Author: dlepikcom

“Expend4bles” (** out of four) was a lazy sequel about the returning world-war fighters (Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and others) and some new recruits (Megan Fox, 50 Cent, Jacob Scipio, and others) who are called back into battle by a millionaire tycoon (Andy Garcia) only this time it’s personal after their leader (Sylvester Stallone) seems to have been killed. Fourth entry in this series shows that it’s running on faint exhaust fumes. A few good fight scenes and a spectacular action climax are sabotaged by terrible script. Time to end this series before it itself becomes expendable.

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“Beneath Us All” (** out of four) was a well-done but empty, derivative sci/fi thriller about a young girl (Angelina Daniella Cama) who finds an unspeakable evil buried in her household which she soon realizes will let all Hell break loose unless she kills it and sends it straight back to Hell where it belongs. By the standards of this genre, this isn’t bad and has some good style and filmmaking but at the end of the day it’s still half-baked and something we have seen too many times before. Cama is strong in the lead.

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“No One Will Save You” (**1/2 out of four) was a sporadically effective suspense melodrama about a young woman (Kaitlyn Dever) with severe anxiety who battles an alien who has somehow founds it way into her home and tears apart her walls of sanity and safety. Better than most films of its genre, with little dialogue but tense atmosphere and beautiful scenery and a strong lead performance from Dever………but after a while its minimalism starts to wear you out as does its story derivations from “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.” The aliens look almost exactly the same as the ones in “Communion” and “Fire In The Sky.”

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“Casting Kill” (* out of four) was a desperately awful horror thriller about a sicko (Rob Laird) who poses as a casting director for a big-budget Hollywood production and preys on unsuspecting actors (Rachel Chima, Gareth Tidball, and others) looking for their big break and lures them in and kills them. Film attempts to be darkly ironic and sardonic but just comes off as cheap and lame (and boring). Director James Smith said this was somehow inspired by Rihanna’s video for “The Monster” but this seems like it was inspired more by “Disturbia” than anything else.

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“Cerebrum” (** out of four) was a pallid horror psychodrama about a young man (Tobi King Bakare) who awakens from a year-long coma and has to battle his controlling father (Steve Oram) once he finds that the reality he knew his whole life is a lie and that his father has kept him hidden from various truths he thought he knew. Both over and underdone as film is curiously bland and remote but becomes over-the-top and overly cerebal in its second half. Yet another film with the DNA of “The Shining” and “The Matrix” and many others but does not transcend its origins into anything fresh.

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“The Stratum” (** out of four) was a wholly derivative future-shock thriller set in the year 2057 in which a greedy CEO (Ramin Karimloo) has seized control of the Earth but doesn’t count on his rebellious daughter (Lauren Senecal) meeting up with a cyber hacker (Crash Buist) and them fighting back to take control. Yet another series of reheated ideas from many other (and better) movies; by now, there’s just not all that much more we can obtain from going back to the future. Star Bruist also wrote and directed and Senecal co-wrote; consider this a misfired attempt at creating their own “stratum.”

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“Murder Syndicate” (** out of four) was an uninspired action melodrama about the matriarch (Diane Robin) of a large crime family who suddenly falls ill leaving her empire in disarray and her various children (Steven Martini, Jessica Morris, and others) to wage brutal warfare as to who will take over. Action, brutality, and tough talk by-the-numbers in this half-hearted underworld thriller. Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham used to make movies like this in their sleep. Writer/director Michael Matteo Rossi has a minor part as a thug.

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“The Retirement Plan” (** out of four) was a mostly lackluster action comedy about a young woman (Ashley Greene) who becomes embroiled in a criminal enterprise (Ron Pearlman, Jackie Earle Haley, and others) and turns to her retired dad (Nicholas Cage) and his friend (Ernie Hudson) for help to get her out and also swipe some of their money as well. Title is ironic given that film seems like little more than a paycheck and part of the “retirement plan” of a group of solid actors. Neither the best nor the worst of its type but you’ve seen it all before and much better.

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“Lust, Lies, And Polygamy” (** out of four) was a strenuously obvious suspense melodrama about a woman (Alicia S. Mason) who seemingly has the perfect life with the perfect husband (Tremayne Norris) but comes to realize he is involved in sinister wrongdoings when away on business forcing her reality to come crashing down to the ground. Thoroughly predictable and routine story although it’s well-lit and well-mounted by director Amy Barrett and cinematographer Thomas L. Callaway. Still, viewers may want to watch “Sex, Lies, And Videotape” again instead.

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