October 25, 2019 “Terminator: Dark Fate” (*** out of four) was a rock-solid entry in this legendary series marking the return of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) as she has to team up with the elderly terminator from the original (Arnold Schwarzennegger) and a bionically enhanced human sent from the future (Mackenzie Davis) to protect a young girl (Natalia Reyes) from an enhanced futuristic cyborg (Gabriel Luna) who is programmed to kill. Sixth entry is a direct sequel to “T2” and is the easily the best entry since then; packed with the usual large-scale action and impressive visual effects but anchored like a rock by Hamilton and her chemistry with Arnold and also Davis which makes this stand out from its unnecessary previous entries. Opening scene of C.G.I. work with Hamilton and Edward Furlong is a wow! Original visionary James Cameron returns here as executive producer and this is the first entry in years that bears some of the emotional power of the first two. Continue reading →
October 23, 2019 “Full Count” (** out of four) was a mawkish melodrama about a promising young pitcher (John Paul Kakos) who is forced to give up his dream of being a professional baseball player when his father (Jason London) dies and he has to return home to support the family farm and is placed at a personal/professional/economic crossroads in life. Earnest story has some effective moments in its first half but story goes in all different directions in its second half, especially as it goes into extra innings and goes on too long. Not a strike out but doesn’t connect emotionally as it should. Continue reading →
October 22, 2019 “Don’t Look” (*1/2 out of four) was a sub-routine horror show about five friends from NYC (Luciana Falhaber, Jeff Berg, Lindsay Eshelman, and others) who venture out to the countryside for a weekend in which they are (yawn) terrorized and mauled by a group of hillbilly rednecks who apparently couldn’t wait for “Deliverance” to be remade. Seriously- how many horror movies have there been by now with more-or-less this exact same story? Even the killers look bored and seem to be just going through the motions. “Don’t Watch” would have been a more apt title for this time-waster. Continue reading →
October 21, 2019 “Girls, Guns, And Blood” (* out of four) was an abysmal potboiler about several women (Cody Renee Cameron, Christine Nguyen, Cherie Deville, and others) who are robbed at their brothel in Texas by a gang of thieves posing as customers and they soon seek them out in high-speed revenge. Throwback to the trashy fun of grindhouse cinema may make you throw up instead, with its crude and stupid writing and terrible acting. With a title like that, you should know not to expect Oscar fare but it’s still pretty bottom-of-the-barrel. Continue reading →
October 21, 2019 “Kill Chain” (*** out of four) was a moody and stylish underworld thriller set in Columbia involving the intersection of the lives of a former mercenary turned club owner (Nicholas Cage), an over-the-hill hitman (Enrico Colantoni), and a woman (Anabelle Acosta) out for vengeance and how fate and violence shape their outcome. No masterwork but leagues better than most of Cage’s direct-to-DVD timewasters (“Bangkok Dangerous” comes to mind) and it’s well-directed by Ken Sanzel and tautly paced. Sanzel also wrote the sharply written screenplay. Continue reading →
October 20, 2019 “Portal” (*1/2 out of four) was a hokey supernatural thriller about a ghost hunter (Ryan Merriman) who performs a ritual to get to “the other side” but soon finds that him and his team (Jamie Tisdale, Courtney Nightingale, and others) are in over their head and their lives might be in danger. Competent direction and acting can only do so much with a ridiculous script that is often laughable. One-time scream queen Heather Langenkamp shows up in an ambiguous supporting role but I doubt this will be the “portal” to her comeback Continue reading →
October 20, 2019 “Pumpkins” (*1/2 out of four) was a by-the-numbers horror show about a group of explorers (Sarah Jayne Curry, Roland Martial, Craig Edwards, and others) in Northern England who are besieged and terrorized by “Pumpkinman” (Will Metheringham)- a deceased man who has been reincarnated with a pumpkin as his face! Strictly for horror fans who will rent anything in the Redbox machines. Even the beautiful England scenery looks dull. Continue reading →
October 19, 2019 “The Lighthouse” (*1/2 out of four) was a boring melodrama about two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) in the 1890’s who fight for control over their lighthouse and try to maintain their sanity. If you make it to the end of this, you’ll know exactly how they feel. Incredibly dull movie has such little plot and so little happens that it’s jarring. Even Dafoe’s effortless charisma can’t breathe any life into this one. Many critics thought highly of this movie but I’m not among them. Jarin Blaschke’s striking black-and-white cinematography is film’s sole virtue. Continue reading →
October 19, 2019 “Deadcon” (** out of four) was a trifling horror thriller about a group of social media stars (Lauren Elizabeth and Claudia Sulewski) who soon find that they are endangered and being stalked by someone unknown through their various social media accounts. Thinly done horror satire about the world of social media and youth culture comes up short on both scares and laughs. Even at only 78 minutes, this starts running on empty pretty quickly. Continue reading →
October 19, 2019 “Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil” (** out of four) was an earthbound sequel to the surprise 2014 hit about Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) and her goddaughter Aurora (Elle Fanning) beginning to question their complex family ties which bind them and they are subsequently pulled in different directions by the evil Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer). Full of sparkling visual effects and eye-candy cinematography but story lacks any real sense of wonder and is too lumpy. Works best in the final third which features some spectacular battle scenes. Fans of the original (I wasn’t) may like this better but this still feels like another unnecessary sequel. Continue reading →
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