June 13, 2017 “Game Of Aces” (*1/2 out of four) was a losing hand about a drunken American soldier (Chris Klein) and a foreign military operative (Victoria Summer) tasked with the rescue mission of a German traitor (Werner Daehn) during World War I which results in a multitude of consequences for all of them. Dated and dull war melodrama is earnest but covers familiar terrain without much heat or conviction and performances are mostly one-note. It’s movies like these that quickly killed Klein’s promising career. Searing music score by Chris Morgan. Continue reading →
June 11, 2017 “Sleight” (** out of four) was a slight urban melodrama about a teenager who works as a street magician (Jacob Lattimore) who is forced to take care of his younger sister after his parent’s pass away and subsequently turns to selling drugs but soon finds himself over his head with nowhere to turn but the magic that has helped and inspire him. Standard story is predictable and has routine complications although its climax- when Lattimore does actually use his magic- is a wow. Vibrant cinematography and Lattimore’s solid performance do their best to offset mediocre script. Continue reading →
June 11, 2017 “Reel Nightmare” (* out of four) was a real bore about three beautiful witches who are awakened by (here’s a novel plot twist) an ancient book and they then begin haunting and terrorizing a movie production crew that’s filming in their former house. Actually rips off the plot of “Beetlejuice” at times, if you can believe that! Inept horror thriller is utterly bereft of scares or thrills and suffers from some reel bad acting. John DeFazio’s impressive and colorful cinematography is film’s only lifeline. Continue reading →
June 11, 2017 “Shimmer Lake” (*1/2 out of four) was a dreary Netflix story about a small-town sheriff (Benjamin Walker) investigating three criminals and a bank heist that they were involved in which went horribly awry. Film is told in reverse but it hardly matters since characters are unlikeable and story is uninvolving and not worth caring about; after a while, it drowns in it’s own unpleasantness. Film doesn’t end so much as stop, if you make it that far. Highly reminiscent of the Coen Bros. (“Blood Simple”, “Fargo”) but severely lacking their grandeur and style. Continue reading →
June 10, 2017 “Patchwork” (** out of four) was an aptly titled horror thriller about three young girls (Tory Stolper, Tracey Fairaway, Maria Blasucci) who go out partying one night and wake up attached together in the same body and they must try to find out what happened and why and how they can get revenge. Uneven and often unpleasant movie has a few great scenes to keep it alive and keep you watching. Director Tyler Macintyre shows some flashes of style and originality that show you some hopeful signs of better things to come. Good soundtrack overpowers slight script. Continue reading →
June 10, 2017 “The Mummy” (*** out of four) was an action-packed reboot of the 1999 original “classic” starring Tom Cruise as a U.S. military solider who unintentionally unearths the ancient tomb of an evil princess who subsequently puts a curse on him turning him into the mummy of which he must resist and fight as it endangers him, a female archaeologist (Annabelle Wallis), and an ambiguous scientist (Russell Crowe). Full of great visual effects and never stops moving which is the most important ingredient of these old-fashioned sci/fi monster movies. Cruise is first-rate as usual; Crowe is mostly wasted. About on par with the ’99 original and 2002 sequel “The Mummy Returns”. Continue reading →
June 10, 2017 “Wonder Woman” (**1/2 out of four) was a wildly uneven adaptation of the comic-book superhero (Gal Gadot) showing her origins raised on a sheltered island paradise and trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Upon the arrival of a pilot (Chris Pine) who tells her of an outside conflict that’s raging into World War, she then leaves her home to fight the war and discover her true powers and destiny as Wonder Woman. Interesting beginning reminiscent of “Batman Begins” showing her being guided and trained, then hits some real lulls when she leaves the island and it slows down into plodding expedition, and then sputters back to life in a few spectacular action scenes involving the war. A mixed bag overall although the ending does have some real emotional pull. Both Gadot and Pine are strong and have good chemistry together. Handsomely shot by Matthew Jensen. Continue reading →
June 10, 2017June 10, 2017 “Baywatch” (** out of four) was a needless big-screen adaptation of the blockbuster ’90’s television series starring The Rock as the head of an elite group of lifeguards who butts heads with a new young recruit (Zac Efron) who is a former Olympic swimmer; together they both soon uncover a local criminal plot involving a drug ring that threatens the safety of the Bay. The Rock’s effortless likeability and charisma makes this watchable at times but it’s overall pretty soggy. Not bad but yet another television series that didn’t need to be revised or revisited. Original stars David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson have brief cameos. Continue reading →
June 10, 2017 “Opening Night” (*1/2 out of four) was a tedious comedy about a Broadway production director (Topher Grace) trying to save the opening night of his new show while wrangling and multitasking the needs of his eccentric cast and crew (Taye Diggs, Anne Heche, and others). Promising beginning leads nowhere, as film soon becomes monotonous and stupid. Reasonably well directed but feeble script with few laughs stops film dead in its tracks. Grace is better than usual in the lead role but is unable to squeeze blood from a stone. Continue reading →
June 10, 2017 “Jawbone” (*1/2 out of four) was a strictly by-the-numbers mash-up of “Rocky”, “Southpaw”, and just about every other boxing movie about a down-on-his-luck former boxing champion (Jimmy Harris who also wrote this) who returns to his childhood boxing club for personal and professional redemption and one last round in the ring. Not even great character actors Ray Winstone and Ian McShane, and Harris’ solid lead performance, can enliven a story this tired. Features enough cliches and predictable plotting to make you feel punch-drunk. Continue reading →
