January 18, 2021 “The Wrong Mr. Right” (* out of four) was a mind-numbingly stupid, ridiculous suspense thriller about a successful businesswoman (Krista Allen) who meets a smooth-talker (Rib Hillis) and ignores repeated warning signs and her daughter’s (Anna Marie Dobbins) suspicions and chooses to marry him, never realizing that he is both a sociopath and a psychopath intent on taking over her life. Insultingly dumb and packed with logic gaps and plot holes; this is by far the worst of Vivica Fox’s “wrong” series and makes you long for her to start making some “right” choices with her career once again. Continue reading →
January 17, 2021 “Batman: Soul Of The Dragon” (** out of four) was a slight (and slightly confusing) entry in the “Batman” animated series set in the 1970’s in which the Dark Knight (voiced by David Giuntoli) teams up with Lady Shiva (voiced by Kelly Hu) and a fellow martial arts student (voiced by Michael Jai White) to locate their missing sensei (voiced by James Hong) who vanished under mysterious circumstances. Colorful animation and good vocal “performances” make this watchable for die-hard Batfans but plot is too abstract and difficult to get involved in. Hardcore comic fan Jeremy Adams wrote the script. Continue reading →
January 16, 2021 “The Marksman” (*1/2 out of four) was a drably done dud about a financially strapped rancher (Liam Neeson) on the Arizona border who attempts to protect a young Mexican boy (Jacob Perez) but is unaware that he is being pursued by a deadly drug cartel and they have to go on the run together forming an unlikely bond while trying to stay alive. Leaden story feels like reheated Peckinpah and features surprisingly little action. Neeson tries but looks more tired than usual; this one sorely misses the mark. Continue reading →
January 16, 2021 “Curse Of Aurore” (*1/2 out of four) was a sodden horror thriller about a thumb drive found on the web which reveals disturbing footage documenting three aspiring filmmakers (Llana Barron, Lex Wilson, Jordan Kaplan) on a script-writing trip to Quebec and how they later turned up missing. Yet another found-footage horror movie in which the footage should have stayed lost; no suspense or scares and none of the characters (or actors) are particularly engaging. Barron also co-wrote this clunker. Continue reading →
January 16, 2021 “Goodbye Butterfly” (** out of four) was a muddled psychodrama about a middle-class suburban parent (Jeremy London) whose young daughter is murdered and soon becomes suspicious that an oddball neighbor (Andrew Lauer) is guilty but he has to prove this, even at the risk of his psychological/mental health and safety. Competently made and acted but lacking the compelling fire and grit that a story like this needs. 2013’s “Prisoners” with Hugh Jackman told virtually the same story with much more mood and character richness and mesmeric intensity. Continue reading →
January 16, 2021 “The Lost” (** out of four) was a lukewarm crime melodrama about two detectives (Kris Johnson and Farah Ahmed) who investigate the disappearance of a young girl who vanishes during a family birthday party but they soon find that the clues take them in multiple different directions all at once. Writer/director Peter Stylianou holds you in his grip with his storytelling and stylistics but his focus wanders too much as film goes on and it subsequently begins to lose its grip and thus it’s impact. Certainly watchable but not especially memorable. Continue reading →
January 16, 2021 “Relentless” (* out of four) was a relentlessly boring melodrama about a woman (Rachael Weber) struggling with depression and a variety of other problems who is locked alone in a house and has to come to terms with her problems on her own, just as a major thunderstorm begins to flood the house and starts to erode her life. Predominantly one-character movie consists of Weber spending most of the film on her own with no dialogue or action; flood sequences towards the end finally give film some life but by then you’ll likely want to swim to shore. More of an experiment than an actual film and a real time-waster either way. Continue reading →
January 16, 2021 “On-Site” (* out of four) was a haphazard mess about the obsessive-compulsive manager (Gabi Alves) of an apartment building who starts to become increasingly fixated on a new couple (Ryan Poole and Daphne Tenne) who move in which leads to her gradual obsession and subsequently leads to psychosis and murder. Incredibly slapdash movie changes moods and themes with almost every scene but it all goes nowhere slowly. Film stops rather than ends but believe me no one “on-site” will be complaining. Continue reading →
January 16, 2021 “Bloody Hell” (* out of four) was an incoherent dreck about a man (Ben O’Toole) with a mysterious past who flees the country to escape his own personal and private Hell only to arrive in a more extreme form of Hell which challenges his numerous psychological and private demons in an attempt to retain his sanity and stay alive. Garish and pretentious but (worse than that) stupid and tedious; a mess in short. The scariest thing about this movie is that it is promised to be the first in a trilogy. Count me out. Continue reading →
January 14, 2021 “American Thief” (** out of four) was a preachy and shallow melodrama set in 2016 in which a teen hacker (Xisko Maximo Monroe) seeking revenge for his father’s murder becomes a pawn in a plot to derail the 2016 Presidential election and he has to question his own moral beliefs along with those of many of his friends and family (Khadim Diop, Ben Becher, and others). Film awkwardly mixes in live footage of the elections and from 2016 with actual movie which becomes off-putting after a while; not quite a docudrama, not quite a full movie, so it comes close to being nothing at all by the end. Continue reading →
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