March 10, 2020 “Onward” (*** out of four) was a delightful Pixar animated adventure about two elf brothers (voiced by Chris Pratt and Tom Holland) who set out on a quest to find a spell that will bring back their deceased father (voiced by Kyle Bornheimer) but naturally encounter many twists and turns along the way. Full of Pixar’s usual lush and spectacular animation and features some witty dialogue and scenarios as well. Not groundbreaking in the ways of their earlier work but a small winner all around. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Octavia Spencer, and Tracey Ullman among others contribute some of the other voices. Continue reading →
March 9, 2020 “Spenser Confidential” (** out of four) was a middling Netflix crime thriller set in Boston in which a former cop (Mark Wahlberg) who is just recently released from prison teams up with his new tough roommate (Winston Duke) to get to the bottom of a larger-conspiracy at hand when numerous police officers start getting murdered. Wahlberg is dependable as usual and the local Boston scenery is a definite plus but him and Duke don’t have much chemistry together and the more the mystery goes on, the less interesting it is. Fifth collaboration between Wahlberg and director Peter Berg but this is no match for their last Boston thriller “Patriot’s Day.” Continue reading →
March 9, 2020 “The Way Back” (** out of four) was a tepid inspirational drama about a severe alcoholic (Ben Affleck) who is hired as a basketball coach at his former high-school but his continued alcohol abuse causes his life to spiral out of control affecting his job, his family, and his overall control at life. Affleck tries in a role that obviously echoes his own life and own alcohol issues but we know so little about him and his character that the story fails to connect much emotionally. Works best in its final third but then reaches an unsatisfying conclusion. Similar story was told much more richly in 1986’s “Hoosiers.” Continue reading →
March 8, 2020 “The Dark Red” (*1/2 out of four) was a ponderous psychological thriller about a young woman (April Billingsley) who is committed to a mental institution where she relays her story to a helpful nurse (Kelsey Scott) about how her newborn was stolen by a secret society to harvest its supernatural blood and she attempts to uncover them to get her child back. Unpleasant and uninvolving pretty much all the way through although decent performances and filmmaking do their best. Continue reading →
March 8, 2020 “The Corrupted” (** out of four) was a grim underworld thriller set in London about an ex-con (Sam Claflin) trying to go straight and win back the trust of his family but ends up getting sucked back into his former lifestyle of organized crime involving crooked cops and corrupt politicians. Unexpectedly missing, though, are Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, and writer/director Guy Ritchie who has told this same story many times before. Not bad by this genre’s standards and does move fast enough but overall too routine and derivative. Timothy Spall is amusing in his umpteenth role as a slimeball. Continue reading →
March 7, 2020 “Final Cut” (*1/2 out of four) was a pretty awful horror show about a filmmaker (Dante Aubain) and his girlfriend (Syrissa Sacca) who start filming their own low-budget horror movie about a masked murderer on the prowl when (to the surprise of no one) an actual masked murderer shows up on set and ends up slashing away the cast and crew and they’re all just dying for it to end. Standard stalk-and-slash fare for most of the way up until its ludicrous (and unnecessarily stupid) double-twist of an ending. By now, it should be apparent that most horror movies about making a movie (“Wes Craven’s New Nightmare”, “Scream 3”, “Urban Legend 2”) don’t work. Let’s hope this one truly is the “final cut.” Continue reading →
March 7, 2020 “Bloodshot” (**1/2 out of four) was a sporadically effective sci/fi comic-book adaptation about a slain soldier (Vin Diesel) who is re-animated with computerized superpowers but still seeks vengeance on those who killed him and his wife and soon discovers a much-larger conspiracy involving the doctor (Guy Pearce) who brought him back to life. Blends various elements of “Total Recall”, “Robocop”, “Memento” (which also starred Pearce) and (yes) “Re-Animator” with uneven results. Features enough action and impressive visual effects to likely satisfy fans but too derivative to achieve maximum impact. Continue reading →
March 6, 2020 “A Killer In My Home” (*1/2 out of four) was a subpar suspense thriller about a businesswoman (Bree Williamson) whose husband suddenly dies and informs her that he had a whole other family she never knew of and they (Krista Bridges, Christian Laurin, and others) subsequently show up and ingratiate themselves but she doesn’t realize they are going to turn her life upside down. Both predictable and confusing with plot strands going in all different directions but it’s hard to keep track or care about any of it. A disappointment from director Farhad Mann who showed quirkiness and style as the director of ’80’s cultural icon Max Headroom. Continue reading →
March 5, 2020 “The Dare” (*1/2 out of four) was an ugly and unpleasant “Saw” rip-off about a man (Bart Edwards) who awakens in a basement with three other prisoners while their unhinged captor taunts them from afar and he has to retrace his steps as to how he got there and what he needs to do- mentally and physically- to escape. Very stylishly shot by Andrew Rodger but otherwise pretty tough going. Horror fans would fare best not to take this “dare” and look elsewhere. Continue reading →
March 4, 2020 “Scarecrow’s Revenge” (* out of four) was a laughably awful medieval thriller about a female Viking (Sarah Kohen) who soon discovers that a horrifying scarecrow has been murdering people and it is up to her to bring him down and restore law and order to her community. This actually rips off parts of M. Night Shymalan’s “The Village”! And can we please now get a moratorium on horror movies with scarecrows in their title? Cheesy production and terrible acting provide the only real scares here. Continue reading →
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