“Scare Us” (** out of four) was an elegantly made but empty horror anthology thriller about 5 separate horror stories told by some friends (Michael C. Alvarez and Michelle Palermo) who gather at a book store but soon find that the store owner (Tom Sandoval) may be the most twisted of them all and that they might be telling their own horror story pretty soon. Speaking of which- when did horror anthology movies become so in vogue again because this is at least the 5th that has come out in over a year? Proficiently made and professionally mounted but still just rehashes and reheats old ingredients from “Tales From The Darkside” and “Creepshow” with familiar results. Not bad overall but doesn’t quite “scare us” enough.

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“Goodbye Honey” (** out of four) was a lukewarm melodrama about a frantic woman (Juliette Alice Gobin) who escapes abduction and has to coerce an exhausted truck driver (Pamela Jayne Morgan) to hide in the back of her truck for the night but neither know the other’s full motivation and what lurks around the corner for them for the remainder of the night. Holds you in its grip with its eerie aura and cold atmospheric lensing from Todd Rawsizer but never fully comes alive and thus soon loses its impact. Say “goodbye” to this one and watch 2015’s “Bound To Vengeance” for a film with similar themes and story elements.

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“F9” (**1/2 out of four) was the ninth entry in this wildly successful series about the international street-racing team (Vin Diesel, Ludacris, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, and the rest) who are pulled back into the criminal underworld (and outer space) by a distressed Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) and an escalating battle with Doninic’s estranged brother (a one-note John Cena). Feels like a greatest-hits version of the whole series, with some of the usual explosive action and set pieces, but is the first entry in a while to feel somewhat hollow and routine. Final half hour is a virtual demolition derby and compensates to some extent but this still has the feel of a series starting to run on exhaust fumes. Even Vin Diesel seems to be just going through the motions; film definitely misses the personality and spark of The Rock and Jason Statham (and Paul Walker).

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“Introspectum Motel” (** out of four) was a glib melodrama about four strangers- two men (Joseph Steyne and Marcel Dorian) and two women (Michelle J. Wright and Gabriela Brinza)- whose lives intersect at an upscale motel in which their dark sexual history and past indescretions and infidelities all come to light driving them all to the sexual and psychological boiling point. Refreshingly bold in its storyline and sexual nature but limited in its emotional power and story structure since none of the characters are ever worth liking or caring about. Dorian is strong in the lead but this overall isn’t a “motel” worth checking into.

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“Trigger Point” (*1/2 out of four) was an uninvolving action melodrama about a former U.S. special operative (Barry Pepper) who is called out of retirement to become part of an elite invisible team which battles worldwide terrorists and underworld crime but he soon finds out that danger and duplicity lurks around every turn. Feeble attempt to turn Pepper into a Liam Neeson/Steven Seagal/Jason Bourne action hero, with little action and even less sense. It’s movies like these (and “Battlefield Earth”) that made Pepper’s career fire mostly blanks.

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“Vanquish” (** out of four) was a well-made but empty and predictable pulp thriller about a former Russian drug courier (Ruby Rose) who is trying to put her past behind her but is coerced back into the vicious underworld by a criminal mastermind (Morgan Freeman) who holds her daughter hostage. Disappointing result for writer/director George Gallo who in better days wrote the script for “Midnight Run”; film has beautiful cinematography from Anastas Michos but is hampered by all-too-familiar and routine story. Freeman can play this role in his sleep by now and does in some scenes. Ultimately, there’s just not enough to “vanquish” here.

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“616 Wilford Lane” (** out of four) was a hackneyed horror show about a single father (John Littlefield) who relocates from the big city to the country with his two teenage daughters (Jessica Chancellor and Allyson Gorske) but are besieged by some mysterious strangers (Eric Roberts and Jasmine Waltz) and dark occurrences in their home that tear them apart. Far from the worst of this disreputable genre but just rehashes cliches that “House”, “The Amityville Horror”, and even “Cold Creek Manor” did better decades ago. Roberts picks up another easy check in his umpteenth role as a creep; Waltz is a dead-ringer for Megan Fox.

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“3 Tickets To Paradise” (** out of four) was a wooden Western about a feisty woman (Michelle Manhart), her ex-husband (Jeffrey Bentley whose a dead ringer for Scott Weiland) whose a reformed criminal, and a federal agent (Martin Kove) who all head for a ghost town in Mexico called Paradise in which they’re in search of 5000 stolen double-eagle coins. Watchable for Western fans, with some pretty scenery and a solid music score from Warren Lazar, but Sam Peckinpah did this same material far more richly and stirringly over 40 years ago. It’s nice to see Kove still showing authority at 75 but overall it’s not worth buying a “ticket” for this one.

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“The Pizza Joint” (*1/2 out of four) was a stale comedy in the mold of early Cheech-and-Chong about two dimwitted brothers (Timothy Delaghetto and Anthony Guajardo) who run a very successful pizza shop which serves pizza infused with marijuana from a thuggish drug-dealer (Noel G); upon finding out that $20,000 owed to him has gone missing, they are given till midnight to pay him back or else. Strained comedy has all the ingredients for a lighthearted stoner romp but is grating and stupid at every turn. You can only imagine what the Dave Chappelle of “Half Baked” would have done with this material but this one goes up in smoke.

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“Tooth Fairy 3: The Last Extraction” (*1/2 out of four) was a pretty dreary horror thriller about the continuing adventures of Corey (Andrew Rolfe) who goes with his friends (Jo Barker, Evangelina Burton, and others) on a summer break but soon finds that the horrific tooth fairy is coming back to haunt him. Third entry in this wearisome series is more pleasurable than an appointment for root canal but not by much; seriously- did anyone actually like (or even watch) the first 2 movies? Let’s put off a fourth entry until Jack Kevorkian becomes a licensed dentist

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