January 31, 2024 “Confessions Of A Cam Girl” (*1/2 out of four) was a plastic suspense melodrama about a high-schooler (Megan Best) who years to go to fashion school but her parents refuse to pay for it so she decides to raise the money on her own by creating an explicit webpage but this soon unravels and afflicts everyone around her and their relationships. Sordid subject matter is sanitized into conventional teen melodrama that is pointless and artificial. Some scattered effective moments can’t begin to save it. Continue reading →
January 31, 2024 “My Husband’s Seven Wives” (*1/2 out of four) was a gratingly predictable thriller about a woman (Kristi Murdock) who meets another woman and finds out to her dismay she is also married to her sociopathic husband (Adam Harper) and the two of them uncover together that he has multiple other wives who he has lied to and exploited. Formulaic enough to insult anyone’s intelligence but intelligent is the last thing you’d say about this contrived and transparent film. Watch “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?” instead. Continue reading →
January 30, 2024 “Doomsday Meteor” (** out of four) was a minor-league action melodrama about a high-powered meteor that’s headed straight on a path of destruction to Earth and a group of scientists (Patrick Labyorteaux, Joseph Michael Harris, Anthony Jensen, and others) attempt to destroy it using high-powered lasers. Not bad and moves zippy enough but is just a chintzy rehash of “Deep Impact” and “Armageddon” and other large-scale disaster films. Visual effects aren’t bad given film’s limited budget but this is still overall pretty forgettable. Continue reading →
January 30, 2024 “Bad Hombres” (** out of four) a muddled and muffled suspense melodrama about two undocumented immigrants (Diego Tinoco and Hemky Madera) who are in financial desperation and take a job digging holes in the desert but soon find that their various employers (Thomas Jane, Tyrese Gibson, and others) are psychopaths who will bury them in the desert if they don’t stay in line. Passable filmmaking and acting hold your interest for a little while but after a while the ugliness and sordid storyline start to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Film attempts to be meaningful and topical about immigrants and their financial struggle but it’s hindered by film’s mediocre framework. Continue reading →
January 30, 2024 “You Should Have Killed Me” (*1/2 out of four) was a slatternly pulp melodrama about a violent criminal (Demian Alan Mancino) who plans on leaving the criminal underworld and is betrayed and left for dead by his double-crossing best friend (Matty Weiland); upon coming back from the brink of death, he swears vengeance at any and all cost. Violent and unpleasant underworld thriller full of beatings, sadism, and empty threats. Film is warmed-over wannabe Scorcese but the film it most may remind hard-core film lovers is “Payback.” You should watch that again instead of this. Continue reading →
January 28, 2024 “Murder At The Country Club” (*1/2 out of four) was a stagnant mystery thriller about the assistant manager (Alex Mitchell) of a luxurious country club who finds nefarious financial dealings and corruption involving murder going on behind its picture-perfect veneer and finds this places her own life in danger. Opening scenes are laughably bad and film improves marginally after that but continues with overall coarse predictability. When will producers learn that a murder mystery means little when you don’t care for anyone who has been murdered? Continue reading →
January 27, 2024 “Blind Waters” (** out of four) was an obviously derivative shark-shock thriller about a couple (Meghan Carrasquillo and Noam Sigler) stranded at sea and forced to fight for their lives when an unrelenting shark starts to besiege them but this leads to them to turn on one another and suspect one another’s initiatives and identities. Mostly plays as a greatest-hits amalgram of the “Jaws” series but the film this most remind hard-core film lovers like me is 1988’s “Midnight Crossing”. Far from the worst of its ilk but far from the best either. Continue reading →
January 26, 2024 “Club Zero” (*1/2 out of four) was a terminally weird and wan melodrama about a free-spirited teacher (Mia Wasikowska) who takes a job at an elite boarding school and forms a relationship with various students (Samuel D. Anderson, Florence Baker, and others) that takes a dangerous and obsessive turn that later endangers all of them. Whimsical yet aloof in equal measure and has an ironic title since it registers almost zero in terms of laughs or emotional resonance and diminishes any impact with its never-ending length. Avoid, unless watching a character throw up and eat their vomit with dinner is your idea of a good time. Continue reading →
January 26, 2024 “Hubcap” (* out of four) was the film equivalent of a flat tire about a small-town sheriff (Holly A. Morris) in a mountain town who is investigating a supernatural serial killer but at the same time has to juggle her love life and various eccentrics (Adam Boyer, April Tweedy, and others) in her life. Jumbled and incoherent film can’t decide whether it wants to be a witless comedy or a ridiculous thriller and winds up stalling (and failing) at both. The kind of movie that cries out for the offbeat touch of the Coen Bros and is in serious need of a tuneup. Continue reading →
January 26, 2024 “Wonka” (** out of four) was a disappointing musical prequel to the 1971 blockbuster classic showing the young and poor Willy Wonka (Timothee Chalamet) with dreams of opening up a shop for his one-of-a-kind chocolate but finds himself in continuous battle with various rival chocolate companies and owners (Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, and others) who want to shut him down. Opening number is nicely done and there are some dazzling visuals along the way but neither the music, nor the staging, nor film’s screenplay are all that special. Certainly watchable but overall unnecessary. Chalamet is pretty one-note in the lead and won’t make anyone forget Gene Wilder anytime soon. Continue reading →
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