July 14, 2018 “Shock And Awe” (*** out of four) was a perceptive and pervasive melodrama about the 2003 invasion of Iraq and how a group of journalists (James Marsden, Woody Harrelson, and others) were skeptical of President Bush’s claims of Hussein’s having weapons of mass destruction and how this resulted in their investigation and uncovery of a presidential and national coverup. Director Rob Reiner throws you right into the mix of the nonstop and frenetic bustle of journalism and poiitical uncovery that recalls “All The President’s Men” and even references that film on a few occasions. Reiner’s film can’t rise to that film’s admittedly high standing but it’s still one of Reiner’s most passionate works in years and Marsden and Harrelson make a very good team. Continue reading →
July 14, 2018 “Siberia” (** out of four) was a muddled melodrama about an American diamond trader (Keanu Reeves) whose Russian partner goes missing and he ventures off to Siberia to find her but soon finds himself in the midst of a love affair with a femme fatale (Ashley St. George) and in escalating danger with the Russian mob and other underworld figures. Lumpy mix of love story, underworld intrigue, and international espionage never satisfies as a whole and never gets going. Reeves is stiff and seems to be more-or-less playing the same role as he did in “Johnny Mnemonic” more than 20 years ago. Film doesn’t end so much as stop but you probably won’t be complaining. Continue reading →
July 13, 2018 “The First Purge” (**1/2 out of four) was a scattershot but watchable prequel to the original “Purge” entry showing the origins of how The Purge began in Staten Island, NY in which the rise of a third political party (led by Marisa Tomei) implements the experiment for 12 hours on an impoverished community and how this affects a young single mother (Lex Scott Davis), her young and impressionable brother (Joivan Wade), and a neighborhood drug dealer (Y’lan Noel). Fourth entry in the “Purge” series is an uneven and uneasy mixture of gore and action and socio-political messages. Strong performances by all and a terrific final third, though, make it worthwhile for series fans. And ironically, this is actually better than the first “Purge”. Continue reading →
July 13, 2018 “Skyscraper” (*** out of fun) was a fun action thriller about a dedicated father (Dwayne Johnson) who has to save his wife (Neve Campbell) and children when they are engulfed in a burning skyscraper that is threatened by international terrorists (led by Roland Moller). Director Rawson Marshall Thunder obviously watched “Die Hard” a few times before filming this and film is pretty formulaic but it’s still entertaining and packed with enough large-scale stunts and action scenes to give fans their money’s worth. Johnson is a likeable heroine as usual and it’s great to see the ageless Campbell back on screen again as his tough wife Continue reading →
July 13, 2018 “Dracula In Love” (* out of hour) was a horrendously inept horror movie that’s nearly as bewildering as its title about a group of young kids (Amy Cruichshank, Josh Maltin, Cailey Muise, Andre Luis Oliveira) who party the night away in an old warehouse and soon find that they’ve awakened the 200-year old spirit of Dracula who has been living dead in a crate and comes back to life to kill them all. Crammed with sex scenes but also crammed with terrible performances and brainless dialogue. Bram Stoker would be turning over in his grave if he watched this mess. Continue reading →
July 11, 2018 “The Last Man” (** out of four) was an ambitious but pretentious futuristic melodrama set in yet-another “Blade Runner”-like future in which a war veteran (Hayden Christensen) with PTSD begins to think it’s apocalypse now and joins forces with a visionary messiah (Harvey Keitel) and begins the construction of an intricate underground shelter but this threatens his sanity and the stability of society as a whole. Visually hypnotic at times and has some striking individual scenes but story as a whole is too derivative and lacks momentum. Christensen is stiff in the lead but Keitel is well-cast in a good supporting role. Continue reading →
July 10, 2018 “….And Then There Was Blood” (* out of four) was an amateur-hour horror show about seven strangers (Samantha Laine Anderson, Michael Anglin, J.C. Barber, and others) who are brought out into the middle of nowhere because of sins from their pasts and they are (what else?) pursued and stalked by a group of masked murderers. Lame low-budget horror seems to have been made by someone who bought a camcorder and recorded a movie with their friends. Mercifully short at only an hour and 4 minutes but not short enough Continue reading →
July 10, 2018 “The Bleeding Game” (* out of four) was a bloody mess about three vampire-slayer sisters (Whitney Mixter, Shey Bland, and Alison Tussey) who make Buffy look and sound like a college professor by comparison that are summoned by an ancient spiirt to end the lives of a group of evil spirits that have morphed into vampires! Absolutely incoherent and stupid horror comedy makes “The Lost Boys” look like “Casablanca” by comparison. Even at only 77 minutes, this still feels padded and overlong. Continue reading →
July 9, 2018 “The Archer” (** out of four) was an overly familiar, predictable story that misses its mark about a young high-school student (Bailey Noble) who excels in archery but is railroaded on an assault charge and sent to a sadistic young women’s prison where she befriends a fellow wrong convict (Jeanine Mason) and the two escape into the wilderness and try to obtain freedom and expose the corrupt system. Not bad but not memorable or inspired or original in any way. Kurt Fuller has an amusing cameo as a strict judge. Rich music score by Paul Doucette. Continue reading →
July 8, 2018 “Face Of Evil” (*1/2 out of four) was an anemic zombie thriller in which a war vet (Scott Baxter) returns to his hometown but finds that a mysterious epidemic has infected his friends and subsequently his whole town and he finds himself on the run with a gung-ho hillbilly (Chad Bishop) as they try to solve the epidemic and stay alive. Rambling movie opens up as a rip-off of “World War Z” but then shifts gears and turns into a mindless rip-off of “Zombieland” instead. Horror filmmakers need to solve their own epidemic of not having any more original stories to tell. Continue reading →
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