Category: Uncategorized

“The Krays: Dead Man Walking” (*** out of four) was a stylish action melodama set in 1966 London about the notorious Krays brothers (Marc Pickering and Nathanjohn Carter) who attempted a daring escape breaking nutjob murderer Frank “The Mad Axerman” Mitchell (Josh Myers) out of Dartmoor Prison but they didn’t count on the seismic rumblings and shifts in underworld power this would bring. Third telling of the Krays’ criminal underworld empire (and second in three years after Tom Hardy’s “Legend”) more than earns its retelling with first-rate acting which make it equal to, if not better than, the 1990 original. Pickering and Myers in particular sear the screen and Rita Simons is terrific as a woman hired to keep Mitchell company on his break from prison.

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“Josie” (** out of four) was a languid drama set in Florida about the relationship between a gruff former prison guard (Dylan McDermott), a town local (Jack Kilmer), and a sultry vixen (Sophie Turner) who is new to town but it turns out they have various relations from the past which will affect their futures. Plodding story seems to be building and holds you with its steamy atmosphere and acting but end result isn’t satisfying with a final plot twist that’s pretty obvious. Story is also more-than-a-little derivative of “Body Heat”, right down to the Florida locale. A first-rate showcase for Turner, if nothing else, who is terrific and makes this watching at least for a little while.

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“Fogg” (** out of four) was a muddled and unpleasant melodrama about a murderous sociopath named Fogg (Ryan Wotherspoon) who undergoes testing to understand and correct his sociopathic behavior but a neuroscientist (Hayden Blane) who is treating him finds out he murdered her sister and plans and enacts revenge. Cross-pollination of psychological study and revenge thriller is undone by characters you don’t care about and film’s oppressively aloof feel and texture. Even still, this won Best Picture at last year’s Canadian Film Festival.

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“My Teacher, My Obsession” (** out of four) was an utterly by-the-numbers thriller about a high-school loner (Laura Belgeri) who transfers to a new school where she befriends a fellow loner (Lucy Loken) who gradually becomes infatuated with her father (Rusty Joiner) who is one of their teachers at school. Both predictable and confusing at times although good performances help keep it watchable. It’s movies like these that make you realize how much of a masterwork “Fatal Attraction” was after all the countless times it has been ripped off

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“China Salesman” (** out of four) was a speedy but stupid Redbox action thriller about a Chinese IT engineer (Dong-xue Li) who volunteers to go to North Africa to help his communications company win a competition but becomes swept up in a violent control battle involving a mercenary (Steven Seagal) and a former general (Mike Tyson) which leads to all-out war. Probably the only chance you’ll ever have to see Seagal and Tyson in the same movie and in multiple fistfights but Seagal sleepwalks through the movie as usual and Tyson is a terrible actor. Packed with explosive action and hand-to-hand combat but sorely lacking in any plot coherence.

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“Nanny Surveillance” (** out of four) was an enervatingly derivative and predictable thriller about a yuppie couple ( Talya Carroll and Adam Huber) still reeling from a break-in who hire a nutjob nanny (Cinta Laura Kiehl) to watch over their family but soon find out she has watched “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” a few too many times and is bent on destroying them and destroying their home. Not bad for this kind of movie and relatively well-made and well-acted but you’ve seen all this before and better. Final showdown is especially weak and disappointing.

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“Megalodon” (** out of four) was a routine but reasonably reasonably well-done shark thriller about a military vessel (led by Michael Madsen) on the search for an unidentified submarine but soon find themselves besieged and attacked by a giant shark of whose proportions have never been seen or measured before. The kind of movie that gets bankrolled and made to capitalize on the success of a much more popular one (“The Meg” as if anyone can’t guess from its title) but this is actually faster and more fun but yet too by-the-numbers to succeed overall. “Jaws” still outchews all its imitators over 40 years later.

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“The Nun” (*1/2 out of four) was an unholy mess about a priest (Demian Bichir) with a troubled past and a novice (Taissa Farmiga) on the threshold of her final vows who are sent by the Vatican in 1952 to investigate the mysterious death of a nun in Romania which leads them to (yawn) a demonic nun and various paranormal activity. Allegedly a prequel to “The Conjuring” but you’d be hard-pressed to tell because it’s yet another umpteen religious horror movie about Satanism and exorcism within the church which makes you wish horror filmmakers would finally conjure up some new ideas. Film finally gets going in the final third but it’s too far gone to matter.

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“Kin” (**1/2 out of four) was a fairly engrossing melodrama about a recently released ex-con (Jack Treynor) who is forced to go on the run with his younger brother (Miles Truitt) when his father (Dennis Quaid) is murdered by ruthless thugs (led by James Franco) and they are pursued by the Feds and only have a mysterious intergalactic weapon as their source of protection. Mix of violent criminal underworld action, sentimental family story, and George Lucas-style science fiction takes on more than it can handle and starts to ring hollow but it’s entertaining nonetheless and made worthwhile by strong and sincere performances. Franco, in particular, is terrific and dominates all of his scenes.

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“The Dawnseeker” (** out of four) was a wholly derivative sci/fi thriller set in the year 2245 in yet another futuristic wasteland in which five mercenaries (Franziska Schissler, Jason Skeen, Alexander Kane, and others) who travel to an uncharted planet to collect a rare mineral but when their spaceship crashlands- they are hunted and besieged by an unholy creature bent on eradicating mankind. Made almost entirely of parts of other and better sci/fi movies (“Predator”, “Alien”, and naturally “Blade Runner” just to name a few) but moves fast enough and features enough gunplay and slick visual effects to make it watchable. Neither the best nor worst of its kind but OK for what it is.

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