June 29, 2023 “Resurrected” (**1/2 out of four) was a better-than-average low-budget horror thriller set in another dystopian future in which the Vatican has discovered a supernatural way of resurrecting people; one troubled priest (Dave Davis) discovers a link from the various resurrections to a series of brutal murders that have started occurring and sets to expose them while all the while questioning his own faith and his own path in life. Part standard cliched religious horror hokum but also partially well-done and creepy. A lot of the film takes place online on computer and chat forums but still delivers some jolts along the way. Continue reading →
June 28, 2023 “Gabriel’s Redemption: Part One” (* out of four) was a miserable adaptation of Sylvain Renard’s popular series about the continuing personal and sexual adventures of the title character Gabriel (Giulio Berruti) who leaves his prestigious position at the University At Toronto and meets a new girl (Melanie Zannetti) who is a teacher at Oxford but their academic and philosophical ideals clash with one another. Molasses-moving and tedious, just like all the other Renard film adaptations; this makes the “50 Shades” movies look like “The Matrix” by comparison. Film basically boils down to 2 who have different presentations to students and how that manifests their sexual obsession. If that sounds like little to get excited about, you wouldn’t be wrong. Continue reading →
June 26, 2023 “The Unseen” (*** out of four) was a stark horror melodrama about a man (Aden Young- who looks an awful lot like Chris Cornell) who is gradually becoming invisible due to a chemical accident at work and risks everything to seek and find out his daughter (Julia Sarah Stone) who is now missing. Mixes equal parts eerie horror with emotional and moving character drama and keeps its grip, thanks to Young’s strong (and believable) performance and crisp cinematography from Stephen Maier. First-time you see him with missing body parts is genuinely scary! Made in 2016 and reminiscent in some ways of “Hollow Man” but definitely worthwhile “seeing.” Continue reading →
June 25, 2023 “2025 Armageddon” (** out of four) was an efficient but empty action thriller set in another armageddon end-of-the-world scenario in which a militant alien race launches an attack on Earth using prehistoric creatures and geological disasters that they learned through The Asylum Movie Channel which somehow reached their planet! In response, various militants and officers (Michael Pare, Lindsay Marie Wilson, and others) try to stop them and send them back to their planet where they belong. Fast-paced and features some decent visual effects but by now- you’ve seen it all before and done better and will undoubtedly see it done better again. One of the co-writers was Glenn Campbell who did the noted visual effects for “Tron” and “Life Force” which this movie was clearly influenced by. Continue reading →
June 25, 2023 “No Hard Feelings” (*** out of four) was an affectionately done comic melodrama about a hard-nosed twentysomething (Jennifer Lawrence) who is hired by millionaire parents (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) to bring their introverted son (Andrew Barth Feldman) out of his shell before college but naturally the plans go astray when they start to fall in love. Good vehicle for Lawrence gives her some funny dialogue to chew on and remains entertaining throughout even as it covers predictable and expected bases. Amazingly, this was based on the story of a real-life Craigslist ad. Continue reading →
June 24, 2023 “My Husband’s Worst Mistake” (*1/2 out of four) was an inane suspense thriller about a megalomaniacal husband (Scott Gibson) who learns that his wife (Jinesea Bianca Lewis) had an affair and kills her in a fit of rage; he then sets out to destroy the life of the wife (Sarah Cleveland) of the man (Matt Wells) who had an affair with his own wife but soon find that everyone is trying to cover their tracks. Circumstances (read screenwriter’s contrivance) get more and more outlandish and ridiculous by the minute, especially in final third. Glossy lighting and cinematography from Bill St. John can’t save this one from being a huge “mistake” all around. Continue reading →
June 24, 2023 “Asteroid City” (** out of four) was a meandering melodrama set in an American desert town in 1955 in which the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer convention and the lives of many of the townsfolk (Tom Hanks, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Bryan Cranston, and many others) are disrupted. Just a series of character vignettes that add up to nothing, like too many other of writer/director Wes Anderson’s works. With that cast, it’s easy to watch but equally as easy to forget and too much of the cast is left high-and-dry. This is director Anderson’s first work since his debut “Bottle Rocket” not to feature Bill Murray. Continue reading →
June 24, 2023 “The Pregnancy Scheme” (** out of four) was a pretty illogical suspense melodrama about a woman (Greta Carews-Johns) who is newly single and loses her job and finds out she is pregnant and then receives some shady advice from a new friend (Ruth Bidner) who convinces her there is big money that can be made from positive pregnancy tests which puts her on slippery moral and financial grounds. Allegedly based on true events but contrived script and story complications make this ring false almost all the way. Carews-Johns’ sincere performance helps you overlook some story flaws but this still should have been aborted before it began. Continue reading →
June 24, 2023 “The Story Of Nintendo” (**1/2 out of four) was an interesting documentary about the video-game revolution which started in the late 70’s and culminated in the capitalistic 80’s in which the game system Nintendo took over almost the entire market while continuing to battle it out with rival corporation Sega for the attention (and money) of millions as each one would try to outmaneuver the other for the remainder of the decade. An endearing look at a time many of us remember at the dawn of Nintendo’s arrival to the American marketplace and a vital artifact of the early-to-mid 80’s but still somewhat superficial and truncated as it doesn’t tell you all-that-much you probably don’t already know. “Running With Speed” and “Console Wars” were 2 additional documentaries on the same subject worth checking out. Continue reading →
June 23, 2023 “Maggie Moore(s)” (** out of four) was a lumpy suspense comedy about a small-town police chief (Jon Hamm) who falls in love with and teams up with a nosy neighbor (Tina Fey) to solve a murder mystery involving two women with the same name but soon find that the roots of this are enmeshed in various lies and conspiracies within their town. Director John Slattery seems to be going for something in the vein of The Coen Bros’ “Blood Simple” and “Fargo” and is given a boost by the two likeable stars but never quite gells or takes wing. Slattery himself starred in a similar story in 2007’s “Reservation Road.” Continue reading →
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