January 26, 2021 “Salt-N-Pepa” (** out of four) was a superficial biographical drama about the legendary hip-hop group (G.G. Townson and Laila Odom) who were former Sears workers and nursing students in Queens who decided to embark on a career in the male-dominated rap industry and did their best to persevere through-out all their ups-and-downs together. Typical Lifetime biography moves fast but is cluttered and mediocre. It doesn’t help that the two actresses don’t look at all like Salt-N-Pepa and don’t expect to see much here about the equally important group member Spinderella. Smashing musical number at the end is the highlight of film. Continue reading →
January 25, 2021 “Killer Shark” (** out of four) was an overall generic horror thriller set in China about six young people (Qiu Pincheng, Liang Jingjing, Shu Guilin, and others) trapped at sea who are terrorized and mauled by a man-eating shark who has been mutated by pollution. The shark attack scenes are unusually vivid and deliver the goods but the rest of the movie as a whole is familiar and by-the-numbers. By this point- there may not be much new anyone can do with the shark attack genre. Continue reading →
January 25, 2021 “Virus Shark” (* out of four) was a Godawful horror thriller set in the not-too-distant future in which the world is ravaged by a virus SHVID-1 which is spread by a shark bite and scientists (James Carolus, Steve Diasparra, Danielle Donohue, and others) at the bottom of the ocean are racing against the clock to find a cure but soon find out they also may be shark food soon. Dreadful acting and filmmaking turn this into an unintentional comedy. It’s toothless bores like this that make you realize “Jaws 3” and “4” were not nearly as bad as we thought at the time. Continue reading →
January 25, 2021 “The Wrong Prince Charming” (**1/2 out of four) was a better-than-average suspense thriller about a successful entrepreneur (Cristine Prosperri) who is involved in a multimillion dollar real estate deal with her boss (Vivica Fox) and a handsome prince (David Nitti); her and the prince soon fall in love but she soon becomes suspicious (hence the title) he’s not all he appears. Ultimately done in by standard conventions and story predictability but Nitti’s stylish performance and entertaining character and David DeCoteau’s no-frills direction make this one of the better entries in Fox’s “wrong” series. Film’s wrap-up, though, is a little flat. Continue reading →
January 25, 2021 “The 100 Candles Game” (*1/2 out of four) was a dreary horror thriller about a group of friends (Magui Bravi, Luz Champane, Amparo Espinola, and others) who reunite for a game in which they tell a story of horror for each candle burning but naturally the game goes askew and horrific things start happening and they all have to run for their lives. It took two writers and a staggering nine directors to come up with this run-of-the-mill clinker which is sorely lacking in any thrills or scares. Horror fans needn’t bother with this silly “game”. Continue reading →
January 25, 2021 “No Man’s Land” (** out of four) was an overly leisurely neo-Western melodrama set on the Mexico/Texas border in which a man (Jake Allyn) accidentally kills a young immigrant boy; when his dedicated father (Frank Grillo) tries to take the blame, the man flees to Mexico and is pursued by a determined Texas ranger (George Lopez) as he tries to seek forgiveness from the dead boy’s parents. Vibrantly photographed and enhanced by a melancholic score by Brooke and Will Blair but never builds the dramatic momentum and fire it needs. Andie Macdowell has a small key role as Allyn’s mom. This is no relation to the 1987 Charlie Sheen-D.B. Sweeney thriller of the same name. Continue reading →
January 23, 2021 “Monster Preacher” (**1/2 out of four) was a fairly engrossing documentary about the title criminal who in 1986 was a preacher who kidnapped, raped, and tortured six women in Philadelphia and ended up murdering two of them; the film mostly recounts the events of his crime spree and features stark interviews with some of his surviving victims. Interesting and intriguing as it focuses on the horrors of these crimes and the PTSD effects it has on victims although it gets to be a bit much after a while. Continue reading →
January 23, 2021 “The Flood” (* out of four) was a miserable melodrama set during WWII about an Aboriginal woman (Alexis Lane) whose husband and daughter and land are taken from her and she embarks on a brutal round of frontier vengeance to reclaim what’s hers but finds that this is a more difficult odyssey than she anticipated. Could have been an interesting look at a different time and culture but winds up pretentious and boring instead. Film’s climax finally comes alive but by that point film is too far gone for it to matter. Continue reading →
January 23, 2021 “Psycho Goreman” (**1/2 out of four) was a mildly entertaining adventure yarn about a young girl and her brother (Nita Josee-Hanna and Scout Flint) who unearth a rare gem that unleashes the title monster Psycho Goreman (Matthew Ninaber) but things go askew when they use the monster to do their bidding. Nicely told and relatively watchable sci/fi fare for kids but others may find it a bit too much like recycled Spielberg (“Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” and “E.T.” in particular). A mixed bag but not bad of its kind. Continue reading →
January 23, 2021 “A Stone In The Water” (*1/2 out of four) was a meandering psychodrama about a reclusive old biddy (Bonnie Bedelia) who abducts a pregnant woman (Melissa Fumero) to steal her soon-to-be-child but doesn’t count on a ruthless murderer being on the prowl who is already out to kill the young mother which leads to numerous complications for all of them. Result turns into a ridiculous mixture of “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?” and “Misery” but that may make this sound more entertaining than it really is; this cheaply made claptrap isn’t even within a “stone” throw of those classics. Continue reading →
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