May 6, 2023 “Spring Break Nightmare” (*1/2 out of four) was an empty, cliche-ridden potboiler about a professional surfer (Kalen Bull) who shows up to a vacation spot with her friends (Kristi Murdock, Grace Patterson, and others) and soon realizes that she has been set up for kidnapping to pay off a gambling debt. Film covers the bases that you have seen in countless other spring break/vacation thrillers (such as “Spring Breakers”) without much conviction or flair. Ryan Brown’s pretty cinematography is one of film’s few highlights. Continue reading →
May 6, 2023 “Don’t Sell My Baby” (*1/2 out of four) was a tired suspense thriller about a bratty high-school girl (Devin Cecchetto) who finds herself pregnant by the school’s star quarterback (Thomas Vallieres); she stubbornly refuses to have an abortion or put her child up for adoption but then subsequently disappears and others worry she may have been taken captive in order for her and her child to be exploited. Director Roxanne Boisvert directs with a smooth and professional sheen but can’t overcome the ridiculous script and story and Cecchetto’s unlikeable character. Also known as “Danger Rocks The Cradle” but “Don’t Watch” would be a more apt title. Continue reading →
May 6, 2023 “Stay Calm” (* out of four) was an incredibly pointless comedy melodrama about the minister of culture in Italy (Billy Zane) who is starting to feel unpopular and needs to revive his career and spends a weekend with his lover (Samantha Michela Capitoni) and they both brainstorm various ideas that will either re-surge or doom him. This goes nowhere slowly for nearly an hour-and-a-half but feels much longer. Zane tries to give this a boost with his affable likeability but it’s clunkers like this that have made his career “stay” at the direct-to-DVD/Redbox level. Continue reading →
May 6, 2023 “Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story Of The Once And Future Heavyweight Champion Of The World” (** out of four) was a superficial biography of legendary boxing champion George Foreman (Khris Davis) from his impoverished childhood to his eventual taking to boxing to becoming a multimillionaire champion to his losing everything and his gradual attempts to regain his championship and his winning fire in life. Too much of film (especially final third) feels truncated, as is the case with many film biographies, but far too much time is spent on his religious and church and family works and it only peripherally covers the anger and rage and hurt that lurked underneath his demeanor. And what about his later-career as a successful businessman on ads and with the George Foreman Grill? One of the rare Hollywood biopics that could have been longer and likely would have had more sting and more punch. Continue reading →
May 5, 2023 “Repeater” (**1/2 out of four) was a diverting action thriller about an international hitman (Paul Sidhu) who goes on a botched job to Colombia and tries to redeem himself by taking on a high-stakes contract but soon realizes he may be in over his head with a multitude of assassins and underworld characters (Corbin Bernsen, Kristanna Lokken, Nick Moran, and others) to contend with. Good of its kind with lots of martial arts and gunplay and intrigue to keep things lively; story and script can’t live up to much scrutiny but that’s not much of a surprise for this genre. Continue reading →
May 5, 2023 “Faye” (* out of four) was an almost unendurable horror psychodrama about a successful personal growth author (Sarah Zannotti) struggling with the recent death of her husband and retreats to a cabin on the bayou where she finds herself unraveling personally and psychologically; the rest of the film alternates between her babbling and talking to herself and alternately talking directly to the audience. Why does this person think we like or even care about her? Her mom is played by character actress Kd Amond who also wrote, directed, co-produced, and edited and bears most of the blame for this bewildering movie. Continue reading →
May 4, 2023 “Sound Of Silence” (*1/2 out of four) was a hackneyed horror show about a radio host (Penelope Sangiorgi) who discovers a cursed radio that is endangering the welfare of her and her family and threatens her sanity as she begins to enter into a delirious stage of terror. Boring story turns into one more ripoff of “The Shining” and has about as much shivers and scares as Woody Allen’s “Radio Days.” Incredibly, three directors are credited for this trifling film. Sometimes, “silence” truly isn’t golden. Continue reading →
May 4, 2023 “Beautiful Disaster” (** out of four) was a hokey romantic melodrama about a college freshman (Virginia Gardner) trying to distance herself from her past but soon starts to fall for a bad boy (Dylan Sprouse) from the wrong side of the tracks and they have to work on overcoming their differences and backgrounds from each other. Neither beautiful nor a disaster- film is simply a precious and predictable love story although well-directed by Roger Kumble. First in the series of Jamie McGuire’s “Beautiful” book series. Continue reading →
May 3, 2023May 3, 2023 “Hidden Murder Island” (*1/2 out of four) was a subpar suspense thriller about two women (Andrea Borgart and Allie Forsberg) who are brutally assaulted while camping; only one makes it out alive and she subsequently attempts to uncover what really happened and who the attacker was. Inspired by true events but still rings all false and is unconvincing, despite decent performances. Director Damian Romay attempts to incorporate elements of PTSD and overall trauma but it’s more exploitative than explorative. Continue reading →
May 1, 2023 “Assassin Club” (**1/2 out of four) was a stylishly done action melodrama about a world-weary assassin (Henry Golding) who is hired by his mentor (Sam Neill) to kill 7 different people but subsequently finds that these 7 people are also assassins who have been hired to kill him and they all have to outsmart one another in a chase around the world to the death. Good of its kind, with moody direction from Camille Dellamarre and sharp dialogue from Thomas Dunn and strong intrigue although it lags a little in its second half when film ought to be peaking. Neill is excellent as usual; Noomi Rapace is wasted as a mysterious female underworld figure. Continue reading →
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