November 3, 2016 “Men Go To Battle” (*1/2 out of four) was a lumbering period drama set in 1861 Kentucky in which two brothers (Timothy Morton and David Maloney) struggle to hold onto their crumbling estate in the midst of the escalating Civil War. Film moves at a tortoise pace and film’s characters are so vaguely defined that it’s hard to care about any of them or their plights. A real snooze, even for history and war buffs. Exquisite cinematography by Brett Jutkiewicz is film’s only virtue. For a much richer and elaborate period piece about the Civil War, go to watching “Gettysburg” instead. Continue reading →
November 3, 2016 “Hands Of Stone” (*** out of four) was a fiery, compelling story of legendary boxer Roberto Duran (Edgar Ramirez) whose biggest enemy outside the ring was himself, as he clashed with his trainer (Robert De Niro) and gradually lost control and threw in the towel. Searing performances help this hard-hitting boxing story detonate: Ramirez is ferocious in the title role, De Niro is commanding in one of his best supporting performances in years, and Usher is first-rate as Sugar Ray Leonard. A small winner all around. Only weakness is you wish it featured more boxing scenes. Continue reading →
November 2, 2016 “Swing State” (*** out of four) was a very entertaining comedy about a struggling Seattle radio DJ (Alex Beh) who creates a fictitious conservative radio personality and becomes an overnight sensation that sweeps America and results in numerous complications with both politicians (Billy Zane) and news anchors (Sean Astin). Beh is dynamite in the lead role and is backed by a strong supporting cast. An impressive directorial debut for Jonathan Sheldon who also wrote and seems heavily inspired by early-period Barry Levinson and Jonathan Demme. Continue reading →
November 2, 2016 “Crushed” (*1/2 out of four) was a dreary mystery drama set in Australia about a young woman (Sarah Bishop) who returns home to her family vineyard after her father mysteriously dies. His death is initially ruled as a suicide but the more she uncovers, the more she suspects her mother (Roxane Wilson) may be involved and she must uncover the truth. Overlong and sluggish movie is best left for wine connoiseurs only. One brief sequence of watching wine being made and produced is more compelling than the central murder mystery. Good music score though by Aaron Kenny. Continue reading →
November 1, 2016 “Plan Z” (*1/2 out of four) was a grade-Z zombie apocalypse thriller about (yawn) a zombie outbreak and one man (Stuart Brennan) who attempts to find the cure and roam the streets of Europe with other fellow survivors and stay alive. Fittingly enough, this rips off “World War Z” right down to its title and while we’re at it “28 Days Later” and just about every George Romero movie he made about zombies. Even the zombies look bored! Some good performances are swallowed up by film’s minimalism and dire low budget. Film doesn’t end so much as stop. Continue reading →
November 1, 2016 “Accidentally Engaged” (*1/2 out of four) was a plastic romantic comedy about a struggling actress (Lexi Giovagnoli) who returns to her hometown and claims to be engaged to a celebrity actor (Brant Daugherty) but things take a turn for the worse when the story goes public and the actor decides to go along for the ruse to escape bad press. Naturally, they eventually fall in love! As contrived as it is unbelievable and features a meager amount of laughs. “Accidentally Made” may have been a better title for this trifle. Continue reading →
November 1, 2016 “The Night Before Halloween” (** out of four) was a hokey horror thriller about a 16-year old (Bailee Madison) and her friends who take part in a Halloween prank that lands one of their friends (Natalie Ganzhorn) in a coma but one year later, they come to find that she still may be alive. Or so it seems. Both overlong and overdone although some of the special effects and performances are good. Story alternately rips off “Sorority Row” and also “April Fool’s Day.” Continue reading →
November 1, 2016 “The Maid” (*1/2 out of four) was a predictable, by-the-numbers horror thriller about a college student (Kathryn Newtown) who soon discovers that her new maid (Fay Masterson) is a serious sicko and has been involved in many of the recent problems and wrongdoings at her school and in her house. Unfortunately, the writer and director are involved in many of the wrongdoings in this movie which is utterly generic and routine. Fran Drescher’s “The Nanny” had more scares and laughs than this does. Newton’s sincere performance is wasted. Continue reading →
October 31, 2016 “Drifter” (**1/2 out of four) was a visually dazzling but empty pastiche of “Mad Max”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, and numerous Sam Peckinpah melodramas about a pair of outlaw brothers (Aria Emory and Drew Harwood) who seek refuge in a desolate, middle-of-nowhere town and are preyed upon by a family of psychotic cannibals! Promising directorial debut for Chris Von Hoffman who incorporates the stylings of George Miller and David Lynch into an uneven whole; too brazen and flashy to dismiss yet too derivative and weird to be fully enjoyed. A mixed bag but worth checking out for sci/fi and horror fans. Continue reading →
October 30, 2016 “Subterranea” (*1/2 out of four) was a substandard futuristic melodrama about a man (Bug Hall) whose spent his entire life in captivity and is released for the first time and must learn to live for the first time as an adult and simultaneously find out more about his past. Hall is understandably supposed to be playing a man whose confused but he looks more like a deer in headlights. Long-lost character actor William Katt fares better as a philosopher and mentor but he only appears at the very end. Potentially interesting story about incarceration and reacclimation is a yawner instead. Continue reading →
