January 14, 2021 “Redemption Day” (**1/2 out of four) was an adequately done action melodrama about a former war hero (Gary Dourdan looking here an awful lot like Mario Van Peebles) who has to return to action when his wife (Serinda Swan) is kidnapped by international terrorists; meanwhile government operatives (Andy Garcia and Martin Donovan) have their own shadowy political agenda. Reasonably fast-moving and entertaining mixture of pulp action and war story is enhanced by strong cast and a stirring music score by Sacha Chaban although it never quite fully detonates. Garcia stands out as usual in a juicy supporting role. Continue reading →
January 13, 2021 “Bright Hill Road” (** out of four) was an unrelentingly grim melodrama about an alcoholic young woman (Siobhan Williams) who survives a workplace shooting and checks herself into a rehab solace but is soon confronted by multiple reminders of her sordid and bleak past that result in breaks from reality. Give director Robert Cuffley and Susie Moloney points for trying to earnestly deal with the effects of alcoholism and PTSD but results are overly cerebal and unnecessarily unpleasant so film is cold to the touch. Even Williams’ performance is pretty one-note and repetitive. Continue reading →
January 12, 2021 “The Devil In The Room” (** out of four) was a paint-by-numbers horror thriller about a young couple (Darlin Barry and Chris Cox) who attempt to prevent (yawn) a supernatural evil spirit in their house from trapping their souls in the murky area between sleep and reality but soon find that this is a more cerebral and integral battle than they initially realized. Far from the worst of its disreputable genre, with decent performances and colorful cinematography, but is hindered by its derivative and hokey story told countless times before. By now, once you’ve seen one devil in a room or house you’ve pretty much seen ’em all. Continue reading →
January 10, 2021 “The Wrong Fiance” (** out of four) was a numbingly predictable thriller about a photographer (Jessica Morris) whose sent out of town on a job assignment by her editor (Vivica A. Fox) but is followed and stalked by her nightmarish ex-fiance (Jason Shane-Scott) who wants her back and wants to ruin her life by whatever means possible. The type of movie you can easily predict simply by it’s title! Neither the best nor the worst of its genre but seriously guys- just watch “Fatal Attraction” again instead. It’s nice to see that Fox has carved a niche for herself with this series but timewasters like these indicate her career is going in a “wrong” direction. Continue reading →
January 10, 2021 “Apocalypse Of Ice” (** out of four) was an utterly routine and by-the-numbers disaster thriller about a massive polar vertex which threatens to cover all of Earth in ice when a virologist (Emily Killian) and her former partner (Tom Sizemore) race against the clock to try to stop it and prevent worldwide destruction. Fairly fast-moving but is simply an amalgam of ideas derived from other (and better) disaster movies, particularly “2012” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” The end-of-the-world simply isn’t what it used to be. Continue reading →
January 9, 2021 “Mercy” (*1/2 out of four) was a mercilessly dull melodrama about an older man (James Yaw) who goes through a series of personal crisises that lead to him mentally unravelling and falling back into alcohol abuse before an unexpected event brings him back from the brink. Yaw tries but his character is simply not all that compelling or interesting and neither is the movie, as it plods and never builds to anything dramatic. Yaw also wrote and co-produced. Continue reading →
January 9, 2021 “COVID-21: Lethal Virus” (**1/2 out of four) was a better-than-average horror thriller about an ancient rabies virus that is released from Antarctica ice leading to people turning into ravenous zombies that threaten worldwide destruction; one determined scientist (Loretta Hope) tries to race against the clock to create a cure while the military tries to decide their next move and how to stay alive. Ultimately hindered by its overall routine story and framework but the zombie attack scenes are unusually vivid and film provides a reasonable amount of jolts and scares along the way. Well directed by Daniel Hernandez Torrado on a low budget. Continue reading →
January 9, 2021 “The Serpent” (** out of four) was a passable political thriller about a top-secret C.I.A. agent (Gia Skova) who is given an international covert assignment but subsequently finds out she has been double-crossed by her own government and some renegade agents (Travis Aaron Wade, Jason Scott Jenkins, and others) and has to outsmart everyone to stay alive. Uneven mix of espionage intrigue and pulp action melodrama jumpstarts occasionally but never quite catches fire. Yet another “Bourne” imitation that comes up short. Skova also wrote and directed. Continue reading →
January 9, 2021 “The Wrong Real Estate Agent” (** out of four) was a laughably obvious suspense thriller about a single mom (Vivica A. Fox) and her daughter (Alaya Lee Walton) who move into a luxurious new house purchased from a real estate agent (Andres Modono) who turns out to be (what else?) an obsessive nutjob bent on revenge against them from something in the past. No surprises and thus no suspense or sparks although competent filmmaking and cast helps to keep it watchable. By this point, though, it’s about time Fox said Independence Day to these “wrong” movies and started doing something else. Continue reading →
January 9, 2021 “Hacksaw” (* out of four) was a repellent horror thriller about a young couple (Amy Kay and Brian Patrick Butler) who take a road trip to seek out the urban legend of a killer named Hacksaw (Michael C. Burgess) but find out too-little/too-late that he is alive and well and is looking for fresh new blood in the form of them. Inept horror story mashes unpleasant blood and gore in-your-face but the result is still minimalist and boring. Title is somewhat ironic since this seems like it was edited with a hacksaw. Continue reading →
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