August 7, 2021 “The Suicide Squad” (** out of four) was a half-hearted sequel to the 2016 original about the crime-fighting squad (Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, John Cena, and others) who join the mysterious Task Force X and are plunged into the remote island of Corto Maltese in a battle against the vicious military and the villainous Thinker (Peter Capaldi) who are attempting world domination. Lots of action and visual effects but film lacks the spice and style of the underrated original and comes up empty; even Robbie who was dynamic in the original is more annoying than entertaining. Spectacular final half-hour compensates a little but film is numbing and overlong at over two hours. Continue reading →
August 7, 2021 “Playing God” (**1/2 out of four) was an engagingly frothy screwball comedy about two con artists (Hannah Kasulka and Luke Benward) who recruit their mentor (Alan Tudyk) to play God in order to scheme and scam a dying billionaire (Michael McKean) but things do not go as planned. Directed with bounce and flair by Scott Brignac and enhanced by an enthusiastic cast although it starts to run out of tricks after a while and starts to run out of steam. Still overall entertaining and worth checking out. No relation to the 1997 David Duchovny thriller of the same name. Continue reading →
August 7, 2021 “The Pit” (* out of four) was a pitiful timewaster about two retard rednecks (Les Stroud and Stacy Brown, Jr.) who fall into a hole and are trapped for 85 days in which they gradually go from lifelong friends to bloodthirsty predators willing to do anything and everything to survive. If you make it to the end of this dreck, you’ll likely know exactly how they feel. Poorly directed and made with unlikeable characters being the icing on the moldy cake. Similar story told much more skillfully and effectively in Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours.” “The Pits” would have been a more apt title for this one. Continue reading →
August 7, 2021 “Zone Drifter” (*1/2 out of four) was a slipshod futuristic thriller about a former soldier (Charles Conkin) who has to travel through a ravaged post-war wasteland full of trained killers while searching for his brother and begins to wonder whether he is still alive or not. Writer/director/star Conkin shows some good ideas and keeps the pace relatively brisk but he’s hindered by a very low budget and a derivative and overly familiar storyline. By this point, the future simply isn’t what it used to be. Viewers would best “drift” to watching “28 Days Later” again instead. Continue reading →
August 5, 2021 “Righteous Blood” (* out of four) was an unrighteous mess about a world-weary Western gunslinger (Michael Pare) who is on the run from the law when he saves a damsel in distress (Alexandra Amarell) from a vicious thug (Hoyt Baker) and they soon fall in love but find that walking off into the sunset together is a troubled road. Inept and inert; further sunk by weak production values and unfocused filmmaking. You keep constantly thinking back about what Sergio Leone or Sam Peckinpah may have done with this material. Even the usually dynamic Pare looks as bored as everybody else. Continue reading →
August 3, 2021 “Hostage House” (** out of four) was an overly generic suspense thriller about a realtor (Jennifer Taylor) and her daughter (Julia Terranova) who are held hostage by a pair of hard-edged criminals (Emily Sweet and Justin C. Schilling) during an open house and have to think fast to stay alive and outsmart them and make it through the night alive. Fairly economical and compact direction and decent acting can’t make this more than a run-of-the-mill home invasion thriller. After “Desperate Hours”, “Panic Room”, “The Purge”, and too many other movies like these over the years, maybe it’s best to give this genre a rest before the audience feels held hostage. Continue reading →
August 2, 2021 “Fear Street- Part Three 1666” (** out of four) was a fairly lackluster third entry in this hit series showing the origins of Sarah’s (Kiana Madeira) curse as it harks back to the early ages in 1666 and then comes back full circle to the present in which she and other Shadysiders (Benjamin Flores Jr, Elizabeth Scopel, and others) may be altered forever! As usual- film is packed with lots of great soundtrack selections and stylized direction but they fail to enrich film’s flimsy and formulaic storyline so film never really comes together. Yet another time-travel/history change movie that pales in comparison to the “Back To The Future” series. Continue reading →
August 2, 2021 “Jungle Cruise” (** out of four) was a broadly silly adaptation of the Disneyland theme park ride where a group of travelers (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramirez, and others) travel up the river through a jungle with aggressive reptiles and animals and supernatural danger. Moves fairly fast but lacks in charm or personality and will likely only be of entertainment value to very small kids. Film has everything money can buy but still feels like an assembly-line big-budget Hollywood “product.” Even The Rock seems to be just going through the motions and him and Blunt don’t exactly set the screen on fire with their chemistry. Continue reading →
July 31, 2021 “Gunpowder Milkshake” (**1/2 out of four) was a groovy action comedy about a group of crime-fighting women (Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Carla Gucino, Karen Gillan, and others) who fight back against sinister and evil forces that threaten them and also possibly world domination. Engagingly directed and told with wall-to-wall soundtrack, one-liners, and action which overpowers an extremely thin and feeble storyline. After a while, film starts to grow monotonous as it resembles a video game. Great cast compensates to some degree but this is a “milkshake” of tasty but empty calories without any filling. Continue reading →
July 31, 2021 “The Boy Behind The Door” (**1/2 out of four) was a moderately well-done horror melodrama about two friends (Lonnie Chavis and Ezra Dewey) who are kidnapped and taken to a house out in the middle of nowhere; one escapes but soon realizes he cannot leave his best friend behind and goes back to save him, no matter what the cost. Writer and directors David Charbonier and Justin Powell make this suspenseful and gripping enough although it starts to grow a little repetitive after a while which prevents it from fully excelling. Strong work from the two boys makes this overall worth watching. Continue reading →
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