May 13, 2019 “The Hustle” (**1/2 out of four) was an occasionally funny remake of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” about two female con artists (Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson) who initially team up and then compete to swindle the affection and the money of a young millionaire (Alex Sharp) in the French Riviera. But who’s conning who? Not quite as clever or funny as the 1988 original but has enough laughs overall and is helped by the three enthusiastic leads. A few key scenes from the original are humorously updated to the present day involving social media and cell-phones. Continue reading →
May 13, 2019 “Lancaster Skies” (*1/2 out of four) was a lackluster historical war melodrama set in 1944 in which a stubborn pilot (Jeffrey Mundell) must overcome his past difficulties to lead a Lancaster bombing crew in the aerial war over Berlin. Tedious film has little action scenes and few historical insights regarding the war. For diehard WW film completists only. It’s movies like these that make you realize how much of a masterwork “Saving Private Ryan” was all those years ago. Continue reading →
May 13, 2019 “Brightburn” (**1/2 out of four) was a better-than-average horror thriller about a couple (Elizabeth Banks and David Denman) who take in a seemingly innocent young boy (Jackson A. Dunn) who they come to realize is possessed and unhinged and endangers their family and everyone around them. Genuinely frightening and unsettling at times, and enhanced by Dunn’s creepy performance as the child, but story starts to become repetitive after a while and final scenes are a bit over-the-top and arbitrary. Yet another film which never quite escapes the shadow of both “The Shining” and “The Omen” but still an overall good try. Continue reading →
May 13, 2019 “Dying For A Baby” (* out of four) was an ill-conceived thriller about two women (Christa B. Allen and Sarah Minnich) who get into a car accident. When one of them loses their pregnancy, she turns psychotic and swears revenge by going through all kinds of trials and tribulations to steal the other’s unborn child. Incredibly stupid and ridiculous movie is one more “Fatal Attraction” story but this one is even more mean-spirited and illogical than most. By this point, I’m “dying” for this genre to be done and over with. Continue reading →
May 12, 2019 “Polaroid” (*** out of four) was a stylish and atmospheric horror thriller about a high-school loner (Kathryn Prescott) who stumbles upon an old polaroid camera with a murderous curse on it and she soon finds out that anyone who has their picture taken meets with a tragic end. Extremely well-made thriller is well-directed and strikingly shot although it begins to lose its way in the final third as they try to uncover the origins of the camera and its curse. Similar in style and mood to “The Ring” and “The Grudge” but (for my money) is actually better than both. Continue reading →
May 11, 2019 “Wine Country” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal romantic comedy about a group of lifelong friends (Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachael Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, and Paula Pell) who go to Napa to celebrate one of their’s 50th birthday but find that old problems and tensions from the past keep coming up. Disappointing directorial debut from Tina Fey which completely lacks any laughs or surprises, despite that top-drawer cast. Any one scene in “Mean Girls” tops this hands down. Fey has a small role as the homeowner of the house the girls are renting and has some of the film’s few funny lines. Continue reading →
May 10, 2019 “Hell’s Belle” (*1/2 out of four) was a misfired horror story about a group of young people (David Lee Anderson, Pamela Bell, Ashley Boger, and others) on an archaeological expedition who stumble across a piece of jewelry that belonged to outlaw legend Belle Starr which incites her wrath and the ghost of Belle Starr comes back to haunt them all. Lame story sorely lacks any thrills or scares and runs out of gas pretty quickly. Clever title, though. Continue reading →
May 10, 2019 “Bundy And The Green River Killer” (*1/2 out of four) was a muddled psychodrama about a determined police detective (Mark Homer) who is forced to consult with incarcerated lunatic Ted Bundy (Richard Mark) to help him catch the title killer who continues to allude authorities. Any references or reflections on “The Silence Of The Lambs” should politely attend there. Interesting in parts but unpleasant and uneven as a whole and Mark isn’t the most convincing as Bundy. Send this one back up the green river! Continue reading →
May 9, 2019 “Hush Little Baby, Welcome To The Family” (* out of four) was a dreadful horror dreck about a dysfunctional redneck family (Jonathan Hamblin, Megan Jones, and Alejandro Odom) who seek revenge on the townspeople who look down on them and enact bloodthirsty revenge but one young couple (Austin Ecker and Karen Elkins) confront them and try to settle the score. Utterly worthless horror movie made by someone who has spent too much time watching Rob Zombie movies but this makes “The Devil’s Rejects” look like “Psycho” by comparison. Even at 55 minutes, viewers will likely feel more tortured than the story characters. For no apparent reason, one of the characters in the story is named Tim Roth. Continue reading →
May 9, 2019 “The DVD” (* out of four) was an absolutely incoherent anthology story of various movies-within-a-movie which culminates in a secret and twist that the viewer is invited to find at the end of the interlocking stories. None of the stories are worth following. So-called interactive movie invites viewers to pick and select various options like they were watching their own DVD. Too bad there’s no exit option. More an experiment than an actual movie but a waste of time regardless. Continue reading →
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