July 20, 2023 “Wild Bones” (*1/2 out of four) was a listless melodrama about two estranged sisters (Roxy Bugler and Mary Roubos) who reconnect after their father’s disappearance; one finds herself unraveling to the brink of insanity while the other tries to keep them both grounded and united and restore what’s left of their relationship. Unbearably dull and almost completely pointless. You keep thinking film is going to build to something but it goes nowhere slowly. Continue reading →
July 19, 2023 “A Podcast To Die For” (** out of four) was an utterly predictable suspense thriller about a true-crime podcaster (Kate Miner) who unearths an unsolved local murder and begins to investigate but soon begins to realize that the clues and mystery behind this murder lead close to home and she begins to suspect that her family (Matthew MacCaull and Sophia Carriere) may be entangled. Competently made and acted but hindered by a routine framework and story; anyone who’s ever watched a thriller won’t be terribly surprised by the twists or identity of the killer. Continue reading →
July 19, 2023 “Jericho Ridge” (**1/2 out of four) was a relatively gripping B-movie thriller about a small-town cop (Nikki Amuka-Bird) who finds herself trapped at her precinct and without backup and has to stay alive when she finds herself under siege by vicious attackers. Modest thriller is tensely directed by writer/director Will Gilbey and well-acted by Bird but rabid cinema fans may gradually find this too similar to John Carpenter’s “Assault On Precinct 13” which in itself was very similar to “Rio Bravo.” Still, it’s much better than most of its genre and worth watching. Continue reading →
July 18, 2023 “Disquiet” (** out of four) was a cold-hearted suspense thriller about a man (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) who has a near-fatal car accident and awakens in an abandoned hospital and discovers that there are sinister and otherworldly forces that will not allow him to leave and he starts to spiral off into the realms of insanity. Writer/director Michael Winnick works with a pretzel time structure that harks back to “Memento” and throws in elements of surreal horror from “The Shining” but it doesn’t have much resonance or emotional impact. Rhys-Meyers is game as always. Can’t someone resuscitate his career by now? Continue reading →
July 17, 2023 “Picture Me Dead” (* out of four) was a disastrously lame suspense potboiler about a determined prosecuting attorney (Erica Mena) whose faith and belief in the justice system are soured and put to the test when her niece (Amarachie Ekekwe) is raped and murdered by a vindictive killer (Charles Malik Whitfield) and he is allowed to walk free and she realizes she will have to take the law into her own hands to enact true justice and vengeance. Potentially intriguing and juicy material is bungled by severe logical gaps and ridiculous script and some laughable acting. Film itself begins to feel like capital punishment after a while. Continue reading →
July 16, 2023 “As Certain As Death” (* out of four) was a dreadful horror melodrama about a group of friends (Lindsey Shaw, Daniel Curtis Lee, David Lambert, and Cortney Palm) who attempt to stage an intervention on a friend (Hutch Dano) with a severe alcohol problem by taking him out into the wilderness where they are (yawn) besieged by an unseen killer (Guy Wilson). Give film some points for attempting to incorporate elements of addiction into its standard-story framework but the result is clumsy and amateurish and a bore. Co-star/writer/director Dano is also a painter and shows off some of his work in a few scenes but (judging from this effort) he seems a lot more “certain” about painting than about filmmaking. Continue reading →
July 16, 2023 “Bird Box: Barcelona” (*** out of four) was a creepy sequel to the 2018 Netflix hit set in Barcelona in which a virus has decimated the world and one survivor (Mario Casas) and his daughter (Alejandra Howard) have to fight against other survivors and various deadly outbreaks to stay alive. Yet another post-apocalyptic/catastrophe survival story in the mold of “28 Days Later” but it’s overall well-done and well-directed and staged by David and Alex Pastor and moves swiftly. Like the original, this one has continuous flashbacks and cutting back-and-forth in time but unlike the original it’s pretty easy to get used to here. Continue reading →
July 15, 2023 “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning- Part One” (** out of four) was a feeble sequel about Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team (Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Haley Atwell) who have to track down a dangerous weapon after it has fallen into the hands of a worldwide terrorist (Esai Morales) and could result in global warfare. Kudos for bringing back Henry Czerny from the original and other various “Mission Impossible” actors from previous entries but this seventh entry is one of the weakest with a stilted script and severe overlength at nearly three hours. Even the climax aboard a train only serves to hark back memories of the classic original. Only some spectacular stunts (some performed by Cruise himself) keep it alive. Continue reading →
July 15, 2023 “Meet The Killer Parents” (*1/2 out of four) was a killer mistake about a woman (Bryn McAuley) who meets the parents (Dmitry Chevotesky and Ericka Leobrera) of her boyfriend (Connor McMahon) and realizes something is very dark and disturbing about this dangerous family. Unfortunately, that will be readily evident to anyone who’s seen a thriller before so there’s not much suspense or surprise to anyone watching the story for an hour-and-a-half. Prefabricated and predictable all the way through. Continue reading →
July 15, 2023 “Quicksand” (**1/2 out of four) was an efficiently done horror story about a married couple (Carolina Geitan and Allan Hawco) on the brink of divorce who decide to take a reconciliation trip to Colombia where they become immersed in quicksand and have to fight off the surrounding wildlife and put aside their recent differences to stay together and stay alive. A little of this goes a long way, as film doesn’t have enough story and characterization to sustain itself for feature-length, but film is overall well-acted and well-captured and does feature a few hair-raising moments along the way. Continue reading →
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