April 16, 2023 “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die” (**1/2 out of four) was a visually sweeping but dramatically empty sequel to the 5 seasons of the title series about Uhtred Of Babbanburg (Alexander Dreymon) and his various comrades (Mark Rowley, Pekka Strang, and others) who suffer in the wake of the death of King Edward but vow to persevere ahead to unite a fractured England and make it a unified whole once again, regardless of the bloody costs. Beautiful cinematography from Luke Bryant and haunting music score by John Lunn/Danny Saul/Elvor Palsdottir help keep you entranced but after a while can’t camouflage that the story and characters are all so nondescript and vague. Final battle is extraordinary but even this (and other film’s elements) seem lifted from other superior medieval sagas “Braveheart” and “Gladiator.” Continue reading →
April 16, 2023 “Family Dinner” (** out of four) was a moody but muted horror melodrama about an overweight teenager (Pia Herzegger) who is sent to live with her aunt and her husband (Nina Katlein and Michael Pink) at their farm to help her lose weight but she soon begins to suspect that not all is quite right there and there may be some be some dangerous ingredients added to the food that they are preparing and consuming. Highlighted by Gabriel Grajanek’s stark cinematography throughout but you keep thinking something is finally going to happen and it never does as it gradually plods nowhere. Not all THAT different from last year’s “The Menu” which had similar virtues and story flaws. Continue reading →
April 16, 2023 “Renfield” (** out of four) was a scattershot horror comedy about the title character Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) who is the henchman for Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and his inmate at an asylum for decades but yearns for a life away from him and his overwhelming and life-affirming demands which put the 2 of them at a crossroads which leads to a violent showdown to the death. Cage is amusing in a role that is a companion piece to his earlier work in 1989’s “Vampire Kiss” but otherwise this is a hit-and-miss affair whose horror and comedy elements don’t really congeal or come together. Film uses footage from 1931’s “Dracula” in some flashback scenes. Continue reading →
April 15, 2023 “The Tutor” (**1/2 out of four) was a moderately clever suspense thriller about a tutor (Garrett Hedlund) who is hired by a millionaire student (Noah Schnapp) at his luxurious estate but soon finds that his student has developed an obsession with him and that all is not at all what it appears to be as he finds himself in over his head in an escalating game of psychosis and murder. Film initially appears to be a simple character study but soon takes a few neat Hitchcockean twists and holds you in its grip with its stylish suspense but starts to become too improbable and loses its way before its disappointing final scenes. A mixed bag to be sure but marginally worth checking out. Continue reading →
April 15, 2023 “Ripper’s Revenge” (* out of four) was a real snooze about yet another revisiting of the notorious murders of Jack The Ripper in 1889 London in which his reign of terror seemed to suddenly stop until a hard-nosed newspaper reporter (Chris Bell) began receiving clues and information that Mr. Jack was still on the prowl and he then determined to bring him down before he murdered any other helpless women. Both inept and inert; after “Jack’s Back”, “From Hell”, and God knows how many other movies over the years- maybe it’s time to really let this killer rust in peace. Film moves so slowly that by the end you yourself may feel as if your throat (and your patience) have been ripped. Continue reading →
April 15, 2023 “One Day As A Lion” (*1/2 out of four) was a trashy potboiler about a reformed criminal (Scott Caan) who finds out that his son (Dash Melrose) is following in his footsteps and does his best to get him out which puts him at odds with various other mobsters and underworld figures (Frank Grillo, J.K. Simmons, Virginia Madsen, and others) who stand in his path. Solid cast is wasted on an unappealing story full of unpleasant characters and sordid plot turnings; the kind of movie that seems inspired by ’90’s Tarantino and Coen Bros but no longer seems fresh. Caan also wrote this, apparently with something else on his mind. Continue reading →
April 15, 2023 “Scream Of The Wolf” (*1/2 out of four) was a screamless suspense horror thriller about a film crew (James Fleet, John Henshaw, Nicky Evans, and others) who are filming a low-budget horror movie in an English mansion and are mauled and slaughtered by a wolf on the prowl. Director Domenic Brunt obviously watched “An American Werewolf In London” a few times before filming but this has none of that film’s irony or wit or much of anything else. The tongue-in-cheek joke of a horror movie about filming a low-budget horror movie seems lost on the filmmakers here. Continue reading →
April 15, 2023 “She Will” (*1/2 out of four) was pretentious mumbo-jumbo about an aging film star (Alice Krige in a one-note performance) who retreats to the Scottish countryside to recover from surgery but soon finds that strange occurrences start affecting her and some of the community (Malcolm McDowell, Rupert Everett, and others) which may be the hauntings of ancient Scottish witches who were burned at the stake. Good cast and visual style from director Charlotte Colbert and cinematographer Jamie Ramsay are wasted on a story that’s plodding and hokey without much payoff. Some critics and horror fans thought highly of this but I’m not one of them. Continue reading →
April 14, 2023 “Starcrossed” (*1/2 out of four) was a lugubrious effort about a down-on-his-luck writer (Grant Harvey) who encounters a mysterious stranger (Mischa Barton) and over the course of one night they get to know one another’s pasts and begin to re-write both of their futures. Mildly interesting at first but gets slower and talkier as it goes along and gradually all involvement begins to dissipate. Harvey and Barton both do what they can with thinly written roles but this is still an unlucky crossing for both. Eric Roberts adds some style in a throwaway cameo towards the end. Continue reading →
April 13, 2023 “Bunny The Killer Thing” (*1/2 out of four) was a junky horror thriller about a group of friends (Enni Ojutkangas, Jari Manninen, Orwi Manny Ameh, and others) who get stuck at a remote cabin where they are besieged by a ravenous creature that is half-human/half-rabbit (actually an actor in a really bad rabbit costume). Made and released in 2015 and being re-released now probably to cash in on the hoopla involving “Cocaine Bear” but it’s stupid and forgettable. Based on a short film with the same title and in this case less definitely is more. Continue reading →
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