October 24, 2025 “The Jurassic Games: Extinction” (** out of four) was a fairly predictable sci/fi horror thriller about contestants (Brandon Stanley, Ryan Francis, and others) on a gameshow in a dystopian future that have to fight against bloodthirsty dinosaurs to stay alive. Film is an obvious hybrid of “Jurassic World” and “The Hunger Games” but having said that it’s well-produced and certainly features sufficient amounts of visual effects and action/chase scenes. Only main detriment is it starts to overstay its welcome by going on too long. Continue reading →
October 24, 2025 “Anemone” (*1/2 out of four) was a rambling melodrama about two estranged brothers (Daniel Day Lewis and Sean Bean) who attempt to re-connect with one another after numerous life-changing events that took place earlier. Day Lewis’ long-awaited return to acting after his tentative retirement in 2017; great though it is to see him back on screen, film moves like molasses and has no real story to tell and drowns him out. Film marks the directorial debut of Lewis’ son Ronan. Beautiful lensing from Ben Fordesman is one of film’s few virtues. Continue reading →
October 19, 2025 “Shift” (*1/2 out of four) was an unwieldy psychodrama about a security guard (Connor McGill) working an overnight shift who uncovers a chilling mystery when a tenant’s visitor disappears without a trace and he begins to realize a killer is in the building with him. Not all that different from the 1998 Ewan McGreggor disaster “Nightwatch” and film is nowhere near as brutal or as unwatchable but still unlikely to win a place at next year’s Oscars. McGill does what he can and has to carry the majority of film single-handedly. Continue reading →
October 18, 2025 “Match” (*1/2 out of four) was a substandard horror potboiler about a woman (Humberly Gonzalez) who meets a man on an online dating website and is lured to his house where she is instead met by his disturbed mother (Dianne Simpson) and a beastly creature and is imprisoned and has to fight to the death to survive and escape. Might be the first horror movie in which a woman helps a creature/monster masturbate onscreen but aside from that there’s not much here of originality or shock value. Gonzalez is a real knockout and does what she can in the lead role; hopefully she finds scripts and stories that are a better “match” for her in the future. Continue reading →
October 18, 2025 “Traumatika” (** out of four) was an uneven horror melodrama about a boy (Ranen Navat) whose mother (Emily Goss) begins to show signs of demonic possession which leads to the both of them encountering a whole series of psychological trauma and questioning their state of sanity and reality. Made of spare parts from other (and better) horror movies “The Amityville Horror” and “The Exorcist” but is at least made and directed with some style and colorfully lensed by Pierre Tsigaridis. Far from the worst of its kind but still doesn’t transcend its derivative origins. Continue reading →
October 18, 2025 “Pursued” (*1/2 out of four) was an overlong, overdone horror thriller about a young girl (Miesha Tate) who uncovers a horrific murder online and takes matters into her own hands but is instead pursued by the killer who turns out to be far more ruthless and savage than she expected. Uninvolving story takes both too long to get going and too long to get where it’s going. Molly Ringwald has a minor role as the girl’s mother but based on this effort needs to be “pursuing” better roles for her comeback. Continue reading →
October 11, 2025 “John Candy: I Like Me” (**1/2 out of four) was a heartfelt if somewhat superficial documentary about the legendary comedian which showcases his beginnings in Toronto, to his rise in standup comedy and SCTV, to being a beloved movie star, and his untimely death at 43. Doesn’t tell you very much about him that you didn’t already know but does feature lots of interviews from co-workers such as Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara, and many others in showing an actor who was much the same offscreen as he was on. Directed by Tom Hanks’ son Colin and Hanks himself has a few key interview scenes. Continue reading →
October 11, 2025 “Vicious” (*1/2 out of four) was a viciously dull time-waster about a young woman (Dakota Fanning) who is imprisoned in a house and has to fight for her existence against a sinister force but that finds that her mental health begins to fragment (and yours will too by the end). One-note movie in which even the one note is pretty flat; Fanning is good under the circumstances but is unable to enliven the tired material. Yet another movie which might have worked better as a one-character play. A disappointment from director Bryan Bertino who previously directed 2008’s “The Strangers.” Continue reading →
October 5, 2025 “Movie Theater Massacre” (*1/2 out of four) was a paint-by-numbers slasher thriller about a group of employees (Jalen Wilson-Nalem, Adam DeFellippi, and others) working their last week at a move theater that is going out of business when a mysterious murderer shows up and starts killing them off one-by-one. Yet another movie that cites better movies like “Friday The 13th” and “Halloween” but rips them off instead. It’s lame schlock like this that are the reasons various theaters are going out of business. Continue reading →
October 5, 2025 “Ballerina: From The World Of John Wick” (** out of four) was an interminable spin-off of the blockbuster series about a female assassin (Ana de Armas) out to avenge the death of her father and encounters deadly treachery and duplicity at every turn as she fights to stay alive. Drenched in style and action like most of the “John Wick” entries but also like those entries it becomes numbing and endless and resembles a video-game more than a film. Keanu Reeves shows up in a few key scenes as Mr. Wick. Directed by Len Wiseman but was re-edited and re-shot by original series creator Chad Stahelski. For Wick completists and fanatics, this supposedly takes place after the 3rd film. Continue reading →
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