March 6, 2016 “Silent Retreat” (*1/2 out of four) was a routine and boring horror thriller about six members of a media company who go on a weekend business retreat at (oh boy) an isolated lodge in the woods which was formerly a mental institution and leads to them all being endangered. Don’t any of the characters in horror movies ever watch horror movies on their own? You would think by now most characters would know better to steer clear of cabins in the woods. You should also know better than to watch by-the-numbers horror junk like this. Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil” (*1/2 out of four) was a moronic comedy for rednecks and die-hard fans of the Jerry Springer show only. In West Virginia, two hillbilly retards named Tucker and Dale (Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk) are vacationing at a mountain cabin when a group of college kids visit and think they are mass murderers and vice versa! Any type of comparison with these people to actual human beings with any intelligence is strictly coincidental. A few scattershot chuckles but overall pretty desperate. Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “Kill Or Be Killed” (*1/2 out of four) was a stupid Western set in the fall of 1900 about an outlaw named Claude Barbee (Justin Meeks) who attempts to lead his gang across the Texas border after a botched railroad heist and the law is on their trail. The real botch is the movie itself. One more reason why Westerns have been “killed” from mainstream popularity. You can only imagine what Sergio Leone or Sam Peckinpah could have done with this material. Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “Emelie” (** out of four) was a routine horror thriller about a babysitter (Sarah Bolger) who turns out to be not who she says she is and subjects the kids she is babysitting to numerous twisted activities. Reasonably well-made and well-acted but “The Hands That Rocks The Cradle” this is not, nor “Adventures In Babysitting” or even “The Guardian.” Not bad but only for those will try anything available in the Redbox slots. Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “Road Games” (** out of four) was a pretentious and bizarre melodrama about a hitchhiking pair (Andrew Simpson and Josephine de la Baume) who become entangled with a very strange married couple and a guy who picks them up in rural France who happens to be a collector of roadkill! Features some powerful individual scenes and good performances but is overall too aloof and too strange (and too long) to get you involved in. Still, at least you have to give the filmmakers some points for trying something new and offbeat. Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” (** out of four) was a disappointing adaptation of Kim Barker’s best-selling memoir about a reporter (Tina Fey) recounting her war coverage in Pakistan and Afghanistan and her wild times with a fellow journalist (Martin Freeman). Fey is winning as always but the movie isn’t funny enough, revelatory enough, or interesting enough to hold your attention for nearly two hours. Film shows plenty of whiskey but doesn’t show you much else you haven’t seen in other wartime dramas. Fey needs to start working on “Mean Girls 3” soon instead of mediocre projects like these. Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “London Has Fallen” (*** out of four) was a fun follow-up to 2013’s “Olympus Has Fallen” with the President Of The United States (Aaron Eckhart) and his dedicated Secret Service agent (Gerard Butler) in London attending the funeral of the Prime Minister with several world leaders when they are besieged by an international terrorist intent on murdering the President on national television. Packed with enough action, stunts, and spectacular special effects to give action fans and fans of the original their money’s worth. Can “NY Has Fallen” be next? Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “The Midnight Man” (**1/2 out of four) was a diverting spy thriller about an assassin (Will Kemp) virtually unable to genetically feel pain who awakens on a violent underworld assignment against a crime boss (William Forsythe) and can feel pain and is mortal for the first time. Slickly told underworld thriller doesn’t offer much that’s new but is given a boost by Kemp’s likeable and charismatic performance. Continue reading →
March 5, 2016 “Hollow Creek” (**1/2 out of four) was a gripping, if not enthralling, mystery thriller about a writer (Steve Daron) who retreats to a cabin in the Appalachian Mountains to write his latest novel and his accompanied there by his lover (Guisela Moro) but he soon becomes a murder suspect when she mysteriously vanishes. Never really takes off but keeps its grip due to Daron’s intense performance and Moro’s solid and tight direction. Burt Reynolds picks up a few bucks in a small but key supporting role and it’s a reminder that he turned 80 this year. Continue reading →
March 3, 2016 “Downshift” (* out of four) was a baffling, boring cross-country action melodrama that makes either “Cannonball Run” or “The Fast And The Furious” movies look like masterpieces by comparison. Two brothers (Phillip Andry and Jeremy C. Russell) attempt to compete against one another in a cross country race that turns into a less-than-incredible journey. Inept action movies lacks any thrills or high-octane power and is confusingly told. Even at only 77 minutes, this still feels paltry and runs out of steam. Continue reading →
dlepikcom 