June 12, 2019 “51 Nevada” (*1/2 out of four) was a tired and predictable alien-invasion thriller in which a young couple (Sam Schneider and Arielle Uppaluri) who witness a strange event involving possible otherworldly life form and then camp outside Area 51 hoping to find some answers but soon discover (yawn) a military coverup within the government who don’t want the truth to come out. Results are so by-the-numbers that it’s actually a surprise numbers don’t come out across the screen. “The X-Files” and “The Twilight Zone” used to cover stories like this in roughly 45 minutes. Continue reading →
June 10, 2019 “The Possession Diaries” (** out of four) about a young woman (Katherine Munroe) who suffers from demonic attacks after playing with a Ouija board one night and begins to wonder whether these attacks are real or is she mentally and psychologically going insane? Nothing that “Witchboard” didn’t cover better over 30 years ago in 1987 but still remains watchable, with a few occasional scares and decent acting. Strong character actor Noel Gugliemi, who almost always plays Latino thugs or gangsters, is amusingly cast here as a cop. Continue reading →
June 10, 2019 “Demon Squad” (*1/2 out of four) was a lame horror comedy about a wiseguy paranormal investigator (Khristian Fulmer) who takes on a case to retrieve an ancient artifact which leads him into a world of vicious monsters and creatures of the night. Evidently, he’s the one person on Earth who never watched “Ghostbusters” or “Men In Black” because everything he encounters feels like a retread of that. Cheaply made and well-worn story goes nowhere fast. Continue reading →
June 9, 2019 “The Odds” (*1/2 out of four) was an extremely odd and unpleasant story about a young woman (Abbi Butler) who takes part in an underground game of pain endurance for $1 million and soon finds that the game is rigged by its sadistic owner (James J. Fuertes) and she soon learns she has to physically and psychologically turn the tables on him. Unfortunately, there’s no reward for the viewer and the pain endurance they have to suffer by the end of this misfire. Might have worked better on the stage but it’s awfully tough-to-take as a feature-length film. Continue reading →
June 9, 2019 “The Secret Life Of Pets 2” (*** out of four) was a delightful sequel to the 2016 children’s smash about the continuing adventures of Max (voiced by Patton Oswalt) and his pet friends (voiced by Eric Stonestreet, Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, and others) while they embark into the city and the country when their owners go away to work. Fun animated family movie throws in everything but the kitchen sink and never stops moving and features plenty of colorful animation. Harrison Ford has a key voiceover role as a Welsh sheepdog. Continue reading →
June 9, 2019 “The Haunting Of Borley Rectory” (* out of four) was a boring horror story about an ugly building named Borley Rectory which was alleged to be the most haunted building in the world before it was mysteriously destroyed by fire just before WWII and one inquisitive young soldier (Zach Clifford) investigates. Dour looking and molasses-moving movie is no fun at all; after a while, you may even forget you’re watching a horror movie. It’s about time the haunted house horror genre finally went back to Hell where it belongs. Continue reading →
June 8, 2019 “Changeland” (*1/2 out of four) was a drab melodrama comedy about two lifelong friends (Breckin Meyer and Seth Green) who travel to Thailand to reconnect and to find their purpose and meaning in life. Don’t look for much more plot than that or for that matter much purpose or meaning in the movie. Beautifully filmed on actual Thailand locations but story and script are aimless and adrift and has little insight or laughs. Inauspicious directorial debut for Green. Macaulay Culkin and Randy Orton have minor supporting roles. Meyer’s effortless charisma and likeability is film’s only charge. Continue reading →
June 8, 2019 “Recovery” (*1/2 out of four) was a moribund horror story set at a secluded heroin treatment center in which the staff (Hope Quattrocki, Mike Starr, and others) and patients (Stephanie Pearson, Liz Fenning, and others) are being killed off one-by-one and they need to find the killer and escape. Movie fans will note the return of first-rate character actor Starr who plays the villainous head doctor but the film itself never recovers from a glum script and by-the-numbers filmmaking. Not all that different from Sylvester Stallone’s “D-Tox”. Continue reading →
June 7, 2019 “Dead End” (*1/2 out of four) was an aptly titled misfire set in L.A. as a young couple (Daran Acevedo and Sierra Collins) try to escape the cycle of drugs, crime, and violence that have entrapped them for years but find that leaving this life is much more fierce and difficult than they imagined. Promising opening about the drug trade and its effects on society proves to be a dead end in itself, as film becomes a by-the-numbers underworld story with unlikeable characters. Vivica Fox is top-billed but is only in the movie for a few scenes; clunkers like this make you wish someone would “set it off” for her and finally reignite her career. Continue reading →
June 7, 2019 “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” (*** out of four) was a pensive final entry in the “X-Men” series focusing on Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) who suffers a tragic accident as a child which leads to her gradually developing superpowers that turn into the Dark Phoenix who threatens worldwide destruction while the rest of the X-Men (James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and others) have to decide whether to save her or save the universe. Twelfth entry in the “X-Men” franchise (and a direct sequel to “X-Men Apocalypse”) is a satisfying conclusion to the series, with the expected array of dazzling effects and action sequences. Turner’s strong performance and melancholy aura and Hans Zimmer’s terrific music score are a good help for some occasional lulls in script. Continue reading →
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