the eve of being knighted and keeps running into various celebrities (Olivia Newton John, Chevy Chase, John Cleese) who muck up the works. Hogan is still amiable and charismatic at 80 years old and carries much of the movie single-handedly but a little of this unfortunately does not go a long way. Those who don’t like Hogan or the “Crocodile Dundee” series needn’t bother with this at all. Reginald VelJohnson returns from the original in a welcome cameo. Continue reading →
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