December 14, 2018 “Aquaman” (*** out of four) was a majestic adaptation of the DC comic book about the story of half-human/half-Atlantean Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) who goes on a journey of the abyss and a personal journey within himself to step forward and lead his underwater people on a war initiated by his evil half-brother (Patrick Wilson). Full of eye-popping effects and good action scenes and grounded by absorbing dramatic elements in the character’s relationships and a superb supporting cast including Willem Dafoe, Nicole Kidman, and Dolph Lundgren. Director James Wan’s first comic book extravaganza but this is far more sturdy and sure-handed than many of his horror movie hits. Continue reading →
December 14, 2018 “Instant Family” (** out of four) was a hapless comedy about a couple (Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne) who find that they get much more than they bargained for when they adopt three foster children (Isabella Moner, Gustavo Quiroz, Julianna Gamiz) which leads to numerous complications for them and the children. Charismatic cast helps and there are some scattered laughs but film becomes more tiresome and contrived as it goes along and final third really rings false. Octavia Spencer is solid as always in good supporting role. Third teaming of Wahlberg and writer/director Sean Anders but this cannot match their first collaboration “Daddy’s Home” which this sometimes resembles. Continue reading →
December 13, 2018 “Leprechaun Returns” (*1/2 out of four) was an unlucky sequel in which the Leprechaun (Linden Porco) is once again resurrected by a group of girls (Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett) when they tear down a cabin to build a sorority house. By the end of this clunker, you may wish he just had some Jack Daniels and Lucky Charms instead. Direct sequel to the 1993 original ignores all of the sequels that came after but who cares? Despite good production values, it’s really just more-of-the-same and gets tiresome. Porco replace Warwick Davis as the Lep and Mark Holton reprises his role from the original. Begorrah! Continue reading →
December 12, 2018 “A Fistful Of Lead” (** out of four) was a leaden Western with a fittingly appropriate title about four outlaws (James Groom, Tom Nolan, Duncan Casey, Kaitlyn Riordan) who carry out a daring bank heist and then take it on the run but soon find out that they’ve been double-crossed and have no one to trust, including each other, and a determined sheriff (Chris Rogers) is on their trail. Opens with a bang and continues promisingly but soon sputters to a halt and flattens out and never gets back on track. Title is an obvious play on “A Fistful Of Dollars” but no one will mistake this for Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood work anytime soon. Continue reading →
December 12, 2018 “Prudence Drive” (* out of four) was a dismayingly awful melodrama about a former local rock hero (Drew Mills) who is content leaving his wild days behind him and has settled into a domesticated adult life but one day meets a younger woman (Kristen Drake) who re-ignites his fire and passion which leads to a bizarre turn of events. Potentially interesting story of the changes in life from one’s reckless youth to being an adult and being an aspiring musician are undone by inept filmmaking and molasses pacing. It also would have helped if any of the characters were likeable. Watch David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” instead. Continue reading →
December 11, 2018 “Delirium” (** out of four) was a well-made but empty horror thriller about a man (Topher Grace) released from a mental hospital after 20 years for committing murder and returns home to the mansion in which he grew up and immediately begins losing his mind and falling apart. Vibrantly shot by Mihai Malamaire, Jr. and Grace is good in the lead but story becomes hokey and repetitive after a while and takes too long to unfold even though it holds your attention. Watchable but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be watching “The Shining” or “House” again instead. Continue reading →
December 11, 2018 “Creed 2” (** out of four) was a disappointing sequel in which Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) faces off against Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) who is the son of Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) who killed his father in the ring 33 years earlier in “Rocky IV” and is once again trained by Rocky (Sylvester Stallone). Jordan is strong in the lead again and holds the movie together but script (co-written by Stallone) and direction are weak and unfocused and thus- film doesn’t have the knockout punch that the original entry had. Even Stallone seems to be walking through his role and going through the motions and Lundgren’s return to the series isn’t as explosive as you would have hoped. Continue reading →
December 10, 2018 “The Possession Of Hannah Grace” (*** out of four) was an engrossing horror melodrama about a cop (Shay Mitchell) just out of rehab who takes the graveyard shift in a city hospital morgue but she soon encounters a series of bizarre and violent occurrences involving a mysterious evil force. Are they real or is she just losing her mind? Unusually compelling horror story weaves character development with style and scares into an uneven but overall satisfying whole. Mitchell’s first-rate performance patches up some occasional lulls in the story. Similar to Ewan McGreggor’s “Nightwatch” but far better than that disaster. Continue reading →
December 10, 2018 “Def Con 2012” (*1/2 out of four) was a sub-routine action thriller set 200 years in the future in which Earth has become a vast nuclear wasteland and three rogue galactic thieves (Bryan Neil Hoff, Albertossy Espinoza, and Justin Brusca) return to find treasure and lost artifacts but are instead (naturally) stranded and are preyed upon by a sinister force. Utterly derivative and predictable time-waster is just a collection of ideas and plot points borrowed from other (and better) movies. No relation to “Def Con 4” but may as well have been. Continue reading →
December 8, 2018 “Asher” (*1/2 out of four) was a dreary hodgepodge starring Ron Perlman as an over-the-hill hitman who embarks on one last job which puts him in the crosspath of his former lover (Famke Jansen) and various other underworld figures who want both of them silenced. Perlman is good as always and does everything he can to give this some personality but he is enable to envilen or enrich the proceedings which soon grind to a halt. A disappointment from director Michael Caton Jones who gave us far smoother and richer genre material in “This Boy’s Life”, “Memphis Belle”, and “Doc Hollywood.” Continue reading →
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