August 24, 2021 “The Green Knight” (** out of four) was a lumbering medieval fantasy of the re-telling of Sir Gawain (Dev Patel) showing his relationship with his lover Lady Essel (Alicia Vikander), his mother (Sarita Choudhury), his father (Joel Edgerton), and the Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) and how the fates of all are intertwined in adventure. Director David Lowery tells story with a grand paintbrush in a throwback to the medieval adventures of Hollywood’s Golden Age but results are hollow and muted as film meanders too slowly and too long. After a while- you will likely long for some swashbuckling and some action. Re-watch “The Dark Knight” again instead. Continue reading →
August 24, 2021 “Bleed With Me” (** out of four) was a sterile horror thriller set in a cabin in the middle of the wilderness in which a hard-living young woman (Lee Marshall) becomes convinced that her concerned best friend (Lauren Beatty) is stealing her blood. Moodily shot by Rene Arseneau and well-acted by the two leads but film moves at a leaden pace and becomes arbitrary and overly bizarre after a while. Writer/director Amelia Moses deserves points for trying to make an artful horror thriller but this still feels in need of a transfusion of fresh blood. Continue reading →
August 23, 2021 “Midnight In The Switchgrass” (** out of four) was a lurid suspense thriller about a tough-as-nails undercover cop (Megan Fox) who teams up with an over-the-hill F.B.I. agent (who else but Bruce Willis) and a local Florida officer (Emile Hirsch) to stop a brutal serial killer (Lukas Haas) who has been abducting and killing young women but things get more hair-raising when she herself is kidnapped and imprisoned by him. Solid filmmaking and acting (especially by Fox) are defeated by film’s overall unpleasantness and routine structure. Willis filmed his role in just one day. Continue reading →
August 23, 2021 “The Florist” (*1/2 out of four) was a listless melodrama about a young free-spirit (Rebecca Murphy) who begins to make her living selling edible flowers to various clients and business owners in L.A. turning her into a successful capitalist who has to question her own meaning in life. Adapted from a short story in 2014 and short is what this should have stayed. Murphy’s earnest performance helps but film is wilted by its molasses and meandering pacing and nonexistent storyline. Continue reading →
August 23, 2021 “Jurassic Hunt” (** out of four) was a trifling action thriller about a female special forces agent (Courtney Loggins) who joins forces with a crew of male military trophy hunters (Ruben Pla, Dan Sinclair, and others) in a remote wilderness park who hunt and kill genetically enhanced dinosaurs but (naturally) things go astray when the dinosaurs fight back and threaten to break out of the reserve and threaten worldwide destruction. Yet another knockoff of the far superior “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” but having said that- the visual effects aren’t bad (especially given film’s threadbare budget) and some of the kills are decently staged. Far from the worst of its various clones but by this point this genre needs some fresh DNA. Continue reading →
August 21, 2021 “Don’t Breathe 2” (** out of four) was a pallid sequel to the 2016 sleeper hit showing the continuing misadventures of the blind Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang) who lives in quiet solace until his home is besieged yet again by home invader intruders and he has to spring back into action and kick ass. Best thing about the film (much like the original) is Lang who does his best to hold film together but film is lukewarm and predictable and bizarrely changes the main character from a villain to an unlikely action hero! Don’t bother and you may as well just watch the original again. Continue reading →
August 21, 2021 “Snake Eyes- G.I. Joe: Origins” (*** out of four) was a sleek spin-off of the “G.I. Joe” series about the title character Snake Eyes (Henry Golding) showing his origins when his father is murdered to a deadly martial artist to an enforcer for the Yakuza mob to his gradual transition to a crime-fighting superhero for the G.I. Joe organization. Moves in fits and starts and has a few lulls in the middle and towards the end but always revs back up in time with explosive action. Deadly motorcycle chase at the end is a real wow! Not exactly a bullseye but definitely superior to the previous 2 “G.I. Joe” films. Continue reading →
August 21, 2021 “Overrun” (** out of four) was a murky international espionage melodrama about a former military extractions expert (Omid Zader) who learns that his only hope to save his sister and others in his family is to track down a mysterious briefcase but soon finds that various underworld figures (Bruce Dern, Nicholas Turturro, and others) and the police (William Katt, Johnny Messner, and Haley Strode) are on his trail. Fairly fast moving but film itself is “overrun” by too many characters and plot complications and it soon bogs down. Much of the rock-solid supporting cast are wasted. Continue reading →
August 19, 2021 “Satan’s Servant” (* out of four) was a dismayingly cheesy and low-rent horror thriller about two teenagers (Josephine Thompson and Ethan Gomez Zahnley) who investigate the disappearance of their friend and stumble onto a satanic plot in their small-town that could spell worldwide destruction. Utterly predictable and by-the-numbers and lacking in any sense of grandeur or thrills. Yet another schlock imitation of early Spielberg (particularly “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”) that’s a real timewaster. Continue reading →
August 17, 2021 “The Demented” (0 stars out of four) was a noxious horror thriller set in the underworld of sex trafficking in which a group of sickos buy and sell young girls continuously to the highest bidders and film their sexual abuse and murders as snuff films and one determined female detective (Felissa Rose) begins to investigate. Unwatchably ugly and sordid without any redeeming insights or even entertaininment value and worthlessly exploits a severe and significant worldwide problem. Bret “The Hitman” Hart makes his acting debut as an entrepreneur of snuff films; why he picked this film for his debut shows he may be the one whose really “demented.” Continue reading →
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