October 25, 2016 “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (** out of four) was a tired sequel to the 2012 adaptation of Lee Child’s blockbuster book starring Tom Cruise once again in the title role as a former military officer who has become a nomadic drifter and is framed for murder and is forced to take it on the run with a female officer (Coble Smulders) accused of espionage. A definite improvement over the original but that’s not saying much. Sporadically exciting but story is routine and hard to get involved in. Cruise is OK but miscast as Reacher. He should follow the title suggestion and “never go back” to this series and focus on his next “Mission: Impossible” movie instead. Continue reading →
October 25, 2016 “Ouija: Origin Of Evil” (* out of four) was a real snooze set in 1965 in which a young mother and her two daughters run a scam involving ouija board predictions and subsequently bring supernatural evil into their home. Allegedly a prequel to the 2014 original but it’s virtually the exact same movie and that’s not meant as a compliment; talky and boring. 1987’s “Witchboard” looks like a masterpiece next to this and told the same story with much more style and scares. Annalise Basso’s strong lead performance is films only virtue. Continue reading →
October 25, 2016 “Mr. Church” (** out of four) was a schmaltzy coming-of-age story about the relationship between a young girl (Britt Robertson) and her cook (Eddie Murphy) of 15 years and how it changes both of them. Initially, he is only hired for 6 months but after her mother (Natascha McElhone) passes away he becomes her caretaker. Nicely told and acted but the more it goes on, it’s slow pace and lack of story becomes monotonous. Murphy is terrific in an unusual role for him. A disappointment from director Bruce Beresford, whose “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Rich In Love” this sometimes resembles. Continue reading →
October 25, 2016 “I Know You’re In There” (*1/2 out of four) was a gloomy, boring horror thriller about (what else?) a possessed child, a haunted house, and (yawn) family exorcisms. A young man (Will Hurst) discovers he has a long-lost sister after their mother commits suicide and they move into her isolated home but are suddenly overtaken by paranormal activity. “The Shining”, “Poltergeist”, and “The Amityville Horror” should all be receiving royalty checks for the amount of horror movies that have ripped them off over the last year. Movies like these make you wonder if filmmakers “know” how to make anything else anymore. Continue reading →
October 25, 2016 “Halloweed” (* out of four) was a disastrously lame stoner comedy no matter how much you smoke that makes “Half Baked” or “Pineapple Express” look like Noel Coward by comparison. In a Midwestern nowheresville town called Mooseheart, two pothead losers (Simon Rex and Shannon Brown) show up and get swept up in a murder investigation involving weed and other assorted mayhem that neither Cheech nor Chong could make heads or tails out of. Incoherent comedy/adventure/horror movie changes moods and style with each scene and is done in by annoying characters and a stupid script. Great title, though. Watch “Halloween” again instead. Continue reading →
October 25, 2016 “Ordinary World” (**1/2 out of four) was a sincere but unexceptional melodrama about a former punk rocker (Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day) coping with life after rock and settling into middle age and being a dad but has a mid-life crisis on his 40th birthday when he reunites with his old friends and bandmembers. Best thing about the movie is Armstrong who is endearing and funny in his first starring role that easily could reflect his own life; otherwise this treads on overly familiar territory involving middle age, leaving one’s youth behind them, and growing up. Worth watching but worth also re-watching “American Beauty”, “City Slickers”, and “The Young Adult” for movies that already covered similar ground. Continue reading →
October 19, 2016 “We Still Steal The Old Way” (**1/2 out of four) was a brutal, stylish underworld London melodrama about a British crime family (led by Julian Glover and Ian Ogilvy) who try to commit a bank heist and simultaneously break out their old partner in crime (Patrick Bergin). Unexpectedly missing are Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones who would have made this cockney British crime family really complete. Film’s title is ironic since it steals from multiple Guy Ritchie and Martin Scorcese films but it’s so engagingly acted by a charismatic cast and told with conviction, style, and violence that it’s worth watching all the same. Dynamite music score by Robert Geoffrey Hughes and Chris Hurst. Continue reading →
October 19, 2016 “Bus Driver” (*1/2 out of four) was a dumb-and-dumber horror thriller about a bus driver (Steve Daron) who is a former military soldier whose former skills come in handy when him and his students are stalked and terrorized by backwoods lowlifes when their bus breaks down and they stumble upon a not-so-concealed drug operation. Potentially fun horror show is hindered by cheapjack production and stupid script but at least it moves fast. Robert Forster picks up a few bucks and must have been cast only for his name value because he shows up only in the last two minutes. Continue reading →
October 19, 2016 “Hillary’s America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party” (*1/2 out of four) was ludicrous propaganda which is exactly what you would expect from Dinesh D’Souza who brought us “2016: Obama’s America”. This time around, he focuses on the history of the Democrats and how the corrupt Democratic party led to the political reigning of the Clintons in office. Film manages to be anti-Clinton, anti-Trump, anti-America at times, and pretty much anti-watchable. Watching Trump and Clinton in one of their heated debates was more incisive and more entertaining. Continue reading →
October 19, 2016 “The Girl On The Train” (*1/2 out of four) was a muddled, obtuse adaptation of Paula Hawkins’ smash novel about an alcoholic train commuter (Emily Blunt) who becomes involved in a missing persons investigation after she becomes entangled in a murder involving a couple she knows. Or does she? Or is it real? Or do we care? Film has so many flashbacks and unpleasant recollections that it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not and subsequently- it’s hard to care about anything. By the “revelation ending”, even the central mystery isn’t all that interesting. Many critics and fans of Hawkins’ novel praised this movie so you may want to judge for yourself. Good performances and moody cinematography by Charlotte Bruus Christensen are film’s few virtues. Continue reading →
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