August 13, 2020 “Apple Seed” (** out of four) was a pleasant but minor melodrama about a man (Michael Worth) whose life is falling apart who is on his way to his hometown to rob a bank and along the way befriends an older former bank robber (Rance Howard) and their unexpected friendship becomes poignant to both their lives in learning from their past and helping out each other’s futures. Both Worth and Howard give their best and have a nice rapport together but this needlessly overlong fluff doesn’t congeal into a solid whole. Worth also wrote/directed and co-produced this labor of love so hopefully this is a seed of better things to come. Continue reading →
August 13, 2020 “Uncle Peckherhead” (* out of four) was a jarringly awful horror comedy about an underground punk band (David Bluvband, Ryan Conrath, Greg Maness, and others) who embark on their first tour but become encumbered by the title roadie (David Littleton) who turns out to be a flesh-eating zombie and they have to decide whether to continue creating music or fight for survival. With a title like that- you should know not to expect Oscar material but movie isn’t funny enough, gory enough, or even bad enough to carry any entertainment value for your buck. Not even the music is good or well-captured! For a story about a vampire/zombie masquerading as a rock star with more bite and conviction, read Anne Rice’s “Queen Of The Damned” instead. Continue reading →
August 13, 2020 “Rook” (*1/2 out of four) was an abjectly dumb comic thriller about a wiseguy kid (Zack Rush) who takes part in a botched gold heist and finds himself at the mercy of two redneck brothers (Zachary Andrews and C. Matt Burns) who want to reclaim back what they see as their own. Slapdash filmmaking from many who have spent too much time watching Coen Bros, Tarantino, Guy Ritchie, and Michael Mann movies. Rush tries to enliven the flimsy script as much as he can but you’ll likely feel “rooked” yourself by the time you make it to the end of this clunker. Continue reading →
August 13, 2020 “Monstrous” (*1/2 out of four) was a lead-footed horror story about a young woman (Anna Shields) whose friend disappears in the Adirondacks which has become known for its Big Foot sightings and she searches there to find some answers but soon becomes entangled with a sinister woman (Rachel Finninger) who does not want the full truth to be revealed. Intelligently done and well-made, with crisp and moody cinematography by Bruce Wemple, but so meandering and sluggish and devoid of energy that it winds up a waste of time. There were more scares and chills in “Harry And The Hendersons.” Continue reading →
August 12, 2020 “The Dark End Of The Street” (*1/2 out of four) was a blah, by-the-numbers melodrama about the residents of a suburban community (Scott Friend, Brooke Bloom, Lindsay Burdge, and others) who enjoy a nice night at home with their friends and family, unaware that their is an ominous and menacing force outside which is about to disrupt their happiness and tranquility. Yet another dark-side-of-suburbia story which was done to perfection in 1986 in “Blue Velvet” and then again in 1999 in “American Beauty” and this movie is simply a pallid imitation. Heather Monetti’s eerie music is one of film’s few merits. Continue reading →
August 12, 2020 “G-Loc” (** out of four) was a passable sci/fi action thriller about a mercenary (Stephen Moyer) who decides the flee Earth in the future which has become cold and uninhabitable and attempts to get to a distant planet named Rhea and soon befriends a feisty citizen (Tala Gouveia) en route but doesn’t anticipate so much friction and tension from the new planet once he arrives from other members (Casper Van Dien, John Rhys-Davies, and others). Not bad overall, with some decent effects and sets and maintains a zippy pace, but story is overall too derivative of past sci/fi classics, specifically “Blade Runner” (naturally), “Enemy Mine”, and “Starship Troopers” which also starred Van Dien. Continue reading →
August 11, 2020 “Souvenirs” (*1/2 out of four) was a stilted horror thriller about “a murderablia” store clerk (Rosa Gilmore) who discovers her family’s dark history when she’s asked to sell souvenirs from an unsolved crime that forces her to re-examine her roots which threatens her and her family’s sanity and safety. Gilmore’s empathic performance is a definite plus but film gradually grounds to a halt and leaves her with nothing much to work with. Film fanatics will note the casting of one-time “Grease” siren Jamie Donnelly as a loony old woman but I don’t think this is going to provide her with the greased lightning she needs for a comeback. Continue reading →
August 11, 2020 “Nuclear” (** out of four) was a muddled melodramatic thriller about a woman and her mother (Emilia Jones and Sienna Guillory) who attempt to escape from her violent psychopathic brother (Oliver Coopersmith) by seeking refuge in an isolated retreat which is in the shadow of a nuclear power station. Writer/director Catherine Linstrum tells her story with a layer of mood and stark atmosphere but film keeps you at arm’s length with a jumbled and remote sense of cloudy ennui. Jones’ solid performance keeps you watching but there’s absolutely no dramatic payoff. Continue reading →
August 11, 2020 “Nicole” (*1/2 out of four) was a preposterous black comedy about a first-date between two people (Tre Lockhart and Tamika Shannon) which soon goes askew as both have to scramble to find out the other’s intentions and what they are really up to which leads to complications involving murder. Writer/director James Schroeder works in a cinema-verite style that recalls Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” and tries to make poignant observations about first dates and unscrupulous personalities but it all adds up to………nothing, since neither character is particularly interesting or entertaining and thus neither is the movie. Continue reading →
August 10, 2020 “Waiting For The Barbarians” (*1/2 out of four) was a ponderous adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s novel about the magistrate (Mark Rylance) working in a distant outpost who begins to question his loyalty to the empire of the war he’s fighting in as new soldiers (Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, and others) arrive at the post for battle. Director Ciro Guerra makes his noted English-language debut here but film is impossibly dull and has no real story to tell. And what time period are we supposed to be in here? A particularly egregious waste of both Depp and Pattinson who are given nothing to do; a real long slog. Continue reading →
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