January 9, 2024 “Old Henry” (** out of four) was a logy Western about a farmer (Tim Blake Lewis) who takes in an injured man (Scott Haze) with a satchel of cash but when a violent posse (led by Stephen Dorff) comes looking for him and puts his family in jeopardy, he is forced to question whether to turn him over and save his family or keep his honor and protect what is right. Gorgeously shot by John Matysiak and does have some nice moments of lyrical elegy but is too lumbering and laconic to achieve much more desired impact. Dorff stands out as usual as the sardonic villain. Continue reading →
January 9, 2024 “Night Swim” (*1/2 out of four) was a shallow dud that drowns in its own horror-movie cliches about a family (Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon, and others) who become terrorized by an evil spirit in their swimming pool and as a result their home. A 15-minute idea padded out to feature length with hardly any scares and even less originality. It’s no surprise that this was originally based on a 2014 short film and short is what it should have stayed. Continue reading →
January 9, 2024 “Bora” (*1/2 out of four) was a boring psychodrama about a nice young straightedge (Queen Ajima) who meets the title character (Tiffany Toney) who is a reckless wild card which leads her into all kinds of irresponsible hot water. Writer/director/star Toney shows some talent in a few scenes but her own annoying character ends up sinking the whole film into pious pointlessness. Ajima’s empathic and sincere performance is one of film’s few virtues. Continue reading →
January 8, 2024 “Road Kill” (*1/2 out of four) was a grimy exploitation thriller about a group of teenagers (Sophie Lowe, Georgina Haig, Xavier Samuel, and others) who are menaced by a road truck with unseen drivers in the Australian outback and they have to unite with everything they have to try and survive. Hard to believe that 2 movies in the same week could have the same title but hey- no one ever accused horror filmmakers of being all that original. Marginally better than the other titled film but still pretty one-note and shamelessly derivative of “Dune”, “Joy Ride”, “Wolf Creek”, and too many others to think of. Continue reading →
January 8, 2024 “The Cutter” (*1/2 out of four) was a cut-rate action melodrama about a former cop (Chuck Norris) turned world-weary private investigator who is hired by a beautiful woman (Joanna Pacula) to help an aged diamond cutter (Bernie Kopell) with thugs who have extortion ties going all the way back to the Holocaust. Made in 2005 and being re-released now and was Chuck’s final action role before he understandably went into retirement. Norris is good as usual but story is seedy and exploitative and even the action scenes are clumsily staged. Continue reading →
January 8, 2024 “Roadkill” (* out of four) was a horrendously inept suspense psychodrama about a female driver (Caitlin Hutchinson) who picks up a drifter (Ryan Knudson) and they embark on a road to nowhere together (or is it Hell). Unbearably shoddy filmmaking looks like it was shot on someone’s used Trump-phone but it hardly matters because film is dreary and inert anyway. All this mess does is “kill” your time. Continue reading →
January 7, 2024 “A Weekend To Forget” (*1/2 out of four) was a flimsy melodrama about a group of friends (Neo Akpofure, Daniel Etim Effiong, Erica Nlewedim, and others) who reunite for a weekend getaway at an exclusive resort but soon find that old problems and tensions still exist which soon rise to the surface and result in consuming passions that affect all of them. Film might remind you in some ways of “The Big Chill” but meanders nowhere with histrionics and character relationships that make no sense. You’d best “forget” checking this one out. Continue reading →
January 7, 2024 “The Bricklayer” (** out of four) was a ho-hum action suspense thriller about an ex-CI.A. agent (Aaron Eckhart) who now works as a bricklayer who is called back into action when an international terrorist (Clifton Collins, Jr.) targets the agency and he has to re-team with his former partner (Nina Dobrev) to save his identity and simultaneously save the world. The kind of film that might have seemed fresh 20+ years ago before “The Bourne Identity” and now seems tame and stale, despite a good cast. Another disappointing showing for one-time action stalwart Renny Harlin who in better days directed “Die Hard 2” and “Cliffhanger.” Continue reading →
January 6, 2024 “Jack And Diane” (*1/2 out of four) was a muddled, oppressively obtuse melodrama about a young girl named Jack (Riley Keough) who meets a girl named Diane (Juno Temple) and they fall in love with one another but their relationship becomes progressively obsessive leading to both of them being in emotional hot water. Hazy and synthetic characters and script and directed with stilted aloofness by Bradley Rust Gray. Made in 2012 but being re-released now. Allegedly inspired by the classic John Mellencamp song but other Mellencamp song titles “Nothin’ Matters And What If It Did”, “The Full Catastrophe”, and “Down In The Bottom” are more apt descriptions of sitting through this. Continue reading →
January 6, 2024 “Race For Glory: Audi vs. Lancia” (** out of four) was a studiously solemn biography set in the 1983 World Championships showing the intense rivalry between Audi from Germany (Volker Bruch) and Lancia from Italy (Gabriele Portoghese) and this drove both men and their respective countries into fierce competition with one another. Reverent but never revelatory and never shifts into high-gear. In the last year, there have been perhaps too many biographical and historical race-car movies and the genre is starting to run on exhaust fumes. Decent car-race footage is film’s main virtue. Continue reading →
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