September 16, 2019 “Inside Man: Most Wanted” (** out of four) was an inferior sequel to the 2006 Spike Lee home run about a fast-talking NYPD hostage negotiator (Aml Ameen) who is called in for a bank robbery and hostage negotiation at the Federal Reserve but he soon begins to suspect that there may be more to this than meets the eye and that the robbers (led by Roxanne McKee) may have alterior motives. More-or-less a remake of the original, minus its razor-sharp dialogue and vibrant NYC atmosphere, although it is watchable. A water-flooding sequence towards the end is its highlight. Makes multiple references to the original but lacks any of the original cast. Continue reading →
September 16, 2019 “The Final Scream” (* out of four) was an unbearably awful horror show about two actresses (Kate Lister and Becca Hirani) who answer the casting call for filming a horror movie in the English outback and soon find (to the surprise of no one) that it’s a setup for them to get tortured and killed. Shrill and stupid movie tortures and kills the audience with gore and unpleasantness for nearly two hours. Title is a vague allusion to “Scream” which told this movie-within-a-movie story to perfection over two decades ago! Continue reading →
September 15, 2019 “Hustlers” (***1/2 out of four) was a voluptuously entertaining Scorcesean melodrama based on the true story of a crew of strippers (Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B, and others) who strike out on their own in a series of schemes involving turning the tables on their wealthy Wall Street clientele but they see nothing wrong with this in the wake of the country’s recession and having to take care of their own. Sensationally directed by Lorene Scafaria from a razor-sharp sceenplay co-written by Scafaria and Jessica Pressler which is enhanced by first-rate acting from all. Lopez, in particular, sears the screen in what may be the best performance of her career. Bullseye! Continue reading →
September 15, 2019 “Seduced By Thy Neighbor” (** out of four) was a competent but unexceptional thriller about a security guard (Trevor St. John) who develops an escalating obsession with a single mom and her daughter (Andrea Bogart and Sierra McCormack) and we’re into another cliched thriller. Full of the usual plot holes and contrivances and attractive photography and decent acting doesn’t make enough of a difference. Far from the worst of its kind but too predictable to “seduce” a wide audience. Continue reading →
September 15, 2019 “The Corrupted” (**1/2 out of four) was a fast-paced if overly derivative action thriller set after the 2012 Olympics in which an ex-con (Sam Claflin) tries to win back the love and trust of his family while doing battle with a local crime boss (Timothy Spall) who destroyed his life and this leads to him getting caught back up in a serpentine web of deceit, deception, and corruption. Pretty much a cocktail blender of Guy Ritchie and any other movie you’ve seen about British crime although the buzz is somewhat fun while it lasts. Spall fares best as a Mr. Big with police and political connections. Continue reading →
September 15, 2019 “Riot Girls” (** out of four) was an awkwardly done thriller set in an alternate 1995 in which two gangs (Madison Iseman, Jenny Raven, and others) are pitted against one another in a war for territory, resources, and survival after a mysterious disease has killed all of the adults leaving only the young to roam the wasteland. Mostly a collection of ideas done before and done better in other movies although it’s fast-moving enough to be watchable. Perhaps it’s time to stop these futuristic melodramas because the future just ain’t what it used to be. Continue reading →
September 14, 2019 “The Wrong Cheerleader” (*1/2 out of four) was a wrongly plotted thriller about a cheerleader (Cristine Prosperi) who meets a handsome new student (David Meza) who turns out to be a wrong sicko who will stop at nothing to ensure they are a couple even if it involves killing a few of her friends and classmates. Tired and predictable story is made for those who have simply never heard or watched “Fatal Attraction”. Vivica Fox pops up in a key role as a cheerleader squad leader. Has her career gone wrong or is she simply obligated to appear in these routine thrillers which carry “Wrong” in its title? Continue reading →
September 13, 2019 “Haunted” (** out of four) was a sub-routine horror show made out of spare parts of “Saw” and “The Haunting” about a group of friends (Katie Stevens, Will Brittain, Lauryn Alisa McClain, and others) on Halloween who go to a haunted house which turns out to be a torture chamber of Rube Goldberg devices and fancy equipment and only the most strong-willed of them all will survive. Good looking cinematography by Ryan Samul is a highlight throughout and there are some striking individual moments but there’s a reason the “Saw” series (and the torture-porn genre in general) came to an end. Even at only an hour-and-a-half, a little of this goes a long way. Continue reading →
September 13, 2019 “Gags The Clown” (** out of four) was a disposable horror thriller set in Green Bay, Wisconsin in which the title unidentified man (Eric Heuvelman) roams the streets stirring up an online phenomenon on social media and in the press in which many debate whether it is a harmless prank or he is actually a sociopathic nutjob. More intelligent and satiric than you might expect for this kind of thing and writer-director Adam Krause does show some flashes of macabre humor but not enough to sustain a full-length film. Better-than-average but it wears out after a while. Continue reading →
September 12, 2019 “The Furies” (** out of four) was a heavy-handed horror thriller about a group of women (Airlie Dodds, Linda Ngo, and Taylor Ferguson) who are mauled and pursued to the death by a group of mutant backwoods rednecks which they subsequently learn is part of a deadly version of the most dangerous game. Seems directly inspired by “Wrong Turn” which in turn was directly lifted from “Deliverance” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” except this throws in unnecessary and pretentious elements of alternate reality and role-playing. Not the worst of its kind and does have some creative kills but far from groundbreaking. Continue reading →
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