Author: dlepikcom

“The Mother, The Menacer, And Me” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal comedy about an aspiring dimbulb filmmaker (James Austin Kerr) who is forced to move back in with his critical mother-in-law (Lorraine Bracco) when he is broke and decides to gamble everything and try to shoot a movie for the first time with no money or talent. Irritatingly stupid and strains to be in-your-face and hip but only comes off as smarmy and crude. Bracco is wasted in a minor supporting role and would have been better off staying home and collecting her “Sopranos” royalties.

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“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” (** out of four) was an uninspired sequel about the return of The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Isla Fisher) who team up with a younger and new generation of magicians (Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, and others) to thwart the head (Rosamund Pike) of an international diamond company involved in money laundering. Likely to satisfy fans of the first 2 entries but lacks the freshness and vigor of the original and dissipates a lot of its comic momentum by going on too long. Good chemistry and camaraderie between the key players helps but perhaps they should take a cue from their own magic tricks and finally disappear for good.

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“Five Nights At Freddy’s 2” (** out of four) was a relatively empty sequel to the 2023 smash set a year later in which Abby (Piper Rubio) runs away and attempts to re-connect with her animatronic friends but instead uncovers dark secrets about the origins of Freddy’s and unleashes a further supernatural horror that threatens her and everyone else in town. Fast paced and not entirely without entertainment value but pretty meager in terms of scares or laughs and doesn’t have enough story to sustain a feature-length film. Strictly for hard-core fans of the original. Film is actually the most expensive Blumhouse Production ever.

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“Stone Creek Killer” (** out of four) was a mild suspense psychodrama about a small-town police chief (Clayne Crawford) in pursuit of a sadistic serial killer and is forced to turn to a psychic (Lyndon Smith)for help while attempting to prove his own innocence. Director Robert Enriquez shows some flair for flavor and mood which holds you in its grip but film never really cuts loose and shifts into high-gear and it stalls after a while. Well produced and well lensed by Chris Lange on a low budget.

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“Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” (*** out of four) was a good-natured sequel to the 1984 classic about the legendary heavy metal band (Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer) reuniting after decades for one final concert which is once again chronicled and coordinated by film director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner). Director Reiner ably duplicates the amusing and tongue-in-cheek tone of the original and the boys immediately replicate both their musical and comic chemistry together with cameos from musicians Elton John, Lars Ulrich, and others. Sadly, this was Reiner’s final film before his recent tragic death.

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“The Amityville Lost Tape” (0 stars out of four) was an embarrassingly awful thriller that deserves to be lost and stay there; a trick-or-treater on Halloween night stumbles upon a lost VHS tape that shows what happened when three curious college students (Courtney Griswold, Katie Terry, Rob Seitelman) investigated the legendary Amityville house and wound up missing. Film is (incredibly) the 69th movie under the “Amityville” ouevre but to call this a film is a bit of a stretch since it looks like bad footage captured on someone’s cell-phone camera. You’ll probably get more scares watching a real-estate portfolio on the actual Amityville house. Unwatchable, even for die-hard “Amityville” completists.

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“Snapped” (** out of four) was a stylish but empty urban thriller about a successful businessman (Demarvious Rorie) whose life and relationship with his partner (Gayla Williams) are thrown into disarray by the arrival of a sexy new co-worker (Syncere Ellis) who he begins an affair with and he soon finds out she is an unstable nutjob who doesn’t take rejection well. Reasonably well-acted and well-directed enough to hold your attention but seems to be following a much-too-familiar pattern of “Obsessed” which in itself was patterned after (i.e. ripped off from) “Fatal Attraction.”

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“6 Wheels From Hell” (* out of four) was a freewheeling mess about a group of none-too-bright college friends (Evan Keys, Malachi Durant, Brenna Marie Naray, and others) on a weekend trip who cross paths with a psycho truck-driver (Mark Anthony Baca) who carries a torture chamber with him in the back of his truck. Film itself is its own torture chamber as it punishes the audience with terrible acting and even more terrible dialogue. Made by rednecks who likely spent too much time watching “Duel” and “Maximum Overdrive.”

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