January 5, 2016 “Beeba Boys” (** out of four) was an empty, by-the-numbers underworld gangster melodrama set in Vancouver about an Indian gang leader (Randeep Hooda) and his young and vicious crew who are competing with another crime syndicate to take over the drugs and arms scene. Directed with some flash and style by Deepa Mehta but unable to transcend well-worn material that Martin Scorcese and Frances Ford Coppola blazed through 20-30 years ago. Continue reading →
January 5, 2016 “Mercury Plains” (*1/2 out of four) was a tired, boring Redbox thriller about a brave drifter (Scott Eastwood- son of Clint) who runs away to Mexico and joins a paramilitary group fighting the drug cartels but he soon gets swept up in a personal war against one of the drug cartel members (Nick Chinlund) and begins to question their motives. Eastwood who was last seen in Nicholas Sparks’ “The Longest Ride” is a promising actor but you’ll eventually get numbed by all the sleaze. Later scenes involving shootouts and chases through the desert cry out for Sam Peckinpah in his prime but unfortunately there’s no “Wild Bunch” here. Continue reading →
January 5, 2016 “Boiling Pot” (*1/2 out of four) was an amateurish jumble set on a college campus in which various factions of racism erupt leading to a multitude of fights and legal troubles that eventually threaten to destroy the university. Give writer-director Omar Ashmawey credit for trying to make an important statement about race relations and their impact on society but the result is heavy-handed and limp and is undone by some seriously weak acting. Similar in some ways to John Singleton’s 1995 “Higher Learning” but that was done with higher acting and style. Continue reading →
January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 “All About E” (** out of four) was an elusive and erratic drama about an Australian DJ named E (Mandahla Rose) who stumbles on to a bag of cash forcing her to hit the road to the Australian outback where she falls back in love with her ex-girlfriend (Julia Billington). Muddled drama can’t make up its mind whether it’s a road movie, an underworld melodrama, or an outlaw romance and as a result none of it gels. Even a spicy sex scene between Rose and Billington fails to liven things up. Watch “All About Eve” again instead. Continue reading →
January 4, 2016 “Return To Sender” (** out of four) was a genuinely bizarre Redbox melodrama about a small-town nurse (Rosamund Pike) who is brutally raped in her home by a man (Shiloh Fernandez) she meets on a blind date. Upon his capture and arrest, she then strikes up a relationship and befriends him (!) for her own gradual purposes for revenge. Odd and aloof drama features a strong performance from Pike but takes too long to unfold. More-or-less, Pike seems to be playing the same character she played in “Gone Girl.” Nick Nolte looks grizzled and hungover as usual playing Pike’s supportive dad. Continue reading →
January 4, 2016 “Crazy Bitches” (* out of four) was a none-too-crazy and boring Redbox horror thriller about a girls’ weekend away that turns into an escalating nightmare when they are all killed by a silent killer who none of them can see. Since none of the girls are likeable and most of them are bad actresses, you simply sit back and wait for them to be put of their (and the audience’s) misery. Dreadful horror thrillers like this make you nostalgic for the ’80’s when horror movies were original and fun. Continue reading →
January 4, 2016 “Misfire” (** out of four) was an aptly titled Redbox action thriller about a world-weary D.E.A. agent (Gary Daniels whose a dead-ringer at times for Daniel Craig) who descends into the dangerous underworld of Tijuana, Mexico in search of his journalist ex-wife who has been abducted by a Mexican cartel boss who has aspirations for running for legal office. Sounds juicy but is too sluggish and talky to detonate; it jumpstarts every now and then but not enough. Daniels is a solid actor who needs to pick vehicles with more snap and firepower. Continue reading →
January 4, 2016January 4, 2016 “Tape 13” (* out of four) was an umpteenth lost-footage horror movie about two young lovers (Nadine Petry and Lars Steinhofel) travelling across Germany who were never heard from again! No one is likely to hear about this movie again either and that hopefully goes double for the lost-footage genre also which is a waste of time. Jittery hand-held camera might make you dizzy and terrible dialogue will likely give you a headache. Movies like these make it no wonder 13 is such an unlucky number! Continue reading →
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