January 5, 2021 “Kiss 2020 Goodbye” (***1/2 out of four) was a rollicking concert film of Kiss at their New Years Eve 2020 concert in Dubai featuring all their spectacular pyrotechnics and effects and their wall-to-wall rock classics (“I Want To Rock And Roll All Night”, “I Was Made For Loving You”, “Lick It Up”) and some innovative technology involving 360-degree cameras. A visual feast for Kiss fans which shows their dazzling theatrical concerts (this broke the Guinness Book Of World Records for most amount of pyro at one concert) but also a very elaborate and informative documentary showing the pre-concert and just how much amazing preparation and work goes into staging one of their concerts. Play it out loud! Continue reading →
January 4, 2021 “Monster Hunter” (**1/2 out of four) was a fast-paced (if overly derivative) adaptation of the Capcom video game about a fierce lieutenant (Milla Jovovich) and her military team (Tony Jaa, T.I., Diego Boneta, and others) who are transported to a new world in which they engage in battle with otherworldly monsters with ferocious superpowers. Diverting action thriller throws in enough gunplay, hand-to-hand combat, and visual effects to efficiently give you your money’s worth; just don’t look for much in terms of originality or character development. About what you’d expect from director Paul W.S. Anderson who throws in various homages to his earlier hits (“Mortal Kombat”, “Resident Evil”, “Event Horizon”). Continue reading →
January 3, 2021 “The Last Apartment” (*1/2 out of four) was an artless horror melodrama about a yuppie couple (Anthony DiCarlo and Essin Varran) who move to a new apartment in the city where they are overtaken by a sinister force that splits them apart and turns them violently against one another. Amateurish movie is more-or-less a rip-off of “The Devil’s Advocate” and “Amityville Horror” but lacks the scares and spectacle of both. Even at only 83 minutes, you may not “last” till the end of this time waster. Continue reading →
January 2, 2021 “The Father” (**1/2 out of four) was a moderately endearing drama about an elderly man (Anthony Hopkins) who has to come to the disquieting realization that he’s losing his sanity and memory as he battles dementia and his newfound bitterness alienates his daughter (Olivia Colman) and others as he tries to make sense of what he has left in his life. Hopkins is always worth watching but story is uneven and never fully emotionally connects as richly and powerfully as it should. Co-written and directed by Florian Zeller who adapted his own 2012 play “Le Pere.” Continue reading →
January 2, 2021 “Meteor Moon” (** out of four) was a bland end-of-the-world disaster thriller about a group of scientists (Dominique Swain, Chris Boudreaux, Michael Broderick, and others) who discover that a meteor has crashed into the moon and changed its axis and put it on a collision course with Earth and they all have to race to stop it from being apocalypse now. Cheesy film rehashes elements from “Deep Impact”, “Armageddon”, and “2012” without their budget, scope, or grandeur. Not bad but not all that memorable. Onto the next apocalypse! Continue reading →
January 1, 2021 “Shadow In The Cloud” (*1/2 out of four) was a pretty lame action melodrama about a female WWII pilot (Chloe Grace-Moretz) on board a bomber plane with top-secret documents and encounters an evil force aboard the plane which can threaten worldwide destruction. Packed with crude and dumb dialogue and some surprisingly shoddy visual effects and CGI work. Just when film appears to be taking off, it wraps up pretty quickly. Moretz is aces as usual but at this point her career has become a “shadow” of what it once was Continue reading →
January 1, 2021 “Corona Depression” (0 stars out of four) was a mind-numbingly awful one-character melodrama about a woman (Hedvig Lagerkvist) in the throes of the worldwide COVID pandemic who stays locked inside her apartment and gradually begins to lose her mind. If you make it through the first 10 minutes, you might make it through the entire film but that is by no means a recommendation. Indescribably dull film follows her for long stretches of time with no dialogue and no interest either and becomes torturous to watch after a while. Avoid this like COVID. Continue reading →
January 1, 2021 “Fatale” (**1/2 out of four) was a relatively engrossing thriller about a successful married businessman (Michael Ealy) who has a one-night stand with a woman who turns out to be a high-ranked police detective (Hilary Swank) and this proceeds to turn his marriage and his personal life upside down as he soon finds himself the suspect in an intricate murder investigation. Stylish and glossy thriller is well-directed and well-acted and holds your attention but starts to fall apart in the stretch as film starts to become overly lurid and implausible. Still, overall worth-watching and a definite image-altering role for Swank. Continue reading →
January 1, 2021 “Nomadland” (** out of four) was a meandering Midwestern character study about an older woman (Frances McDormand) who loses everything in the Great Recession and embarks on an odyssey of new and self-discovery living in her van and seeing where life will take her. McDormand is solid as usual but can’t compensate for film’s utter lack of story and emotional connection as a result which leave a void in film’s center. Even still, this won top awards at the Venice Film Festival so you may want to judge for yourself. Haunting score by Ludovico Eunaudi and arty cinematography from Joshua James Richards are undeniable plusses throughout. Continue reading →
December 31, 2020 “Two Ways Home” (**1/2 out of four) was a mildly affecting melodrama about a recently released felon (Tanna Frederick) struggling with bipolar disorder who returns to her farmland hometown and attempts to pick up the pieces of her life while helping out her ailing grandfather (Tom Bower) and trying to reconcile with her estranged 12-year old daughter (Rylie Behr) who is full of animosity and resentment towards her. Respectfully done film attempts to be an Altmanesque tapestry about the stigma of mental health disorders, the struggles that felons face in returning home, and a mother-daughter rebuilding drama but the overall effect is muted and not monumental as film is lacking in its emotional power. Frederick also was the executive producer. Continue reading →
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