September 3, 2016 “Blood Moon” (*1/2 out of four) was a drab horror thriller set in the 1800’s about a stagecoach of travellers, a gunslinger, and two outlaws arrive in a deserted mining town lit by the glow of a reddish full moon and find they are gradually stalked by a ravenous beast. Combination of “The Howling” and historical drama is a real snooze although the blood moon itself sure looks cool. Shaun Dooley, who looks like a young Michael Parks, stands out in the cast but he’s eclipsed by the sleepy pacing and surroundings. Continue reading →
September 3, 2016 “Summer Of Dreams” (**1/2 out of four) was a pleasant but bland story about a washed-up pop star (Debbie Gibson) who is forced to move back to her hometown and finds her passion for music and life renewed when she becomes a music teacher at a local high school. Best thing about the movie is Gibson who is sweet and engaging in a role that obviously parallels her own career in some ways; unfortunately the movie is too square and predictable. You may want to listen to Debbie’s greatest-hits instead. Continue reading →
September 3, 2016 “Maximum Ride” (*1/2 out of four) was a maximum time-waster about six children who are cross-bred genetically with avian DNA and take flight around the country to discover their origins and subsequently discover their destiny. Unfortunately, the story and script never takes flight and remains a pallid rehash of “The Maze Runner” and the “Divergent” series but without those movie’s spectacle and grandeur. Script is by James Patterson who based this on his novel but he must have had something else on his mind. Continue reading →
September 3, 2016 “Ben Hur” (** out of four) was a tedious fifth film adaptation of the legendary 1880 novel about prince Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston) who is falsely accused of treason and banished from civilization. He is then trained by a warrior mentor (Morgan Freeman) and returns to seek revenge but finds redemption ahead. Visually impressive with spectacular sets and some good battle scenes and good performances but story stalls after a while and becomes tiresome and talky. Yet another historical epic that comes up hollow when compared next to “Gladiator”, “Braveheart”, and “Troy” which this was obviously inspired by. Continue reading →
September 3, 2016 “Blackburn” (*1/2 out of four) was a derivative gorefest about five college friends who visit a small Alaskan town and become caught in the midst of a forest fire and a rock-slide trap which forces them to take refuge inside the “Blackburn Asylum” but the redneck inhabitants soon begin slaughtering them one-by-one. What starts off as a “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” adventure soon veers into a “Deliverance” horror thriller with weak acting and dialogue. Even at only an hour-and-a-half, this still feels padded and overlong. Continue reading →
August 30, 2016 “Revenge Porn” (* out of four) was a startlingly awful erotic thriller about an 18-year old (Tiera Skovbye) whose scumbag boyfriend posts nude photos of her online after they break up which leads to her being humiliated and threatened. Then, both her and her protective mother (Elisabeth Rohm) turn the tables and plan revenge. Interesting commentary about the internet and social media may have been better conveyed in a more intelligent film. Undone by some dreadful acting and gaping logic holes in the script. For a movie about online interaction with some style and brains, watch “The Fifth Estate”, “Blackhat”, or “Untraceable” instead. Continue reading →
August 30, 2016 “The Sighting” (* out of four) was a grade-Z thriller not worth getting in your sight about two recent high-school grads (Adam Pitman and Nathaniel Peterson) who go on a road trip where they are suddenly mauled and besieged by a giant sasquatch but the police investigate and soon suspect one of them is a liar and a murderer. Ineptly made and acted junk makes you nostalgic for the ’80’s when horror movies like these were actually fun. Co-director, co-writer, and co-star Pitman strikes out in all three areas and unfortunately bears most of the blame for this fiasco. Continue reading →
August 30, 2016 “Big Bad” (*1/2 out of four) was a big bad bore about a group of young brats and bad actors who spend the night in an abandoned jail for a school fundraiser when their chaperone suddenly vanishes and a vicious beast is on the prowl. Amateurish mix of teen comedy and adventure movie never gells. May remind some of early Spielberg work like “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” and Rob Reiner’s “Stand By Me” but viewers would be better off re-watching those masterworks than this dud. Continue reading →
August 30, 2016 “The Harvesting” (* out of four) was an unwatchable schlockfest about a family who move out to Amish country to escape their marital problems but they soon find themselves gripped by a sinister and demonic force that threatens the sanity of everyone around them (and the audience). Strictly for those who thought M. Night Shymalahan’s “The Village” was a timeless classic but this also manages to rip-off “The Amityville Horror”, “Village Of The Damned”, and “Children Of The Corn” just so nobody feels left out. Horror movies like these make you wonder when filmmakers are ever going to “harvest” any new ideas anytime in the next decade. Continue reading →
August 30, 2016 “Xoxo” (*1/2 out of four) was an embarrassingly awful teen adventure melodrama about six strangers whose lives intersect over the course of one adventurous night of chasing dreams, drugs, and romantic complications. Or something like that. So incoherent and haphazard you could watch it backwards and it would make just as much sense but this is by no means a recommendation. No hugs and kisses for the writer and director of this mess. Continue reading →
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