June 6, 2023 “Fire Island” (*1/2 out of four) was a threadbare horror clunker about a group of friends (Jonathan Bennett, Connor Paolo, Kahyun Kim, and others) who go on a party getaway to Fire Island which soon spirals into a nightmare of sex, drugs, and murder and they need to uncover which one of them may be involved. Completely by-the-numbers story without much surprises or scares and turns laughable in its final third. Sad to see talented one-time “Mean Girls” co-star Bennett stuck in this timewaster. Continue reading →
June 4, 2023 “Blackberry” (**1/2 out of four) was an intermittently interesting melodrama about the revolutionary development of the world’s first smartphone when the engineering geeks Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson) joined forces with hotheaded multimillionaire Jim Basillie (Glenn Howerton) which resulted in a meteoric rise on the cusp of the technology boom and a catastrophic crash over the next decade. Uneven and doesn’t have the sustained sweep that a film like this needs as it’s held back by a certain aloofness but still holds you in its feverish grip as it takes you through one of the most important technological inventions of its time. Howerton’s powerhouse performance as Basillie makes this overall worthwhile. Continue reading →
June 4, 2023 “Follow Her” (*1/2 out of four) was an unpleasant horror psychodrama about an aspiring actress (Dani Barker) who responds to a mysterious classified ad for an actress and finds herself initially entranced by the man (Luke Cook) she has met but soon realizes it is all part of an elaborate revenge fantasy that puts her physical and psychological mindset to the test. Plodding and predictable story grows increasingly lurid and bizarre until it self-destructs completely. Barker also wrote this but unfortunately there’s not much worth “following” here. Continue reading →
June 4, 2023 “The Boogeyman” (*1/2 out of four) was a boring horror thriller about a young woman (Sophie Thatcher) and her younger sister (Vivien Lyra Blair) who start having the jitters when a supernatural presence starts overtaking them in their house and they can’t get their father (Chris Messina) to listen to them until it’s too late. Allegedly based on a short story by Stephen King and has no relation to previous “Boogeyman” movies but it’s reheated horror elements without much sizzle or juice. Film takes forever to get going but final third at least does provide a few (minor) jolts. Watch “Boogie Nights” again instead. Continue reading →
June 3, 2023 “Padre Pio” (*1/2 out of four) was a ponderous religious melodrama set during the aftermath of WWII based on the true story of the title character Padre Pio (Shia Labeouf) who struggled with his own personal demons but summoned through them to unite his post-war village and attempt to bring them back to religious solidarity. Disappointing result for writer/director Abel Ferrara; while this is certainly in keeping with his past themes of Catholic guilt and redemption (“Bad Lieutenant”, “The Addiction”) it lacks those film’s visceral charge and passion and dramatic energy. Labeouf tries his best but is badly miscast in the lead. Continue reading →
June 2, 2023 “Wolf Garden” (** out of four) was a torpid suspense psychodrama about a man (Wayne David) who goes into isolation following various tragedies he has gone through but becomes haunted by visions of the woman (Sian Altman) he loved and starts to become unhinged by a ravenous wolf in the nearby woods. Star/writer/director/co-producer David and cinematographer Ariel Artur definitely give their best but film is disconcertingly glum and inert. Too self-serious for a horror film and not incisive or dramatic enough for anything else. Watch “Wolf Creek” instead. Continue reading →
June 1, 2023 “Firenado” (*1/2 out of four) was a clumsy action melodrama which attempts to graft a mob-underworld story onto a disaster thriller about an accountant (Daniel Godfrey) for organized crime who is on the run from his associates and has to escape through a whirlwind of fire that threatens to engulf everything it touches. Film’s poster makes it look like a big-budget action spectacle like “Volcano” or “Twister” but results are more like a thirdhand Guy Ritchie imitation and is much more fizzle than sizzle. Continue reading →
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