Author: dlepikcom

“Killing Mary Sue” (**1/2 out of fou) was a lively but lightweight screwball comedy about a corrupt senator (Dermot Mulroney) determined to win re-election by any means and decides to have his burnout rebel stepdaughter (Sierra McCormick) killed by a contract killer (Martin Kove) but she turns out to be a much tougher cookie than anyone realized. Fizzy and fast-paced but starts to run out of steam in its second half and starts to sputter. Still watchable and agreeable thanks to its high-spirited cast.

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“When The Trash Man Knocks” (*1/2 out of four) was aptly titled horror trash about a woman (Cheryl Abernathy) suffering from PTSD from a childhood attack and finds that the attacker (Derek Robert Hull Bond) has returned and she has to defeat him to defeat her trauma once and for all. Just another pile of horror cliches reheated and warmed over but still feels stale. Film geeks (like me) will note that film’s music score is ripped off from “Halloween IIII: Season Of The Witch.”

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“Avatar 3: Fire And Ash” (**1/2 out of four) was a visually extraordinary but exhausting third entry in this blockbuster series about Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) still grappling from the grief of the death of their son who have to once again go back into battle this time against a new aggressive tribe called the Ash People ((led by Oona Chaplin) and the vicious Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Director James Cameron packs this with enough showstopping visuals (especially if you see it in IMAX and 3D) and breathtaking imagery to make this worthwhile………but it’s numbingly overlong at nearly three-and-a-half hours and starts to wear you out. Series is starting to show its age at this point, with Cameron covering mostly the same themes as colonialism and isolation that he covered in the first 2. Final battle scene is a real wow but this definitely bears the mark of going to the well once too often.

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“Nuremberg” (*** out of four) was a powerfully done historical melodrama set in the midst of WWII in which a U.S. army psychiatrist (Rami Malek) was assigned to investigate and monitor Hermann Goring (Russell Crowe) and became swept away by the ensuing Nuremberg trial involving Robert Jackson (Michael Shannon) and Sir David Maxwell Fyfe (Richard E. Grant) that dominated and destroyed their lives. Not a great film, as film never quite emotionally soars as it could have, but holds you in its grip with its fine acting and storytelling. Film dissipates some of its impact by going on too long but is still definitely worthwhile especially for history buffs.

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“Dashing Through The Snow” (*1/2 out of four) was a clumsy holiday action comedy about a determined U.S. marshal (Scottie Thompson) who locates and then has to protect a pregnant fugitive (Gillian White) who she bonds with from a hitman (David Koechner) in a Santa Claus outfit and from her corrupt deputy director (Isaiah Washington). The kind of movie that the Coen Bros. and Tarantino could have done- and would have done better- in the 90’s but it feels stale and tame now. A few scattered chuckles are near the end but by that point you’ll probably be “dashing” towards the exit door.

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“Blair” (** out of four) was a not-bad serial-killer melodrama about a series of gruesome murders at an elite university and how one freshman (Karlea Rich) and her friends (Alexandria Nicole, Ashley Ferrer, Ashely Alexander, and others) find themselves in the center of a web of suspicion from a pair of detectives (Emmanuel Cockrell and Nora Graham) and begin to wonder who’s next. Better than most of its kind, thanks to good performances and production values which keep you watching, but never transcends or escapes its derivative origins and cliches. Not in any way related to the “Blair Witch” series.

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“A Very Flattened Christmas” (* out of four) was a very painful horror comedy about a group of workers (Key Tawn Toothman, Mark Mannette, Jesse Bailey, and others) at a roadkill collection company (!) who are getting killed off one by one by (get this) a killer reindeer who is on the loose and his name isn’t Rudolph. Lame writing and directing combined with annoying characters and in-your-face acting make this a chore to watch. Christmas schlock like this is enough to make anyone convert into being a scrooge.

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“Blood And Breakfast” (* out of four) was a stupefyingly awful horror thriller about a group of strangers (Nancy Anne Ridder, Beatrice Boepple, Lisa Neeld, and others) who each survived an attack from a serial killer and are now trapped with one in a historic hotel inn and have to unite together to fight back and stay alive. Packed with terrible acting and dumb dialogue that will likely give you indigestion by the end. Yet another clunker that gives the term low-budget horror a bad name.

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“Rock, Paper, Death” (* out of four) was a deadly dull horror melodrama about a man (Derrick Dover) who learns of his fiancee’s death and enters the title game as a chance to avenge her and also redeem himself but finds the stakes and survival rate are much more alarming than he thought. Supposedly based on “The Squid Game” but seems ripped off from “The Hunger Games” and also “The Running Man” and is worthless no matter what because it offers absolutely zero in the way of sick thrills or scares. Film’s ending is a spit in the face, for anyone who bothers to make it that far.

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“I Know What You Did Last Christmas“ (* out of four) was an inept timewaster about a group of friends (Lauren Staerck, ShaylI Reagan, Connor Horrigan, and others) who reunite at a Christmas party and find they are all targeted due to a prank from a year earlier in which someone was killed. Completely bereft of any scares or thrills and doesn’t even have any good gory kills to recommend it. Obviously inspired by “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (if you couldn’t guess) but this makes that look like Oscar material by comparison.

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