Author: dlepikcom

“Homestead” (*1/2 out of four) was a limp pile of Western cliches about a family (Brian Krause, Jamie Bernadette, Cavan Tonascia) who are taken hostage by a ruthless gang of outlaws (Dallas Page, Mike Ferguson, and others) and it’s up to their sharp-shooting 12-year old daughter (Betsy Sligh) to thwart them and save the day. Pretty bland collection of story threads from “True Grit” to “Home Alone” but that probably makes this sound more entertaining than it really is.

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“Hypnotic” (**1/2 out of four) was a stylish but unsatisfying sci/fi futuristic thriller in which a world-weary detective (Ben Affleck) investigates the disappearance of his daughter and finds this leads to a secret governmental program in which he finds his illusions of reality are turned inside and out. Director Robert Rodriguez directs with his usual high-trash flair but hard-core sci/fi fans may find this overly derivative of such similar futuristic thrillers “Inception”, “The Matrix”, and oh yeah “Blade Runner.” After a while, even Affleck seems to be going through the motions and showing you shades of earlier performances.

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“Come Out Fighting” (** out of four) was an overly hokey and melodramatic historical melodrama set during WWII when a specialized squadron of African-American soldiers (Michael Jai White, Tyrese Gibson, Vicellous Shannon, and others) are given orders by their platoon leader (Dolph Lundgren) to go on a rescue mission behind enemy lines which goes awry and they have to unite as one to stay alive. Superficial examination of the war and the various personal conflicts soldiers went through but made endurable by sincere performances, particularly Jai White. About on-par with writer/director Steven Luke’s previous historical war dramas.

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“White Men Can’t Jump” (**1/2 out of four) was a respectable remake of the 1992 classic about two basketball players (Jack Harlow and Sinqua Walls) who team up to start hustling locally and in big-league tournaments to earn extra cash but have to overcome their differences, both on and off the court, to be a winning team. Director Calmatic infuses this with enough bounce and fizz to make it overall worthwhile, even if it’s not a slam-dunk like the original. Both Walls and Harlow are likeable enough but Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and (especially) Rosie Perez are sorely missed at times.

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“Black Lotus” (** out of four) was a thoroughly derivative action thriller about (yawn) an ex-Special Forces agent (Rico Verhoeven) who has to come out of retirement to rescue his friend’s daughter in Amsterdam when she is kidnapped and held hostage by the local crime syndicate (led by Frank Grillo). Allegedly inspired by 2004’s “Man On Fire” and features homages to the cult classic “Amsterdammed” but it’s all by-the-numbers and basic. Verhoeven (who also produced) shows some charisma in his first starring role; Grillo sneers through his umpteenth role as an underworld sleaze. He himself played the lead in the similarly plotted “Little Dixie” recently.

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“Mercy” (** out of four) was a fair “Die Hard”/”Bourne Identity”/”Taken” knockoff about the Irish mafia (led by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Jon Voight) who seize control of a hospital but don’t count on a former military woman (Leah Gibson) who works there as a doctor attempting to thwart them in a skilled battle to the death. If you ever wanted to see Voight with a strained Irish accent, now’s your chance but otherwise there’s not much else here for originality; Rhys-Meyers can play this role in his sleep by now. Hardly the worst of its genre but overall uninspired.

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“Maid For Revenge” (** out of four) was a competent but unexceptional suspense thriller about a young maid (Kathryn Kohut) who wakes up in a pool of blood and no memories of what happened and has to struggle to regain her memory and piece together what really happened so she can save her life. Director Alexandre Carriere gives this a glossy sheen and surface and Kohut is solid in the lead but Hitchcock and “Memento” this is not. Clever title but this overall is “made” for those who will watch any thriller that pops up on television.

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“Adventures In Game Chasing” (*1/2 out of four) was a dum-dum comedy about two lifelong friends named Billy and Jay (Billy Chaser and Jay Hartfield) who go on an adventure to track down their original NES system to play it one more time because it’s an invaluable element of life to them. Enthusiastically performed by the two leads but “Half Baked” and Cheech & Chong did this thing better and funnier decades ago. Naming the two actors Billy and Jay was probably the most clever thing in the one-note script. Watch “Adventures In Babysitting” again instead; based on the “Game Chasers” series but this is for die-hard fans only.

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“Stay Out Of The Basement” (* out of four) was a dreadfully dull horror melodrama about a woman (Ariella Mossey) who takes a job babysitting for a lonely young girl (Emma Pearson) but soon finds that there are a lot of sinister and subversive elements going on in her house and that she has to choose between her feelings of closeness to the girl and her own safety. Plodding and predictable thriller with no voltage of surprise or scare value. Horror fans would best “stay” as far away from this timewaster as possible. Perhaps it’s best the haunted-house genre was put to rest for a while.

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“The Rise Of The Beast” (*1/2 out of four) was a lackluster horror thriller about a group of young animal activists (Peter Jeffries, Sian Altman, Erina Mashate, and others) who break into a government facility as means to expose them but soon find themselves face-to-face with terror when an unhinged beast breaks free and slaughters them all one by one. Drably done and by-the-numbers thriller without much spark or scares; even the creature looks pretty bored when he’s doing his killing and dismembering but at least he’s more lively and engaging than the human characters.

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