August 8, 2017 “Mommy’s Secret” (** out of four) was a tepid crime drama about a teenage girl (Stephi Chin-Salvo) who suddenly realizes that her sincere and dedicated mom (Charisma Carpenter) is behind the recent rash of bank robberies in their town and is working for the main local crime boss! Potentially juicy story for a teenage melodrama, a criminal underworld thriller, a police procedural story, or the double life of a seemingly perfect suburban mom is too mild and never takes off and thus never succeeds at any of them. You can only imagine what a director like Christopher Nolan or Ron Howard might have done with material like this but as such- it never catches fire. Continue reading →
August 8, 2017 “Abducted Love” (*1/2 out of four) was a thoroughly stale mystery about a woman (Daphne Zuniga) and her young daughter (Nicole Munoz) who assist the police when her shady husband (Aaron Pearl) goes missing. Completely bereft of any sparks or thrills and story doesn’t have very many surprises and leads pretty much where you expect it to go. Zuniga seems to be aging very well in the three decades since “The Sure Thing” but she surely needs to start picking some better scripts. Continue reading →
August 7, 2017 “WTF” (* out of four) was a D.U.D. about a girl (Callie Ott) who survived a horrific massacre that killed nearly all of her friends; three years later, her and her annoying new friends (and bad actors) go to a secluded house in the woods for a weekend of debauchery when (to the surprise of no one) the killings start up again. But believe me- you’ll most likely be rooting for the murderer to put all of them out of their misery. It’s inept movies like these that make you realize how underrated and well-acted the “Friday The 13th” movies were in the first place. WTF has happened to horror movies since then? Continue reading →
August 7, 2017 “The Emoji Movie” (*** out of four) was a pretty cute animated comedy about a young emoji named Gene (voiced by T.J. Miller) who sets out on an incredible journey to become a “normal” emoji but encounters plenty of unexpected turn of events along the way. Lots of colorful animation and some witty dialogue make this fun for both adults and their kids. Story is thin but it moves so fast and is packed with so much action and upbeat music that it easily rates a :) Continue reading →
August 6, 2017August 6, 2017 “Brave New Jersey” (*1/2 out of four) was an artificial and drab retelling of Orson Welles’ classic 1938 broadcast of “The War Of The Worlds” and how it sent a small nowhere town in New Jersey into a frenzy and led many of the town’s residents to question their identity and question their place in life. By the end, viewers will probably question why they wasted an hour-and-a-half of their life on this timewaster. Supposedly a comedy although it’s about as funny as an episode of “Lost In Space.” Same story was told in a much different context in 2005’s “War Of The Worlds” but maybe it’s time we let Orson Welles rest in peace. Continue reading →
August 6, 2017August 6, 2017 “Lavender” (*1/2 out of four) was a dreary horror melodrama about a young woman (Abby Cornish) who loses her memory after a sudden car accident; her psychiatrist (Justin Long) then suggests she visit her childhood home for mental clarity but naturally this turns out to be a very bad idea as she starts having hallucinations and paranoia. Director Ed Gass-Donnelly shows a flair for mood and atmosphere but unfortunately it’s wasted on a story that plays like yet another dull remake of “The Shining” and “Paranormal Activity”. Cornish is good in the lead role but Long is miscast as her psychiatrist. Beautifully shot by Brendan Steacy Continue reading →
August 6, 2017August 6, 2017 “Detroit” (*** out of four) was a searing recreation of the 1967 Detroit riots in which the National Guard and police had their hands full with a city under siege and how this led to three innocent African-Americans to be murdered and a police force in shambles. Director Kathryn Bigelow once again masterfully recreates time and place and grabs your collar with many raw, powerful moments although story lacks a dramatic center and becomes shapeless after a while. John Boyega and Anthony Mackie stand out in uniformly strong cast. Not the great film it could have been but timely and engrossing. Continue reading →
August 6, 2017 “The Dark Tower” (** out of four) was a lumbering adaptation of the Stephen King series about an eternal battle between the heroic Gunslinger (Idris Elba) and the villainous “Man In Black” (Matthew McConaughey) and how a young boy (Tom Taylor) becomes caught between them and caught in the fate of the world in the balance. Too much mumbo and too much jumbo and not enough fun although McConaughey’s entertaining performance makes this worth watching for at least a few minutes. Final showdown is exciting but takes far too long to get there. Continue reading →
August 4, 2017 “Message From The King” (*1/2 out of four) was a half-hearted revenge story that can’t decide whether to be a pulp-action thriller or a volatile melodrama and thus amounts to hardly anything. In run-down Los Angeles, a tough South African (Chadwick Boseman) arrives to discover what happened with his younger sister and then subsequently tries to avenge her death. Even Boseman (who was so good in “42” and “Get On Up”) is dull in this by-the-numbers and muddled story. Film works best in its final third which features a few good fight scenes but the message is long gone by that time. Continue reading →
August 4, 2017 “Armed Response” (*1/2 out of four) was an utterly generic action thriller starring Wesley Snipes as the leader of a team of highly trained government operatives (Anne Heche, Dave Annable and others) who are trapped inside an isolated military compound when their system shuts down and they have to fight to stay alive and gradually uncover what killed the previous team who was there. Story gradually gets duller and talkier as it goes along and is deficient in thrills or scares. It’s routine duds like this that gradually killed Snipes’ career and I don’t know what the hell Anne Heche is doing in this. Bizarrely, Gene Simmons has a minor throwaway role as a prisoner at the beginning but he should probably kiss his acting career goodbye by this point. Continue reading →
